I should start by saying that I am unfamiliar with Eric Powell‘s long-running series The Goon. That said, once I finished the one-shot One for the Road, I’m determined that I will quickly be remedying that oversight in my collection.
One for the Road was created as a tribute to long-time cartoonist Jack Davis. Davis, one of the founders of Mad Magazine, did the cover art for this book. The book itself is a fitting tribute. Jack Davis and Mad Magazine were hugely influential for many artists and comedians (and writers like yours truly), so it was a joy to read something that perfectly captured the spirit of Davis’ work.
In the story, The Goon and Franky meet up with a young sailor who is looking for his buddy, Harvey. The trio goes looking for Harvey in all of the bars in town. In their journey, they meet some wild characters. There are the WWII soldiers with a touch of shell-shock. They get into a bar fight in a Wild West saloon. Then they meet a band of celebrities with names like Scarilyn Monroe, Crank Sinatra, Johnny Crash, and my favorite, Arnold Shvartzuferger. Of course, we can’t forget the man-eating gorilla, Nazi warplanes, mob of characters from all over the place (Hellboy! Jason Voorhees! A clown!). I was, quite literally, laughing out loud by the last page.
Eric Powell’s art in this book is an excellent tribute to Jack Davis’s style. He nails the celebrity caricatures, but even beyond that, the tone and form of the art is so perfectly fitting with the work of Davis. If you’re a fan of Jack Davis, regardless of whether or not you’ve ever read a Goon comic before, definitely give One for the Road a look.
As I said before, I’m not a reader of The Goon – yet – so I can’t really speak to how well it fits within the style of those characters. Either way, this is a great book. I’m sure fans of Powell will dig into this one without a second thought.
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Students of the Unusual™ comic cover used with permission of 3BoysProductions
The Mercuri Bros.™ comic cover used with permission of Prodigal Son Press
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