Author: Jhonen Vasquez
Publisher: SLG
There are three Filler Bunny comic books to date, and they are more like pamphlets than comic books. They are very thin, about 15 pages and only 5 X 7 in size. Like many of Jhonen Vasquez’s work, Filler Bunny does make a surprise cameo in Invader Zim and you can read about that cameo appearance on the Zim Wikia. Slave Labor Graphics is the printer for this title, and like much of Jhonen’s work, it borders on the perverse but entertaining. Filler Bunny is everyone’s sad sack, meant to perform for others, live through horrible tortures, and otherwise occupy a niche in life that no one wants to live in, and few actually experience.
Throughout the three books, and as an original incarnation, Filler Bunny was born to be tortured. From cattle prods to cosmetic testing, the poor critter just does not get any breaks. Even when you think he is going to get a break, well then there it is with typical Vasquez humor, no breaks are in sight for the poor critter. I am not sure these were meant to be published, or if these were developed under protest from a contract that was hated. Admitted, the drawing is poor, the lettering is ok, and there is little to no artistic merit outside of the idea of what more can happen to filler bunny. The poor little guy always gets it in the end, and the poignant part of flying a pig holding a sign saying “aim for the head” pretty much so sums up this comic. Your parents will hate it; your kids will love it, and that is probably the way that it should be in the longer run. It represents everything that can be so wrong and so very right about independent comic books.
I am going to rate these 4 out of 5 stars, they are gross and perverse, and not for everyone. They do not look like they were drawn well, or lettered well, but from appearances, this is also intentional. They are still worth getting if you just want to upset your parents, or you want to see what else Jhonen is doing these days. It has been a long time since he has come out with anything new, maybe we will get lucky and have something interestingly bizarre as these hit the streets.
These comics are getting a little hard to find now online, and you will not find these in the common comic book store. They are however still in print and can be obtained from the SLG site for a price that is not overly inflated. When we checked these were going for 20 on Amazon, you could pick up a set of these on eBay for 10 dollars, while SLG has the retail price for these. As they remain hard to find, if you want it, you need to pick it up sooner rather than later if you want anything close to the retail price.
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