In Review – SLUDGY #1 by Rob Mirsky.

SLUDGY issue #1 created by Robb Mirsky.

A5 – White/Yellow/Black interiors – $6.

The Story – ‘It’s not quiet mud, nor slime… IT’S SLUDGY!!! A classic tale between good and evil. A tale as old as time, but with sludge monsters! Hailing from a toxic waste infected swamp, meet Sludgy! Or rather, Sludgys! The cutest mix of mud and gunk and stuff, just looking for some friends to hang out with.’

The Review – I found this engaging little comic as part of one of the releases from the Strangers Fanzine distribution project. As part of the project that brought us the excellent titular underground/outlaw fanzine the guys at Strangers are bringing to our attention some excellent small press and indie comics. They have become so popular in fact that each batch of scheduled releases will sell out within the first hour of them being on sale. You have to be pretty quick to jump on them to stand a chance of getting what you want. Part of the success of this new business centres around the fact that the publisher Eddie knows a cool comic when he sees one! (Full disclosure he also distributes Atomic Hercules – so clearly this dude knows his onions.) Amongst some of their releases have been Dynamite Diva by Jasper Jubenville Rorg of the Blood Swamp by Pat Kain and Satan’s Library by my old mucker Adam Falp.

So, I was quick to jump on this small, yellow and quirky release. SLUDGY fools you into thinking that it is either a gross-out underground title similar to the bastard child of Troma Studios and Josh Bayer or simply a fun kids friendly romp. It’s actually kind of both and neither all at once. I will try to explain.

SLUDGY is a we, a group of dark-eyed vaguely humanoid amorphous radioactive waste children who are happy in their own lives. They play games by throwing sloppy lumps of their own bodies at each other in a bizarre version of catch. But…like all bright-eyed outwardly positive but melty creatures they find that the real world has it’s pitfalls. Down by the canal bank is a similar creature (albeit with white eyes) playing with/eating barrels of black radioactive waste. This provides this black sheep of the family with strangely brewed ideas and super-SLUDGY abilities.

How will this group of clones deal with the new arrival and will the squirrel make it out alive?

This is just plan nutty fun that couldn’t possibly work anywhere other than in the pages of an underground comic. It has both an endearing and funny quality but also an environmental message. I’ve read the creator quote Crumb, EC Comics and Big Daddy Roth as past influences and you catch a whiff of that but this is entirely it’s own thing. There is a freewheeling definite energy that overcomes the simplistic nature of the art. Robb lays out a world that lives just in that corner of the woods, near to where everyone leaves their rubbish and you once saw a rat eating a condom! Highly recommended for those with a twisted sense of humour and a taste for the absurd.

‘We’re just having fun!’

I see that Strangers have just released the second issue and I’m all over that like a rash. You can find their BigCartel store right here and follow Robb at his Instagram right here. Robb also has his own store here with some swish looking SLUDGY T-Shirts!

Many thanks for reading.