THE GINGERDEAD MAN #1 IS THE COMIC YOUR MOM WARNED YOU ABOUT

Hey, I know what you’re thinking. You’re thinking “If only there was a comic book out there about a talking, murderous, pun-quipping gingerbread cookie!”

Well, ye of incredibly specific desires, you need more friends! But until then, you’re in luck. Action Lab Entertainment has just put out the next entry in their series collaboration with the B-movie maestros at Full Moon Features. The Gingerdead Man #1, written by Brockton McKinney (Ehmm Theory, Zoe Dare vs. Disasteroid) with art by Sergio Rios, and Marcello Costa, brings the titular killer confection back in a book that’s exactly what you’d expect from the title — and that’s not a bad thing.

The setup for the story is one as old as time: When serial killer Millard Findlemeyer ‘s ashes find their way into a bewitched batch of cookies, the madman is brought back to life as a vulgar, knife-wielding gingerbread man.

I mean c’mon, how many times have you heard that story?

The first comic arc — which bears the ultimate see-what-we-did-there title “Baking Bad”) takes things a step further when Findlemeyer’s remains get mixed a potent new drug (fitting called “confection”) which gives the bite-sized maniac new powers to inflict upon the masses.

If that description makes you think this would be a hard book to take seriously, you’re not wrong. Good news is, the comic’s creators didn’t either. Instead, McKinney and company crafted a loving tribute to B-movie lore that, unlike me in my Hot Topic-patronizing years, is completely comfortable in its own skin. The story is full of careful self-awareness, often winking at the reader as if to say, “We know why you’re here. Let’s just have fun.” And it succeeds. In 24 fast, bloody, vulgar-as-all-hell pages, McKinney brings the reader into a blissfully genre-centric world of culinary mayhem and pun-popping madness. The thrills may be simple, but that makes them no less sphincter-tighteningly awesome, which let’s be honest is a phrase you’ll be using at work tomorrow.

For Rios’ part, the illustrations carefully walk the tightrope between being too cartoonish or too gritty, allowing you still laugh at the moments of gore and nastiness without them losing their grizzly punch. And that jab is followed by a solid uppercut from Costa’s vivid coloring job, which I imagine was mostly spent selecting which shades of red best fit the blood coming out of which particular orifice.

The Gingerdead Man may not exactly contribute to a life of the mind, but it’s a damn fun piece of the bizarre that does what it sets out to do in spades: kick ass, take names, and make puns. And I have a feeling it’s not nearly out of puns.

Originally published at www.internetpicnic.com on March 7, 2016.