Why I Love... Scud, the Disposable Assassin!
Welcome to another edition of the Why I Love column, where I, Eric Ratcliffe, pick something I've read, played, listened to or watched to discuss with you fair readers. This week we discuss yet another cult classic that the mainstream audience might not have heard from and in 2009 got an omnibus treatment. I am talking of course about Rob Schrab's Scud the Disposable Assassin!
Scud is the story of a [line of] disposable assassin robots that you pay for in vending machines, give orders to and then they blow up on completion of killing their target. Scud finds out what will happen after he completes his mission and decides to change fate, fatally injuring his target and bringing it to a hospital so it can survive.
It's truly an indy series, though, and you can tell how much Rob poured his heart and soul into this series. That's what caused the 10 year pause between issue #20 and #21. I honestly kind of wish I found out about it a little earlier and got my hands on one of the hardcovers.
The characters in the series are crazy and I mean that. From Scud himself to the quiet drywall who is made up of lots of zippers, to Jeff who we never quite figure out what the heck she is, even Scud's love interest Sussudio. Sussudio has a very odd "attraction" towards robots and it's what draws her over to Scud in the first place. Drywall was my favorite character and probably has the most heartbreaking backstory in the series. There's a fellow robot that Scud meets in space at one point name Oswald who is extremely hard to describe and he shined out at me as well.
The ideas Rob uses and the tone of the series are almost like Casanova meets Earthworm Jim and you can easily find something bizarre to like. There is a transdimensional horse that allows Scud to go to different places with Sussudio, zombie mobsters thanks to a voodoo priest, not to mention werewolf astronauts and just an ending you have to believe. It's like Rob through everything he could in and never turned back.
I flat out love Rob's artwork on the series as well. It's unique and excels for an indy comic. His panel layouts excel at putting a lot on the same page at once. Even when a scene is flooded, it doesn't hurt the story. The action scenes are incredibly well drawn; from gun toting Scud to a giant bomb in a small town the book is really unpredictable.
From a story standpoint you can tell how much a creator pours their own heart into something creator owned and here it definitely shines through. Issue #20 seemed to be Rob at his lowest and reading it you can tell. Issue #21, also known as the return to the series, seems to be Rob at his highest and happiest, wrapping everything up perfectly in a really great way.
The series is quirky, fun to read and never really predictable. The Whole Shebang is loaded with content and would look great on anyone's bookshelf. Rob is now the Executive Producer and co-creator of The Sarah Silverman Program and one of the creators of Channel 101. The Whole Shebang is available for 29.99 from Image comics.
Eric Ratcliffe is a young writer/pop culture journalist/interviewer currently working on pitching a project named the Hunter chronicles. When not reading his weekly stack Eric can be found watching DVDs, playing on his 360 (gamertag: Zack Hunter) or just surfing online trying to find a scoop or two. Brand new to the Comic Related family, Eric is a fun new voice. Eric shops at TJ's Collectibles. Visit them on the web at www.tjcollect.com!
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