Krayons Ego edited by Jesse Reklaw and Karen Sneider

This is an anthology of parodies of the well-respected indie comics anthology, Kramer's Ergot. Now, this has been done before. Kurt Wolfgang did it in Low Jinx #3, Ed Brubaker and Sam Henderson and others did it in Deceased Corpse, and Johnny Ryan performed his own version of it in the recently expanded Comic Book Holocaust. This comic and Low Jinx both went for the method of cartoonists (there is a list of contributors, but they are uncredited as far as who drew what) picking specific creators and doing stories in the style of the original, but parodying the content. As an example, see the above panel from the parody of Tom Gauld's one page musings on famous authors. In this series of one-pagers, comic creators like Sammy Harkham are treated to ridicule in an artistic style that very accurately apes Gauld's. A few other Ergot contributors are targeted, but then the conspirators move onto bigger and more famous subjects, seeking and destroying James Kochalka, Craig Thompson, publishers Top Shelf and AdHouse, and even parodying a parody by carving up Johnny Ryan.

Now I used a lot of non-commital synonyms for parody in that last paragraph, but the fact is, I love this shit. I very much enjoy nearly every creator that is satirized, and when the stories are brutally mean but still funny, I enjoy it nearly as much as reading the originals. I especially appreciate the fact that they take on creators that are so critically respected. Most people are willing to take potshots at Craig Thompson, but I thought Paper Rad and Mat Brinkman were unassailable. All the better, they are just as rough when it comes to these guys. It just goes to show that you can't successfully parody without a familiarity or a love for the source material.

The art in this book is surprisingly strong. As I mentioned above, individual stories are uncredited, but the artists listed do a fantastic job of aping their respective comics. Art is credited to Tom Neely, M. Campos, Clutch (link?), Josh Frankel, Sarah Oleksyk, Jesse Reklaw and Karen Sneider. I don't know who's responsible, but the artists in charge of the parodies of Tom Gauld, Craig Thompson and Jeffrey Brown perform an excellent job of facsimile. They get the art just right, and they tear apart the tropes that those artists (over)use. The James Kochalka, Paper Rad and John Porcellino swipes come close, but there are giveaways that cause you to see the hand of the parodist at work.

The writing is strong, and only occasionally do the stories fall into the very trap that they accuse Johnny Ryan of, namely falling back on sex, drug and shit jokes when they don't have a ninsightful target in mind. The rest of the time, though, the hits are accurate enough to make me wince for the recipient.