CREDIT: Oni Press
Rating: 4.5/5 – Fialkov + Fleecs = Funny!
by ComicSpectrum EiC Bob Bretall
I found Jeff Steinberg to be laugh out loud funny. I’ve been a fan of Joshua Fialkov for years. Elk’s Run, Tumor, Echoes, The Bunker. Not exactly full of laffs. But he does funny too: Punks, King, and The Life After. This is the story of a working guy, some might consider him a slacker, who is thrust into an extraordinary situation when aliens come knocking on Earth’s door. This was available at the San Diego Comic Con and will be in your Local Comic Shop on August 3rd.
Jeff Steinberg Champion of Earth is, to my mind, firmly in the “Kevin Smith movie” vein of comedy, which I mean as a compliment. Broadly humorous and set in a mundane environment where the humor is derived in equal parts from the dialogue and the art, where Tony Fleecs nails it with body language and facial expressions to perfectly match the words and situations. Fleecs is perhaps best know for his work on My Little Pony (which you can either love him for or hold against him depending on your point of view) and he’s great match for this series…the look on the little kids faces when they see Steinberg on the jumbo-tron in Times Square is worth the price of admission by itself.
I’ve seen the “aliens come to judge Earth” story numerous times, but never quite like this version delivered by Fialkov & Fleecs. They want the person on Earth who is exerting the most willpower to represent the human race in their tests. Suffice to say, they don’t end up with a Green Lantern candidate. The act of will that qualifies Steinberg is not Hal Jordan-esque. It’s not something we’d see Guy Garnder doing. Maybe G’nort, but I don’t think G’nort would need to exert the willpower Steinberg does to accomplish the task. It’s low humor, to be sure, but I found it to be damn funny nonetheless. The F-Force of Fialkov & Fleecs are just getting started in this double sized opening issue. I’m looking forward to where the story takes us next, I’m betting it’s going to be fabulously facetious fun!
Reviewed by: Bob Bretall
(bob@comicspectrum.com)
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