Land of O

(Top Shelf, 2002)
™ and © Top Shelf

Michael Slack’s Land of O takes place in a bleak, occasionally surrealistic world that, sadly, resembles the real one all too much.

There are three groups of stories: “Loss,” “Critical Care,” and “Global Honkey, Inc.” Examples of tales in “Loss” include a day in the life of a tricycle with a square wheel and a severed head for a seat and the poignant story of a boy held captive. “Critical Care” includes stories of plastic surgery and the insertion of foreign objects. “Global Honkey, Inc.” appears to be the Land of O’s mega-corporation, repossessing unpaid-for transplant organs, selling “pet baby” kits, and providing prostitutes for the cryogenically frozen.

While the Land of O is a bleak land, the stories are, surprisingly, not depressing. They may be too far removed from reality to hit that hard. But they do hold the reader through all the bizarre twists and turns of life.

The art is “underground” style but highly detailed. It’s as bizarre as the subject matter but it’s internally consistent. A person with a square head or no mouth is unusual to see, but, once such a person enters the narrative, he is rendered with as much precision as a character in any “serious” comic book.

The contents may be a little too sick and twisted for some, but those who appreciate fine, albeit weird, art and writing should find merit in the Land of O.

— Jack Abramowitz

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#1

January, 2002
Cover Price: $3.95
2 copies available from $3.95

Michael Slack