Spencer & Locke 2 - an Action Lab sequel mini-series

Calvin & Hobbes are back! Er, no, wait...that's not right. Spencer & Locke are back! Yeah, that's it...

Okay, I was joking, but let's face it. The original Spencer & Locke mini-series by Action Lab was a whole lot of fun, and it was a clear take on the old Calvin & Hobbes comic strip from the newspapers. Only Calvin (a/k/a Locke) is all grown up, and his tiger best friend, Hobbes (a/k/a Spencer) is more than just a cohort in fun - he's a furious feral fighting machine out to help his best friend in all of his capers as a detective.

In this follow-up to the much-enjoyed first mini-series, Locke has a new outlook on life, has a daughter he never knew he had, and has a whole new villain to face down in the form of Roach Riley (a/k/a Beetle Bailey). Written by David Pepose, the story is a mix of dark violence and comic strip humor, with plenty of nods to some very recognizable comic strips (such as Marmaduke, Hagar the Horrible, Family Circus, Dick Tracy, Dilbert, and so on), and each issue opens with a full page strip of Roach Riley. These opening sequences definitely set the tone for the series, as they start out light-hearted enough, but that last couple of panels turn violently deadly - and are a foreshadowing of what Roach is doing within the story...

Locke is trying to lay low, figure out his issues - but when a local politician's wife seeks his help in protecting her husband from the madman who is killing all of the other political leaders in town (Roach Riley, perhaps?), he turns her down - even though she gives him the incentive of having his daughter removed from foster care and placed with him. It's a tough decision, but he knows his life is too dangerous for her. Star reporter, Melinda Mercury, is prepared to help him - and before you know it, Locke and his partner, Spencer, find themselves in the thick of things again.  Only this time, he has a daughter watching him, emulating him, and ... helping him?!?!

The story has plenty of emotional drama to it, as well as lots of action. The reader can easily sympathize with Locke - his wanting to keep all of his baggage away from his daughter so she will have a better life than he did; wanting to hold on to the more innocent times of his childhood (by hanging on to Spencer); unable to ignore a cry for help; and ultimately releasing all of that rage on someone that has done so much damage to the world.  But his actions in this story do not come without a cost. Locke pays a very high price, indeed!

Pepose also plays a lot more in this mini-series on the fact that Spencer is only just a part of Locke's imagination - that he's not real, and the actions taken by Spencer are actually by Locke, even though he doesn't see it that way.  At least, not until the very end of the fourth and final issue - and the reader is left to wonder if that ending could result in the end of Spencer.

The art by Jorge Santiago is very noir and gives the story its gritty, urban feel. Not a real big fan of the coloring by Jasen Smith. It is very heavy on the blues and reds, with lots of shadowing - honestly, it drew me out of the story in a number of places, and I had to just kind of re-read what I was reading to get back into it. But, it wasn't bad enough to ruin my enjoyment of the story.  This mini-series was just as good as the first, and leaves me hoping for a third one in the future.

RATING:  8 trusty stuffed-rabbit sidekicks out of 10 for twisting the comic strip characters into a whole new idea and making it a great read!

Spencer & Locke - an Action Lab mini-series

What would happen if Calvin & Hobbes grew up to become police detectives?  And what if Calvin's home life was not all sun and roses?  And what if a childhood friend of Calvin's was murdered, leaving behind a child that was his?

All of those questions (and more!) are answered in Spencer & Locke, a four-issue mini-series published under Action Lab comics' Danger Zone imprint.  Written by David Pepose and art by Jorge Santiago, Jr., this series tells the story of Locke and his stuffed blue tiger, Spencer (who Locke imagines is a real, live, talking tiger that assists him on his investigations).  Of course, he is nothing more than a stuffed animal, but for Spencer, he is a life-long friend that has always been there for him, through some of the worst moments in his life (such as being beaten by his mother or sexually abused by his babysitter!).

I have always loved the Calvin & Hobbes strip, so I wondered just how this dark/noir take on the characters would go.  I'm not a fan of the dark turn that comics have taken lately, as comics should be an escape - they should be entertainment, not reflections of the darkness in the real world.  Spencer & Locke pleasantly surprised me, and for that, I am glad.

While there's no getting around the dark nature - his best friend and mother of his child murdered, his abuse, both physically and sexually as a child, and the violence galore - there is actually an almost child-like innocence to the tale, sort of like a child Locke playing grown up with his imaginary friend (in fact, I could almost imagine this whole story as nothing more than a made up game little Locke was playing with his stuffed tiger as a child).  As a reader, you immediately get drawn into Locke's world.  You feel his pain at finding his childhood friend left for dead.  You admire the fact that he moved past all of the pain in his childhood to become a police officer and fight to protect the innocent.  And you smile at his continued dependency on Spencer, an imaginary friend who proves more useful than one might expect!

The mystery, as you can obviously tell by now, is who murdered Locke's friend and why.  Pepose spins a good yarn and reveals a lot of secrets about the town, about his friend, and even about his own father.  In solving this crime, Locke has to face a lot of unresolved issues with his past and his family, and Pepose provides a really sweet twist ending that I honestly did not see coming.  He writes a very satisfying mystery that is neatly tied up, but definitely leaves you wanting for more.

Santiago's art is spectacular.  The "real" world sequences are beautifully rendered, even during the violent scenes - and yet his panels of Locke's childhood play a loving tribute to the Calvin and Hobbes strip - one of my favorites was the one with the snowmen fighting each other - so classic!

I would definitely love to see where Spencer and Locke go from here, so I'm hoping that Pepose and Santiago have more stories to tell.

RATING:  9 stuffed rabbits named Hero out of 10 for creating such a great twist on a classic strip and keeping it fresh and enjoyable.