By Joe List
“Skimpy Jim is a hairy beast man, spawned from a child’s unkempt hair. Confused and unsure of the proper ways of the world, this book explores the very nature of good and evil.”
Joe List makes nonsense comics. And I don’t mean that in a derogatory fashion at all. I mean it in a Spike Milligan-esque way, with silly, ridiculous, exaggerated characters leaping over the page, or in this case, leaping from one young boy’s hair.
Hair that looks a lot like this:
Now, sometimes combing your hair is a good thing, sometimes it’s not.
This is one of the latter.
So out pop two creatures, one professing to be a “charmer“, but the other…. well, no one’s sure about Jim, least of all Jim. And if you think you might be evil, the best way to find out is by experimentation of course. Off Jim goes, intent on causing chaos and evil, because that’s what he thinks he should be doing.
And that’s it. A simple tale, a few panels a page, 28 pages, basic, almost childlike ideas of good and evil, along with lots of comedy moments as Jim tests out what it is to be evil (“….carrying this guy’s books will rob him of precious exercise”, “extinguishing this guy’s well constructed leg fire must be purest evil”) and the reader has their assumptions on character versus appearance questioned.
Skimpy Jim’s a lightweight treat. In fact Molly just wandered in asking about her homework (did you know what the feathers are called at the non-business end of an arrow? Fletchings it seems. I have no idea why she wanted it either) and stopped, looked at the pages and said “that monster’s really cute”.
And it is cute, very, very cute. In fact, without malice, and in no way belittling List’s art, his style is part of that cartoon cute meets slightly exaggerated grotesque style, beloved by children and adults alike. List’s artwork is bold, bright, bold, colourful, and fun. There’s a feel of a children’s book about this, although I’m not sure List was ever really going for this, I just think he’s made something really fun and all-ages without really trying to. I’ll be taking my copy into the school library in the new term to see what our children think of it. I imagine “cute” will be mentioned many times!
Joe List’s work is available from his webstore, with Skimpy Jim costing £4 for 28 pages in full colour. And yes, that does sound expensive at first, and I’ve bemoaned many times the cost of comics coming from Marvel, DC, and other big publishers. But I maintain my belief that something like Skimpy Jim, with a solid card cover, flaps, great feeling paper stock, and art and story that really can bear repeated viewing and reading, actually is worth the price.
Also available, and rather tasty as well; List’s Bus Bros. A5 print:
Wed, Dec 28, 2011
Comics and cartoons, Propaganda, Reviews