Kid Lobotomy, the first issue in IDW’s “Black Crown” comic imprint, breaks pretty much every taboo, from incest to eating human brains.
It’s a dark, multilayered tale about “Kid”, a young rock guitarist who has lost his sanity. Think: Clive Barker meets William Burroughs.
So, Kid is insane. He sees visions, loses mental focus and hears voices. Kid’s father, the wealthy Big Daddy, finally has Kid lobotomized (a radical brain operation), then hires him to run a hotel, and perform similar operations on guests. The first lobotomy that the Kid performs does not go well; his patient recovers, but there are dramatic side effects.
What works: This comic tale is a real mind twister, no pun intended. It’s dark and disturbing but told with such insistent confidence, it could actually be a story told by someone who is insane (It isn’t: writer Peter Milligan has written Shade The Changing Man and Hellblazer. Artist Tess Fowler has illustrated Rat Queens).
There is something quite liberating about reading a story that can twist and turn in any direction.
Having said that, there is also something unsettling when you are reading about the mentally ill. And combining mental illness, Kafka-esk visions of insects, brother-sister incest in one unhappy bundle is quite a stretch for the reader to “buy into”. I found it difficult to care about The Kid. His actions and thoughts didn’t garner him much sympathy from me. Hey, instant karma’s gonna get ya, kid! Next issue comes out in November.
Adult/mature readers only, $3.99 for the 32-page comic. IDW’s Black Crown imprint
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