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Wednesday, November 12, 2008

PETEY & PUSSY (2008)

Operating in the same funny/disturbing vein as stuff like DUCKMAN, this is one enjoyably fucked-up read. Although its protagonists are an anthropomorphic dog and cat with foul mouths and balding human heads, this graphic novel somehow offers a more realistic look at New York City residents than more populist offerings like that FRIENDS bullshit. Petey (the dog) roams the streets of the Big Apple when not popping through the pet door to visit his bespectacled buddy Pussy (self-explanatory), the pet of an ancient and somewhat dotty old crone who puts various objects and food items found around her apartment to questionable uses (what Petey refers to as "Twat-Wurst" being particularly horrid). Also sharing the apartment is a bird named Bernie who longs for nothing so much as the tender release of death, a state of non-being denied him by Pussy who keeps him alive because he enjoys messing with him and watching the bird’s agonies at the hands of the old lady. Though animals, the cast of characters could easily be just another trio of schlubs on the street and their world brings to mind the unquestioned "so the animals can talk" human/beast interaction found in animated cartoons, only with considerably more gore and recognizable profanity (no “razzin-frazzin” here). Filled with content that would send Walt Disney and other purveyors of diabetes-inducing funny animal cutesiness into a state of apoplexy, think of this as exactly what your pets would be getting up to if they could talk and enjoyed hanging out in dive bars (and getting enlisted to dispose of a body when such a service is needed), and if you find that concept amusing you should give this volume a look.

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