The Lejund Continues

Every time another issue of “Chuck Dixon’s Avalon” hits my inbox, my heart skips a beat.

Don’t get me wrong, I like “Alt-Hero: The Series Not Written By The Legend Chuck Dixon”, well enough.  Each issue’s strategy of introducing hordes of named characters that you’d like to see more of but never do because the next issue also has to add six more names to my already overtaxed memory is an exciting and bold new approach to story-telling.  Lawdy mercy, though, the Avalon series makes up for what it lacks in character population with pacing tighter than my sphincter during shower time after I got arrested for ‘public intoxication’ at ‘creating a disturbance’ after crashing my son’s gay wedding and shouting, “It’s not Adam and Steve!”

Ladies love small animals, amirite?

I really thought Fazer was a one-off sleaze-ball meant to provide a darker contrast to King Ace’s noble heroism, but he’s back in Issue Three with a vengeance, and this one is for the ladies.  Imprisoned, he finds a new ally that we know are seriously bad people because he’s really ugly.  Forget Big Bear’s insistence that short people can’t be trusted, we all know comic book physiognomy is as real and real world physiognomy and check out the phizz on the guy that helps bust Exotic Dancer Fazer out of the joint.  I mean, with a grille like that, he has to be British, and we kicked them out of America for a reason.  So it looks like Fazer is getting sucked into the seedy side of Avalon’s underbelly, a victim of circumstance as much as his own bad decision making skills.

Interestingly, King Ace is on a parallel trajectory, but he’s getting sucked into the glitzy side of Avalon’s underbelly, introduced in a splash page with more diversity than a Disney Afternoon Propaganda Hour and Raped Child Actor Extravaganza.

Say, that’s a nice nod to Rob on the German Chick.  I think her codename is Brokeback Mountains.

Working for the man turns out to mean working for the Deep State, as King Ace gets warned to knock off the whole “fighting crime” thing when it comes to crimes that the Powers That Be don’t want fought.  Team UN up there is down with the globohomo sickness and willing to turn the other cheek, but King Ace just can’t let it go and continues to work under the table – this time with the detective who has also been warned off the case.  Our buddy cop movie has turned into a buddy vigilante movie right before our eyes and it happened quick, subtle, and naturally.  The deftness with which Chucky Dix pulled this off is really impressive.

Renato Rei’s art is starting to grow on me.  It’s a little grubby, but given the subject matter, that rough edged style fits the tone perfectly.  Overall, this is my favorite issue to come out of Arkhaven to date, and with the trajectory this outfit is on, I’m starting to consider taking heart medications before opening my email lest I literally die from a busted ticker.  The lejund Chuck Dixon and Vox Day continually surprise me with the work they produce, and together they might surprise my doctor who has been convinced that it would be one of the many venereal diseases that killed me.