Brandon Borzelli's Geek Goggle Reviews
Elephantmen #33
Image Comics
Starkings & Kane
The epilogue to “Man and Elephantman” delivers yet another stellar issue in this excellent series. For the most part, this issue is a look into one of the background or unknown characters in the series. However, it is the themes that Starkings wraps around the issue that makes the comic so memorable. Guest artist, Shaky Kane, steps up and knocks the issue out of the park. All of this adds up to a very entertaining and haunting issue of Elephantmen.
Basically the issue is about a doctor (Dr Bone) that has a trophy wife (Ivy Regina) who is obsessed with plastic surgery. He views her as a work of art but her tastes are more than just of the eye lift, tummy tuck variety. Ivy likes Elephantmen bones. She likes them to the point that she wants her entire skeleton replaced with these bones. This creates the obvious problem that Elephantmen bones are tough to come by. This makes Dr Bone a key player in the lives (and deaths) of the Elephantmen.
As we have seen on a number of occasions in the series Starkings pulls together ideas and nuggets he’s been leaving out there for the entire series run. We’ve seen Bone in the background of several issues and we’ve seen Elephantmen killed off without much explanation in the previous issues. Now all of that is coming together. Unless, of course, Starkings is going to reveal another force later on which I wouldn’t count out.
The issue reminds me a lot of how Alan Moore approached Swamp Thing. Starkings is taking a concept that is relevant today in the form of over-the-top vanity and applying it to his characters in their timeline. It all makes sense that there would be people who are obsessed with having everything from Elephantmen hides to bones combined with their own vices, such as plastic surgery. These are themes that make this book such a fun read.
Kane (of Bulletproof Coffin fame) delivers one of the more gruesome books in this series and that is saying a lot. Kane has an incredible ability to draw what appear to be simple drawings that are so horrifying that they are difficult to stare at. I found the illustration of eyeballs on the tray to be particularly nauseating. Kane brings together an excellent story with the visuals.
This comic book is science fiction at its best. It blends elements of horror, fantasy and replacing body parts into a comprehensive and extraordinary tale. This is a terrific book and shouldn’t be missed.
5 out of 5 Geek Goggles
