Review -- TODD: THE UGLIEST KID ON EARTH #2

This Review Originally Ran on Comics Bulletin.

Todd: The Ugliest Kid on Earth #2

(Ken Kristensen, M.K. Perker; Image)

 4.5/5 Stars

This title continues to be one of my favorite this year. The team on this book are layering all sorts of different meats and cheeses and using all kinds of spicy condiments to serve up one hell of a sandwich, and you know how much I like sandwiches.

Our boy with a bag on his head is back, and this time, Todd, The Ugliest Kid on Earth, is in jail, learning the ropes, making friends, being targeted for a shanking, chasing butterflies, and picking up the soap. Once again Ken Kristensen and M.K. Perker have gone out of their way to skewer sacred cows, punch the gut of pomposity, and provide some pretty good chuckles along the way.

While our titular Todd's perambulations in the pokey are the focus of most of this issue, Kristensen has a few other story lines to season the stew. Todd's dad is all hot and bothered for soap opera star Belinda Fairchild whose embrace of Scientology made her "breasts larger" and her "vagina smaller." Todd's mom enjoys the "advances" of a big-chinned opportunist. A new headless girl's body has been discovered to the dismay of the Chief of  Police who had already arrested Todd for the crime. Finally, there is the axe murderer himself who, in his only appearance in this issue, is upset by his Domino's Pizza delivery being late. 

Oh, and there's a toilet fly who sings "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot" who subsequently calls Todd a bitch and threatens to cut him.

As you can see, even in this four issue series, the creative team understands how to blend flavors to really be cooking.

This whole meal is served with a side order of subtle snark, like Oprah featuring Dr. Fredric Wertham's Seduction of the Innocent for her Book Club pick, or Shawshank Redemption references. This type of snark makes me think that the point of this whole series is to make us realize how ugliness is more horrific when it is spiritual rather than physical. Everything seems to be pointed in that direction as each new plate is served.

We're two courses into this series and, as we head into the entree and desert, I'm not sure how this whole meal is going to play out. All I know is that Kristensen and Perker are keeping the menu exciting with Todd: The Ugliest Kid on Earth #2, and they have me salivating for more.