The Eltingville Club Review: Awesomesauce

Comic book fandom is an enigma to all except its fans. There is plenty of weirdness in associated with it, but that’s what makes the fandom fun. There is also that one dark side that very few talk about. Evan Dorkin brings out this darkness in perfect fashion in “The Eltingville Club.”

Bill Dickey is your cliché hardcore geek who loves comics, role playing games, wears thick glasses and is all around awkward. He finally lands his dream job of working at “Joe’s Fantasy World.” When Joe has to step out to go collect some rare figures Bill decides this would be the perfect time to be the owner of the shop. That is until his friends drop by and cause major trouble.

Dorkin does a fantastic job of showing everything that’s wrong with comic book fans. Everything from laughing at manga fans, people who collect alternative comics and female fans. The scene when a female comes in is a perfect example of the fandom’s opinion of girl geeks: They don’t exist. They just try to dress like fans to get attention.

There is also a running theme of fans being nothing more than foul mouthed, immoral assholes to each other. From Joe treating customers like crap to bill’s fans complaining that the comic book movie was terrible and will complain about it all over the internet.

Comic book fans will read and will laugh at how true this is. Then they’ll cry when it dawns on them that they are pretty much like this. The overblown and tragic implications presented here may be a wake up call to all comic fans. Though some readers will look at this as just an overreaction to how comic fans really are.

The art by Sara Dyer is reminiscent of “Tales from the Crypt.” This style fits with the message Dorkin is going for. Like “Tales from the Crypt,” the comic takes something normal like a comic book shop and make it scary. Of course, “Tales from the Crypt” had some hidden meaning in its stories. “The Eltingville Club” stays true to that, making its similarities that much closer.

“The Eltingville Club’ takes a satirical stance on comic books fandom with awesome results. The outrageous scenario and art makes this a sort of comic version of “The Lottery.” It is recommended to not just comic fans, but every fandom.