Customer Reviews

Tales of Supernatural Law

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The husband and wife team of writer/artist Batton Lash and letterer/editor Jackie Estrada have been creating the hysterical adventures of supernatural attorneys Wolff & Byrd since 1979, first running The Brooklyn Paper and then in the National Law Journal. The pair established Exhibit A Press in 1994 where Wolf & Byrd have been appearing in their own bi-monthly comic ever since. Tales of Supernatural Law reprints the first 8 issues in the comic series that are sure to delight fans of classic horror and monsters.

In "Herbert has Risen from the Grave" the pair provide a twist on the famous horror story "The Monkey's Paw" by W.W. Jacobs as Wolff and Byrd find themselves having to aid a man beset by law suits from his reanimated dog Herbert. "Curse of the Were-house" the lawyers find themselves helping Byrd's old flame, Kim, who lives with her husband in a house by a former dabbler in the dark arts that built the home with wolfsbane...every full moon the house becomes haunted.

One of the funniest stories is "A Host of Horrors" about a bunch of down and out, and unemployed former horror film hosts who lost their jobs when righteous Dr. Forrest Bertrum led the government to crackdown on all things horror years early. A sardonic parody of the all too true crusade of Dr. Frederick Wertham's "Seduction of the Innocent" in the 1950's. This story, featuring classic EC Comics style lettering, finds the horror host, The Bier-Meister accused of stealing the body of Bertrum.

Fans of classic horror will love "It Stalks the Public Domain" as the proprietors of rival traveling horror/freak shows are each displaying the body of the supposed true Dracula. The story draws on House of Frankenstein using names such as Lampini, the character George Zucco played in that film, even recreating the scene where the stake is removed from Dracula's chest and he returns to life, clothes and all, and he is not happy about all of the pretenders! Just a hilarious story!

Cleverly written and with a cartoony, yet polished style of art, Tales of Supernatural is a blast to read, filled with monsters, innuendo and inside jokes. A true hit in the field of small press comics!

Reviewed by Tim Janson

"Featuring Wolf &Byrd, Counselors of the Macabre," The stunning amazonian Byrd and her round, wry, and nebbish partner Byrd are back, taking the legal cases that no-one else wants. Whether it's civil suits from the neighbors over an accidentally zombified pooch, zoning issues with a were-house, or civil rights for fungus people, readers can count on bad puns, loads of clever cultural references and fun poked at the expense of lawyers (always a popular gag) . The artwork has an indie comic vibe (without the ugliness that's usually associated with Crumb wannabes) and the author uses the black-and-white medium to good effect, creating a combination of Hitchcock + cartoon that perfectly captures the sensibility of the series. High school readers who enjoy horror with tongue-in-cheek humor will get a big kick of Lash's unlikely duo. Recommended, Kirsten Edwards, KCLS (Review originally published in the Sept 2008 issue of the WashRag)