Oedipus Meets Scarface: ‘Son of the Gun’ Reviewed
by Tito W. James
Summary
Jodorowsky’s take on a Scarface-styled gangster tale feels right at home with his despot turned messiah stories like El Topo.
Bess’s artwork accells at bringing all of the crime, debachery, and violence to life. All set against a surreal desert backdrop.
Overall
8/10
Alejandro Jodorowsky and Georges Bess blew my mind with The White Lama, so I was eager to see more from this creative duo. Much like Jodorowsky’s film, El Topo, Son of the Gun follows the journey of a young bandit turned messiah in a magical realistic world of crime and villainy.
Nursed on a gun barrel and born with a tail, Juan Solo behaves more like a beast than a man and quickly makes waves in the criminal underworld. Jodorowsky blends iconography from The Bible, Oedipus, The Jungle Book, Dick Tracy, and Scarface, to deliver a crime story like no other.
Bess’s supreme draftsmanship and color choices make even the crime-ridden slums of South America look like surreal dream worlds. It’s this dreamlike quality to the art that allows the story’s bizarre elements to resonate without seeming too ridiculous.
Son of the Gun is an incredibly dark and depraved story from the “Theater of Cruelty,” lavishly rendered on the page. I have no doubt the taboos explored will be too much for some people. However, reading the subtext behind the cruelty is what mades the story so impactful.
Son of The Gun is available now from Humanoids.
