The Stop Button
blogging by Andrew Wickliffe
Category: Todd The Ugliest Kid On Earth
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At this point, Kristensen and Perker have fully embraced the bit. Every scene, even if it eventually ties to another scene, is a bit. There’s a Santa bit, there’s a Joan Crawford bit, there’s a Satan’s nice kid bit. It’s all a bunch of bits strung together. The regular cast members no longer have anything…
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Todd doesn’t jump the shark with this issue; instead, Kristensen and Perker sort of hop the boat. They send Todd to Hell–literally–and he has to take Charon’s boat across the River Styx. So, the creators aren’t exactly being exclusive–River Styx knowledge isn’t particularly high, but it’s smart. It’s a smart reference, it’s a smart turn…
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Perker and Kristensen continue to embrace the insanity. The Charlie Rose subplot gets much bigger this time around–it probably takes up half the issue, which never exactly feels bloated, just really full. There are two major subplots–Todd pretending to be Sandy, the mom going off to get her boobs done–and a handful of little ones.…
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Todd is back and, wow, how he’s back. Having a successful limited series turn into an ongoing has apparently emboldened Perker and Kristensen. They don’t just continue their existing story, they take it up a bunch of notches. There’s a lot about higher American culture–Charlie Rose, Tom Wolfe, PBS–but there’s also a bunch of digs…
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Some things can never be unseen. I’m pretty sure Todd’s dad naked in bed covered in money is one of them. Kristensen and Perker doesn’t introduce any new characters this issue, I don’t think, but many of the series’s smaller players reappear. Even though Todd will return as an ongoing, this issue feels like a…
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Well now… Kristensen saves the issue’s biggest laugh for the final page. It’s a small panel, but it’s Todd’s panel and Todd isn’t in the issue much and it’s a damn good joke. It’s kind of a dumb joke, but the way Kristensen tells it is smart, which isn’t the way Todd usually goes, but…
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Kristensen really runs with the Todd in jail angle. It’s a busy issue–Todd’s parents get their own subplots, the moron cop who arrested him gets a little page time and, of course, the real serial killer gets a scene or two. There’s some wonderful about the panels of Todd running around the prison yard playing…
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Todd, The Ugliest Kid on Earth is delightfully disturbed. The titular protagonist is so ugly, he has to wear a paper bag around. But that ugliness does save him–there’s an axe-wielding child killer on the loose who lets Todd go because he’s so hideous. But I’m not sure I would call writer Ken Kristensen’s humor…
The Stop Button 