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Scud: The Disposable Assassin #1-4
Scud: The Disposable Assassin Vol. 1 - Heavy 3PO
Issues 1-4 of Scud: The Disposable Assassin. Aside from issue 1, all of these issues are permanently out of print! PLUS: 2 new pages and a new "cleaned up" look to issue 3. Foreword and scathing letters column by Dan Harmon. Idiot guide to the cast list and Jeff's samples. Scud's top ten influences. Fan mail. Fan art. Fan-tastic book.
120 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1997
1 person is currently reading
102 people want to read
About the author
Rob Schrab
47 books29 followersFrom Wikipedia: Rob Schrab (pronounced "SHROB") is a comic book creator, actor, comedian, writer, and film and television producer. Schrab grew up in Mayville, Wisconsin. He is known as the creator of the comic book, Scud: The Disposable Assassin, co-writer of the feature film Monster House, the unaired pilot Heat Vision and Jack, competitive film festival Channel 101 and the co-creator of Comedy Central's The Sarah Silverman Program.
He directed on all three seasons of The Sarah Silverman Program and has directed episodes of Childrens Hospital, Blue Mountain State, Community, and Parks and Recreation.
He directed on all three seasons of The Sarah Silverman Program and has directed episodes of Childrens Hospital, Blue Mountain State, Community, and Parks and Recreation.
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
February 17, 2021
Review originally posted here: https://sammythecritic.blogspot.com/2...
Synopsis: In a world where people can somehow pay for robotic assassins to eliminate their target at will and subsequently self-destruct, the title bot decides to preserve his victim and freelance at his will.
My Thoughts: After listening to Comic Tropes’ rather excellent critique of this series and learning that even the likes of Dan Harmon (creator of Community and Rick and Morty) were involved in this, I was enthused at checking it out. To my very disappointment, this is one of my most underwhelming reads.
Starting with the art, it was a hotter mess than that potato in the microwave which might have been the most shocking criticism I’d imagine having given that it’s part of what drew me in. At the surface, it contained much of the tenets I long for in a humor book including bouncy aesthetics, a charmingly crude layout, and fast-paced comedy. But ironically, these qualities were its weakest points. One reason I attest to this would be the exposition which is all over the place with too much action happening at once. This added to the crude illustrations made me scratch my head on what the deuce is going on. Furthermore, when the action is difficult to deduce, it also hampers immersion into the story and visual jokes. Speaking of jokes, even when the art is more comprehensible, the humor felt bloated. While rapid-fire dialogue and one-liners do tend to elicit laughs out of me or at least a handful of chuckles, these tropes can tire out quickly when they’re the only facets to a character as it is in this comic where there’s a constant stream of line after line of quips and random allusions without any respite for characterization or proper build-up to the plot. The only reason I am leaving a lenient two-star rating is since I found a few odd scenes here and there mildly humorous such as that assassin bot commercial and seeing Scud pretend giving a mock impression of a Christ figure.
Final Thoughts: Had I read this when I was younger when I had lower expectations, chances are I would be laughing along to it the same way I did with the Simpsons Comics and comic strip collections I spent hours binging through as a 12–14-year-old kid. However, I’m not the mostly carefree kid anymore and didn’t receive the same joy several others sought in it. Since I already downloaded the complete collection of the series, I still will trudge through a few more issues lest it improves, but until then, I can’t really recommend it.
Synopsis: In a world where people can somehow pay for robotic assassins to eliminate their target at will and subsequently self-destruct, the title bot decides to preserve his victim and freelance at his will.
My Thoughts: After listening to Comic Tropes’ rather excellent critique of this series and learning that even the likes of Dan Harmon (creator of Community and Rick and Morty) were involved in this, I was enthused at checking it out. To my very disappointment, this is one of my most underwhelming reads.
Starting with the art, it was a hotter mess than that potato in the microwave which might have been the most shocking criticism I’d imagine having given that it’s part of what drew me in. At the surface, it contained much of the tenets I long for in a humor book including bouncy aesthetics, a charmingly crude layout, and fast-paced comedy. But ironically, these qualities were its weakest points. One reason I attest to this would be the exposition which is all over the place with too much action happening at once. This added to the crude illustrations made me scratch my head on what the deuce is going on. Furthermore, when the action is difficult to deduce, it also hampers immersion into the story and visual jokes. Speaking of jokes, even when the art is more comprehensible, the humor felt bloated. While rapid-fire dialogue and one-liners do tend to elicit laughs out of me or at least a handful of chuckles, these tropes can tire out quickly when they’re the only facets to a character as it is in this comic where there’s a constant stream of line after line of quips and random allusions without any respite for characterization or proper build-up to the plot. The only reason I am leaving a lenient two-star rating is since I found a few odd scenes here and there mildly humorous such as that assassin bot commercial and seeing Scud pretend giving a mock impression of a Christ figure.
Final Thoughts: Had I read this when I was younger when I had lower expectations, chances are I would be laughing along to it the same way I did with the Simpsons Comics and comic strip collections I spent hours binging through as a 12–14-year-old kid. However, I’m not the mostly carefree kid anymore and didn’t receive the same joy several others sought in it. Since I already downloaded the complete collection of the series, I still will trudge through a few more issues lest it improves, but until then, I can’t really recommend it.
March 27, 2021
I haven't laughed this hard at a book in a while. SCUD is a robot assassin for hire that will self-destruct when it terminates it's target. Our SCUD just so happened to see its warning label and refused to kill its target. Instead, it severely injures the target then takes it to the hospital where it will be on life support for a while. In the meantime, SCUD must take odd jobs to pay for the target's hospital bills, because if it dies, SCUD dies.
What happens is a series of weird and comical shenanigans that get more and more crazy and out there. But it work! It's like the craziest story you can come up with, but somehow still make perfect sense. The mafia asks him to whack a prisoner and somehow that devolves into killing zombie dinosaurs in a mech suit! The stylized art and the dialogue choices make fit perfectly with the story, adding even more situational humor.
It's a wild ride and it's so ridiculous, it's funny.
What happens is a series of weird and comical shenanigans that get more and more crazy and out there. But it work! It's like the craziest story you can come up with, but somehow still make perfect sense. The mafia asks him to whack a prisoner and somehow that devolves into killing zombie dinosaurs in a mech suit! The stylized art and the dialogue choices make fit perfectly with the story, adding even more situational humor.
It's a wild ride and it's so ridiculous, it's funny.
January 6, 2025
In a 90s punk art-style reminiscent of "johnny the homicidal maniac" we start at a corporate office of Marvin's Manikans, where lowly employee Hershel Roundhead is having a meeting with his boss, Mr. Spidergod, regarding a "monster" that's been eating the employees.
Mr. Spidergod tells Hershel that if he doesn't get someone to "take care of it", he would send Hershel down to deal with it. We then find Hershel outside on the street, standing in front of a vending machine simply labeled SCUD, filled with an aforementioned yellow-robot. He inserts three "Franks" (quarters with Frankenstein's monster on the side), presses a button and out steps Scud, the Disposable Assassin.
...Set in a comedically amoral world where robotic assassins called Scuds are readily available on every street corner, and dispensed from vending machines. They are deadly, agile, heavily armed... and they explode upon terminating their assigned target, so you never have to worry about incriminating evidence.
Our protagonist is just another Scud, hired to clear out a pest control problem, a monstrous creature called Jeff. Realizing that killing Jeff means immediate death for him as well, Scud instead painfully immobilizes Jeff and has her hospitalized. Seeking the necessary cash to keep Jeff's medical bills paid to keep them both alive, Scud now has to go freelance, in a world that seems doomed to eternal peril.
4/5
(spoilers)
This is an unhinged dinosaur from the dark-age of comics, I'm a fan of a fresh take. Anything but another superhero comic.
Mr. Spidergod tells Hershel that if he doesn't get someone to "take care of it", he would send Hershel down to deal with it. We then find Hershel outside on the street, standing in front of a vending machine simply labeled SCUD, filled with an aforementioned yellow-robot. He inserts three "Franks" (quarters with Frankenstein's monster on the side), presses a button and out steps Scud, the Disposable Assassin.
...Set in a comedically amoral world where robotic assassins called Scuds are readily available on every street corner, and dispensed from vending machines. They are deadly, agile, heavily armed... and they explode upon terminating their assigned target, so you never have to worry about incriminating evidence.
Our protagonist is just another Scud, hired to clear out a pest control problem, a monstrous creature called Jeff. Realizing that killing Jeff means immediate death for him as well, Scud instead painfully immobilizes Jeff and has her hospitalized. Seeking the necessary cash to keep Jeff's medical bills paid to keep them both alive, Scud now has to go freelance, in a world that seems doomed to eternal peril.
4/5
(spoilers)
This is an unhinged dinosaur from the dark-age of comics, I'm a fan of a fresh take. Anything but another superhero comic.
February 9, 2008
Scud the Disposable Assassin is one of the strangest comic books I've ever read, an certainly competes for the strangest that I own. In this (the first collection of issues), author Rob Schrab takes a screwy premise and drives it straight off a cliff into Wackyland.
The initial premise is simple enough: a "Scud" is a disposable robotic assassin purchased from a vending machine. It is programmed to self-destruct upon completing its mission (to make the hit untraceable). One such Scud is activated and tasked to hunt down a monster (who ends up with the name "Jeff"), but discovers his own mortality by accident. Unwilling to commit suicide by completing his mission, he instead cripples Jeff and is forced to start taking other work as an assassin to keep Jeff's life support bills paid.
This setup doesn't even begin to convey how strange the comic is. A better indicator is to describe Jeff itself. Jeff is a 10 foot pastiche of incongruous parts. Its "legs" are large muscular arms (ending in hands) with mouths in the knees. Its body is that of a lanky tiger with a squid strapped to it with leather belts. Its arms end in "hands" composed of an opposable thumb but mousetraps in the place of fingers. Its head is a huge three-prong electrical plug. It speaks entirely in quotes from films.
As strange as Jeff is, it's par for the course. As a result, the absurd protagonist (who, we are told by the author on page 2, should be voiced by John Malkovich) plays the straight man to a deranged, dysfunctional world. The results are enthusiastically violent, cleverly referential, and sharply drawn in a distinctive black-and-white style.
Scud isn't for everyone. Brimming with irony before irony was cool, Scud will appeal most to people who have seen too many action, sci-fi, and mobster movies but are smart enough to know how schlocky the stuff they enjoy is. In fact, Scud bears some striking thematic resemblances to Kill Bill (which came out a decade later), and would likely appeal to the audience of "people who enjoy the same movies Quentin Tarantino does." As such, expect violence. Scud plays out the way Frank Miller might interpret Looney Toons: with blood, dismemberment, and the occasional pun. It's difficult to call anything as goofy as Scud "gory," but it's certainly graphic.
You're unlikely to find anything as wildly inventive and off-the-wall as Scud. While much of its weirdness is weird for its own sake, it's nevertheless a fun trip.
The initial premise is simple enough: a "Scud" is a disposable robotic assassin purchased from a vending machine. It is programmed to self-destruct upon completing its mission (to make the hit untraceable). One such Scud is activated and tasked to hunt down a monster (who ends up with the name "Jeff"), but discovers his own mortality by accident. Unwilling to commit suicide by completing his mission, he instead cripples Jeff and is forced to start taking other work as an assassin to keep Jeff's life support bills paid.
This setup doesn't even begin to convey how strange the comic is. A better indicator is to describe Jeff itself. Jeff is a 10 foot pastiche of incongruous parts. Its "legs" are large muscular arms (ending in hands) with mouths in the knees. Its body is that of a lanky tiger with a squid strapped to it with leather belts. Its arms end in "hands" composed of an opposable thumb but mousetraps in the place of fingers. Its head is a huge three-prong electrical plug. It speaks entirely in quotes from films.
As strange as Jeff is, it's par for the course. As a result, the absurd protagonist (who, we are told by the author on page 2, should be voiced by John Malkovich) plays the straight man to a deranged, dysfunctional world. The results are enthusiastically violent, cleverly referential, and sharply drawn in a distinctive black-and-white style.
Scud isn't for everyone. Brimming with irony before irony was cool, Scud will appeal most to people who have seen too many action, sci-fi, and mobster movies but are smart enough to know how schlocky the stuff they enjoy is. In fact, Scud bears some striking thematic resemblances to Kill Bill (which came out a decade later), and would likely appeal to the audience of "people who enjoy the same movies Quentin Tarantino does." As such, expect violence. Scud plays out the way Frank Miller might interpret Looney Toons: with blood, dismemberment, and the occasional pun. It's difficult to call anything as goofy as Scud "gory," but it's certainly graphic.
You're unlikely to find anything as wildly inventive and off-the-wall as Scud. While much of its weirdness is weird for its own sake, it's nevertheless a fun trip.
December 11, 2024
From the high shelves of 90s indie comics, comes Scud: part darkly cynical commentary on modern life, part unleashed humor, and always on the edge of stellar violence. Some of the best black and white inking you'll find, Schrab gives impressive lessons on how to make it look like the scene is alive and shooting. Plus, reading it is akin to taking a Boston Terrier out for a late night walk, after it got into your cocaine stash. Fantastic, unbridled excitement.
October 30, 2017
I really enjoy this concept. The artwork is fun. It is a little violent and there's some language, but I kinda' love it. Scud reminds me in some ways of Deadpool. He has that sociopathic assassin-for-hire thing going on. Also, loved Voodoo Ben Franklin and his zombie dinosaurs. I mean, how could you not love something like that?
December 10, 2023
The art is clean and bombastic and Scud is a fun character to be along side with BUT 2 problems. 1- Some of the pages are a little too busy to track what's going on and 2- If we could keep the racial caricatures out that would be appreciated.
May 20, 2023
This simply wasn’t for me. Humour that didn’t land and art that makes it hard to tell what’s going on.
February 2, 2013
Scud the Disposable Assassin is what it is, an undeniably, proudly trashy comic book in the way that only the purest pulp can be. On the one hand, I'm not sure I like it, and on the other hand, it's completely unforgettable, and occasionally even kind of touching. Who can forget Jeff, the plug-headed mutant maybe-woman with the talking knees, or the gangster giraffe or evil Ben Franklin (our Dr. McNinja guy has to have read this) or the ... it's just bizarre. It's no holds barred, all stops pulled bizarre, to the point that invading heaven is just kind of par for the course, and hello there. It's a singular vision for sure. And robots are cool. And sentient storage units are oddly compelling. And it's important to stand up for the people you love, but not to the point of destroying the earth, probably? That's all I can tell you about what I just read.
December 6, 2008
This is a compilation of the first 4 issues of Scud: The Disposable Assassin.
This comic book is set in a surreal future where assassin robots can be purchased from vending machines. Once they are purchased, they are given a target, and once they kill the target they self destruct. However, this is the story of one scud who does not kill his target. Rather he maims it, and puts it on life support. Then he becomes a hitman to raise money for the life support bills.
This comic book is set in a surreal future where assassin robots can be purchased from vending machines. Once they are purchased, they are given a target, and once they kill the target they self destruct. However, this is the story of one scud who does not kill his target. Rather he maims it, and puts it on life support. Then he becomes a hitman to raise money for the life support bills.
September 17, 2010
Disappointing. The best volume is 2, which would actually be about 2.5 stars, because I like Drywall and Oswalt.
December 3, 2013
Remember the early 90s when comics were completely insane? I always thought the premise here was genius and the titular character was Deadpool done first.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews