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Published by: Dark Horse Comics
Released on: Oct. 8, 2014
Writer: Eric Powell
Artist: Eric Powell
Cover artist: Eric Powell
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The Goon and Franky get into all sorts of supernatural fist fights that tends to get in the way of their drinking, but men gotta do what men gotta do and these two kick the asses of monsters. This latest collection of stories is reprinted from The Goon #41 through #44 and The Goon: One For the Road. One of the chapters is is a crossover tale with Billy the Kid's Old Timey Oddities (another great book you should check out if you haven't already).
Chapter One. Monsters keep popping up and warning The Goon of impending danger and then they try to kill him and his little buddy Franky. A talking corpse, animated mannequins, and a giant bug all fail to kill him, and as soon as they go to the big fight the two men rigged they realize just who these monsters were warning him of: that sonofabitch Sullivan and he's using witchcraft to make money off the fight. That last panel in story is a good one. The Goon is a total sociopath and that trait is as evident as ever in the finale.
Chapter Two; art by Kyle Hotz. When Billy the Kid and his gang of carnival oddities comes to town, The Goon just knows it that trouble will follow. He was right. Years ago Billy “won†a poker game and the part of the winnings was The Ossified Baby of Nuremberg: a dried up baby that needs mother's milk and goat's blood once a year and on Halloween eve. The feeding doesn't happen and the baby grows huge and eats everything. They do battle until dawn, and the outcome is bleak for at least one individual.
Chapter Three. The Goon and Franky are driving illegal booze hidden in cuckoo clocks across the Mexican border, and when checked at the border a monster busts out of the pile of clocks. The monster then proceeds to bust stuff up and the dialogue is in Spanish at this point. Mostly a visual tale if you don't speak Spanish, but a weird duet breaks out in the middle of the story between Tom Waits and Little John, so that's nice.
Chapter Four “One For the Roadâ€. A sailor on shore leave is looking for his buddy, and if he doesn't get him back to the boat before dawn they are in big trouble. So The Goon and Franky decide to help him and check all the bars. And they need to drink as they look, which is convenient because they are always in a bar. It gets pretty goofy and there's a nice homage to the art of Jack Davis (who provided a pin-up just before the story began).
“The Bog Lurk That Lurked Like a Thing! A Bad Thing!†is the title of this black and white story, illustrated by Mark Buckingham, and told in three parts. An innocent man is thrown into the bog by mobsters who think he works with The Goon. The man dies thinking he doesn't even know who The Goon is, and he turns into a bog monster over time with some innate desire to kill The Goon. A giant robot joins the fight but neither one should by rights be standing after The Goon is done with them. Or maybe Franky saves the day this time.
“The Goon Sketchbook†is a section at the end that comes with notes written by the creator Eric Powell. He also shares some early comic strips he made and provides a pencils-to-inks comparison. It's interesting stuff for sure.
This is a fun as hell collection that fits in perfectly with those with a taste for the funky. Powell's characters are likeable and his ideas are at times nice and twisted. The various art styles all lend themselves well to his writing style, including of course his own, and the tale in black-and-white was a nice change of pace. This is some wicked fun stuff that is absolutely recommended.
