The Johnny Bacardi Show

I'm so pissed that Larry Young didn't use my blurb on the back cover after I went to all that trouble a while back to come up with one- and no, I'm not gonna link to it 'cause I don't remember when it was- that I'm gonna give the brand new collection of SCURVY DOGS a D-.

Aw, I'm only kidding.

Just like I kept telling you when the singles were coming out, Scurvy Dogs is a laugh-a-minute, often inspired, compendium of crazy absurdity- taking no prisoners and leaving no turn unstoned in the fevered pursuit of surreal humor booty. And jobs.

Sounds like I just wrote another blurb, doesn't it?

Anyway, if you've been curious as to what we've all been going on about, you should check this out. At $12.95, that's less than the individual issues would cost you if you tried to buy them one at a time, plus (and this is good for those of us who have the singles) you get all sorts of extras like an amusing crossover with Vampirella, creator commentaries, a sketchbook, a pin-up gallery, photos, and more. In fact, if you've been thinking about getting this you better do it now before Young realizes that he set his price too low!

For me, the high point was issue 2's pirate vs. monkey battle. Made me think that perhaps they should bring in James Kochalka and have a pirates/monkeys/robots free-for-all. #'s 3 & 4 were great fun with Blackbeard's brother and the battle with the Hobo Mafia. And since this is a review, I suppose I should get all critical for a minute and be a little negative- The backbone of this whole series was pop culture references, using them as a springboard for jokes and situations, and it had begun to get a bit rote and predictable by #5. Still funny, but things like #4's battle of the hybrid spandex bands and #5's nonstop TV show satires began to smell a bit ripe by the end. I think it was wise for Boyd & Yount to step back and take a break- like I said when I reviewed #5, if only more comics creators would do that when inspiration flags. And as a Faces fan from way back, I didn't appreciate all the jokes at poor Rod Stewart's expense. Aw, I'm kidding again- actually I didn't realize that they were parodying him until much later. I thought he really was drinking gasoline these days!

OK. Scurvy Dogs. You should get this. It's very funny, you'll get many laughs, even more chuckles, a couple of smirks, and once in while you'll even guffaw. And in these troubled times, anything that can do that for you is an opportunity that's too good to miss, now isn't it?