by Bob Stevenson
In few works of fiction or fact do tinker-toys mingle with secret
agents, and for good reason. The proposition is a scary one. Steve Hogan's
Acid Keg even manages to make fun of Marcel Duchamp in the process. So
unlike the best Duchamp urinal, we end up with a damn good piece of art.
This is a smart strip that deserves more attention.
Acid Keg is a tale of boy and girl meet T.H.W.A.R.T., S.M.O.O.S.H.,
C.R.U.N.C.H., W.H.A.C.K. and F.R.E.A.K.S., well mostly T.H.W.A.R.T. and
F.R.E.A.K. Oh and I almost forgot Viper, motivational speaker cum
criminal mastermind because, let's face it, most motivational speakers are
just one second-rate-rock-star-kidnapping plot away from becoming the
figure-head of a full-fledged international crime syndicate. Aren't they?
Did Marvel's Modok get his start as a motivational speaker for Hydra?
So far, only F.R.E.A.K. has dropped an acronym to go with all the
punctuation, Freedom Rescuing Elite Agents Kickin' it. As a name, it is at
least as informative as "Strategic Hazard Intervention Espionage
Logistics Directorate" (S.H.I.E.L.D.). Hogan gives a nod to the original secret
agent acronym on page fifteen. He parodies the classic swirling
Steranko cover of Nick Fury Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. number 4, titling his homage
"The Man from F.R.E.A.K. But Acid Keg is only surrounded by secret
agents. At it's heart, this is the tale of two lazy rockers.
The boy, Clive Garrett, can't seem to finish writing his next hit song
and the girl, Helen Highwater, is the bass-playing vocalist he blames
for his unfulfilled delusions of grandeur. Everyone else is undercover,
if barely. While looking for a new drummer, Helen Highwater stumbles
onto F.R.E.A.K. agent, X-99. He's seventy percent kick-ass secret agent
disguised as thirty percent afro charm.
Steve Hogan outdoes nearly every cheesy genre he sets out to exploit.
He has referred to the mix as "James Bond meets Josie and the Pussycats
gone horribly wrong." One would have to add a hint of Johnny Quest (Mr.
Brand, head of T.H.W.A.R.T, bears a striking resemblance to Johnny
Quest's Race Banyon), a dash of the Brady Bunch (Think "Hawaii Bound," the
ones featuring Vincent Price), just a pinch of the wackier moments from
one of the American International beach party films (extra on the
Buster Keaton , Witchdoctors and Cappy's Surf Club, hold the Annette and
Frankie, well, the Frankie anyway), and a healthy portion of Johnny Depp
from Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (the lighter moments of his
inebriated sputtering anyway). There must be a dozen secret ingredients in
there too, but if there's a weak one to be found, it's the similarity to
Undercover Brother, in which Dave Chappel treads lots of the same comedic
territory.
Despite the debt owed to at least a half-dozen of the finest examples
of sixties-plus pop culture wackiness, Acid Keg is an entertaining romp
for both the casual click and a more thorough read. The jokes are
delivered more quickly than the panels, but this is a sharp brand of
one-line humor. In one conversation, Mr. Brand flatters the devious spy-gal,
Blood Rose, saying, "You're ruthless, efficient and deadly. Hiring you
away from network programming was one of our finest decisions." When
agent X-99 is offered an audition to become the drummer for the Modern
Situation's, he thinks, "The perfect cover! My collection of Mel Bay
instructional manuals was a wise investment." Lots of these panels reek with
wit. Shortly after Clive discovers Lionel is indeed a F.R.E.A.K. agent,
Helen notes that she "... noticed he had a card in his wallet that
said, 'LTK' in bold letters. 'That's a license to kill' and only real
secret agents have those." These are no mere punch lines, nestled between
three panels of setup and cool down. There are bits and bits of sprinkled
wit, sometimes forced yet the strip never bogs down to serve up the
next crumb.
The confident and fast-paced delivery and story is a good match for
Hogan's line-work. He's testing the boundaries of vector-art, not trying
to hide his reliance on Flash, but embracing it. The result is the best
Flash-based comic art on the internet. There is plenty of web-comic
experimentation involving Flash out there, but almost all of it is focused
on the potential for delivery and animation rather than on the art.
Acid Keg flaunts the potential of flash as a substitute for that
much-loved Windsor Newton series 7 number two sable brush. And he seems to do it
without the templates too many web-cartoonists have been relying on
lately.
Acid Keg has several weaknesses, but only one gets in the way of all
that rampant hip. Acid Keg predates the current story-line by nearly
sixty strips, but they are a disjointed warm-up. Wandering through the
archives, the roots of much of the style in the latest story-line can be
discovered. There is even a prototype for Clive and some flirting with
the secret agent theme. Most of the early strips do work well as
individual strips, but in sequence most of this material falls far short of
excellent.
Throughout the archives, Steve plays with the concept of the
intermission. Froot Pants and Mouse pop up more than once in the middle of the
Laura Mercy story arc. Thankfully, Steve uses the tool much less
frequently in the latest incarnation of Acid Keg. Still, the only one that
works isn't really an intermission at all. In the midst of the adventure,
Steve spends a page away from the main story to run a Toku-Buri travel
brochure that is priceless. It reads, in part, "Welcome to exotic
Toku-Buri, the island surrounded by water. Bask in the sun on our
native-free beaches," two sentences, two moments of Acid Keg's best kind of
humor, layered, subtle commentary on this freaky little world of ours.
-and the bottle of Campari said to the shotglass, "I really should
never have told you that it would be a good idea to repeatedly yell out
'I've got a lovely pair of coconuts!' while attending the Grammys." To
which she replied, "It seemed so rock n' roll at the time."
