Carl is the Awesome Vol 1

Posted: Tuesday, November 22, 2005
By: Darren Schroeder

Creator: Marcos Pérez
Publisher: Cliffface Comics (Self Published)
Address: 247 Montgomery St. Apt 4, Jersey City, NJ, 07302, USA.
Price: $2(US)

Carl is a six foot tall dinosaur thing whose huge self-confidence expresses itself in a constant steams of claims of domination over the spheres of chatting up women, rock music, and politics. In the four separate monologues in this collection of A6 mini-comics he regales the reader with declarations of his magnificence and and offers advice to those less fortunate then himself. I learnt a lot from Carl, and feel you will too.

The four mini-comics come collected in a rather attractive slip-case arrangement and combine humor and wisdom in a robust mix. Carl is depicted as wilfully childlike in his insistence on telling the reader every thought that enters his head. The topic he covers are sometimes adult in nature, but he lacks any ability to censor himself and no shame in the company of others.

The illustrations are cartoonish in style, with a cuteness that works particularly well with the human characters. Marcos draws women with pretty face and sexy outfits without them turning out tacky or cheap. Carl himself is a cutie as well, and would not be out of place on nursery wallpaper.

The are a satisfying number of laughs in these comics, with many coming from the awkward sentence structures Carl speaks in. Along with a strange vocabulary, this suggests that English might be this dinosaur's second language. If there is any justice in the world Carl will soon be hosting a daytime talk show where he could solve the world's problems and pick up housewives with equal aplomb.

Is the Word: Boisterous!!!

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