Lula and Her Pet Monster Soaring

Building off of two excellent comics to start the series, the third issue of Eric Powell’s “Chimichanga”
continues to impress.

It’s also full of surprises.

Through the first two issues, it appeared that Dagmar the Witch, while being an integral part of the series, would play second fiddle to Dinderly, the head of a huge Pharmaceutical chain with enormous pull economically and politically.

Without giving anything away, lets just say that plan is out the window, but the series couldn’t be in a better situation because of it. Unlike Powell’s other series, “The Goon,” where an already dead Labrazio and the undead priest were the main baddies, with no deaths coming until much later, this series has had a few characters apparently leave the series- for good.

With a seamless transition that focuses on Lula and Chimi, the Powell critics have absolutely no ammunition.

On its own merits, this is a comic that although artistically similar, has nothing in common with any of Powell’s other work. While the friendship between The Goon and Frankie is an integral part of that series, the relationship between Lula and Chimi is completely different. Without a doubt, both Goon and Frankie can handle themselves physically and don’t need each other the same way Lula and Chimi do. Simply put, without each other, these characters would be lost and as a result, seeing them grow and further establish a bond is perhaps the best reason to read the comic.

Aside from that, seeing other characters the likes of Wrinkle and Horacio, the boy-faced fish help Lula is hilarious. Continuing to play with the ’80s sitcom kind of feel the comic has at times, both Wrinkle and Horacio seem to have been stuck in an episode of “Charles in Charge,” with the two looking like Scott Baio and Willie Aames, getting into trouble and trying to fix it by any means they can. Developing these characters makes the series even stronger and gives the reader a sense of family within the circus that wasn’t quite there through the first two issues.

Also apparent in this issue is much more attention being paid to close up art, as Chimi’s face [and the faces of the other characters as well] is put on full display in some of the best looking art in the series thus far. Asking more of himself as an artist, Powell’s style is beginning to develop here, as far as giving this series its own distinct look. Playing with shadows and light more than ever before, you can’t ask for more, especially considering the monochrome nature of the book.

With that being said, continuing the fun,yet deceivingly smart story and bringing the goods artistically, the third issue of “Chimichanga” delivers.

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About Patrick Hickey Jr. 13819 Articles
Patrick Hickey Jr. is a full-time Assistant Professor of Communication & Performing Arts and Director of the Journalism program at Kingsborough Community College and is the chairman of the City University of New York Journalism Council. He is the Founder and Editor-In-Chief of ReviewFix.com. He's also a former News Editor at NBC Local Integrated Media and National Video Games Writer at Examiner.com where his work was mentioned in National Ad campaigns by Disney, Nintendo and EA Sports. Hickey was also the Editor-In-Chief of two College Newspapers before he received his BA in Journalism from Brooklyn College. Hickey's work has been published in The New York Daily News, The New York Times, Complex, The Hockey Writers, Yahoo!, Broadway World, Examiner, NYSportScene Magazine, ProHockeyNews.com, GothamBaseball.com, The Syracuse Post-Standard, Scout.com and the official sites of the Brooklyn Aces and New York Islanders. His first book, The Minds Behind the Games: Interviews With Cult And Classic Video Game Developers was released in April 2018 and is chock full of interviews with legendary developers. His second book in the series, The Minds Behind Adventures Games, was released in December 2019. His third book, The Minds Behind Sports Games, was released in September 2020. His fourth book, The Minds Behind Shooter Games, was released in March 2021. The Minds Behind Sega Genesis Games and The Minds Behind PlayStation Games were released in 2022 and The Minds Behind PlayStation 2 was published in January 2023. Hickey is also a contracted comic book writer, currently penning his original series, "Condrey," as well as "The Job," "Brooklyn Bleeds" "Dem Gulls" and "KROOM" for Legacy Comix, where he serves as founder, owner and Editor-in-Chief. Hickey Jr. is also a voice actor, having starred in the 2018 indie hit and 2019 Switch, PS4 and Xbox One release, The Padre (also serving as English language Story Editor), from Shotgun With Glitters. The sequel, The Padre: One Shell Straight to Hell was released in February 2021- Hickey also served as a Story Editor and Lead Voiceover performer. He has also done narration and trailers for several other titles including The Kaiju Offensive, Relentless Rex and Roniu’s Tale. Hickey is also the lead voiceover performer on Mega Cat Studios’ upcoming title WrestleQuest, responsible for nearly 90 characters in the game, as well as Skybound's Renfield: Bring Your Own Blood, where he voices both Dracula and Renfield, as well as several other characters. He also stars in Ziggurat Interactive’s World Championship Boxing Manager 2, where he performs the VO of nearly every male character in the game. He also worked on the Atari VCS’s BPM Boy.

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