Story:
Skottie Young
Art:
Aaron Conley
Colors:
Jean-Francois Beaulieu
Letters:
Nate Piekos of Glambot
Review:
Art Bee
In
middle and high school I had to deal with my share of bullies and even though
my school was smaller, it contained several. Granted many of those days were
the brightest of my life and they shaped me into the man and father I am
today…whatever that is worth.
Imagine
my curiosity when Bully Wars by Skottie Young was visible on the shelf at my
LCS. When I thumbed through the issue my eyes were shocked to see artwork in a
style other than Young’s and that is when the credits revealed, to my
amazement, the art belonged to Aaron Conley.
This
made me happy. If you are not familiar with this gent, he worked with Ryan
Browne on God Hates Astronauts (Image) among other things.
Bear
with me on this. I have not read the first two issues.
Bully
Wars aims to set all of the bullies in the school into a contest of champions
of sorts.
May
the Best Bully win…
At
first I thought this comic book was going to glorify bullies, but that thought
was quickly knocked down, stomped, and shot in the head with the first argument
shared between a pair.
This
issue opens with a scrawny kid running for his life from Rufus, a bully…if you
couldn’t guess. Shortly afterward, Rufus and another bully square off in a
laughable encounter that epitomizes the theme and tone of the comic book.
Later, the issue sets up the story which is the contest for the dominant bully
in the school.
The
story doesn’t have much depth to it, but I believe that is the point. This story
is placing bullies in the role of comic relief and, in essence, making fun of
them. I am not against this at all. Now I am itching to get the previous two
issues to see what happened and the next issue to see how this contest is going
to turn out.
As
an artist how would you feel getting to work on a comic book that will bear the
name of Skottie Young on it? For me the pressure would push me to alcoholism or
something much worse. Young is one of the best and most well-known names in all
of comicdom. Being clueless to Conley’s emotional status on this, his artwork
is more than on point. He has kicked the winning field goal of the Superbowl
from the opposing 30-yard line. This book is absolutely gorgeous!
Beaulieu’s
colors are so bright and vibrant they pull it all together and damned near made
my eyeballs melt out of my skull. If Young is not well pleased with the work
this pair has done, then there is Dr. Tavel or Lenscrafters in his area.
Bully
Wars #3 has been a delight to read and the series will be a treasured addition
to my collection that will be read many times over. If you haven’t already
checked out this series, get the lead out of your trunk and get yourself to a
local LCS and do so.
I
want to end this review with an invitation to comment in with any tales of
being bullied or bullying anyone else. Please don’t be ashamed. Even though
some of these events may have been traumatizing in the past, talking about them
gives you power over them. Let this be a warning to anyone that would bring
bullying into this forum, we the writers at HCB will verbally tear a new one
into anyone who does so.
Just to kick this off properly, I will share
one of my worst moments of being bullied that had long lasting effects on me.
When I was in Middle school a pair of bullies decided to pull me away from the urinal while I was trying to piss. These two were a year old than me and had never bothered me before. The event was strong enough to prevent me from using a urinal to this day. I have had many bullies in the past but none have affected my life as much as they did.
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