Massive Awesome #1
Written by Stephen Lindsay
Art by Rolf Lejdegard
215Ink
Price: $2.99; Release date: February 19, 2010

You will believe a piece of bacon can kick ass.

I wasn’t sure what to expect when I heard the title for this book. I mean, Massive Awesome? That could be anything, and when you name your comic something like that you better live up to it. Well, this one has lived up to that title, and if you’re a fan of goofy action films, then this is the kind of comic that you will enjoy. What lies in the pages of this book is the tale of a renegade special forces operative who just happens to be a piece of bacon. Oh, and his best friend is a pickle who thinks he’s a zombie, but really isn’t. And they fight ninjas. Have I got you yet?

Yes, this book is goofy as hell. There’s no greater meaning to the plot, there’s no great mystery to solve. This is Schwarzenegger’s Commando in comic form. This can be said of a lot of the stuff that writer Stephen Lindsay writes. If you’ve read his other work, he always finds a way to bring the fun to every project he works on. There is just something about the concept of this book that puts a smile on my face when I think about it. And of course, if you are a fan of Lindsay’s Jesus Hates Zombies series, you’re going to have to pick this up for the full-color back-up story in the issue.

The art by Rolf Lejdegard adds to the fun of the issue, keeping the action exciting, and he is a great artist for this project. He has a lot of exciting layouts on his pages and there is a definite manga influence to his pages. Really though, the best thing about the art on this book is the fun and humor that Lejdegard gives to the main characters. Regardless of how ridiculous the plot may be, the art matches that ridiculousness and makes you buy into it. Is the art without flaws? Not really. There’s some work to be done on his regular people and no one likes to see photoshop images dropped in so obviously, but it’s the fighting bacon that I remember, and it’s that same piece of bacon that I like so much, and that’s what’s important.

If you can deal with the crazy premise of this book, you will find a that it’s exciting, funny, and definitely worth the read. I’ll be curious to see if the joke can last more than a few issues, but it’s good as a one-off gag. This is a very enjoyable book, and it earns its 4 ass-kicking pork products out of 5 rating.