El Gorgo: 1
August 5th, 2008 by StephanieEl Gorgo by Mike McGee and Tamas Jakab
El Gorgo is published online in a standard 28-page (well, really 56, being a double digest and all) format, in PDF and Comic Book Archive formats.
And it’s…. well, I’ll be honest. I just don’t know what to make of it. Is it satire? Is it campy?
I think it’s both– it’s a campy satire about the amazing adventures of a super-ape/Mexican wrestler/millionaire/novelist time traveling superhero. Yes, really. It is that campy!
But it’s also fun! With references to H.P. Lovecraft to fill in for those needing a bit more “meat” to their storyline, there’s a definite sense of the “potluck storyline” going on here, with an almost ADD-like bouncing in place, time, and character focus. We have eldritch cults, big fancy celebrity events, a love interest, time travel, and, of course, dinosaurs.
How can you not love a Mexican wrestler in a throwdown with a Tyrannosaurus Rex?
Besides, I only need two more UPC codes before I can send in for my Deep Ones sea creatures (advertised in the back of this clever parody).
My only complaint? The PDF is laid out with 2 pages side by side, which makes it hard to read the text without scrolling both horizontally and vertically. This issue is resolved if you read it in the Comic Book Archive format.
August 7th, 2008 at 12:44 pm
After you posted this, I found Marty looking through page after page of this comic online late at night.
I haven’t gotten into webcomics (yet). I don’t have th time/ privacy to look at them at work, and by the time I get home I’m usually too burned out on computers to do anything other than email updates and brief internet tasks. I still love the feel of printed comics and the ease of reading in bed, but if I could port electronic versions into a small handheld device that was discrete in public but still legible, I would probably do nothing else!
August 8th, 2008 at 1:20 pm
Anyone reading for a second endorsement need not look any further! I couldn’t find anything at the CBDB about Tamas Jakab or Mike McGee. (I’m assuming McGee isn’t the performance artist/poet.) Hope they make more of these, cause it was totally fun.
August 9th, 2008 at 10:08 am
I dunno whether it’s really good form for me to reply here, but I think I’d better assure all and sundry that I am most certainly not the performance artist/poet. 🙂 Thanks so much for the kind words, you guys!
August 10th, 2008 at 4:53 am
Hey Mike, thanks for stopping by! Always happy to hear from a creator. There seems to be relatively little information out there on the internet about you. You should tell us your life story! (Seriously.)
August 10th, 2008 at 9:02 am
Hey, Martin! And, um…yeah, well, I’m afraid all my Google space has been eaten up by the performance artist…
…and the basketball player…
…and the USAF lieutenant colonel…
…and, um, some other guys with my evidently common-as-dirt name…
…But! You guys aren’t missing much, honestly. Only one thing can really inspire a hyper-manic comic book about a super gorilla having time traveling adventures in space, and that thing is a profound lack of anything even a little bit interesting in the real lives of its creators. Well. Speaking for me, anyway. Tom’s a pretty dashing guy who has all kinds of groovy adventures and stuff. I mostly sit around and watch TV. We have done one previous story (in a collection that I think is out of print now), and though it’s nothing at all like El Gorgo (it’s a crime short), we’re working on getting it up online for anyone who might wanna see it. And El Gorgo! #2 will be coming…uhh…soon? Maybe? (Hopefully?) It’s written through #3, and Tom is drawing #2 now, soooooo…
August 10th, 2008 at 2:06 pm
Excellent! Thanks Mike, we’re all looking forward to more El Gorgo, whenever it comes out.
January 25th, 2009 at 12:08 pm
Tamas is quite dashing. (And I would know, I’m dating him).
Big shout out to Stephanie for this review (take a look at the credits of El Gorgo! #2, which is online now!)