On the whole, IDW Publishing has been doing such a lovely job with its licensed properties. The main Super-Secret Crisis War! storyline, mashing together a bunch of Cartoon Network characters in a big, dumb story has been lots of fun. Equally entertaining have been the one-shot releases in between issues focusing on less popular Cartoon Network shows, like Johnny Bravo, Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends, and now Cow and Chicken. Through its hilarious, odd fixation on butts, in-your-face characterization, and often lightly grotesque imagery, the Cow and Chicken one-shot succeeds as a funny, weird read.

Writer Jim Zub and artist Jorge Monlongo work in remarkable harmony, collaboratively maintaining solid control over all of the character work. Every panel features subtle differences in how the characters are drawn, offering constantly changing and therefor exciting expression. This comic vibrates with faux-movement, giving readers loads of little details to laugh at. It all just works, from the goofy, bodacious butt of The Red Guy bursting off of the page to every incredibly frustrated face of Chicken.

By this point, the story of these one-shots are quite predictable. A robot sent by villains in the main storyline seeks a challenger and doesn’t really find one. Some dumb or mislead character tries to befriend the robot, which eventually malfunctions at some point. It’s a shame the plots are losing elements of surprise because of this, but really, the plots aren’t that important in all of these one-shots other than the Foster’s one. This Cow and Chicken one-shot is a laugh-out-loud load of bizarre fun that brings up memories of the old cartoon, and at the end of the day, that’s enough.

Story: Jim Zub Art: Jorge Monlongo
Story: 8.0 Art: 8.5 Overall: 8.0 Recommendation: Buy

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IDW Publishing provided Graphic Policy with a FREE copy for review