The Tooth

by Cullen Bunn, Shawn Lee, Matt Kindt (illustrator)

Face front horror hounds! The greatest of ghoulish gladiators gouges a gruesome gangway through your guts in the Grand Guignol tradition! CREEPY Cullen Bunn, SINISTER Shawn Lee, and MURDEROUS Matt Kindt bring you the most spectacular of horrifying heroes―The Tooth! Be the first kid on your block to follow the off beat adventures of the Incredible Incisor… the Monstrous Molar… the Courageous Carnassial… as he squares off against vicious demons, hell bent sorcerers, vengeful spirits, and undead dragons! This new macabre myth cycle springs to life soon as only Oni Press can bring it to you!

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Horror, Graphic Novels Comics, Humor, Fiction

184 pages, Paperback

First published June 7, 2011

About the author

Cullen grew up in rural North Carolina, but now lives in the St. Louis area with his wife Cindy and his son Jackson. His noir/horror comic (and first collaboration with Brian Hurtt), The Damned, was published in 2007 by Oni Press. The follow-up, The Damned: Prodigal Sons, was released in 2008. In addition to The Sixth Gun, his current projects include Crooked Hills, a middle reader horror prose series from Evileye Books; The Tooth, an original graphic novel from Oni Press; and various work for Marvel and DC. Somewhere along the way, Cullen founded Undaunted Press and edited the critically acclaimed small press horror magazine, Whispers from the Shattered Forum.

All writers must pay their dues, and Cullen has worked various odd jobs, including Alien Autopsy Specialist, Rodeo Clown, Professional Wrestler Manager, and Sasquatch Wrangler.

And, yes, he has fought for his life against mountain lions and he did perform on stage as the World's Youngest Hypnotist. Buy him a drink sometime, and he'll tell you all about it.

Visit his website at www.cullenbunn.com.

Reviews

[Dave Schaafsma · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this because I am a fan of Matt Kindt and he drew and designed this project, which is a pretty hilarious parody of fifties and sixties monster comics. This one is written by Cullen Bunn and features The Tooth, and some of the action takes place in a dentist's office. Accompanied by ads as the comics would have featured then. Completely ridiculous premise, though they of course develop this origin story based in antiquity to pretend it is all deep. Plenty of intrigue. The best kind of parody, that reveals these boys love their horror comics. I think Kindt's style is nothing like Ditko's or others who might have been drawing then, but that in a way adds to the parody, as if it were done in a kind of self-made, non-industry fashion. Penciled page numbers, scratched on names on the title page. . .. this was fun. Looks like people mostly hate it, based on the 3.51 review, but it's a parody, a tribute, people! Have a little fun with it!

[Valéria. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nothing I would expect, yet awesome in all aspects. Some scenes were really brutal.

[Printable Tire · Rating 1 out of 5]

I picked this up hoping it would be some interesting meta-take on a child's superhero idea come to life, but instead it's another half-assed parody of classic Marvel comics. Pretty heartless, lazy, and over done. Read Alan Moore's 1963 or Supreme if you want to see this sort of thing done the right way.

[Rich · Rating 4 out of 5]

It had that perfect retro 70's/80's comics feel with a dash of nostalgia for the comics I used to make in middle school. Loved the letters pages and fake adds. Just a lot of fun. Thanks to all involved.

[Mee Too · Rating 3 out of 5]

You ever have someone tell a semi funny joke, thats give you a little chuckle. A small considerate smirk and giggle, that they mistake for genuine laughter, now they wont shut up. Thats this book. The whole book should of been like 100 pages max! I get that it was meant to be campy but it also seemed like it was really trying to make a go of it.

The story started to become repetitively unfunny, then i just wanted it to be over.

2.7⭐️

[Topherjaynes · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great nostalgic take on 1970s comic era.

[Kat · Rating 4 out of 5]

Delightful. Clearly made with a lot of love. Should’ve ended with the mains forming a polycule though, tsk

[Dair · Rating 5 out of 5]

A perfect capsule of Silver Age comics with some well done storytelling tricks to really elevate it. Loved it!

[Stano Várady · Rating 3 out of 5]

What a strange tale and wonderful art.

[David Accampo · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you grew up with 70s and 80s comic books, this is the graphic novel for you. Or, at least it was for me. And obviously Cullen Bunn and Shawn Lee, who seem to have tapped a childhood vein here. The Tooth is a loving homage to that era of comic book storytelling. The Tooth is a... well, a mystical tooth that turns into an evil-smashing monster, complete with a dark backstory steeped in mythology. It's just slightly absurd -- just enough to really cast the stories within through a modern lens. It all works.

And I really have to say something about the design and packaging of the book. Matt Kindt is both artist and designer, and he's created the package of The Tooth to resemble a stack of old comics. Throughout the book there are little bits like D&D style character sheets, a list of back issues that need to be acquired, fake 70s-style ads -- everything to give you not just the time/place that these stories exist in the eyes of the authors, but also creating another layer to the story -- who is this boy, collecting these issues? What role did they play in the era in which they were presumably published?

One of my favorite nuanced bits: There's a missing issue in this volume. There's a note that mentions that issue 37 is "hard to find," and then if you look at the covers that make up each chapter break, issue 37 is actually missing. At the end of the following chapter, there's a letter column in which readers have written in to talk about issue #37, and everything that happened in the issue. It's touches like this that really elevate this book and bring it to The Next Level.

Okay, enough gushing. Seriously, buy this book. So much fun.

[Steve Johnson · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the best comic I've read in a long time. It's a completely ludicrous premise (a guy finds a magical tooth that comes to life and fights monsters), but somehow it works. The trade is framed as a later collection of a comic that's been running for years and the "The Tooth Hurts" letters pages that hint at the backstory of the character as well as the comic itself are just amazing. One of my favorite parts is when we find out that issue #37 doesn't appear in the collection because it's so rare even the publisher doesn't have a copy, due to a printing error and a lawsuit from the artist, Brian Hurtt (Cullen's Sixth Gun collaborator). The whole book is over the top, but the creative team is so gung-ho about it that you can't help getting swept up in the madness.

[Ryan · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is more than just a tribute to 60s and 70s style Marvel comics, but also a tribute to underground home made comics. What ruins the illusion is Kindt's rough style. While it has grown on me over reading several of his works, it is a style all in its own and not really reminiscent of what should look like it was drawn by Buscema or Ditko. While Kindt's art ruins the parody, it's the biggest selling point for me. Nothing in this looks like it was colored or corrected on a computer, which is a big deal to me because readers see this rough style less and less. Anyway, that's all just personal preference. Either you really like this style or you hate it.

The story is thin, but that's the point. Color looks faded and inking is intentionally faded.

[Craig Rettig · Rating 3 out of 5]

I would really give this more of a 3.5, but Goodreads only allows whole numbers. Basically, I'd give it a 4 for intent and 3 for execution. Obviously, this is a labor of love for the old '70s monster hero comics, but the art really didn't work for me. I couldn't quite tell if that was just the artist's style, or if they were going for a made-at-home-by-kids feel. Also, I felt the story was played just a bit too straight and a little more humor and/or absurdity would've bumped up the enjoyment level a bit.

[Lucas · Rating 4 out of 5]

An ancient warrior turned into a giant dragon's tooth is summoned back from the dead through black magic to help a mad sorcerer destroy the world. Enough said, awesome.

[Harry Connolly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Funny, fun, and sharp. This was a terrific change of pace from the usual comics I read.

[Orrin Grey · Rating 4 out of 5]

A pitch-perfect evocation of old-school "monster hero" comics, and of the kind of homemade comics that pretty much all comic fans engaged in at some point or other.

[Justine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Surprisingly fun.

[Shaun · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a fun, tongue-in-cheek throwback to the old pulpy monster comics of yesteryear. It was kinda quick, but full of nostalgic markers from older comics.