A BRIGHT SUNNY DAY

Spend a strange day with John Victory

By Tony Whitt     September 23, 2001

John Victory's awakened from a drunken night of wildness to a day filled with guilt, self-hatred, a girl who is not his girlfriend, and the sneaking suspicion that the doorbell that woke him this morning was his girlfriend and that she came in and caught him with the girl who was not his girlfriend. (Don't tell me you're confused this sort of thing happens all the time. Well, to people like me, anyway.) Add to all this the fact that Death is following him around. Literally. It may be a bright sunny day to everyone else, but for John Victory, it's anything but.

I love comics like this, in which artists like Dan Warner tell stories about real people, doing real things, acting in real ways and yet having experiences, such as noticing Death in all his dark garb, that are completely unreal. John Victory is exactly the right sort of loser: hopeful, yet hopeless; harmless, yet capable of doing great harm (even if he doesn't do the harm he thinks he's done); and clueless though how clueless can you really be if you've glommed onto the fact that Death is following you around? He's a great character, and Warner writes him in such a way that you can't help but like him and hope that Death won't catch up with him, even though he catches up with us all.

Warner is not only an appealing writer, but he also has the gift of drawing art that looks deceptively simplistic yet has subtle touches that can surprise you. It's a cartoony style, but it's only when you've been hit with the image of a dead, squashed rat that you realize how so not cartoony it is. I know, I probably shouldn't be trying to sell you on a comic that features a panel of a dead, squashed rat, but I'm making a point here. The artwork may look like a kid did it, but there's an adult behind it all, and he's doing a terrific job. Though I have yet to read it, I imagine his ongoing adventures with Death in Warner's quarterly COCOPIAZO must be just as enjoyable as this "origin" story has been. I may have to go find out. I suggest you come with me.

SUPER DELUXE COCOPIAZO: A BRIGHT SUNNY DAY

Grade: A-

Issue: No. 1

Author(s): Dan Warner

Publisher: Desert Island Comics

Price: $3.00