All right, youse mugs! Lissen up ’cause I don’t wanna haveta repeat myself! If you point yer peepers at any one woik dis year, make it The Night Owls. I’m not kiddin’ ya, ya joik - read it! ‘Dis comic hasta be onea th’ funniest I’ve laughed myself sick over in one night. I gotta tellya, though, my hopes fer dis comic bein’ good was about as low as the Titanic when I saw we hadta review it, but man, what a kick inna teeth I was in for! It was so good it hit me like a stiff belt’a Old Brown Wrapper, ya know whuddImean?

What’s dat? Whaddaya mean yer surprised I can read, ya lug? Why, I oughta….you keep dat stuff up an’ you’ll be meetin’ th’ business end of my meathooks, ya get me?

Da story is set back in th’ 1920’s - nah, I wasn’t there but my granny useta tell me stories about dem times. Reminds me of dat other woik I read once…what was it called? Somethin’ about bootleggin’ cats … oh yeah, Lackadaisy. Now DAT was anudder good woik, lemme tellya. Aww now I got ramblin’ again..where was I? Oh yeah - Night Owls. Da story is about some egghead an’ his crew, goin’ out and huntin’ down all dem nasty things what go bump in th’ night. Him and his crew end up chasin’ vampires, huntin’ ghosts an’ all dat, but widdout dem fancy things on their back an’ th’ traps an’ all dat that other ghost huntin’ group had. I gotta tell ya, da guy what writes dis stuff - he’s got one wild imagination! Story was great an’ kept me on the edgea my seat da whole time. No nasty stuff in it, no cussin’ or nothin’ that would make me tell da kiddies ta hustle off ta bed before I sat down ta read it, neither. My ma, God rest ‘er an’ good church goin’ lady dat she was, why even she’d read it an’ like it - an’ dat’s sayin’ somethin’! So nonea you mugs out dere wid kids haveta worry. You can let ‘em read it an’ it won’t be no woise dan readin’ somethin’ like The Shadow.

Da art was good, too. Now I considers meself ta be a right good educated joe, comin’ outta da thoid grade like I did an’ all, but I ain’t no art critic, see? I gotta tellya, though, da guy dat draws this does a real good job. I wouldn’ta minded seein’ some color, but ya know, bein’ in black an’ white like it is, it adds somethin’ ta th’ time it’s supposed ta be in. It was good widdout bein’ too complicated, but it wasn’t sloppy neither! Spartan, I think dem eggheads up at da univoisity would call it - just enough ta get da job done. Had good detail, though, and it was like readin’ one a’ them old time comics my granddad useta lemme see in th’ papers. I tellya, my hat’s off ta dis guy.

Ya know, though, ain’t no art inna woild gonna pull yer bacon outta da fire if yer characters ain’t woith a plugged nickel. Too many comics out dere dat look like the people is just cutouts - nothin’ to ‘em, and nothin’ dat would make ya believe dat they’d actually stay around each udder, let alone woik wid’ one another. Not so here, though, lemme tellya! Da characters in dis comic are top shelf, an’ I liked ‘em. Da egghead of da group, Baxter, is a good joe. (Reminds me ‘a myself, but I don’ liketa brag or nuttin…)Doesn’t go around beatin’ people in da head wid his smarts, an’ he ain’t too shabby when it comes to mixin’ it up wid da fists, too, ya know whuddImean? He’s got some guts to him, which is more den I can say for mosta th’ eggheads ya see in dese stories. Da frail what helps him, Mindy, has got one serious jab, and ain’t afraid a’ layin’ her mitts on some lug what needs it, neither. Whew! I wouldn’t wanta get on HER bad side, lemme tellya. Even though she’s tough, she’s still a lady, an’ dat makes a lotta difference, ya know? She’s nice ta be around, insteada bein’ one of them bitter types what goes around tryin’ ta knock every man down ta prove how tough she is. She’s one tough dame, and she knows it, so she doesn’t haveta keep provin’ it. She’s got brains, too! Right off da bat she gives a Mickey Finn ta dis vampire in strip #2! Dats a frail what’s got it on da bean! Da last guy in da group, Roscoe, is da local wiseguy and probably one’a them comic relief types. (He sounds kinda familiar, too, like he’s from da old neighborhood or sumthin’….) He adds a lotta comedy to da strip widdout bein’ hokey or onea them wiseguys dat you’d wanna drop a lug on ’cause he keeps flappin’ his yap and makin’ ya look like Mickey the Dunce in fronta yer friends. Da group woiks well, too. Dere a team, an’ no one’s tryin’ ta make da udder ones look like joiks. Dey watch each udder’s backs, too, which is always a good thing. Da author made sure ta give ya some backstory ta letcha know why they’re all together, which is a good move on his part, I say. Ties up all them loose ends.

Well, I ain’t got all day ta sit here, chewin’ th’ rag wid you mugs - take my woid for it an’ check it out. I tellya, if I could give dis woik 6 or 7 stars, I’d do it! I can’t though, so dey’ll haveta be glad wid’ 5. If ya check it out, you’ll be glad ya did, and if ya DON’T like it, well, ya better not let me catch wind of it, or I’ll come give ya da woiks, ya know what I’m sayin’? (gives you a soft chuck on the chin) Now gedoudda here. I got woik ta do!

Th’ Sawbones

Rating:

(6 votes, average: 5 out of 5)

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