5 out of 5

What hath Jason Yungbluth wrought?

It was an idea too big for its britches from the get-go, but at the same time: What next?  With ‘A Peanut Scorned,’ Yungbluth’s Peanuts parody that transported the gang into a Mad Max wasteland, with Chuck – robotic arm, muscle-bound and a notable t-shirt design – and Snoop – missing an eye, of course – Jason had his duo traveling about, knocking into twisted twists on familiar faces, in search of those responsible for taking the love of his life; his red-haired girl.  The nods to the source material were plenty, but the real masterstroke was in taking the material pretty seriously.  Sure, it purposefully dipped into an over-the-too grim and gritty style, but lest Jason be pigeonholed as a gag cartoonist (which would require overlooking the artistry in most of his Deep Fried work…), Scorned was a full narrative, a relatively densely packed revenge tale with a level of detailing that could easily give plenty of Marvel and DC guys a run for their money.

Chuck’s tale had plenty of past and future beyond the single quest of that tale – which is included in this omnibus – but still, what next?  Yungbluth had exhausted most of the Peanuts gags.  So if your story grows bigger, than maybe your frame of reference should too…?

Blockhead’s War, a limited series following that initial foray thus not only world-builds around Chuck to create this particular wastelands’ miracle resource – Schmoo – as well as fluffs out the narrative around the Weapon X-like program that produced our hero, and the Powers That Be – The Syndicate – that are behind the curtain, but it also, in another duh-but-genius Yungbluth masterstroke, expands its tribute o’er decades of newspaper strips.  Some of these play a big role; some are nodded to in dialogue, or by name; some exist as only the slightest visual clue; but there is no doubt that nigh every page is gifted with some historic gem.

And in wondrous Jason style, besides the assumed prevalence of sex and violence, its fair game against all these creations, whether they’re faves of the artist or not; no one is safe.  And it’s this devotion to the joke – or tribute – that sees Weapon Brown coasting through sine troubled waters, when Yungbluth faces the pacing fits and spurts that tend to happen when you take a seed story – which was intended as a one-off – and tack more on to it.

But he finds his footing – somewhere around when the giant Garfield shows up – and again, it’s the balance of the elements that makes the story actually entertaining and not just amusing: Actual characters and plotlines are worked on, supported by this giant net of background jokes; it’s the printed, ribald version of Roger Rabbit.  And when things pay off in big showdowns or forefront visual gags, it’s truly a gas.  I laughed out loud, several times over, at Snoop’s triumph.

The book, at close to four hundred pages, is massive.  There’s some extra hidden yuks in the chapter partition pages (not sure if these are new to this collection), and Jason also stuffed in some odds and ends holiday Chuck stories, one of which is brand new.  Plus a ton of pinups and the original issue covers, and if you had any doubts that all those interestingly detailed corpses were references, well, the annotations – which are frustratingly only highlights, but it would’ve been a beast to not everything – should make you reappreciate just how much Yungbluth stuffed into each page.

While the story is imperfect, the zeal behind the writing is palpable, and the page-by-page entertainment value overcomes any plotting hiccups.  God bless the world of Kickstarter ventures where a dude can self-publish an obsessive joke and let us in on the deal to laugh along.