Comic-Book Superstore: Humor: Page 5 of 6

It is impossible not to love the hysterical monster mystery Harum Scarum. The plot is well thought out, and the characters--a police detective dog, a wise-cracking reporter cat, and an innocent-bystander bunny--are utterly enjoyable. The bunny's school pal asks him to stop by the pal's father's place and to bring along a journalist. Imagine the surprise of the bunny and the journalist when they find a monster in the apartment!

From there they get wrapped up in police cover-ups, communist terrorists, and a mad scientist's plan to cleanse the world. Lewis Trondheim's gift of comics storytelling really shows through when you read a scene in which one of the characters explains a trick or a trap, and you can go back a few panels and see the whole thing perfectly set up, wondering all the while how you could have missed it. And Trondheim's ability to have his character's dialogue devolve into petty discourses about trivial matters such as the "niceties of tipping and the exact location of the jugular vein" is a true joy.

LEWIS TRONDHEIM

The Spiffy Adventures of McConey
THE HOODOODAD

by Lewis Trondheim

Paperback: 48 pages
Fantagraphics Books
ISBN: 1560973382

$10.95

From School Library Journal
McConey, who looks like a well-dressed pink rabbit, is the voice of reason and sagacity among his friends, the closest of whom is a superstitious and puerile alley cat garbed like a retro hood. Their adventures in the series opener, Harum Scarum, revolve around magic powders that can turn the city's population (all of whom are animals) into self-destructing monsters.

In The Hoodoodad, a cursed stone is at the crux of the action. The beautifully colored drawings, which show a terrific range of facial expressions and architectural details, along with the anthropomorphic characters, belie the fact that McConey's adventures really are best suited to mature readers. High school-aged boys, especially, will enjoy the frank machismo informing many of the exploits and the realistically foul language of Richie, the alley cat. The depictions are never truly gruesome or carnal; even the shootouts in Harum Scarum are no more graphic than Saturday-morning cartoons. Both books will be popular additions to collections serving teens.

Francisca Goldsmith, Berkeley Public Library, CA
Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

VINNIE & the STARDUSTERS

"Vinnie and the Stardusters are freakin' hilarious. This 3-song 45 gave me chuckles galore."

--Cake #52/53

THE GIRL FROM IPANEMA WANTS
TO KILL ME

by Vinnie & the Stardusters

Paperback: 24 pages
Simple Sense of Superiority
ISBN: 189052901X

$5.00

Put on your 3-D glasses (included) and bust a gut to the vaguely 3-D, headache-inducing comic of an Archie spoof of the Vinnie and the Stardusters' story. The kit includes trading cards and a 7 inch 45rpm of a spoof of Jobim's bossa nova classic and on the flip is the Radio K hit spoof of "Que Sera Sera" as "Quesadilla (a Tortilla with Cheez)." Already the single has gone tin! (more than 500 copies sold) And has been included on two (count them) compilations in Japan.

"An admittedly hilarious comic book history of the band."

--Jim "the plugger"

About the Authors
Born in the ghetto of the South Side of Minneapolis, these three gutterpunks learned the laws of the street. While their mission of knocking on crackhouses to sing an a cappella version of their first hit "Huggin' not Druggin'" went sour when the Minneapolis Police threw them in the can for trespassing.

In prison, the three "honkeys" learned all about jailhouse rock. As soon as they got out of the big house, bigtime record execs were dying to put their groovy hip-hop rhythms down and out to the world. Now the Stard'sters flaunt their success with large clocks around their necks. They may lack liberal arts, but they got that street smarts!

VINNIE & the STARDUSTERS

BAKE MY PIE

by Vinnie & the Stardusters

Paperback: 20 pages
Simple Sense of Superiority
ISBN: 1890529036

$5.00

"The stuff legends are made of."

--Tufts Daily

.
Archie, Jughead and the whole gang are spoofed as Vinnie and the Stardusters in this appropriated glow-in-the-dark comic, trading cards, and coloring book (with only one crayon: black!) Plus: a 7" vinyl single of the Stardsters' smash hit "Bake My Pie" (as a spoof of the Cure's "Boys Don't Cry."

Register Guard, Eugene Oregon 3/28/97
"Not just because Vinnie and the Stardusters rhyme 'preheated' with 'eat it,' the album's best track is 'Bake My Pie."

Option
"The most remarked upon dish, however, would have to be the mocking pseudo-cover of the Cure's 'Boys Don't Cry' by Vinnie & the Stardusters--reimagined as 'Bake My Pie'"

Fred Mills, Magnet
"Parodies wear thin unless the objet du scorn really deserves it; clearly, Robert Smith and the Cure really, really deserve it. Too left field for Weird Al, enter this Minneapolis jokebox, which microwaves 'Boys Don't Cry' until it explodes like the proverbial wet poodle. Just wait'll you hear the electronica/jungle version on the flip."

Minnesota Daily 1/16/97
"The funniest entry on the album is Vinnie and the Starduster's 'Bake My Pie'--a hilarious spoof of the Cure's 'Boys Don't Cry."

Kurt Channing, Ink Nineteen 33
"You need to have this. This is definitely the one seven inch every collection must have."

Raygun
"A lip-smacking Cure parody"

About the Authors
Vinnie and the Stardusters is a group of farmers from Northern Minnesota. Their mission is to inform the world of the dangers of bovine hormones, stem the increase of farm accidents especially limb dismemberment, and to play some downhome hoedown music!