Space Sheriff and Happy Space Boy #1-5 + 6

Posted: Tuesday, May 24, 2005
By: Darren Schroeder

Cover of Space Sheriff and Happy Space Boy #1-5 + 6 Creator(s): Justin Cermak
Publishers: Self Published
From: USA
Price: $8.95 (TPB of 1-5) + 2.50(US)

Follow the wacky adventures of a law man (actually a law cat) and his little buddy as they try and uphold the rule of law while all about them seem to delight in planetary destruction, theft, speeding, and eating sentient life forms.

A group of my friends are of the opinion that comics have to be funny. If it ain't funny, they feel cheated. I'm not sure if this is some grand theory of the medium that they have built up over years of study and research, or just the result of reading too many British funny papers such as Beano and during their misspent childhood. Which ever it might be, I feel confident they would get some satisfaction from Justin's valiant attempts to create comics that at least try to raise a smile.

The set-up is fairly minimal but effective for a continuing series. Space Sherif gets a new case most issues, and we get to follow the wacky goings on. All the villains are fairly shallow - a good cliché or a wacky idea is about as complex as they get, so a TV detective or a genius monkey are as good an idea as any for the guilty parties. The action is all light-hearted with lost of wacky dialogue and parodies of other media. The James Bond Jokes in #4 are amusing, but weak. Happy space boy is a wacky side kick, he doesn't actually do anything apart from hang at the end of a tether and make light hearted observations on the proceedings.

The real pleasure here is the insanely detailed cartoon artwork that Justin delight in drawing. There's always something going on in the background of the panels, and Justin throws in the occasional Spot these items quiz to keep the reader on their toes. Everything looks like fun: the explosions, the big guns, the satanic cults. The page layouts are very fluid, with lots of unexpected panel transitions and shifts in the way the story flows around the page. Justin shows a liking for time lapse effect where the same characters appears more than once in the same panel, and he manages to do it without too much confusion for the reader.

Some might find some of the back-up strips a tad rude, but if you can over-look a few naughty bits the exuberance of the main stories will lighten your day, but might not remain with you much longer than that.

In a Word: Refreshing.



If you have a comment or question about Small Press then feel free to contact me