Grip of the Kombinat

Futurism goes totally over the top in this collection of fast-paced, black-humored science fiction adventures by Roy (the Prophet series) and Gentry (the Vinegar Teeth series). In a galaxy run by the ruthless super-corporation P.U.K. (Peerless Universal Kombinat), every human, alien, and robot is part of one giant business plan. The intricately structured society comes tumbling down, though, when citizens act against the P.U.K. to hilarious effect. Roy and Gentry fill the scenes with profane O. Henry twists and a delightful cast, including bounty hunter Chauncey Rhinestone, morose robots, company president SLAUGHTERLORDXXX_69, and office peon Helen, who works her way up the management ladder not for careerist motives but because she has the hots for P.U.K.’s mascot, a giant slug named Percy. The script’s scathing mockery of capitalism is enlivened with a bombastic and exaggerated black-and-white cartoon art style. It’s macabre and piercing social satire in the vein of 2000 AD’s The Ballad of Halo Jones or Rogue Trooper: “Go ahead and make my space-day!” one trooper declares. For fans of Warren Ellis or Grant Morrison, this will make their space-week. (June)