Customer Reviews

The Goon, Volume 7: A Place Of Heartache And Grief

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is the first time I've read "The Goon" except for a couple of short stories in collections and the stories were a good indication of what to expect from a full length graphic novel. The Goon is a sort of Marv/Hellboy character whom Batman used to beat up in early comics (usually down the harbour in a warehouse with lots of crates) and his sidekick is a short, mouthy character called Franky (think Slaine's Ukko crossed with Danny DeVito) and their adventures in a strange town where zombies and monsters are considered everyday.

In this book The Goon fights some burlesque dancers who are really flying monsters but gets sidetracked with swamp monster shapeshifters, kids who steal dynamite, cross dressing giants, and a mysterious old enemy back from the dead. This is Vol 7 in the series so I've obviously missed a lot as I wasn't sure what was happening, where it was going, but it's a very well illustrated and interesting book in a series I'll look into more.

Good Goon. What new. More humor than in prior Goon volumes (thank goodness). Starting to feel the "been there, done that" with the Goon in general. The trade paperbacks need to be larger as well. I feel like im being juiced with only four issues per trade paperback. The Goon needs more bang for the buck!

The Goon vol. 7 is the beginning of a darker chapter for our anti-hero. It starts out like a normal Goon story with the usual sense of humor, but soon starts getting serious. Being a fan of the Goon, I've been waitng a while for this. It doesn't disappoint.

Edit:

Having read Volume 8 (Those That Is Damned) I can now confirm that, indeed, Powell is setting up a new long term arc for this series, and I should never have doubted -- it simply seemed unbelievable that Powell could keep producing such high quality work for so long, and I thought he'd finally hit his cap.

There's still a little bit of a recycled-villains feel to this -- the Zombie Priest is slowly being retired due to perennial wussyness, but most of the Goon's other villains have been brought back for these volumes -- but Powell's definitely still managing to pack an emotional kick into this series, and take it in directions that I didn't expect as a reader. Heartily recommended.

What follows below is my original review of this volume, before #8 came out:

Powell is either setting up a powerful new long-term arc for this series, or else he's lost his bearings and doesn't know where to take things next; from this volume, it's hard to say which. Much like "Wicked Inclinations" (Volume 6), this volume ratchets up the threat level, but there isn't really all that much action, and little happens in terms of plot; a lot of questions are asked, but few answered, and at the end of this volume I felt like I'd only read part of a story.

It's possible that Powell's setting up a powerful long-term story arc, but this volume only hints at that possibility, it doesn't fulfill it.