What if the world was even messier than you thought? A place where sailor-mouthed jackalopes roamed the desert, pants-free cowboy assailants are armed with pick-up trucks and machine guns, junked school buses are fair game artillery and the heads of the world's superheroes are wanted dead by everyone?
Such an inferno is the backdrop for "Kill the Wonderhawks," a comic series written by David Losso, drawn by Aaron Pittman and colored by Alejandro Rosado.
A free download of the first episode of "Kill the Wonderhawks," entitled "The Pilot Is Dead," was distributed through local record label Paper + Plastick Records last week.
"The Pilot Is Dead" is nine pages of bombastically illustrated superhero hilarity. Set somewhere in a desolate American wasteland, a team of five gnarly adventurers called the "Wonderhawks" blaze along a barren highway in an ultramodern transporter.
Rowdy, naked wrangler heathens ride close on their heels, spewing obscenities in their attempts to corral and nuke the heroes for reasons that scream turf war. Through a traditional comic book panel's narrative, a series of cacophonic events filled with trash-talking rampage unfold.
Pittman's illustrations seize a sense of urgency and chaos that compel readers to cling to each plot maneuver, while Losso's sense of humor subdues any melodrama leading to the action's climax. What amounts from this synergy of art and humor is a nimble affair with comedic goodness so sweet, one will feel a cheat snatching this download for free.
Residing in Chicago, writer David Losso is no newbie to the world of comics. With the publications "The Great Sandwich Detective" and "How Stuff Happens" under his belt, Losso has been creating quirky comic strips for years, as well as illustrating artwork for bands such as Man Man and publications like Time Out Chicago.
Posted on his blog, called "Drawing Staches," Losso announced the launching of "Kill the Wonderhawks" and explained his collaboration with Pittman and Rosado as, "[taking] all your favorite 70s and 80s teen team cartoons and [doing] horrible things to them in the name of entertainment."
The decision to distribute this comic via a record label is reflective of Paper + Plastick's mission of "bring[ing] the visual aspect back to music by releasing not only quality music, but pairing it with collectible records (etched b-sides, various shapes and colors, etc.) and stunning artwork."
Founded by Less Than Jake drummer Vinnie Fiorello in 2009, Paper + Plastick introduced the availability of free comics to its online webstore on May 7 in celebration of Free Comic Book Day.
In addition to "Kill the Wonderhawks," readers can also find the comic series "50 States," a collaboration between Fiorello and comic writer/editor Matt Anderson, and "Exit Interview," written by Matt Anderson with artwork by Brian Mead, available for download.
With a personal interest in comics that parallels his interest in records, it seems only natural for Fiorello's label dedicated to art and music to distribute these types of publications.
"Comics are something that I grew up with. They were the original things that I collected," he states. "Later it turned to collecting records."
