Customer Reviews

Schlock Mercenary: Under New Management

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This book is a good starting point if you're not familiar with "Schlock Mercenary." While it's not the beginning of the strip (two words: "beginning cartoonist.") it won't take long to figure out who the players are. And really, who can resist a comic whose main character resembles nothing so much as an enormous dungheap? (Albeit one with eyes and sentience, as well as a yen for destruction.) But it's not just the strips as run on the Schlock Mercenary website - there are footnotes, marginalia, and a complete bonus story which you won't find anywhere else.

The Mercenaries open a window into ourselves and poke fun at the human condition. Not a comic fan as a rule, this exception kept me entertained, interested and reading until the end. I thoroughly enjoyed both books in the series and can't wait for the next one.

"Sometimes you have fun, sometimes the fun has you."

- Schlock

...You've Failed to Resort To Enough Of It.

That should set the tone for a graphic tale of graphic WHOOM!, often presaged by an ommmminous hummmmmm.

Aliens, mercenaries, carbosilicate amorphs politicians, fast food, union goons, contracts, even a contract to exterminate the lawyers of the galaxy (Dangit, Howard! We need more of that).

This may be the most consistently funny comic on the web, with no diversions into "art" or "relevance." Tayler eschews current events and ephemera and just sticks to plot, action and character, which makes the best points of all.

And remember: There is no "overkill." There is only "open fire" and "time to reload."

Where else would you get a Space Opera? Although in this case, the context of 'Opera' is probably more like 'Theatre': Theatre of War.

Howard Tayler takes his own brand of humour (clean family fun that spans generations) and mixes it up with intrigue and plots across the galaxy with a band of Space mercenaries led by their Captain, Tagon and supported (as in weapons support) by the 'main' character Sergeant Schlock... a carbo-silicate amorphous lifeform (read: big blob of green gunk with eyes).

Whilst this is technically not the start of the series, it's easy to catch up with the characters and who they are. All the comics are available online, as is a character introduction. However, the books are something special.

Howard really believes in giving you your moneys worth, Not only do you get high quality "sunday-style" colouring all the way through (same colouring techniques as used on the Sunday long strips online), but there are loads of extras in the form of Notes, Sketches, Margin-art, and even an entire extra short story.

So what do you get in Book 1? Psychological warfare with baths. Library Brawls. Oh, and First Contact... kind of.

Howard Tayler is one of the best webcomic creaters out there. His strip is never profane, is often irreverant, and is funny every single day. This and his second book are two of my most prized posessions. Howard has never missed a day of updating, and is simple a great guy. If you like hip, witty humor that isn't afraid to toss out a pun or sarcastic remark, this is your new favorite...

I have crawled through a large number of webcomics, and Schlock Mercenary is the best that I have come across. The story is engaging, the characters are interesting, and the science fiction is solid. The comic also maintains good humor on all levels; slapstick, wordplay, irony, and situational humor. I have purchased several of these books as gifts and they have always been well received. Even if you have already crawled through the online archive of comics, it is very nice to have the books around the house to enjoy. I hope this has been helpful. Thanks.

That's just one of the many rules of Highly Effective Pirates.

Go buy this book.

What, you need more?

Howard Taylor is probably one of the funniest comic strip authors on the face of the earth. Sci-fi humor is very difficult to get right (to my knowledge, only Douglas Adams was ever able to pull it off, and even his work started to lose something after it hit the fifth book of the trilogy), but Schlock Mercenary is consistently funny. Howard Tayor manages to blend geek humor (name me another author who can work a dyson sphere into a joke, and it's actually funny), military humor (because it's funny when the right things blow up, and even funnier when the wrong ones do), and bad puns all into one nifty package. And now you can own his work in two (so far-- more please) volumes.

Under New Management chronicles the adventures of the mercenary company Tagon's Toughs as they hunt down their former owner and commander Breya Andreyasn. Or, at least, that's the plan of their latest employer. We'll see who actually gets hunted.

Foremost in the story is Sgt. Schlock, a carbo-silicate amorph who looks like a pile of crap but acts like a violently antisocial pile of crap. He likes to hurt people and break things, and he's very good at it. You don't think you'll like him, but you will.

The story is crisp and funny, the artwork is crisp and funny, and the jokes are crisp and funny. The whole book reads like a bag of fritoes being eaten by a monkey in a pirate costume-- but with more explosions.

Now, having said all that, buy this book. Don't make Sgt. Schlock deploy his sawed off multicannons. (Yes, I copied and pasted much of my review of The Blackness Between for this review. It applies equally well to both)

Howard Tayler is producing great work in the comic medium for the SF genre.

He offers science fiction hard enough to please the SF purists and technophiles but like any good comic artist puts his engaging plot first. He leads readers through an interesting setting populated with delightful characters and lays the final touches to a foundation for a surprisingly intricate plot in this volume.

It's unique. It's hilarious. Stuff blows up.

All right. The title might sound over the top, but Schlock Mercenary DID change my life in a very real way. Before I found Schlock Mercenary, I thought that all web comics were terrible. Schlock Mercenary opened my eyes to a new world of entertainment, and now I read webcomics every week.

Schlock Mercenary is my homepage.

That said, Schlock Mercenary is a masterfully constructed story. Howard has managed to create a captivating cast of characters that cover every role in a sci-fi mercenary unit. This allows him to tell entertaining stories from every possible point of view. The story is riveting and honest, in it's own bizzare way.

And did I mention FUNNY?

What a hilarious graphic novel! I loved reading this book. I've been a fan of Howard Tayler's work for a few years, reading his daily online web comic, [...]. This is one of my favorites of his books. He puts out the books every year or so with the collected web comics, and they're well worth the fifteen bucks. It's just so cool to read all of the comics combined together in a book. Howard is obviously a huge fan of the sci-fi genre, and he makes fun of it in such cool and imaginative ways. The military SF genre is one of my favorites, and this comic has such a hilarious new spin that fans will totally appreciate.

Sergeant Schlock, an amoeba like creature with an amorphous form that looks like a large pile of poo, yes, poo. Anyway, Sergeant Schlock has a knack for mayhem and destruction, which is just awesome. I mean hey, you can solve any problem with a plasma cannon, right? The crew of the ship are also quite funny. Go and check out [...] and read the comic for free. If you're into it, get some of the books. You'll be happy you did.

Paul Genesse

Author of The Dragon Hunters

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