After seeing Jacob’s Ladder, playing Silent Hill, and reading the Lucifer comic series, I’ve become a bit spoiled.  If a story doesn’t yield solid writing before and after the BOO! moments, I look for something better.  It’s been a while since these creepy cultural cornerstones were built, and I’ve been hard pressed to find new releases as good.

I went to Nellie Woe’s Comics to get caught up, and asked the counterculture behind the counter what the best disturbing and/or surreal titles were.  After passing up a title I can’t mention in polite company, I settled for the dubiously named Golly!, by Image.  The cover featured a gen Y-er glumly working on an engine as angels and demons battled in the background.  Oh boy, I thought.  I must be in for a treat.

The comic begins with a sideshow Satan, a Ron Jeremy type in a red devil’s hood and jeans, puffing on a cigarette.  The crowd of teens, as teens can often be, is skeptical and cynical to the point of bratty nastiness.  But after some carnie banter, the supernatural enters play: “Satan” rips his skin off, revealing a dry skeleton, puffs his cigarette, and asks, “How’s that?”  At this point, four kids simultaneously burst into puking the fakest-looking hurl stew ever.

The illustration is technically sound, with circus noir elements like a trail of cigarette smoke, low lighting, and the intriguing circus attraction sign.  Angles and perspectives travel all around the scene.  The payoff is decent, but could have done better without the “SSSSHRRRIIIPPP!” and the “SKLORTCH!” lettering; the images speak well enough not to need it.

So, okay, a carnie’s ripped his skin up.  Good expository work.  Next.  Cut to a glaring blue sky, points for contrast, and a subtle dig at fried food with a heavyset lady working at a booth labeled “FRIED”.  Here is our mulleted anti-hero, Golly Mulhollen, cussing up a storm on his back as he tries fixing the Octopus ride.  This presents a point of entry for a timeless circus stereotype, the brow-mopping Colonel, and his sidekick Miguel, a small wolfman.  Here the dialogue establishes Golly’s low status as a carnie go-to guy, and flings such amusing lines as “Ah, my hirsute little calculator, you’ve crystallized my thoughts precisely” and “Remember to clean the crevices of the folding chairs this time, lad.  The stench abides in them crevices.”
From there, the Colonel departs to answer a constable’s questions about missing livestock, and darkly advises Golly not to mention last night’s communal hog roast.  Golly storms off.

Then it’s a cynical look at modern insensibilities, as the Tattooed Man banters with a visibly annoyed Golly, who has to clean Satan’s mess and is jonesing for a chew.  A coarse laugh comes when T.M. apologizes for his language in front of a tender tyke, who rejoins, “**** if I care.  How’s my SpongeBob look?” Current, this comic is.  PC, refreshingly, it’s not.

A minor intrigue further cements Gully’s low-man status when, for $5 in chewing tobacco money, he agrees to grab Pig’s butt in the next 24 hours, or else pay $20.  Who is Pig? A good comic doesn’t give everything away immediately.

Segue to Golly spraying down the chairs in the revival tent; a Brother Dare offers new twists on the tried-and-true half-mad fundamentalist preacher.

More sharp, hilarious banter ensues as Golly, with a whole can of chew in his mouth, works on a van.  This time, Tattooed Man meets up with Pig, the fearsome fat lady.  Only thing is, she’s now a buff arm-wrestling amazon with balls to bust and attitude to spare.  Golly’s bet will be difficult to win.

He gets his chance in the next sequence, a mad figure-8 demolition derby announced in classic carnie style.  The comic does well to capture the chaos of a derby, and surprisingly Golly comes through in a laugh-out-loud case of easy come, easy go.  “Winning” the bet plays a large part of it, and through a strange chain of events Golly’s true calling is issued.

It’s during this sequence that the comic’s writing sinks in its hook, and takes on a deadly serious “save the world” air.  Well, as serious as you can get with a potty-mouthed carnie mechanic punctuating everything with profanity, “dude”, and references to “The Omen”.  It doesn’t turn out to be a total cliched wash.  Golly shows himself not to be a total chump by matching wits with a somewhat distracted holy emissary, and winning a concession should he complete a task: the emissary will answer a question of his choosing.  The writers make a wise choice not spending the series’ arsenal of fireworks all at once here:

“What about my super powers?”

“Done.  Good-bye.”

And that’s all.

After, one last side plot involves Golly’s determination to escape his surroundings, and “Satan”’s offer to reveal why he’s struggling… for a price, of course.  This exchange has teaser written all over it, but hey, I’ll be buying issue #2 to see if anything happens.

The final confrontation of the first issue gives Golly a mildly bizarre first supernatural enemy to fight.  Despite some adequate trash talk, the presentation is a little underwhelming and there is no combat until issue 2.  Not a dramatic punch, charge, gunshot, evil superpower, or wall-busting hero throw in sight.  But the way Golly! is written, and the way the pacing eventually comes through, I’m cheering enough for our slacker turned savior to bust some heads in issue #2.

In many ways, this comic is put together like the carnival attractions it portrays.  Slapped together and pounded into the ground, its structure, like a carnival tent, does provide the necessary backdrop around a story that has been told in comics for many a year.  Eventually, it gets so you’re watching the main attraction and forgetting about the staging.

Dialogue: Some sharp zingers divvied up among all the cast members.  Still not that much you can do sometimes with a guy who says “dude” a lot.  A-/B+

Art: Signs look photoshopped with poor contrast.    Characters vary a little too much from angle to angle, but the ink detail is competent and the coloring, while it shows effort, is overstated and monolithic at times.  And dig that salvaged cover art with Golly slapped on over it.  C

Story: Um, okay.  I want to believe though. C+

Characters: A bit of wisecracking in the place of character exposition, but a lot of times the two do dovetail.  A-

Originality: True, the issue starts with classic carnival stereotypes.  But twists set the series up well enough and leave the reader wanting more.  A-

Overall: A passably enjoyable read for something alternately gritty and grim, with a touch of otherworldly triangles.  I bet the series will be just fine once it starts running. B.