AN UNASKED-FOR ENTREATY ON THE BEHALF OF BLAST FURNACE

Most of the people around here are my friends. You know my strange ways and my weird tastes. And sure, I might steer you in a completely off the wall direction, but have I ever steered you wrong? Many of you might remember when I reviewed a series of books about a young man named Ernest Furnace, a recreational thief.



Clearly you did not heed my overwhelming praise for this book. For those of you who don’t know, this is a pet project of Ryan Browne (of GOD HATES ASTRONAUTS and SMOKE AND MIRRORS fame). He sets one hour out of his day to do one page of this book every day. He has no plan, he just sits down and sees how his own lunacy surprises him.


This has led to an absolutely batshit crazy comic book . . . one you’re clearly not buying. When I saw him last year, he had four of these little booklets out, and I swept them all up. Enjoyed every over-the-top, fucked-from-all-sides story. A man with a flaming tie and an electric mustache, stealing secrets from a place clearly labeled Non-Descript Factory? Where could you go wrong?


Apparently, things didn’t work out quite so well. The booklets were such low sellers, Browne didn’t bother to bring any of them to C2E2 this year. That hurt, because I was really looking forward to the next installments. Luckily, he brought the trade, and he is such a nice person that he let me have a discount, seeing as how I’d bought the first four books (and the trade contains 1-6).


Dude. This book gets sooooooo much more batty. He even uses the turtle and the pirate from those old art school entry exams you’d always see advertised back in the day, and he names them ‘70’s Turtle and Pirate, respectively. True to the rest of the book, the story gets derailed very quickly by a flashback to ‘70’s Turtle’s past (with his father, Angry ‘70’s Turtle, and ‘Lil Dracula in a story that must be seen to be believed). Shockingly, Browne actually circles around to where the story began, with Blast Furnace in the motel parking lot . . . only to go off in a completely different direction. This story is pure, blissful chaos, yet it somehow makes sense.


There are no rails to go off of. This rollercoaster has no master, and you’re lucky if you don’t fall to your death. Most of all, it’s fun. The end of this book says that it will be continued. LISTEN TO ME IF YOU’VE NEVER LISTENED BEFORE! DON’T DROP THE BALL ON THIS AGAIN! READ THIS BOOK!