‘The Goon Volume 4: Virtue and the Grim Consequences Thereof’ – Eric Powell (Dark Horse)

So I gave up on yesterday as a bad job (ok, it wasn’t that bad actually but I was still done with it…) and spent the evening reading instead. And it’s been a few weeks since I last read/posted about ‘The Goon’ so I figured it was time to revisit Lonely Street and see what’s been happening while I’ve been away. Quite a lot as it turns out, let me tell you about it (along with the usual disclaimer, I’m a huge fan etc...)

Lonely Street is beset by more than just zombies when Doctor Hieronymous Alloy returns to his old, mad-science ways, unleashing man-eating eyeballs and an army of giant robots on the unsuspecting town. The Goon and Franky must travel to a freakish alternate dimension for a cure to the malady that has driven Alloy insane. But this and other acts of heroism are rewarded with pain and grief.

As our hero journeys through time and through space, he learns all about virtue and the grim consequences thereof…

There’s a little bit of everything in ‘ Virtue and the Grim Consequences Thereof’; we’ve got some backstory, we’ve got a ‘Goon-centric’ version of ‘A Christmas Carol’ for some reason (I mean yep, they have to collect all the stories* but it doesn’t quite fit here) and we’re slowly building up the story around the battle with the Zombie Priest. Mostly though, what we’re all about here is that creeping realisation that no good deed goes unpunished, especially if you’re the Goon and Franky. All the best intentions in the world end up in fights with Giant Robots, a dead football team and a bunch of Little Unholy Bastards; it really makes you wonder why the Goon bothers. Well, it’s funny for us (not the dead football team, that was sad, the rest of it) and Powell isn’t afraid to chuck as much weirdness as he can at the proceedings in order to get those laughs (and he does, the combination of artwork and dialogue never misses). The Goon isn’t fazed at all, just exasperated that he’s having to go through this again. What we’re also seeing though are signs of a battle going on within the Goon himself. He hates himself and can only see a life of crime as his future but also, he just wants to do the right thing at the same time. And somehow, he manages to do both, even though it costs him every time. And don’t forget our blank eyed little psycho Franky, the best friend a crime boss could ever hope for. That’s the other thing we come to understand in this volume, a little friendship goes a long way (quite literally when you find yourself in another dimension as a favour to Doctor Alloy…)

There’s plenty here to make you laugh but it can be sobering stuff at the same time; that’s life on Lonely Street.

A quick word on the art here… It feels like Powell has stepped up his game a little bit here. The characters have always been well defined, now it feels like Lonely Street itself is catching up. The end result is just captivating. I still wouldn’t want to live there but I find myself just taking a few extra minutes away from the plot to just sit and look at the bleak beauty of Lonely Street.

I’m going to leave it here for today but was wondering, anyone else here read ‘The Goon’? Leave a comment and let me know.

* But they never collected 'Satan's Sodomy Baby', I can't think why...