‘The Goon: A Place of Heartache and Grief’ – Eric Powell (Dark Horse)
I had a filthy rotten cold yesterday and I'll be honest, I don't feel much better today. Just a couple more days to get through and then I'm on leave... (keep telling yourself that Graeme, just keep telling yourself)
I did take some time to read 'A Place of Heartache and Grief', last night, but I need to concentrate on work today (that's going to be hard enough, I do like to have a moan when I get a cold...) so I'm enlisting the help of 'past me' with the actual post. He didn't have a cold, when he posted, as I seem to recall ;o) I've left a paragraph or two out, and changed a couple of bits here and there, so if you want the full original post (and to see what my posts looked like in 2009) then just click Here. With the usual pre-amble done then, let me tell you about 'A Place of Heartache and Grief'...
It’s been three months since the Zombie Priest’s demonic creations (‘Chug-Heads’, the offspring of Mother Corpse) made their appearance on Lonely Street, swinging things back in favour of the Zombie Priest and against the Goon and Franky. Our unlikely heroes have got their work cut out for them but so has the Zombie Priest as his determination to win has pushed things way too far, even for his own kind.
The reappearance of old foes (and an old friend) is a sign of something big is brewing on Lonely Street and it might just be beyond the Goon's ability to handle. Things are never going to be the same again...
Powell is still playing for laughs and there are plenty of them in ‘A Place of Heartache and Grief’. The Goon’s treatment of Franky, over the bird women incident, had the guy sat next to me asking why I was laughing out loud for no apparent reason. Likewise any part of the book where the Little Unholy Bastards make an appearance. Franky is always good for a chuckle as well, especially when we get to see what he dreams about as well as learning the important lesson of not eating anything that a zombie has cooked (especially coconut cake)...
The laughs take second place though to the big event that this book is heralding. Things are different now. The Goon has been used to relying on brute force to power his way through everything but the stuff happening now has him totally foxed, especially when an old face, from his past, returns. This approach adds a new twist to things that injects the story with a new burst of freshness whilst, at the same time, giving us all the familiar stuff that I love. We get to hear a lot more of what the Goon is thinking and this opens another window into the mind of a character that is becoming ever more complex.
The dialogue is as sharp and quirky as ever but this time round it was the panels with no dialogue at all that were particularly intense and emotional. I’m a big fan of Powell’s artwork (especially in the later ‘Goon’ books) but the facial expressions he draws here really tugged at me with the rawness on display. The death of Norton’s mother, Goon’s first glimpse of Labrazio and the subsequent trip to the graveyard are the stand out moments for me.
I've always seen 'The Goon' as essential reading but even after a number of re-reads, it never fails to surprise me how much more Powell finds in the tank to keep things moving. I know I keep saying it but the best is still to come.
I did take some time to read 'A Place of Heartache and Grief', last night, but I need to concentrate on work today (that's going to be hard enough, I do like to have a moan when I get a cold...) so I'm enlisting the help of 'past me' with the actual post. He didn't have a cold, when he posted, as I seem to recall ;o) I've left a paragraph or two out, and changed a couple of bits here and there, so if you want the full original post (and to see what my posts looked like in 2009) then just click Here. With the usual pre-amble done then, let me tell you about 'A Place of Heartache and Grief'...
The reappearance of old foes (and an old friend) is a sign of something big is brewing on Lonely Street and it might just be beyond the Goon's ability to handle. Things are never going to be the same again...
Powell is still playing for laughs and there are plenty of them in ‘A Place of Heartache and Grief’. The Goon’s treatment of Franky, over the bird women incident, had the guy sat next to me asking why I was laughing out loud for no apparent reason. Likewise any part of the book where the Little Unholy Bastards make an appearance. Franky is always good for a chuckle as well, especially when we get to see what he dreams about as well as learning the important lesson of not eating anything that a zombie has cooked (especially coconut cake)...
The laughs take second place though to the big event that this book is heralding. Things are different now. The Goon has been used to relying on brute force to power his way through everything but the stuff happening now has him totally foxed, especially when an old face, from his past, returns. This approach adds a new twist to things that injects the story with a new burst of freshness whilst, at the same time, giving us all the familiar stuff that I love. We get to hear a lot more of what the Goon is thinking and this opens another window into the mind of a character that is becoming ever more complex.
The dialogue is as sharp and quirky as ever but this time round it was the panels with no dialogue at all that were particularly intense and emotional. I’m a big fan of Powell’s artwork (especially in the later ‘Goon’ books) but the facial expressions he draws here really tugged at me with the rawness on display. The death of Norton’s mother, Goon’s first glimpse of Labrazio and the subsequent trip to the graveyard are the stand out moments for me.
I've always seen 'The Goon' as essential reading but even after a number of re-reads, it never fails to surprise me how much more Powell finds in the tank to keep things moving. I know I keep saying it but the best is still to come.
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