Meet Genealdo & Maxence In Bebop & Rocksteady Hit The Road #2

The EPF is hot on the heels of a de-mutated Bebop and Rocksteady as the bumbling duo make their way back to New York City. They consider going on the straight and narrow and getting real jobs. Can these two thugs put aside their life of crime to go legit? You probably know the answer to that.

Bebop and Rocksteady…or rather, Genealdo and Maxence (those are seriously their real names?!), are so far removed from the lives of normal people that they don’t know where to start once they decide to get actual jobs. They literally point to someone on the street and ask them where to go to get them.
This leads to an amazing montage of odd jobs. Artist Ben Bates fills a double-page spread with a variety of careers ranging from dishwasher to yoga instructor to door-to-door knife salesman. He even fits in an homage to that classic I Love Lucy episode with the conveyor belt of chocolates.

As outlandish as Bebop & Rocksteady look as mutants, they look just as crazy as humans. Colorist Brittany Peer makes these two pop off the page in glorious purples and reds. They’re the kind of people that you can’t help but notice. They just don’t fit into normal society which is probably why they’re having such a hard time finding regular jobs.
This issue reminds me a bit of the latest incarnation of Archie. Despite their best intentions, Bebop & Rocksteady cause chaos wherever they go, just like Archie Andrews. Somehow they turn a stack of dirty dishes and a sink full of water to a towering inferno.

Bates does these jumps a few times throughout Bebop & Rocksteady Hit the Road #2. Under normal circumstances, they wouldn’t work, but there’s just enough information to fill in the blanks between the gutters. For example, there’s a great shot of the two of them looking down at a driver. The next panel shows them smearing blood off the windshield and the driver is nowhere to be found. You can probably put the pieces together to figure out what happened.
It’s pretty amazing to see just how stupid these two characters are. They have no concept of how the world works at all. They might as well be aliens. It’s pretty funny to see how the dynamic between them shifts as Rocksteady gets a steady job and leaves Bebop behind. Writer Dustin Weaver fills this scene (and the entire issue honestly) with solid jokes and hilarious dialogue.

Of course, these two can’t quite escape their past which leads to a total bloodbath. When they embrace their violent tendencies, they let loose with a war cry of sorts reaffirming who they are. I love how letterer Shawn Lee does this as it’s a big, bold balloon with a rockstar font that is perfectly fitting for these characters.
Bebop & Rocksteady Hit the Road is like a Saturday morning cartoon seen through a fever dream. It’s fast-paced, over-the-top, and absolutely hilarious. I can’t wait to see what other antics these two get into next.
Bebop & Rocksteady Hit the Road #2 from IDW Publishing is currently available at your local comic shop and digitally through ComiXology and Amazon Kindle.