From the back pages of Image Comics’s smash hit Hoax Hunters, comes American Nature comics by Greg and Fake.
American Nature comics has been appearing in the back pages of Hoax Hunters since issue #2. Greg and Fake’s work is in the vein of Mad Magazine, and contain characters with hamburger shaped heads, aliens, kangaroos, and even spoofs of Hoax Hunters characters. At first, it may be easy to dismiss this and condemn it to the back pages for eternity, but there is something a little deeper here.
In the second trade of Hoax Hunters, a spoof story appears setting those characters in Mexico, searching for the elusive Chupacabra. The way Jack, Regan, Ken, and Murder are drawn, if you’re a fan, is worth the chuckle. Ken’s skin color is very much the indicator of who he is; Jack the ever hulking mass intensified, Regan as the “Face man” of the group and Murder just sticking out like a sore thumb is great. Their search brings them to Hipolito, the fattest goat on the planet, which ousts the Cabra, who is revealed to be a phony in a mask. Before the reveal, however, the Chupacabra appears, looking like a tiny version of Wolverine. The resemblance is pretty uncanny and hilarious.
Greg and Fake have also been publishing original material, including Messenger Boy Social Club, a funny sounding riff on Buena Vista Social Club. In the second part of the story, Chicago’s train system has vanished, and all of the city’s hipsters with it. Well, all but two, as Uncle Dandy and Hipster Nephew descend to Chicago to do God only knows what. In an alternate universe, Boof, one of the people on the vanished train, observes hipsters creating a new bartering system and plans to get them all out of this jam.
Greg and Fake & Co’s work on American Nature is great; laugh out loud funny, while off kilter in a way that leaves you wondering what’s next. It’s reminiscent of Alex Cox’s Repo Man in so many ways. You never know what to expect from these guys, and it’s that freshness that lends itself well to the back pages of Hoax Hunters.
Website: American Nature
Twitter: American Nature
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