REVIEW: Sock #1

Creator, writer, illustrator: Rickman

Review: Will Dubbeld

So, you all wanted a comic about a sock who fights crime, right?

That’s clearly rhetorical.

You know damn well you wanted a vigilante sock book...

Want no longer, as Sock presents three short stories detailing the exploits of a cape-wearing, flying sock of justice.

Upon hearing the sounds of danger, the mild-mannered sock perks from his owner’s laundry basket and wordlessly takes flight, hell-bent on righting wrongs and punishing the wicked!

Seriously, I think it’s a normal sock the rest of the time...

Also, it spins around like Linda Carter in the old Wonder Woman show to transform from normal sock to super-sock.

I feel that’s worth noting...

The first short is a classic go-to setup involving a lovely young lady imperiled by a knife-wielding ne’er do well in a deadend alley. Hearing cries for help, The Sock speeds through the night air and handily defeats the would-be mugger in one of the most bizarre fights I’ve ever seen on the page.

And not just because it depicts a thug getting beat up by a sock.

The Sock first envelopes the guy’s head and pops off, leaving his hair standing on end (presumably from static electricity?).

He then flies into the guy’s mouth, which is gross, because The Sock was going into the wash as the story opened.

Also the author is perhaps a Mick Foley fan.

I don’t know.

Finally, The Sock wriggles up the guy’s pantleg and socks him in the nuts.

Or possibly constricts something; it isn’t graphically depicted.

Either way, dude drops to the ground clutching his breadbasket.

The Sock then flies home, just in time to be tossed in the wash.

 

And then we get weird.

Short #2 finds The Sock patiently waiting in a laundromat for the rest of his owner’s effects to be folded until a villain and his henchmen raise the ire of our hero.

I have absolutely no idea about the theme of the baddie and his goons...

The henchmen are decked out in those head to toe clean suits you see in hazmat or quarantine scenarios and they wield mops and pushbrooms as weapons.

Their leader wears a Mr. Freeze-style containment suit, complete with bubble-helmet.

In lieu of a freeze-ray, however, this particular foe favors what appears to be the wide brush extension from a vacuum cleaner.

And he flies about on a platform that looks like an iPhone or maybe a soapdish.

As I said, weird.

Needless to say, The Sock prevails but not without paying a price.

Let’s just say the climax involves getting dunked into a hotdog cart and the stench of weenie-water is instrumental in The Sock’s victory.

Our final story is a sort of spin cycle on the fable of Androcles and the lion.

Except we get a rampaging kaiju instead of a lion.

And a sock, of course.

There’s a fine amount of city destruction, a sock-on-monster slugfest, and presumably everyone leans a valuable lesson.

There’s some great visual cues in this story. A relevant plot-stick outlines like an important object in a video game, The Sock gets an idea complete with lightbulb but, in lieu of the traditional bulb, it’s one of those energy-efficient CFL bulbs with the curlicue.

You know the type...

Also, the kaiju looks a bit like Gojira and a bit like the dragon from Dragonball (or any other Asian mythos...)

I don’t care for that show, particularly, but the stylistic choices hold up.

This is a goofy, silly cartoon of a book. I mean intentionally, of course. It’s about a crime-fighting sock...

Anyhow, Rickman delivers big time on both art and story. The art in particular pleased me as it’s that beautiful, oh-so-simple black and white line art made popular by decades of fantastic Indie comics.

Because color is expensive and Indie creators are poor...

On top of that, some of the art reminded me a bit of Chris Parsonavich’s work from Adolescent Radioactive Black Belt Hamsters.

Which tickled me, because I love some ARBBH...

There’s not a whit of dialogue, only sound f/x, and that’s probably for the best. This simplistic approach reminded of Mad’s Spy vs. Spy in that plenty of story and sight gag is delivered without the need for exposition.

Speaking of, there is absolutely no frame of reference or expository backstory here.

No flashbacks about our hero’s sock-parents getting gunned down in Crime Alley, no Supersock Serum, no lone survivor from a doomed athletic supply outlet.

Just take it all in stride that there’s an otherwise inanimate sock who sometimes fights crime...

Honestly, it may be a lady sock. I callously assumed it was a riff on Superman and referred to The Sock as a he. The Sock’s owner is a woman, so it’s reasonable to think the character is also a woman, right?

Or perhaps it’s a genderfluid sock...

(The above is firmly tongue in cheek, self-aware, and I’ll show myself out...)

ANYWAY, I don’t think The Sock is quite the same caliber as something like The Tick or Flaming Carrot, but in the realm of inane humor they could definitely all hang out.

I’m hoping for some further adventures in the Sock saga, provided the same minimalism is applied to future endeavors.

We certainly don’t need to be bogged down by Crisis on Infinite Socks or Secret Sock Wars or any similar dirty laundry.