Axe Cop: Bad Guy Earth #1 – Review

By: Malachai Nicolle (writer), Ethan Nicolle (art, letters), Dirk Erik Schulz (colors) & Shawna Gore (editor)

The Story: Very roughly… Axe Cop and Dinosaur Soldier have to stop a nefarious plot.

What’s Good: I wish we could have more comics like this.  If you aren’t familiar with the Axe Cop webcomic, (a) you should check it out asap and (b) you are in for a TREAT.  The hook with Axe Cop is that the writer, Malachai Nicolle, is 6 years old.  If you’ve ever heard a young child tell a story, you know that they can come up with some zany things.  Some of this is due to the fact that their story-telling is completely uninhibited and some is due to the fact that they lose track of the story as they unload on you with a stream of consciousness.

Of course, the other half of the magic is Malachai’s artist brother Ethan (30 years old).  Ethan is a terrific artist and brings his little brother’s words to the page with great gusto.  I think the reason it works is that Ethan is playing it 100% straight.  Even on the opening page when Axe Cop takes a drink of water and is accused by a talking hammer of drinking his friend’s (the cup’s) brain, the art never has even an ounce of silliness.  It is 100% hardcore serious stuff down to Axe Cop’s character design (pushbroom mustache + mirrored aviator sunglasses) to the anger lines emanating from the hammer as he yells at Axe Cop.  It is such a smart art choice by Ethan for a couple of reasons.  First, you can “sell” just about any outlandish idea as long as you treat it 100% seriously.  Second, I’m sure when Malachai is telling his brother the story, it is 100% serious to Malachai.  He doesn’t think it is amusing. To him it is a hardcore action story.