‘Kane and Able’ OGN (review)

Written and Illustrated by
Krent Able and Shaky Kane
Pubished by Image Comics

With Image’s Kane and Able, I feel like I must be missing out on some kind of joke, although, mind you, nothing in the book gives me any reason to believe it was any kind of a good joke!

I really don’t know what I just read.

On one level, Kane and Able seems to be some kind of underground parody of Silver Age Marvel, going so far as to have Stan and Jack as well as offering up some odd attempts at Kirby-style art. The multiple stories are all rambling and aimless, with pointless, undeveloped characters and a ton of blood and guts spilling all over the pages throughout.

Nothing here is connected, nor does any of it make any sense.

There are fake ads that I guess are supposed to be funny. I guess a couple of them even sorta-kinda succeed. But even the “About the Authors” section at the back of the book is in random Latin and, if my translator app is to be believed, tells nothing about the authors.

Are they real people at all or is that, too, part of the “joke” here? Is this maybe all by some famous comics creator just trying to be oh-so-clever?

The gory final story in the book co-opts 1940s public domain superhero duo Nightmare and Sleepy with better art, at least, than anything else in the book, but without one iota of respect for the one-time heroes.

A back cover quote, ostensibly from ABC News, refers to Kane and Able as “The World’s Best Comic.”

I feel like I just wasted about 30 minutes of my time with it. Feel free to take this as a warning so you don’t waste yours.