Broken Frontier

Whistles the clown is the star attraction of circus Starlight Calliope, but the ringmaster, Master Pendlecoat, hides a horrific secret – he’s a cannibal of clowns!

Whistles launches the download-only line of titles for Slave Labor Graphics; issue #1 has been available since October with issue #2 now released for the month of November, both in either CBZ or PDF formats, and both for the respective costs of only 89 cents per copy! Not only will the acquiring of an issue cost one-third the price of a print comic, but they’ll be instantly accessible due to reader’s ability to download each issue as it comes. And for those of you who frown at anything that’s not hard copy paper and ink, the entire series will be published in graphic novel format come the summer of 2007! But of course the question still needs to be asked – is it worth it?

Holy god, yes – yes, yes, yes! Whistles follows the epononymous super-star clown in the aftermath of his having suffered a humiliating and injurious accident during his latest performance. His beloved ringmaster – Master Pendlecoat – approaches the downed Whistles with a poison-filled syringe, belaboring the fact that he will one day see the brave young Whistles in Clownhala! But due to an act of complete happenstance, Whistles survives, and discovers Pendlecoat’s dirty secret: he’s a clown eater, and Whistles is next on the list of chef’s specialties. Yet Whistles, for all his skill, isn’t the sharpest tool in the shed, and is in fact a tanker-load naïve and utterly sycophantic, and with an earnest desire, cares only to return to the circus and serve Pendlecoat once again. Whistles even develops a taste for clown meat himself, thinking it surprisingly tasty and tender. But to complicate matters – a new clown-faced super-star has been added to the Starlight Calliope’s roster: Gumblin, a stout-hearted hero who utilizes Pranayam meditation to achieve perfect clownship superiority.

The first two issues of Whistles concern themselves with the title clown’s journey through the bizarre world of sci-fi circus oddities, as well as Whistles’ and Gumblin’s ultimate fates as the former fights for the love of his cannibal master, and the latter fights to free the circus of Pendlecoat’s voracious, clown-eating appetite. Every page brings a new plot development that the story flows logically into, but which are also, time after time, jaw-droppingly original and unpredictable (the first meeting between Gumblin and Whistles climaxes in a startling, visceral event that must be read to be believed!). The story isn’t just a series of uncanny spotlights, either; Whistles achieves far more than most blackly humorous, quirky comic books by imbuing every character, no matter how seemingly tertiary and one-dimensional, with a continually evolving landscape of psychological depth and character conflict.

The story was apparently meant to only be a two-page gag by newcomer Andrew Hussie, but as he put the clown’s story to paper…. "The nature of the story was very much to serve as a vehicle for silly and twisted jokes about clowns," Hussie is quoted in the Whistles press release. "But through its evolution, it has accumulated the elements of a dramatic story, with deeper character relationships, emotional conflicts, and dare I say, even traces of poignancy." Thankfully, Hussie has indeed succeeded in what he hoped, and Whistles comes across as one of the strongest and most instantly winning and winsome dark fables I’ve read since Johnny the Homicidal Maniac, with a similar level of stark and unexpected horror, but a heftier dose of heart and honest character evolution than even that aforementioned classic managed to achieve.

Hussie’s art is additionally far more lavish and detail-oriented than the average small press auteur. While his figures retain a certain familiar Gumby-like structure (long taffy limbs and symmetrically-shaped, overlarge heads), he pulls off dynamic panel layouts, unforgettable landscapes, and a fanatical use of grey-tones that heighten what would otherwise be a solid but too-familiar aesthetic.

Whistles is a fanatically enjoyable debut for Slave Labor’s download-only line, with unforgettable characters and a story you’ll never want to end, guaranteed. When I reached the final page of issue #2, I was pretty despondent knowing I’d have to wait for any further chapters, but I was equally warmed that I had discovered a gem as polished and finely cut as this. Whistles is what good comics and good storytelling are all about, rolled into the pages of perhaps the most original small press epic you’ll read in the next year. And for $0.89 per issue?!? How can you not at least dabble and see for yourself?

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To purchase and download Whistles #1 and #2, go to: www.slavelabor.com