By Larry Jorash — A man stands on a ledge gripping a lobster tightly in one hand and the edge of a brick wall with his other. He’s standing high above the city as from a nearby open window, a large and menacing tiger crawls swipes at his legs. It’s all absurd and it’s the cover of Hyperthick #1 (see above), a new comic that Alan Moore has praised, saying, “With Hyperthick, Steve Aylett has blundered like a confused and angry bear into a new dimension of poetic genius.” This is high praise from a titan of comics, and so I set out to discover: what is Hyperthick and how has it so thoroughly seduced Alan Moore?

What follows is an investigation (semi-cheeky, of course) into this matter. But first, the basics. Hyperthick is a three-part mini-series, with part one published in July and the part three finale due in February. It’s the work of Aylett, a sci-fi novelist known primarily in comics for Lint, a biography about a fake comics creator. Hyperthick comes to us now via publisher Floating World Comics, complete with that blurb from Alan Moore that sparked my curiosity.

On the inside panel of Hyperthick #1, we meet a skeleton claiming to be Aylett, giving us a soliloquy of woes and tragedy. Monty Python’s Flying Circus is probably the closest example to what reading this book is like. Absurdism and cheeky word play abound, and where Hyperthick truly excels is it’s unabashed decision to double down on that absurdity. This book is absurdity to the max, and the little plot it has is best conveyed through loose tangents. The different character stories hardly, if ever, crossover, and we’re all the better for it. This is going to sound like nonsense if you haven’t read it, but Su Pesto doesn’t need Benny the Hen to drive her own antagonists up the wall with nonsensical arguments and archery skills. To some this may be overwhelming, but for anyone in on the joke, Moore’s words are like to ring true, with the blundering into poetic genius and all that.

Hyperthick’s artwork, of course, also bears discussion. Aylett uses public domain visuals, edited and remastered. And he pulls it off well, using it in ways that speak to the core concepts of his satire, all the better for the book's humor. The aforementioned Benny the Hen, for instance, punches farmer after farmer on page two as a way to show his credentials. The knowledge that this is out-of-context art culled from whatever source makes it all the funnier Why was Benny actually punching farmers? It doesn’t matter, because in Hyperthick it’s best to not question and just roll with the hilarious punches.

This is a book that openly mocks almost every predecessor it has while also paying gleefully homage to the campiness of comics from a bygone age. Really, it’s plain to see what Alan Moore meant in his remarks about this book. My investigation (which was really just me reading the comic), found that as a work of pure satire and wackiness, Hyperthick is fresh and bold. It strikes and strikes and strikes again; unrelenting in it’s drive to put a smile on the reader’s face. One fun exercise is to imagine Moore himself laughing at this one, and trying to pinpoint where he chuckled.

This concludes the first (and possibly last) Comics Bookcase investigation.

Hyperthick

Hyperthick
Writer/Artist: Steve Aylett
Publisher: Floating World Comics
Dead inside? Hair on the blink? House tornado liquidizing the furniture? Here’s a fab new rectangle from Steve Aylett (Lint, The Caterer)
You’ll have a field day with this shredding medley of smashed treasure and murky diatribes. Become exhausted at your own pace. Wasting time has never been so easy. And keep a watchful eye on those legs of yours. They’ll betray you.
Catch the adventures of Benny the Hen, Luka Bazooka, Su Pesto, Fox Grave, Biloxi Blake and Harry McInch in this daunting first issue.
Learn More: Hyperthick #1

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Larry Jorash (He/Him) resides in Central Florida managing a comic book shop and coaching youth sports. In his spare time he enjoys ice hockey and reading. You will almost never find his hand vacant of coffee. Find him on twitter: (@theREALlarbear)