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Officer Downe: Bigger Better Bastard Edition
The Badass With A Badge returns in a glorious oversized hardcover! Brought to you by Joe Casey (Butcher Baker) and Chris Burnham (Batman, Inc.) -- now with added pages of over-the-top sex and violence -- experience Officer Downe as it was meant to be experienced! You've never felt "command presence" quite like this! This is the cop that'll keep coming back for more...even from beyond the grave!
96 pages, Hardcover
First published July 14, 2010
3 people are currently reading
334 people want to read
About the author
Joe Casey
971 books86 followersLibrarian note: there is more than one author with this name
Joe Casey is an American comic book writer. He has worked on titles such as Wildcats 3.0, Uncanny X-Men, The Intimates, Adventures of Superman, and G.I. Joe: America's Elite among others. As part of the comics creator group Man of Action Studios, Casey is one of the creators of the animated series Ben 10.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Casey
Joe Casey is an American comic book writer. He has worked on titles such as Wildcats 3.0, Uncanny X-Men, The Intimates, Adventures of Superman, and G.I. Joe: America's Elite among others. As part of the comics creator group Man of Action Studios, Casey is one of the creators of the animated series Ben 10.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Casey
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Displaying 1 - 29 of 29 reviews
June 6, 2017
Officer Downe is the ultimate cop – an unstoppable killing machine who never rests until all the criminals are dead… or arrested, whatever! But he pisses off some corrupt animal-headed businessmen who are fed up with Downe never staying, er, down, and hire a flamboyant ninja hitman and his army of goons to take him out, once and for all!
It sounds like a fun comic, right? I did like the ultra-hyper-violence of it all. Downe spends most of the book literally punching through people’s heads, ripping off faces, kicking out spines, and unloading one gigantic gun after another into anyone stoopid enough to stand in his way, all gleefully and beautifully illustrated by mad Chris Burnham. It’s so over-the-top and silly, it’s funny.
But action is all there is to this one – it’s a very shallow and insubstantial read. The characters are one-dimensional archetypes, the story is simply an excuse for non-stop fighting and there’s nothing else to it. Officer Downe is basically a derivative X-rated Judge Dredd comic.
I adore Burnham’s art and it is bloody glorious here. This is an extremely graphic comic so if you’re squeamish and don’t want to see gore-splattered pages, definitely avoid this one! But, like his other comics Butcher Baker and Sex, crude, almost childish, shock value is all Joe Casey has to offer and Officer Downe is just another forgettable, blandly-written Casey comic.
It sounds like a fun comic, right? I did like the ultra-hyper-violence of it all. Downe spends most of the book literally punching through people’s heads, ripping off faces, kicking out spines, and unloading one gigantic gun after another into anyone stoopid enough to stand in his way, all gleefully and beautifully illustrated by mad Chris Burnham. It’s so over-the-top and silly, it’s funny.
But action is all there is to this one – it’s a very shallow and insubstantial read. The characters are one-dimensional archetypes, the story is simply an excuse for non-stop fighting and there’s nothing else to it. Officer Downe is basically a derivative X-rated Judge Dredd comic.
I adore Burnham’s art and it is bloody glorious here. This is an extremely graphic comic so if you’re squeamish and don’t want to see gore-splattered pages, definitely avoid this one! But, like his other comics Butcher Baker and Sex, crude, almost childish, shock value is all Joe Casey has to offer and Officer Downe is just another forgettable, blandly-written Casey comic.
April 15, 2020
2.5; features some imaginatively over the top scenes of carnage, but this is essentially the straight to dvd sequel to Miller's Hard Boiled, with everything that implies.
September 5, 2017
3 stars for story, 5 for Chris Burnham's artwork.
Joe Casey tells us there's nothing deep about this, that it's just senseless hyperviolence. Fair enough. And it is entertaining in that cartoon hyperbole, no longer obeying the laws of physics kind of way. But it's not mind-blowing. I just wish this story was three times as long and more developed, because it could be that much cooler.
Another review claimed this is just a cheap rip off of RoboCop. Either they've never seen RoboCop or they didn't actually read this. Sure, a cop gets KIA and rebuilt by a very high-tech LAPD. That's where the similarities end. He's not even a robot! This is to RoboCop like The Invisibles is to The Matrix. Talk about reductionist.
But seriously, Chris Burnham is an insanely talented illustrator. We've seen in it Nameless and Nixon's Pals, and now we're seeing it again in Officer Downe. The realism of his violence is both nauseating and beautiful. Cartoon violence for the win!
December 15, 2023
It was ok?
A supercop who's sent by his boss to kill bad guys goes up against more than he can handle and dies again and again and again, and his bosses are bringing him back to life again and again and again, rinse and repeat until the forgettable story ends.
Well, if you wanna read something that will turn off your brain and will only get a dumb plot with mindless action and violence over the top with some amazing artwork and coloring, then you're in for a treat.
If not, then you'll find it ok, like I did. The artwork is great, hence a +1 star, with details and everything, but you don't get much other than that, and it's not like its humor is good or anything, so, it's up to you.
A supercop who's sent by his boss to kill bad guys goes up against more than he can handle and dies again and again and again, and his bosses are bringing him back to life again and again and again, rinse and repeat until the forgettable story ends.
Well, if you wanna read something that will turn off your brain and will only get a dumb plot with mindless action and violence over the top with some amazing artwork and coloring, then you're in for a treat.
If not, then you'll find it ok, like I did. The artwork is great, hence a +1 star, with details and everything, but you don't get much other than that, and it's not like its humor is good or anything, so, it's up to you.
August 1, 2017
Nope.
Didn't find this one funny or exciting.
Didn't find this one funny or exciting.
January 11, 2026
2.5/5
Sometimes, satire via sledgehammer works.
Other times, though, a modicum of restraint would go a long way.
Art was great though.
Sometimes, satire via sledgehammer works.
Other times, though, a modicum of restraint would go a long way.
Art was great though.
January 10, 2024
There's no satire but if you're Downe for a short and sharp slice of graphic pulp with Millar and Ennis and Wagner in its reconstituted genetic make up then give this a go.
January 8, 2017
Nuff said
May 31, 2017
Violent comic collection about a policeman without scrupules
A policeman fights crime without restraint and occasionally dies in the process. Frequently resurrected, he fights on as various influential people conspire to get rid of him.
With a lot of bloodshed and a high death toll, this short comic is joined by the script for the film consequently made and some photos of the film-making.
I only read the comic, the rest not really of any interest to me, especially as I've never heard of the film. Quite good but nothing special.
A policeman fights crime without restraint and occasionally dies in the process. Frequently resurrected, he fights on as various influential people conspire to get rid of him.
With a lot of bloodshed and a high death toll, this short comic is joined by the script for the film consequently made and some photos of the film-making.
I only read the comic, the rest not really of any interest to me, especially as I've never heard of the film. Quite good but nothing special.
October 3, 2017
Absolute time waste and just as terrible as the film. Avoid at all costs.
April 13, 2018
the bro of marshal law and judge dredd !!!
December 9, 2019
5/5 ; maybe not for kiddos
January 8, 2020
Stupid fun. Awesome art and silly story.
Read
May 29, 2021Read this for Burnham's art and was not disappointed.
January 5, 2023
This was short. This was stupid. This was fun. High on action and gore, low on story. Sometimes that kind of thing is just what the doctor ordered.
Read
December 30, 2023Full show coming soon on the comics in motion podcast network. Watch this space.
February 11, 2017
This is probably a lot better than I think it is. Opening on a page-long spread (heh) of some enthusiastic oral sex, this quickly trades sex for violence and pretty much just stays there with this story of a nigh-invulnerable, super-violent action cop who gets resurrected by a roomful of telekinetics every time he's K.I.A. This fills the niche left open by the gelding of Lobo and characters like him, I suspect - stuff I kind of stopped reading in my 20s. Fun, but not deep in any way, and not really driven by story so much as the freakshow/trainwreck impulse to not look away. Spectacular human suffering captured in clean lines, and some genuinely amusing dialogue.
December 3, 2016
As beautiful a comic as it may be, OFFICER DOWNE is a remains an obnoxiously bad comic. A riff on ROBOCOP, OFFICER DOWNE contains all the ultra-violence of the iconic 1987 film but none of the intelligence, something writer Joe Casey takes a misguided pride in, as revealed in a afterward to this edition of the comic.
The problem isn't the cheap thrills or surface pleasures the comic deals in - there is certainly a place for such works - but rather the smug self satisfaction which emanates off of every page. It isn't enough for the creators to deliver a trashy slice of fun; they have to be sticking to whatever imagined snooty and/or uptight middle class audience would object to the book. The result of this attitude is that the whole endeavour feels little more than a bunch of posturing on the part of the creators, rather than some authentic form of creative expression.
The problem isn't the cheap thrills or surface pleasures the comic deals in - there is certainly a place for such works - but rather the smug self satisfaction which emanates off of every page. It isn't enough for the creators to deliver a trashy slice of fun; they have to be sticking to whatever imagined snooty and/or uptight middle class audience would object to the book. The result of this attitude is that the whole endeavour feels little more than a bunch of posturing on the part of the creators, rather than some authentic form of creative expression.
March 7, 2013
I am a huge fan of author Joe Casey and artist Chris Burnham. In fact I purchased this book when I met Burnham at a comic book convention. Casey is someone that is good at fantastical, exagerated plots and surrealist flights of fancy. This is one of those pieces, where its comicly brutal and over the top. Burnham also is one well suited to illustrating these flight of fancy pieces, having worked with Grant Morrison on "Batman Incorporated" and on the series "Elephant Men." It was a little too over the top and absurdly violent for me to truly enjoy it. However, if you like to just turn your brain off and enjoy some beautiful, albeit gorified, art with a fifty calibre plotline this is the graphic novel for you.
August 18, 2015
Sorry this is crap. A woefully failed try to create something similiar to Hardboiled by Miller and Darrow.
I have absolutely no problem with over the top graphic violence (actually that's why i picked the book up) but I still demand a minimum of storytelling, that does not completely insult my intelligence. Wasn't there. Considered to give a second star because of the pretty pictures ... but nah.
I have absolutely no problem with over the top graphic violence (actually that's why i picked the book up) but I still demand a minimum of storytelling, that does not completely insult my intelligence. Wasn't there. Considered to give a second star because of the pretty pictures ... but nah.
April 21, 2015
I usually love Joe Casey, this wasn't one of them. I'm not a fan of Burnham. He's just ripping Frank Quitely off. Frank Quitely should get a royalty check every time Burnham does a book in Quitely's style.
December 25, 2011
"PULL OVER, COCKSUCKER!!!" Awesome.
December 29, 2011
Robocop filtered through Miller and Darrow's Hard Boiled. Burnham's art really conveys the intended mayhem well.
June 24, 2012
The right vehicle to truly appreciate Chris Burnham's talent!
January 11, 2013
Really only made worthwhile by Chris Burnham's outstanding artwork.
June 28, 2014
Una joyita sangrienta y divertida. Muy image. Bravo chicos.
June 7, 2016
Fantastic piece of literature. Pretty pictures, too.
September 4, 2013
Not one of Casey's best.
Read
February 17, 2018It does what it says on the can. Hyper-violent, pointless, kind amusing, and beautifully illustrated.
Displaying 1 - 29 of 29 reviews