Review time! with ‘Pinupocalypse’

“I didn’t get this here baby just a choppin’ on wood, I got eight slappin’ pistons right here under my hood”

Some people in the past have accused me of not liking things because I’m no fun, which hurts my feelings. I like goofy things just fine, but some things that people accuse me of not liking because I’m not fun are just crappy — poorly done, poorly drawn, and “fun” in the way fart noises are fun. I know that there is a section of the population that thinks fart noises and fart jokes are always funny, but I am not one of them. The absolute stupidest scene in Blazing Saddles is the farting scene. YOU KNOW IT’S TRUE!!!! My point is that if a comic is fun in a fun way, and not just in the way that so many other things are “fun,” there’s a pretty good chance I’ll enjoy it. I say this because I kind of love Pinupocalypse, which comes to us from Andrew Tarusov (who writes and draws), Brendan Jones (who co-writes), Igor Vyunyshov and Adelya Adienova (who assist with the coloring), and Vladislov Troshin (who letters). Is it a good comic? Well, let’s not get too hasty. It does, however, come to us from Massive Publishing, cost $19.99, and comes in at 157 pages, which ain’t a bad chunk o’ comics.

As I noted, I kind of love this gloriously stupid zombie comic, because Tarusov simply revels in the clichés and keeps piling them on, one after the other, with such goofy aplomb that you have to admire him. He and Jones begin … well, the first page begins in media res, so of course it’s going to start at 100 mph, but let’s say Page 3, where we learn that we’re in “Pinupolis,” California. Because of course we are! Foxy (who narrates that it’s her 18th birthday, because we can’t have fanboys lusting after underage girls, can we?) is a very stereotypical 1950s teen living in a stereotypical 1950s household — her mother wears a dress, a pearl necklace, and full make-up to serve mounds of pancakes for breakfast, her father sits around at the table smoking (not a pipe, weirdly enough) and reading the newspaper. As she heads into town to buy a birthday dress, she almost gets in an accident with a tough guy and his girlfriend, Roxy (yep, Foxy and Roxy), who defends Foxy a bit against her boyfriend’s obnoxiousness. As Foxy is trying on her dress, there’s a big explosion and it seems everyone turns into a zombie. Um, what? As she leaves the store, the boyfriend (now a zombie, of course) attacks her, but Roxy shows up and shoots him in the head. What in the heck is going on, and why are Foxy and Roxy the only ones in town who are not zombies? They try to navigate the town and figure out what’s going on, and then … the aliens show up. Well, of course they do!

Tarusov leans into the 1950s stereotypes, but it’s all for fun. Foxy, as I noted, is a stereotypical “1950s good girl,” while Roxy is a stereotypical “1950s bad girl,” with the cigarette and the cool sunglasses and the leather jacket and tight jeans. She and Foxy try to figure things out, of course, but it’s clear from the beginning that Roxy kind of digs Foxy, so while she’s keeping a level head about the zombies and then the aliens, she’s also trying to get Foxy out of her comfort zone, while Foxy, as a stereotypical 1950s good girl, can’t even conceive of a romantic relationship with Roxy. The book might look like it takes place in the 1950s, but of course it’s progressive, and Foxy slowly begins to reciprocate Roxy’s feelings. Tarusov has some fun with some “sex comedy” hijinks throughout, but there’s also a nice depth of feeling as the two young ladies get closer to each other. There is, of course, a bunch of wacky action, and Roxy and Foxy have to be tough and smart, and it’s a lot of fun, but it’s nice that Tarusov pays attention to his two leads, as well, and tells a somewhat charming love story in between all the wacky action.

Tarusov has fun with the art, too. He has a nice, clean style that’s vaguely cartoonish, which allows him to get in some gore without being too “realistic” and therefore ruining the tone of the story. Both Foxy and Roxy are hot, of course, but Tarusov does a nice job differentiating them, as they live on different sides of the tracks. Zombies aren’t really a Fifties phenomenon, but aliens are, and Tarusov does a nice job homaging that, and he also does a nice homage to Attack of the 50 Foot Woman, because if you’re doing a pastiche of the 1950s B-movies, you kind of have to, don’t you? He also does a nice job with the way the two characters interact with each other — the “sex comedy” hijinks work really well, and Tarusov has them react both embarrassingly and longingly to the moments when they’re thrown together. As they get closer, he does well with the softening of both characters, Roxy because her tough-girl façade begins to fall away, Foxy because she realizes that loving a woman isn’t evil, and it’s impressive how he shows this on their faces. It’s a packed book, too — Tarusov is pretty good at storytelling, and he crams a lot into this entire book. There’s a lot going on, people!

As I noted, this isn’t a great comic. But I still kind of love it, because it’s so unashamedly ridiculous and even clichéd, but because Tarusov commits so hard to the bit, it just barrels along really nicely. Tarusov gives us just enough character development that it’s not just a pastiche, and he just has a lot of fun with the entire premise. There is a possibility of a sequel, so we’ll see what’s what. I’ll probably check it out, based on this comic!

Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ½ ☆ ☆ ☆