The Misadventures Of Clark And Jefferson #2 of 4
Writer: Jay Carvajal
Artist: Marc Borstel
Ape Entertainment
Cover Price: $3.50; On-sale: Nov 2007

Take equal parts Lethal Weapon, Deadwood, and Starship Troopers, and you may have the weird mix that is the Misadventures of Clark and Jefferson. Issue #1 and #2 set up a nice little mini that starts out as regular old western story but then takes a turn for the weird about halfway through the first issue. Is it possible that cowboys will become the new zombies? One hopes not, because I don’t think I can deal with a cowboy Spider-Man variant cover.

Tom Clark is the sheriff of the small town of Sagebrush, and along with his deputy Jefferson, their job is to keep the streets clean. After the events of the first issue, Clark and Jefferson find themselves without horses and smelling of manure after hiding from aliens in an outhouse. Soon they find their way to an Army outpost that has also run afoul of the invading aliens and have found that they must hold up for the night. After a brief rest and dinner with the inhabitants of the outpost, the aliens make their grand arrival and begin their attack on the humans. This is where the story steers into Starship Troopers territory, as the characters have to face an army of aliens using only the rifles and handguns they have available to them.

I have to say, I had a pretty good time with this book. The situation is interesting, and even though I’ve seen the characters before in any number of Western movies, writer Jay Carvajal has a good handle on authentic frontier gibberish. The humor does tend to fall a bit flat though, as it leans towards a lot of dick and fart jokes, but that doesn’t bug me that much, your mileage may vary. Mostly, it’s just a fun story that doesn’t make you think too much.

The art from Marc Borstel does impress though. He does a great job with the period clothing and the general setting. The characters are varied and expressive, and he has a pretty good grasp on the storytelling and pacing. The art really makes you feel like you’re watching a classic Western, if it wasn’t for the aliens wandering around. The aliens are also worth noting, because Borstel brings a great design to them and makes them look like a legitimate threat.

In the end, I enjoyed this book a lot. I’m looking forward to the next few issues to see how it wraps up. If you’re a fan of Western comics or looking for a light comedy with some action in it, I’d recommend this. It’s nothing I haven’t seen before, but it does the job well.