Sugar Buzz: Live at budokan!
Written and Illustrated by: Ian Carney and Woodrow Phoenix
Released by: Slab-0-Concrete
ISBN: 1899866337
This is definitely not your average comic… which also makes it a bit hard to describe. Basically this is the collection of the first 6 issues of the Sugar Buzz comic. Each is made up of different short comics and according to some estimates, has over 50 different characters. So that’s a lot of different variety. The best way I can think of to describe this comic in a general way is that it reminds me of some of the cartoons on Nickelodeon today, but they are also heavily influenced by some of the cartoons of earlier years like “Bugs Bunny” and “Magilla the Gorilla.”
There are a variety of stories in this volume so I’m just going to highlight a couple of my favorites. There’s “Valanteen in Bad Hairday” about a teenager that’s in a coma, but can be kissed awake by a dog to be come Valanteen! superhero. In this particular storyline a mysterious asteroid has given sentience to everyone’s hair! The hair begins to plot to take over the world and only Valanteen can stop them. He just barely defeats the hair and the world is made safe again, thanks to the efforts of Valanteen!
Then comes “Urbane Gorilla,” the hip and stylish gorilla who’s invited to all of the top parties and shindigs around. Pookah, the professor, wants to perform some experiments on Urbane, but Urbane is out having fun! So Pookah decides to beat Urbane at his own game and becomes more dreamy and hip than Urbane. Just in time for the local suicide cult to proclaim Pookah as their own. But don’t fret! Pookah will recover to take on Urbane another day.
Even though the writing style varies slightly in each story, there are some consistencies with it through out the issue, most noticeably with the type of humor. For example, in one of my favorite stories “Splash Girl” is a superhero who is…well a bit off. In this issue she’s kidnapped a female lawyer declaring her to be Stan, her husband. The lawyer eventually decides it’s safer to become a leopard lady to escape her, upon which Splash Girl takes someone else as Stan. It reminds me of some of the Bugs Bunny skits where one of the characters kept taking others and declaring them to be George. The same type of humor is prevalent throughout the book. Although the humor reminds me of some modern day cartoons like the “Powerpuff Girls,” it also reminds me of some of the cartoons from the “Bugs Bunny” and “Rocky & Bullwinkle” era. Overall, the writing is pretty easy to follow and there are some snorts and giggles to be had by all.
Even though it’s the same artist throughout the series, each story seems to have its own style of art, depending upon what the story is about. It’s interesting to see what they came up with as far as art style for each story line and each character. They range from simplistic line drawings to the more detailed use of shading to add some depth to the characters. To me the art style is influenced by some of the modern day cartoons, like “Fairly OddParents.” But they are also heavily influenced by cartoons of past eras, like Scooby Doo, Bugs Bunny, etc. Even though they are influenced by these other artists, Woodrow creates his own style that works well with the stories.
I’d recommend this book for anyone with young teens. It’s a nice easy, light read with some funny stories and its relatively clean humor.
