4 out of 5

Baron – you freakin’ coot.  As I sit through Badger, Mike might be stealing the crown from Steve Gerber as the King of randomness.  Steve, of course, still has my heart for infecting said randomness with subtext, but Baron is proving to he an endless stream of shake-your-head-whut-the-Hell-am-I-reading yuks.  And though some of the way he structures things leaves me wanting more – occasionally Norbert is the norm and a story is played straight, despite sounding nuts – when you think back through the experience, a few issues past, you can’t help bit smile: at a trans, ex-Nazi nun; at Paul Bunyan’s post-tall tale days as a regular-sized fella; at IRS vampires and the senator pig who hunts them.  Again – whut?  Those last two storylines are a hoot, while the trans nun thing is stretched thin over two issues, but nonetheless an only-in-Badger experience.

I think artist Ron Lim has a great handle on the martial arts and humor timing (especially relevant with the pig… some hilarious double-takes in those issues), though his traditional muscley style still feels a bit odd in Badger-world.

Uff-da, gang.