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Review: Man Versus Rock Vol. 2

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Man-vs.-Rock-2-10.6.14What is Man Vs Rock? If you like B-rate science fiction movies, if you find yourself combing through the internet looking for Mystery Science Theater 3000 episodes, if you love Hitchcock but find yourself laughing because you can see the strings in The Birds, then this is a comic you will appreciate.

Man Vs Rock is a 1950’s nature-strikes -back Sci-fi meets humor born of high school locker rooms?

The humor in this comic is sitting around at the end of a party, a smoke-filled room, people passed out on couches, beer bottles, sticky tables, the last few awake drunkenly making jokes. I liked it. For a moment, at least.

Too quickly, Man Vs Rock Vol 2 ‘s  jokes go from “hah. Gross,”  to “…dude. C’mon.”

The comic embodies silly Sci-fi, but it also manages to embody an out of date, high school boy attitude towards women.

The Vice President is the protagonists’ (Buck Stone)’s, ex-wife, and during a phone call she berates him for his obsession with rocks and their “turning their daughter into a whore”, then immediately caving into his pleas to speak to the President. Despite having the power of the Vice Presidency of the United States she apparently doesn’t have any over Buck Stone.

That’s a minor issue. It can slide because it moves the plot forward to where Buck can talk to the President.

The real problems are the scenes that go beyond objectifying women and are–this is the worst part–added for no particular reason.

There are two breast scenes within ten pages of one another, one where a woman’s implants burst right after she says “just because my boobs are fake doesn’t mean our love isn’t real” to a little boy chewing gum. Then another where two lovers are arguing over when the guy gets to touch the woman’s breasts. Then, a rock comet comes and takes the woman’s head clear off, at which point the guy smirks and cops a feel while blood spurts out from where her head used to be.

C’mon. How old are you?

What the guy in this scene is doing is ridiculous, ‘she wouldn’t let me touch her boobs without an ultimatum’ (she was using her sexuality to control him into killing her father- because women use their bodies to get guys to do their bidding all the time, duuuhhhh) but now that she can’t say anything (shes dead) he finally gets to touch her boobs.

This book made it to Shawn Perry’s 15 Indie comics of 2014 on Bleedingcool.com, and managed to win Comic Bastards’ Best Indie title of 2014 without anyone having a problem with the comics’ portrayal of women. Artist Jared Lamp and writers Victor Delory and Kevin Beiber painstakingly draw out these scenes. The obtuse jokes are funny enough to creators, and award winningly funny for readers, and it didn’t raise any kind of flag for anybody.

Listen, the rest of the comic is funny and  raunchy, but it has the kind of stuff you can’t ignore. The objectification of women has been plaguing the comic industry for years and it’s not okay. Women are not only ignored but comics that have people copping feels of dead girls wins awards without anyone stopping to think that it is anything but harmlessly funny.

Humor is not a shield from which you can spout racist, sexist or homophobic things and then hide. Funny or not, it’s still sexist and it’s still not cool.

Just like the comics industry has learned not to draw black face, and is *ahem* slowly learning not to make trans phobic characters, it can learn to draw sexy women that wear jeans and a T-shirt, and can also learn draw people of color with depth.

Raunchy doesn’t have to mean breasts blowing up, in fact, the rest of the comic managed to be raunchy without “daughter is a whore” gags and squeezing the boobs of dead girls, so why start?

It’s a discussion that I’m kind of tired of having. Comics have the ability to be eons ahead of other media, and can both spread easier and have a lot more freedom to say what they want, so why, when you finally get the spotlight, do you choose to say something like this?

This comic could have been a favorite. If you like Sci-fi, and if humor is humor, no matter what the content, then pick this up.

You can check out free previews on their website.

Story: Victor Detroy and Kevin Beiber Art: Jared Lamp
Story: 4 Art: 7 Overall: 5 Recommendation: Read (if you’re a 13 year old boy)

Man Versus Rock provided Graphic Policy with a FREE copy for review

Review: Man Vs Rock

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mvrMan Vs Rock is a comic about the greatest threat to face mankind. One that we’ve been ignoring, mistreating and abusing for millennia: rocks.

Yes, rocks.

No, I didn’t stutter.

Someday very soon the rocks will tire of our constant abuse and rise up and take control of the planet – which is, more or less, where our story starts. But let’s get something out of the way before we go any further; this isn’t the kind of comic that everybody will enjoy. Man Vs Rock is at times brilliantly satirical, and often very funny, even if occasionally it touches on the offensive side of humour (indeed, for some readers Man Vs Rock may be more than almost offensive), this is a comic that takes a concept that sounds utterly foolish (because it is) and runs with it.

And it’s great.

The series revises historical events to give credence to mankind’s mistreatment of rocks,  and the first issue starts out extremely strongly – there’s a certain scene involving a rock, some interrogation and some not-so-subtle inferences to a series of recent events that’s worth the cover price alone. The writing team of Kevin Bieber and Victor DeTroy have crafted a story that would sit alongside the best of the B-Movies (and I mean that as a complement), while simultaneously riffing on numerous action movies. The way in which Jared Lamp has illustrated this series is perfectly suited to the style of the story; the inking is at the perfect level of detail to enhance his pencils without distorting or muddying them under thick dark lines. It’s a minimalist black and white art style, but it works extremely well.

Kevin Bieber and Victor DeTroy evoke a very Mad Magazine-esque style of humour, and on the face of it some of the visual gags by artist Jared Lamp are pretty fantastic, but let’s be honest here; this isn’t a series that’s going to appeal to everybody, and that’s okay. 

For those who do take the chance Man Vs Rock is packed to the rafters with jokes, satirical and not, and while some of them do fall flat there are just as many that succeed.  The humour will be familiar to fans of South Park, Seth MacFarlane and the college-type humour that is often associated with him and his numerous television shows and movies. Although this is a comic for mature readers, it’s not always a mature comic; but despite that, or perhaps because of it, this is a comic that is worth a read.

As was previously mentioned, the first issue starts out extremely strong, and while I felt the third issue was the weakest of the three I have read, that’s not to say it’s a bad comic. Yes, I felt some of the jokes to be bordering on poor taste, but then not every joke is going to resonate with every person; and a few jokes may be more offensive to some people than others (one such comment insinuates a woman can only think for three weeks or so a month). But regardless of the humour style, this is an awesomely ridiculous concept that works when it shouldn’t. 

It may not be for everyone, but if you’re fan of the kind of absurdest humour that fills this comic then you’re going to really enjoy this series.

You can find Man Vs Rock  at Amazon, comiXology, or maybe your Local Comic Shop.

Writers: Kevin Bieber and Victor DeTroy Artist: Jared Lamp
Story: 6.75 Art: 7.75 Overall: 7.25 Recommendation: Read

The Creative Team provided Graphic Policy a FREE copy of the first three issues to review.