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The ADD Blog by Alan David Doane
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Hip Flask: Mystery City Book One - The Big Here & The Long Now
It's been a two-year wait, but Hieronymous "Hip" Flask is finally back,
taking the world's largest trenchcoat and fedora out of mothballs for
another wild "pulp sci-fi" adventure from Active Images. Those who have
been on the Hip Flask bandwagon since Unnatural Selection
and Elephantmen don't need to be told about artist J.O. Ladronn's
work on Hip Flask; despite the long wait between actual titles in
this series, Active Images has done a good job of providing product for
consumers wanting more Ladronn, in the form of sketchbooks and deluxe
editions. But if you haven't had the chance to take in Ladronn's work
thus far, Mystery City will give you the perfect opportunity to
do just that.
To create a story starring humans crossed with hippopotami, camels,
zebras, and elephants is, in and of itself, an accomplishment in terms
of concept. But to create a world in which such characters live and
breathe and show real emotion, characters that invite the reader to
suspend disbelief and actually care about them, is an
accomplishment on an entirely different plane altogether. Ladronn and
Starkings (and Joe Casey in the earlier episodes) have created a world
in which a reader can immerse himself in a society populated by such
outlandish creatures without once pausing to think, "Hey, that Elephant
Man is smoking a cigarette and sitting behind a desk!"
The series is set in the 23rd century, and this episode takes place some
twenty years after scientist Kazushi Nikken's creation of the
Elephantmen. It's a dystopian vision of the world's future, with
Ladronn's backdrops portraying large, impersonal skylines in gritty,
futuristic grays, often lending a sterile and antiseptic quality to this
version of the future. The Big Here & The Long Now sets the stage
for what looks to be a grim confrontation between the forces of the
rhino/human Obadiah Horn, and Baron Serengheti, Horn's rival and
father-in-law, and opens the door to the possibility that Kazushi Nikken
is soon to be released from prison. Undoubtedly all manner of mayhem is
about to ensue (and in fact, has already begun).
Hip Flask's vision is not entirely dark, however. An elephant man
named Ebony, and a cigarette-smoking camel man named Casbah Joe add some
self-referential humor to the mix, and the interactions of Hip Flask and
his compatriots adds some, dare I say it, humanity to the story. Obadiah
Horn's home is an almost stereotypically sci-fi set, complete with
open-concept design, glossy surfaces, and angles everywhere. But Hip
Flask's office is retro-future shabby chic topped off with a ceiling
fan, 1950's noir uprooted and transplanted into the middle of Venice
Beach in the year 2262 A.D. The impersonal and distant exteriors are
juxtaposed with the comfortable and intimate interiors, showing that in
this futuristic wasteland, a touch of personality and individuality
still manages to survive.
This book sets the stage nicely for future episodes, and new readers can
jump into the story at this point without having to be overly concerned
about not knowing what's happened previously, or who's who. The first
several pages of the prologue provide some background on the origin of
the Elephantmen, and while the characters may be unfamiliar to new
readers, the "dive right in" approach is ultimately more satisfying than
artificial plot devices that could have been used to introduce the
heroes and villains of this tale. It is "Mystery City" after all, so a
bit of mystery in Issue #1 is to be expected. Loose ends and all, I'll
wager that once you've tried Mystery City, you're gonna want more
Hip.
-- Jim Witt
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By Richard Starkings and