(Words and art by Jim Hill, published by Shifty Midget/ Slave Labor Graphics)
Mr Hill draws kind of weird. His characters' eyes are all buggy, like aliens or something. But this ain't your usual alien/superhero nonsense. What makes Caffeine unique is the slick but slightly off-kilter drawing style - that works equally well in colour or black and white - which is absolute refreshment from boring superhero comics where everyone wears their underwear outside their trousers and fires thunderbolts from their thumbs. The stories are full of cartoon violence, but it's inspired more by Travis Bickle than Lex Luthor, and always comes with a killer punchline (no pun intended) a la Tarantino.
Influences also come from the hip hop and ska scenes, with drugs, two-tone and 40oz bottles of booze in full effect. Featuring a strange mix of characters - a bank teller, secret agent newly-weds, a crack-dealing granny and a bunch of crazies known as The Plaid Bastards - Caffeine is a totally escapist read which takes you on a rapid tour of all kinds of aspects of American culture but manages not to leave you so dizzy that you're left wanting to throw up your five dollar shake all over the deep shag carpet. Cool t-shirts, too.
http://www.slavelabor.com has info on how to order comics but not much else, sadly.
[Load time: fast enough but it lacks in content ***]
Anna Jellinek
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