Broken Frontier

Scurvy Dogs says nothing profound, is completely absurd, and makes little sense. So, of course, you should run to the store and buy it right now!

The creators of Scurvy Dogs proudly proclaim that "pirates are the new monkeys!" Pirates have taken the place of monkeys in popular culture as the funniest thing out there. That's good, because that's exactly what the Scurvy Dogs are: Funny pirates. They are five pirates, to be exact, and they are in our modern world. As you can imagine, much hilarity ensues.

Andrew Boyd and Ryan Yount are ridiculously funny. To be honest, that one sentence sums up the writing in this book, but I suppose I'll elaborate if you're not yet convinced. Boyd and Yount are incredibly random and creative, accounting for most of the book's humor. Such situations as pirates going on dates, pirates trying to get jobs in the real world, and pirates fighting hobos are all inherently funny ideas. Boyd and Yount use those ideas perfectly. They get the maximum amount of laughs out of every situation without milking any situation dry. As they say, in humor, timing is everything, and Boyd and Yount have impeccable timing.

Boyd and Yount make use of just about every type of humor in this book, as they go from absurdity to running gags to satire. Satire enters the book in what was the final issue of the series and the creators show their skill in that sense as well. Every joke in this book works. Even the jokes that don't make sense work. More accurately, those jokes are, in fact, funny because they don't make sense. It may take a certain sense of humor for one to fall in love with this series, but if you have it, Scurvy Dogs will leave you in absolute hysterics.

Ryan Yount's art is not incredibly detailed. Neither does he do a particularly good job of showing the character's emotions. His art, too, is rather stiff. Yet, it works masterfully. It works because it's funny. Yount's creativity shines through in the art as well as he makes every situation that much funnier. His character designs are hilarious in and of themselves. Further, even if you can't tell what the characters' facial expressions mean, they are funny. Most importantly, Yount delivers whatever the script requires. What else could be the mark of a great artist?

Those of you that are enjoying Street Angel might want to give this book a shot. Even if you're not reading Street Angel, this book is funny and well-priced enough to make it worth your time. If you have a sense of humor, you should also have this book.

- Eliot Johnson