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Tuxedo Bandit #3
posted June 9, 2010
 



Creator: Rainer Lee
Publishing Information: Self-Published, comic book, 32 pages, 2009
Ordering Numbers:

This is one strange-looking comic, full of energy and unfortunate choices. I take from the blank inside front and back covers -- usually a sure sign -- that this is a self-published effort, and is in fact the third such book in a series. I don't see anything in the work that would indicate it was particularly fruitful to go the non-Xerox route, but as that's pretty much telling someone how to spend their money I won't go any further. The comedy here is basically manic presentation of dialogue-heavy back and forths between a sketchily drawn, older straight man and a costumed, squatter ball of manic energy. The crudely-executed art does little to move things along, and in fact one chapter is "in the dark," meaning there's no drawing at all, which fairly underlines just how little the art contributes. These kind of conversational exercises can be fine unto themselves. One can build a cartooning career based on strong character interaction and exact dialogue -- Lewis Trondheim's first mini-comic is much more static than this one -- but for now, unless you're absolutely tickled by the first couple of pages you read I'd suggesting moving on. There's very little to see here. Not yet, anyway.