Junction Jones and the Corduroy Conspiracy graphic novel review

Science fiction and noir share a lot in common. For fans of either, or both, genres, it’s easy to roll with a story about a Phillip Marlowe type of detective in outer space. This is such a story and then some. Think of a very offbeat Blade Runner main character in an urban dystopia set in the distant future: Junction Jones, pudgy and bumbling; and his sidekick, Mr. Nibs, a very contentious talking cat. The idea here is that Jones is an escaped bio-engineered laborer who, during his routine scavenging in the multi-dimensional Junction City, stumbles upon the remains of an Earthling that could be the tip of the iceberg to some vast conspiracy. Lots of laser blasts ensue as this odd couple private investigator team must fend off various villainous forces. The art is gorgeous, the writing is crisp, and there’s a lot of fun multimedia narrative twists. This will surely satisfy any reader.

The creative team of Pescatore and Locogonzales come up with their own distinctive stamp on the cyberpunk landscape. They have plenty of tropes to play with in a story where the journey is more important than the outcome. After all, some of our most entertaining stories have this sort of set-up: the clues take on a life of their own, even become more significant than solving the case. This is such a story as it is swimming in clues, coming in all directions: going from the basement of hoarder grandparents, filled with mountains of nothing hiding everything; to the frantic dispatches of blogs in overdrive, also filled with nothing and hiding everything. It’s a world within a world within a world.

How deep down the rabbit hole do you want to go? Pescatore and Locogonzales know how to dig, dig, dig and invite you to dive in. The deeper and darker the better. Junction Jones was first introduced as single issues with the first issue out in 2023 from Scout Comics and then you add the time it took to create it. I see a page dated 2020. So, all in all, a very noble and ambitious effort this one is. It sort of reminds me of  The Winter Men, written by Brett Lewis and illustrated by John Paul Leon, running from 2005 to 2008, published by Wildstorm, another long, expansive and highly eccentric work that became legendary for its content as well as the circuitous path it took to get out into the world. But, once out, ah, it’s so nice to be out. People like me will keep singing its praises regarding its irreverent style and attitude. And so now I add Junction Jones to that short list of fun and weird comics that speak to me and will speak to you.

If you’re in the mood to order something completely different from the menu, then Junction Jones is at your service. Think of it as a cerebral guilty pleasure or one of those really strange but cool movies you might find on a VHS tape in a thrift store. Perhaps something like Buckaroo Banzai. If you’re a Jeff Goldblum fan, you must see it. I’m just suggesting this stuff is potent, best read in bed with the lights out and a lone reading lamp for only one hour before bedtime. Think of it as the comic book that David Lynch always meant to create.

And so it goes. Our pudgy fellow with his talking cat get into a whole lot of trouble and who can say if either one of them is any better for it all. But self-improvement is hardly the goal here. Anyway, I can clearly see this is a work of great passion, many years in the making, working at a different level of reality than you and me, which is saying a lot.