By Jason Pearson
Publisher: Image
Price: $5.99
I first became aware of Jason Pearson as the artist on Legion of Superheroes. He was a new artist on the book during one of its more controversial periods, but like most of the artists on that run (Brandon Peterson, Stuart Immomen, Adam Hughes etc) I became a big fan. It’s a shame then that after doing the first Body Bags series he largely disappeared from comics. Body Bags was his best work though so it’s very good that he seems to be back and doing these characters.
The main characters of the series are Clownface and Panda, a father and daughter Bounty Hunter team. They first appeared in a 4 issue Dark Horse miniseries (which was recently reissued by Image and which Itunes have also started to offer as a downloadable comic). That was pretty much it apart from a couple of short stories that were never collected. Well up until now…
The oneshot consists of three stories, one brand new and two reprints of rarer older stories. The new story is focussed to an extent on the Body Bags’ car – Da Boss. For fans of the original it’s a good little tale. The problem is that we’ve been waiting nine years for new Body Bags stories so even a 45 page special is not enough. The father and daughter are still their usual violent selves, with guts and gore aplenty (particularly in flashbacks). The original mini did manage to have a little more depth to the characters due to the situations they were in and that’s not as present here, but the characters are still interesting and if you were a fan before you’ll be left wanting more.
I’d not come across the reprinted stories before, and between this and my old collection of the first mini I’m now very happy to have all the Body Bags stories that were printed. The shorter stories are possibly more effective at conveying the energy that the book has than the longer new story.
The one aspect I don’t like is Dave Stewart’s colouring on the new story. Compared to the original mini (and even the short stories being reprinted here) it’s a little flat and I’m also not certain the paper suits the older colouring as well as a different paper stock would have.
With another 48 page oneshot (this time all brand new) advertised in the back of the book I’m very happy to reread the older stuff and look forward to more mayhem with this family. Let’s hope next time we get more of a story, but still it was a nice reunion with old friends and I’d recommend this for anyone who wants a bit of action and doesn’t mind a bit of gore and a wicked sense of humour.
Mark Peyton – has a MA in History and Research from the University of Hull specialising in the Hundred Years War. In a complete departure from that he now runs communications and membership for a UK based Trade Union as well as being a part time writer/journalist.
He is a founding member of Millarworld acting as a moderator and as an editor for Fractal Matter.