In Review – Stalkerville

By Antony Esmond on October 23, 2014 • ( 1 )

Written and drawn by Vincent Hunt

Warning: This review is not for the sqeamish or under 18s! You Have Been Warned

You know when you come back from holiday and you are back at work for that first day? Dreadful isn’t it. Feel like calling in sick don’t you? I can tell you what you do need. You need a strip collection that deals in uncomfortable conversations about bum sex, blood, guts, veggie burgers, etc.

Hell, we all need that!

I’ll be honest with you. Even the rambling introduction to this book made me laugh.

Harking back to those pre industrial days of MySpace.com we get a collection of strips from Stalkerville. Previously printed on that social networking site was this set of stories about strange creatures living out their abnormal lives.

The stories are told as punchy four panel newspaper style strips. How they differ from regular newspaper strips these days is that they are ‘X rated’ and actually funny. We meet characters such as Norton’, a reformed human mutant who has a habit of eating small animals, Doctor Gary, the mad scientist, creator of abominations. And then there’s anti-social a**hole and Derek, the spirit of a dead illusionist, as mad as a fish with a bad case of tourettes…

You can see where this is going.

Stalkerville is all based in the same street/neighbourhood and the interactions between the characters are sometimes everyday, sometimes murderous and often both. It’s literally packed full of content and is 93 pages long.

Look, let’s be honest. It’s not really for the under 18 year old crowd. The humour had me laughing straightaway but you got to be careful these days with mentions of “I eat my own poo!” and extreme sexual activity. Am I right? But for those above the age of legal consent this is flippin’ hilarious. I loved every page of it, of which there are many.

I chatted to Vince at the recent Nottingham Comic Convention and he has been thinking about releasing this as a collection for some time now. His ongoing title The Red Mask from Mars is a really fun monster fighter/B.P.R.D./The Goon style book so I’m glad he took the chance with Stalkerville. Clearly, it’s the sort of book that your friends will enjoy when visiting or you can leave alongside VIZ in the toilet as reading material.

It’s not for everyone. But if you don’t like it I will be very judgemental of you!

This volume is going to be released at the Thoughbubble UK Comics Festival in November priced £7 and after that Vince is hoping for a digital roll out. You really do need to get your hands on a copy.

• You can find the creator over at www.theredmaskfrommars.com or on Twitter @jesterdiablo. You can check out some art and other stuff over at Vince’s blog www.jesterdiablo.blogspot.com

Many thanks for reading.