Deity. Adam Palmer. Hundo Industries. 40pp.
Outsider art, or folk art, has been around forever and is considered a genre all its own complete with tropes. Within that format, Adam Palmer creates a fun and entertaining comic book. Some people seek adventure. Palmer makes things happen and lives to tell the tale. In this case, the reader is swept back to the ’90s heyday of biker culture in a small town outside of Portland, Maine. This is an auto-bio comic featuring the comics creator in his youthful prime. Adam is a cool dude who prefers to run in the wild until good sense kicks in and he returns to civilization. He discovers a slew of sitcom reruns and finds a role model with The Fonz.
Adam becomes his own version of The Fonz.
It’s not long before Adam discovers his purpose in life which is to be a leader among men. He rallies all the other misfit rebels in town when he suddenly needs to form a posse to confront a local gang that has threatened his sister. Rough and raw mayhem ensues in more ways than one. The whole comic has a rough-hewn quality to it as it disregards the finer aspects of comics storytelling. All the word balloons have a crunchy outline. Actual words alternate randomly between what is capitalized or not; what is spelled correctly or not. The whole design sense is very casual veering on poetic. It’s refreshing to see since I believe it all rings true.
Big Fight Night!
The story itself is one of those “truth is stranger than fiction” type of things that I can easily see The Fonz himself leading the charge. I can definitely see how this rumble took on mythic proportions over the years. It’s a great story and Palmer does it justice. As I understand it, having texted with the publisher, Palmer is quite a character. After having had his share of rants about the internet and the current state of comics, it appears that Palmer got down to business and completed this comic book in peaceful solitude in rural Maine. Well, I can’t blame him for needing some time alone. That is often the best way to create anything worthwhile. And, as Hundo states: “There’s a lot more to this story that Adam has already completed. So, stay tuned.”
At the end of the day, what I see is a comic that looks and feels very authentic. I don’t see it as trying to curry favor with any particular entity within the comics world of which there are many. I think Adam Palmer is doing that most daring thing of all: he is simply reaching out to the reader. Rough, raw and real. This stand-alone comic book has it all. If you’re interested in getting a copy, like many indie comics, seek out Hundo Industries over social media. There is also an upcoming Kickstarter campaign in support of this comic book so you can keep an eye out for that too.
