Well it's happened. Bob Burden's gone stark raving mad. In this issue's editorial, he announces his plans for getting his works schedule onto a regular level, by ringing out Version-A Comics, just like real comics, only without the pictures. But wait a minute, we cry, isn't this books that you're talking about? Or has Bob been reading too many issues of Cerebus lately? No, assures Bob, there will be 5-10 illustrations per comic, firstly by Bob, and then hopefully (?!?) by other, better, artists. So, we are to be deprived of the image of Flaming Carrot, one of the icons of really inventive comics for most of the last decade? Pfah! But can Bob's writing stand up by itself, with illustration by pen of pencil? Well, there's no nearer source of raw material than FCC 31, so here we go:
The first story, the advertised crossover with whatever other comic stars a flying fat boy called Herbie, fares reasonably well as a comic, with its story of time travelling and Shakespeare's Secret identity. But without its pictures, the first page alone would lose much of its impact: "There is Flaming Carrot. He is standing, pointing at the villain, Chicken Pants. Chicken Pants has a chicken head, a ruff of feathers at his waist, a long honking-horn in his left hand. and a bag of money in his right. He is running away. In the sky behind then is Herbie..."
You see? the simple, classic layout of the page, which is easily worth the same as the words spoken on it, is unlikely to survive the transition to text.
The second story, on the other hand, would well survive translation to text, or any other medium for that matter. A poem narrated by Flaming Carrot as he revisits old haunts, this may well be the best 9 pages I have even seen anywhere. which is not to say that the art is completely incidental: It wonderfully complements the words, and the text version would have only half the impact of the total. But even so, two instances of of that half-impact would be well worth full-comic price . As a footnote, if the advertisement for Version-A Comics ("$5 for an issue, $3 for 10!") isn't a misprint, then this entire question is moot, and Bob Burden is mad, after all.
Andrew These reviews are copyright the authors