By Alex Zalben
This Wednesday, Dark Horse releases online sensation Axe Cop in trade paperback form, and we at MTV Geek couldn’t be more excited. If you’ve never read Axe Cop (handily available at axecop.com), you’ve been missing out on one of the most original and hilarious comics of… Well, ever. Here’s ten reasons you need to correct your mistake, and pick up Axe Cop Volume 1 this week:
1. It’s Written By a 5 Year Old: Seriously. Axe Cop was created by 5-year-old Malachai Nicolle, when his 29-year-old comic book artist/writer brother Ethan was home for Christmas. Malachai was “playing Axe Cop,” Ethan decided to write down the story verbatim, and illustrate it, and history was born. To this day, every bit of Axe Cop is written by Malachai (or at least, dictated and sorted out into comprehensible form by Ethan).
2. It’s About An Axe Cop: In case you couldn’t guess from the title, the comic is about a cop who chops things with his axe. He teams up with a super smart baby with a unicorn horn named Uni-Baby, and other heroes and villains, like Leaf Man, Baby Man, Flute Cop and more. The whole thing makes a bizarre kind of sense, the sort of logic you can only get from hearing a five-year-old tell a story.
3. Flute Cop is Now Uni-Avocado Soldier: Axe Cop’s brother, Flute Cop, was turned into a dinosaur soldier, then an avocado soldier, and then given a unicorn’s horn, so now he’s Uni-avocado Soldier. Reading all this in trade form will help with the heady continuity, rather than waiting for the weekly episodes online. Maybe.
4. Axe Cop Is Thoughtful: A recurring feature on the website is, “Ask Axe Cop,” and the trade will collect some of the best of those strips. The better the question (i.e., the more ridiculous), the better the strip. And there are some ridiculous ones… We’re partial to Axe Cop’s answer to, “What do you do with all the heads you chop off?” in particular: they get ground into dust, and then used to make to make head plants for people who want to have double heads. Yup.
5. Fun For the Whole Family: Because the strip is written by a five-year-old, it’s all pretty good, clean fun. Even with an axe present, the violence, as drawn by Ethan Nicolle, is no worse than you would see in a cartoon. I mean, don’t get us wrong: it’s violent. But in an old Warner Brothers cartoon way, not in a Saw 3D way.
6. It’s Inspiring for Kids: Parents could do no worse than to hand their kids a copy of this book. Basically, you’re telling them that if they use their imagination and creativity, maybe some day they can get a comic book published like Malachai did.
7. Get Caught Up For The New Miniseries in March: This Spring, Dark Horse is releasing the first ever, direct to print Axe Cop miniseries, “Bad Guy Earth.” In it, Axe Cop and Dinosaur Soldier are on the run from the police, President, and army, who have all been turned into bad guys by evil aliens. Pick up the trade, so you can stand by the comic racks in March and be all like, “Oh, Axe Cop? Yeah, I’ve been reading that forever.”
8. Celebrate Axe Cop’s Birthday! Axe Cop was created by Ethan and Malachai on December 23rd, 2009. The trade comes out on December 22nd. What better way to wish Axe Cop a Happy B-day than by giving him $14.99 of your hard earned cashola? I bet he wouldn’t chop your head off if you did.
9. There’s Christmas In There: As if this wasn’t already the most perfect holiday gift possible, Axe Cop features several episodes set at Christmas, including one where Bad Santa, a guitar playing maniac who has teamed up with an evil flying book, steals Leaf Man’s powers. Think about it: you can watch A Christmas Story for the thirty-sixth time, or you can read about Baby Man and Axe Cop teaming up to kill an evil Santa. Your choice, I guess.
10. Support Original Stories: People constantly complain there aren’t enough original concepts in comics. There is nothing more original or unique than Axe Cop, so it’s time to put your money where your mouth is, comics fans. The world needs more characters like Pretzel Man, Dr. Stinky Head, and Vampire Man Baby Kid.
Check out a preview for Axe Cop Vol. 1 here!
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