Pissed off animals, colorful anime-inspired art and enough pop culture references to hurl an orange top hat at, Frank Powers’ “The Origin of Pissed Off Panda: A Hate Story” definitely has its moments.
However, with a slew of words on each page and photography taking control of the overall art, this comic ends up more as a playful aside with potential than a full-fledged breakout performance. Ultimately, while powers has promise as both a writer and artist, he needs an editor to pull him in and tighten him up before he’s ready to have his cast of crazy animals hit the world with force.
Which they appear totally capable of doing.
Artistically, Powers’ work would look great in “Teen Titans” or even something powered by “The Goon” writer and artist Eric Powell. The colors are lush and the characters, Pissed Off Panda and Pig Beanus, are adorable. At the same time, they’re witty, foul-mouthed and at times cruel.
You’ll love them.
However, they get lost somewhere in the “Chasing Amy” kind of storyline. While it’s a fitting origin story for Panda and breaks the fourth wall in a fun Deadpool-esque sort of way, this story feels more about Powers’ way of moving on from a bad situation than an attempt to entertain readers. He should be commended for moving on with his life and ultimately producing something tangible such as this, but the experience itself lends too much to the story, instead of being mere motivation.
It should be said however that in spite of this, you are entertained at several different moments in the issue. These characters are too much fun to avoid. But with the repetitive photos (one is used a handful of time in different crops) and story that isn’t conducive to a flowing comic book read, this book ends up missing the mark a bit.
But don’t tell Panda; he hates us already. And truth be told, we’re scared of what he may do to us.
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