Tuesday, June 18, 2013

C2E2 2013 REVIEW: HYPER-ACTIVELY ATTENTION DEFI--LET'S GO!



[DEPT. OF FULL DISCLOSURE:  I know Josh Filer, and I consider him a friend.  That said, I do not give out favorable reviews due to bias.  Luckily, I’ve never had to trash a friend yet.  I think that’s because I’m really good at meeting and befriending talented people.]



While Artists Alley is one of the best parts of any convention, it’s not a 100% guarantee that you’ll walk away with winners.  However, there is a handful of creators that you can always count on (and oddly enough, they usually sit pretty close together).  Josh Filer is one of those guys.  If his books don’t make you feel uneasy, if they don’t offend you on some level, and if they don’t make you laugh, then there is something wrong with you.



His new book, HYPER-ACTIVELY ATTENTION DEFI--LET’S GO! (which, by the way, is the most apt title anyone could ever come up with for this issue), is a collection of short strips that will fuck with you and will fuck you up.



He starts out with “Moon Shits,” which was also in a recent issue of PRODUCT OF SOCIETY reviewed here [link].  It’s followed up by “Rap Battle,” which one can only, desperately hope was based on a true story.  A young Josh rides along with his father, who is an auctioneer who likes to practice on his son a lot.  Like, A LOT.  He goes so fast his words literally bounce off young Josh’s head.  Along the way on their road trip, the ol’ man runs into a fellow auctioneer, and they decide to have a showdown.  Even though there is nothing obscene about this one, it is probably one of the more surreal things Filer has ever done.



Relax.  The next strip, “Boar Semen Extender,” makes up for the lack of obscenity.  A father is angry with his wife for feeding their kids . . . something.  It’s very vague at first, but she reluctantly agrees near the end of the argument.  As soon as he’s gone, the kids beg for goo, and she complies by feeding their pet boar something called, you guessed it, “Boar Semen Extender.”  You don’t want to miss what happens next, because it is one of the filthiest, most awesomely vile things ever put to page in a comic book.  It even beats out some of the things in DICKS, and that’s a really fucking hard thing to do.



Ready to be offended?  Then “Fire Retard Ant” is for you!  Two ants are hanging out in a grocery store, thrilled to be shitting all over the floor, when one of them is run over by a cart.  He survives, but now he’s incredibly slow, to put it politely.  He wanders into “black territory,” where all the ants look like Al Jolson in THE JAZZ SINGER.  No shit.  They’re all in black face, and they’re all eating watermelon.  And then, something REALLY uncomfortable happens . . . .



Now that you’ve been grossed out, baffled, and offended, it’s time to show you something batshit crazy.  Like, Ryan Browne-kind of lunacy.  “Shark Castle Monster Truck” is . . . well, it’s about a bunch of sharks driving a monster truck that is actually a castle, and they kill a lot of people.  Oh yeah, and there are tits!  And something else, but who knows what the fuck is going on with that last page?



Filer rounds the book out with a prologue from GROSS, GRANDPA! #3.  Bones and Rusty Buttfuck are appraising the damage to the tree house when Bones brings Rusty down to the basement to show him his fishing lure collection before revealing his little surprise.  By the way, if anyone should ever ask you, “You wanna’ see something I have chained up in the basement?” the answer should probably be a resounding NO.



Filer has done it once again.  This book is his mind unfettered, and his mind is a mishmash of horrendous, hilarious, and reprehensible shit.  In other words, it’s one of the best books from C2E2 this year!  (Also, be sure to check out the “ad” on the back cover for Dry Corn Turds.)



HYPER-ACTIVELY ATTENTION DEFI--LET’S GO!
Written and illustrated by Josh Filer
Published by Josh Filer
20 pages

$5--Get it here!

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