3 out of 5

Flaming Carrot is unabashedly weird.  I mean, its very premise screams dada: that a nameless hap read too many comic books and then emerged wearing a carrot suit.  There’s still a desire to read the entire FC run, as moments in the various appearances I have are just inspired lunacy to the core – even in this one-shot / last issue of the first volume there are glimmers (a vampire lassie on a skateboard???) – but what’s always halted me from pursuing it outright is that I haven’t experienced a run of genius in any given issue, like that inspiration occurs in hiccups, and the rest is sort of forced random association.  This makes the book amusing, but without that outright ‘pure’ spark that I’ll find in some of my favorite indie creator’s books.  However, I feel like the majority of what I’ve read is the later FC stuff, so perhaps so the beginnings are more of what I see in those glimmers.

So carry that criticism over to this issue, as well as that the story – Carrot and Reid start out on a quiz show versus celebrities, then inherit a monkey from Christopher Walken, then get into a car-throwing battle with a wrestler – while (as you can tell) bearing what I feel like is the hallmark Burden how-the-fuck-are-all-these-elements-in-one-story-and-yet-it-still-reads-organically feel – the story wanders even more than usual.  From my experience, Bob stays anchored to a general start and finish, and then whatever happens inbetween happens inbetween.  This ish was, based on the end editorial, at the behest of Dark Horse publisher Mr. Richardson, and thus the sorta slapped-together tale; the motivation came externally, and the book came after a long pause after #31.

One great boon here is David Boswell’s art.  He has the same character and line style as Burden, but he actually ‘finishes’ his book (none of the all-in-shadow cheat panels) and draws in backgrounds.  Plus, his sense of framing seems a bit sharper, as Burden’s gags are sometimes made odder and perhaps less funny by the actions show taking place at a questionable moment before or after a joke.  Boswell gets the timing, and during the car-tossing sequence, it feels paced effectively to make the ridiculousness of it notable.  Burden drew Carrot, and it slots in perfectly with David’s art.

An amusing issue, and was probably a massively celebrated return for FC addicts, but nothing outright special about the book that makes it a must read over other Carrot stuff directly before or after it.