Hey, Mister: The Fall Collection

    (Top Shelf, 2002)
™ and © Top Shelf

This volume reprints the most recent issues of Pete Sickman-Garner’s twisted and cynical comic book series. The world of Mister, Aunt Mary, and Young Tim is one in which Jesus is the laid-back and reclusive CEO of a large, multi-conglomerate corporation where he and his disciples have been unsuccessfully preaching the word for the past 2,000 years. And it’s also a more down-to-earth place full of hypocrisy and immorality.

Sickman-Garner uses whatever words and images he finds necessary to convey satiric spins on everything from religion to environmentally conscious consumerism. His swipes are more biting than, say, Steve Gerber’s Howard the Duck, but lack the unapologetic bluntness of Jason Yungbluth’s Deep Fried. There are laughs aplenty throughout the book, but the attempts are uneven; the longer stories have more depth and are a lot funnier than the shorter gags.

One of the funniest stories is the opener “Game Time,” which also appeared in last year’s Small Press Expo anthology Expo 2001. This volume will click for those who can appreciate humor even in its dark and most perverse form.

— Jim Johnson
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