SHARKNIFE VOL. 1 REVIEW

[Ryan Day]

Reviewer: Ryan Day Dreamhunter00@hotmail.com

Sharknife!!! Save the pineapple bar!!!

Written & Illustrated By: Corey S. Lewis (www.reyyy.com)
Grayscale colouring by: Alejandro Fuentes
Published by: Oni Press
Reading Sharknife is not unlike playing a round of Street Fighter with a seasoned arcade veteran: You drop in your quarter, pick your character, watch a brief introduction, and before you know it you're being absolutely pummelled by a relentless barrage of flying kicks and secret super moves. You frantically press all the buttons in desperate, random order, but to no avail: You're completely at the mercy of flashing colours and swirling pixels.

Sharknife is what you'd get if the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers were cool and slightly ironic, or if the fight scene at the end of Scott Pilgrim went on for the entire book. It's a strange and energetic fusion of manga and indie comics sensibilities, with a healthy dollop of video games thrown in for spice.

The plot is simple, bordering on non-existent: The five-story Guangdong Factory Chinese restaurant is the toast of the town. Such a toast that it's infringing on the business of local Yakuza gangster boss Ombra Ravenga. So Ravenga does what any self respecting Yakuza would do: He injects monster eggs into the walls of the Guangdong Factory. But he didn't take into account the secret weapon and sacred protector of the Guangdong Factory: Sharknife!

After explaining all this to the reader via supersexy and cool Chieko Momuza, Corey Lews jumps straight into the mayhem. The story goes something like this: Crab monsters attack. Sharknife fights them. Sharknife's alter-ego, busboy Caesar Halleluja, chats with Chieko. Octopus-jellyfish monster attacks. Sharknife fights it. Eggroll-consuming bear monster attacks. Sharknife and the Spice Cadets (superpowered eggroll chefs) fight it.

If that sounds silly, it's probably because it is. Sharknife is less about plot and character than it is about pop culture madness. Lewis throws in details and tidbits about all the characters, monsters and settings: He diagrams Chieko's appearance, noting her fabulous teeth and two dogs named after Family Ties siblings. Each new monster is introduced as it appears, like the Alkiki Crabs: "Devilish crustacean with a massive hunger for pineapple." All of Sharknife's supercool special moves are explained, like the Babylon Chalice and the Swallow Pump. The dastardly Ombra Ravenga's career is explained in terms of his wardrobe.

Lewis' art seems to be powered on pure enthusiasm. Sharknife looks like the work of a top graffiti artist who switched from spraypaint to pencil and ink and decided to pursue a career in the manga industry. There's an insane amount of stuff going on in every panel, particularly when the monsters show up. The action sequences are filled with enough sound effects to make Adam West blush: "SHOX!" "DMMM!" and "SHWAA!" are just a few. The down side is that things occasionally become so chaotic that it can be hard to follow the action; from time to time it's hard to tell who's slamming, flipping and blasting who.

It's quite likely that some people will think all of this is incredibly stupid. If you have a sense of humour akin to, say, Donald Rumsfeldt, Sharknife is probably not the book for you. Also, you probably suck. If, on the other hand, you're a fan of books like Scott Pilgrim and Street Angel or films like Kill Bill Vol. 1 and Shaolin Soccer, Sharknife is pretty much a must-read.

ART:


STORY:


OVERALL:

[Kevin Sutton]

That sounds pretty fun. I'll probably give it a look in the shop next time I'm out there.

[James Groves]

This sounds really funky. It's not a normal avenue i look at to get my comic book fix, but this sounds weird, whacky and a lot of fun. I'll check this out next week. Excellent review, Ry.

[Anand Khatri]

This seems like a lot of fun. Not really my taste but I'll still take a look at it. The cover looks ill though.

btw...Great Review!