Bigger Dicks

    (Avatar, 2002)
© 2002, Avatar Press Inc. and ™ and © 2002, Garth Ennis & John McCrea

The comedians ask, “If you try to fail and you succeed, are you a success or a failure?” That applies to this comic book. If it accomplishes its goal, but its goal is to be offensive, is that a good or a bad thing?

This series, by Garth Ennis and John McCrea, tells the story of Dougie and Ivor, two foul-mouthed, hard-drinking Belfast residents of 10 years ago. In this issue, Dougie gets married and Ivor slips him industrial-strength laxatives. If the titular “dicks” are supposed to be detectives, it is not apparent from this tale.

It’s hard to believe that this comic book was written by the same Ennis who gave us such profound Vertigo comics as Preacher. It’s not the worst-written story of the year, by any stretch, but it is terribly vulgar. There are clever moments, but the whole is probably too off-putting for most readers. Nevertheless, there is clearly a market for this kind of thing, since this is the characters’ second series.

There are two covers available, the regular and the “guaranteed to offend” version. Of all the complaints a reader might make, lack of truth in advertising is not among them.
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