This past week, Dark Horse Comics released the last chapter in the three part story “Axe Cop: Bad Guy Earth”. If you are not familiar with Axe Cop, it is “written by a six-year-old and drawn by his thirty-year-old brother” and became an instant sensation when it hit the internet in 2009. (To learn more, please click here for my review of the first issue.) Dark Horse was so impressed that they wanted to help the phenomenon grow even more, and thus Axe Cop was introduced to new readers everywhere.
The first issue was great, and the other two were even better. It is simply fun to read. No worries about plot development or characterization. What is on these pages is the ideas of a very creative and active young boy, Malachai Nicolle, and while they do not always make sense, that is actually part of what makes this work.
Naturally, there are good guys and bad guys, and the good guys always win. The interesting thing is the situations that Malachai puts the characters through. From time travel to space travel, he really uses his imagination to keep the story going.
A story like this deserves good devices, and there are plenty. One of my favorites is the Good Guy Machine that was later turned into a Bad Guy Machine. Malachai takes ordinary things and uses them in the story in creative ways. Baseballs become exploding baseballs that are used to trick the bad guy baseball players into blowing themselves up, and street cones become unicorn-horn-disabling devices (to stop the magic of the unicorn horns, of course). Malachai also makes up words at times, but they always seem to make sense in a childlike way.
Zombies, magicians, talking animals, poop jokes, aliens, and just about anything else that a young boy might think of during playtime has been worked into this story. There is even a great drop-in reference to wrestling and Hulk Hogan. You never know what to expect in the next panel, and that is part of what makes Axe Cop so fun to read.
Malachai has a very active and creative imagination, but much credit also has to go to his brother, Ethan Nicolle. Not only does Ethan do the illustrations, but he also interprets his brother’s playtime stories into what is actually used in the comic. It is definitely a team effort, and Ethan is definitely very talented.
What is next for Axe Cop and Dark Horse? The last issue said that there would be an announcement about that in the coming weeks. I can say that Malachai and Ethan have been invited to a number of conventions, including San Diego Comic Con. Also, Axe Cop will be joining the world of Munchkin. “Munchkin Axe Cop”, a version of the popular card game Munchkin, is set for release in September. I have played that game only a couple of times, but I think that Axe Cop fits perfectly with the concept.
Is there logic in “Axe Cop: Bad Guy Earth”? No. Do things make sense? Not really. But somehow, all of these crazy ideas come together and magically work. Perhaps it is the kid that is still inside all of us, who wants to join Malachai at playtime.
