Axe Cop: Bad Guy Earth #1 - Mobile Edition

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Axe Cop: Bad Guy Earth #1
By Troy-Jeffrey Allen
March 21, 2011 - 20:05

Dark Horse Comics
Writer(s): Malachai Nicolle
Penciller(s): Ethan Nicolle
$3.50 US

When I was 9 years old (stop rolling your eyes), I attempted to create a giant-sized Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles comic. I was tireless in my effort, making it all the way to page three before I stuffed the poorly stapled stack of construction paper in my backpack, determined to continue every day until it was finished. I'm certain that somewhere shortly thereafter I discovered Real Sex on HBO, thus delaying my career in comics until seventeen years later (Taa-Daa).

At age six, Malachai Nicolle has put 9-year-old Troy's ambitions to shame. Encouraged by his 30-year-old brother (artist Ethan Nicolle), Malachai is the writer and co-creator of Axe Cop. A web series deemed trendy enough by Dark Horse Comics to be collected into a trade and also turned into a brand new mini-series.

Essentially, the book follows the time and space travels of a misunderstood wannabe police officer and his dinosaur partner in crime. Such an outlandish cast should be a selling point in itself but it's not so much the “who” and “how” that makes Axe Cop great as it is the “WTF.”

The book’s six-year-old writer is fortunate enough to have no preconceived notions about story structure (although --- admirably enough --- you can tell he's figuring it out). This lack of concern takes Axe Cop and Dinosaur Soldier on a journey that involves talking hammers, psychic giants, a good guy machine, Hard Boiled-inspired dinosaur action, ninja brains, lobster men, local law enforcement, and, yes...a Bad Guy Earth.

Surprisingly, all this madness seems to be building to a truly epic conclusion despite the book’s constant narrative shifting (props to Editor Shawna Gore for making all of it stick).

Despite Malachai's inexperience, Earth never fails to entertain. Malachai's free-wheeling imagination is underlined perfectly by his older brother's visual sense of humor. Together, they've created a book that distances itself from the barrage of mediocre titles that congest the shelves, and rises to the challenge set by some of comic's contemporary imaginers.

Rating: 9/10