Posted in: Comics, Review | Tagged: indie, kickstarter, metalshark bro, scout, scout comics, walt, walter ostile

Metalshark Bro Volume 2 #1 Review: Funniest Comic on Stands

Published Sat, 18 Jul 2020 18:00:54 -0500

Metalshark Bro is everything that Adult Swim in its prime wishes it was. It's a gory, hilarious, action-packed, energetic comic stylized like a cartoon, without the dark cynicism that so much animation for adults has. The first volume took a shark who just wanted to do standard shark things and introduces him to Satan's nephew, who has other plans. The demonic entity creates Metalshark Bro, who is given a list of beings he has to kill before he can go back to his ocean life. The Satanic shark teams up with Ira, a sentient eyeball that has freed itself from the monster's skull in which it belonged, to complete the list and then forcibly free himself from his duty to the Devil. Now, Metalshark Bro is back with Volume 2 from Scout Comics, which begs the question: with the central conflict of the series resolved last time, how will the title continue?

Metalshark Bro Volume 2 #1 cover. Credit: Scout Comics.

Hilariously is the answer. Comics needs more comedy, and writers Bob Frantz and Kevin Cuffe have created an intrinsically funny book. It never feels like it's trying too hard or bending over backward to get to the jokes, but rather draws humor naturally from the situation and the characters. Metalshark Bro and Ira's friendship is at the center of this new volume, and it's… well, for a relationship between an anthropomorphic shark and a disembodied eye with veins for limbs, it's surprisingly, really cute.

As Ira goes on a mission for Hell at a demonic casino, leading to his capture by the secret villain revealed at the end of the book, this new arc introduces a unique setting and characters, which are all brilliant realized by Walter Ostile. Between this and Walter's YouTube channel, where he offers creators advice on making comics, Walter feels like a superstar artist in the making. His designs make gore funny in a way that, under a different artist's pen, would look sickening. Instead, there is a certain light-heartedness to Ostile's work that suites Frantz and Cuffe's writing seamlessly.

All that is to say, if you don't love Scout Comics' Metalshark Bro, then you don't have love in your heart, and I mean, come on.