Hip Flask: Eye Crack

So, for a while, I've been seeing this big over-sized hardcover book up on the Isotope shelf called Hip Flask. It's a little over my price range, but it looks really cool. From the cover, I've always figured it was sort of a pulpy, sci-fi detective story, with a giant hippo-man as the private dick. Sounded kinda cool, but again, the price was prohibitive.



Then, just yesterday, Hip Flask: Mystery City showed up on the new release rack, for a scant five bucks. Fair price for the production values and length, and I've always been interested in the book, so I jumped in.

Holy shit.

I mean, I could see that the art was really good, but I had to actually open it up to see stuff like this:




So I went on the official website and found even more. The artist's name is Ladronn, and he did this, too:



The story? Well, it's sort of a pulpy, sci-fi detective story, with a giant hippo-man as the private dick. There's a mad scientist, too, and a bunch of other cool animal men (including a camel guy named Joe). The kid in me - the one that scrambled for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles comics like they were oxygen - is going nuts. There's a lot of backstory I seem to be missing (there've been at least two other miniseries before this one), but I really don't fuckin' mind.

Why not, I hear you cry? Uh, that's why.

There's an interview about the Mystery City series on Newsarama here, and the official Hip Flask website is here. Both have plenty more artwork for you.

Awesome. I'll be looking for more of this, you bet your ass.