Advance Review: Not All Funerals Suck In `Quick Stops’ #2
by Tom Smithyman
Overview
If dense plotlines and serious material are your thing, this is definitely not the book for you. But if you’re able to find the humor in just about any situation – the raunchier, the better – then this series set in Kevin Smith’s move universe, may be just what you’re looking for.
Overall
9/10Leave it to Kevin Smith to turn a solemn occasion like a funeral into an occasion for irreverent humor. Also, leave it to Smith to make it downright hilarious.
Set in Smith’s so-called “Askewniverse,” Quick Stops goes behind the scenes of movies like Clerks, Chasing Amy and Dogma to tell never-before-told fictional tales of life in New Jersey. The second installment of this black-and-white anthology series deals with Randal from Clerks and Brodie from Mallrats, whose cousin Walter has just died. A tragic occurrence to be sure, made all the more unfortunate by the manner of Walter’s death: He broke his neck while trying to reach…himself.
Randal and Brodie spend most of the issue reminiscing about Walter and his sexual…well issues. There was the time he got a cat stuck in his anus, which gave him his 15 minutes of fame when Jay Leno joked about him. In a flashback, the pair recounted how, after Batman debuted in 1989, they took to the streets as vigilantes. There, they met their nemesis, Count Cockula – Walter – who painted a massive penis and testicles on their car. While the two got their revenge, they end up seeing a lot more than they bargained for.
Smith clearly isn’t going for sophisticated humor or much in the way of plot here, but funny is still funny. If potty humor isn’t your thing, stay away. Then again, if it’s not, you’re probably not a huge Smith fan anyway.
Artist Phillip Hester pencils the issue, along with inks from Ande Parks. The duo’s cover alone – an homage to George Perez’ Crisis on Infinite Earth #7 cover which has Superman holding the dead body of Supergirl – is worth the price of the issue. Hester does a good job with the rest of the material, which isn’t an easy task given some of the subject matter. If nothing else, he keeps it classy.
Classy isn’t a word typically associate with Smith’s work, of course. But that doesn’t make it any less enjoyable. After all, who else can make a funeral this much fun?
Quick Stops #2 will be available for purchase on December 7, 2022.
