Review: Sidescrollers
At first glance, one wants to accuse Oni Press of self-cannibalization by releasing the video-game influenced Sidescrollers in the wake of the monster (in terms of indie comics, anyway) success of Scott Pilgrim, but Matthew Loux takes a decidedly different tack with pleasing results. A breezy throwback to the 80s teen movies that we all wished we had seen instead of those we actually did, Sidescrollers allows the reader to spend an insane day in suburbia with a goofy trio of just-graduated nerds: Brian, Brad, and Matt. Brian is an expert at Street Fighter II. Brad fights an evil cat. Matt crushes on Amber, the attractive girl down the street who's dating Dick, a jock with a sinister plan. Along the way to the evening's big event, a concert at a local club, there's vandalism, lobster liberation, a Richard Nixon cameo, and even vicious attacks by Girl Scouts.It's obvious that Matthew Loux is in his element here: pop culture references zip by at a high rate of speed while boy crushes on girl, boy rescues girl (who doesn't quite need it, quite pleasingly,) and his friends get into a lot of trouble. What's notable about the references is that (after a too-long initial conversation about cereal icons) they slide right in and amplify existing jokes and situations for the most part, not becoming a substitute for actual humor writing, unlike, say, Family Guy, my most hated television program.1
Loux's art is quite splendid. Managing to combine the graphitti asthetic (thick borders, angular designs) with the movement of manga, the cartooning is very dynamic and individual while telling the story with the required humor. His characters' expressions are sublime; there's a look that Brian gets on his face that cracked me up every single time I saw it. The easy grace of his figures (which also showed up in F-Stop, his first work that I read) helps the story zip along pleasingly.
All in all, I think it's a heck of a lot of fun, but hope we'll be seeing Loux move onto things outside of his world with his next book. While it's true that Sidescrollers won't change your life, there's certainly worse ways to spend $12. You can see a 72-page preview at Comic Book Resources.
1True Story: Chris Sims and I have actually sat through an episode of Family Guy while messaging each other going "Was that a joke?" and "Why am I not laughing?" People that write funny (OK, Sims writes funny - I just crack wise) seem to hate that show more than people that don't.
