The Goon, Volume 10

March 21, 2011
Three short stories explore the grim and humorous world of the Goon and his supporting characters. Powell, who both writes and beautifully illustrates this series, is a remarkable visual storyteller. Whether it's creating the perfect feel of the title character's supernatural, crude-humor filled, depression-era world, or crafting a bizarre fantasy wasteland for his story of the cursed, immortal Buzzard, his ability to draw in an audience through his art is impressive. The collection features two Goon stories. In the first the Goon fights with a malevolent hobo spirit summoned to get revenge on a group of orphans. In the second, Powell conveys a story of crime and manipulative femme fatales using no spoken text. But the majority of the collection concerns the Buzzard, an immortal warrior condemned to live and suffer forever by one of the Goon's antagonists. This third story sees the Buzzard sent on a journey to save a town in the wilderness whose villagers are being transformed into monsters. Unable to appreciate any of the rewards he's offered, and knowing that any who travel with him will likely die, the Buzzard's somber quest is haunting and tragic. Illus.

April 15, 2011
Its starting to look like Powells gorgeous horror-crime parody is never going to be as funny as when it was new. In the first two chapters, each a different story, of the tenth Goon collection, our man is pretty mopey, and not even Hollywood writer-director Frank Darabont, dropping in on Powell at the drawing board to tell him taint funny, helps. The huge third chapter about the Goons mentor, the Buzzard, is no laff-fest, either. Thats just in the dialogue, though. MADs most brilliant love child, Powell is still the master of the grotesque in his drawing. Crypt-Keeper, eat your heart out!(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2011, American Library Association.)