Axe Cop Volume 6: American Choppers

Turned out to have been a library book and smelled funny (someone had smoked heavily around it I think), but in good condition.

I love Axe cop. Fantastic series, very funny. My book, however, came with a hole in the bag, with a shipping label used to patch it. As a direct result of that, the label stuck to the cover of the book and caused damage when I tried to remove it.

These books are consistently hilarious and this one's no exception.

Welcome to the sixth volume of Axe Cop, collecting the third Dark Horse mini-series by the now-10-year-old Malachai Nicolle (time flies!) and his big brother Ethan. Ethan’s introduction suggests this might be the last volume for a while, and given both his busy schedule and Malachai’s refusal to stop aging, it’s hard not to wonder if it might mark the end of the series as we know it.As regular Axe Cop readers know, summarising the plot is rather like herding cats: an ultimately-doomed attempt to impose order on chaos. That said, this collection sees Axe Cop forming a team of axe-themed superheroes, most of whom hail from previous continuity, in order to fight Satan. Yep, that guy. This has proved something of a recurring theme in Ethan Nicolle’s work – see ‘Chumble Spuzz’ for an earlier rumble with the Anti-Christ – but this story really turns the religious anarchy up to six-hundred-and-sixty-six, and where there are devils, there are angels too – and a surprising revelation about Axe Cop’s origin.Highlights? Well, we finally get to meet Mr. Chicken-Chicken Slice (first mentioned in the bonus material for ‘Bad Guy Earth’), who fires roast chickens out of his brain when he closes his eyes, and turns out to be surprisingly pious. Axe Cop’s goat communication surgery (and a surprise involving Axe-Goat) are also classic comedic moments – the latter involves a piece of characterisation that seems to draw inspiration from the Axe Cop cartoon series. And as for the story’s final page – well, if the series is to end, that’s pretty much a perfect image to leave us on. As ever, Ethan’s art is full of the energy, vigour, and wild imagination that have made Axe Cop a hit- I’m particularly keen on his scary designs for the rampaging Axe-Beasts – and it seems likely that if you’ve enjoyed previous insane instalments then this one will prove a hit as well.The volume also includes the ‘Revenge on Rainbow Girl’ story by the guest creative team of Tom Martin and his nieces Charlotte and Amelia. Inevitably, this has a slightly different feel to it than stories by the brothers, but at the same time, it is unmistakeably Axe Cop, and highlights a possible direction for the series to continue – as Malachai grows up, the axe-baton might be passed to a new generation of imaginative youths.On the whole then, a cracking collection – it feels a little fresher than ‘President of the World’ and features an obese tiger painted on the side of an RV. What more do you people want?

In addition to the genius title this is quite a watershed volume. You can see Malachai’s rational intellect coming on in leaps and bounds as the stories, despite their fantastic characters, follow a logical path. This is now more trashy soap opera than Dadaism but still just as much fun.You can see popular culture having a greater impact within the narrative too and it doesn’t take much to see what films and TV he has been watching. You are always afraid that this will be the volume either he or you grow up and it will no longer be funny. Maybe next time.We also see religion, specifically God and Satan, depicted here. You aren’t sure if Malachai or his older sibling are asking the theological questions but religion can either make more or less sense if you are a child. Depicting the divine in cartoons is quite a fraught proposition these days but I don’t think there is anything blasphemous here. The fact that Satan fights using corruption, temptation and deception is thematically spot on.It does seem like there is a plan for the future of Axe Cop. We have a guest story by a new artist and two children. You can feel it harks back to the original anarchy and innocent morality of the original stories and, in time, they would be worthy successors.No Ask Axe Cop but still a Thumbs Up!

Brilliant