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Chumble Spuzz: Kill the Devil
Follow the illogical antics of Gunther and Klem in Chumble Spuzz. From the mind of one of SLG's newest creators, Ethan Nicolle, comes the hilarious tale of two friends who miraculously win a pet pig at a small town carnival, only to be faced with a minor problem: the pig is possessed by Satan Chumble Spuz: Kill the Devil follows Gunther and Klem on a heroes journey as they travel through the depths of hell to do something that someone should have been done a long time ago: Kill the Devil
- GenresComics
120 pages, Paperback
First published January 16, 2008
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
June 4, 2020
Some of the best parts of this book are in the fine print, Kinda a cross between Monty Python, Dumb and Dumber and Mad Magazine. If you are in the right frame of mind, This was a Good Read.
Do read the Foreword before you read the graphic novel, There is much you will miss out on otherwise.
Do read the Foreword before you read the graphic novel, There is much you will miss out on otherwise.
September 16, 2022
I imagine I'm liked a lot of people in that I first became aware of Ethan Nicolle thanks to Axe Cop, the project where his younger brother came up with wild story ideas and he illustrated them into a somewhat coherent webcomic. Back then I meant to check out his other stuff, but it's only now, over a decade later, that I've tracked down a copy of the first of two Chumble Spuzz volumes and read it.
Where Axe Cop is the hyper violent and ridiculous fantasies of a kid, this feels like the exact sort of thing a 13 year old boy hopped up on South Park and Adult Swim would create, for all that Ethan was in his late 20s at the time. The name is a bit of meaningless nonsense from Calvin and Hobbes, and it doesn't really indicate anything about the contents other than they're often nonsensical and ridiculous.
There are two stories here, the title Kill the Devil and another called Salmonella. The former involves the main characters, Gunther and Sam, coming into possession of a pig that is itself possessed by Satan. Thanks to a further wacky sequence of events, everybody winds up headed to Hell with a goal of finally getting rid of Satan once and for all. The whole thing feels like the diametric opposite of the Mark Twain quote about how nobody ever spares a prayer for Satan, the one sinner who most needs it. Amusingly, there doesn't seem to be much issue taken with the other demons, and in fact part of the story involves organizing them and the damned souls to rise up in rebellion. It's a ridiculous romp from start to finish, with a number of sight gags requiring you to really pay attention to everything that's going on in the good if demented artwork. While this is a world of humans and talking cartoon animals, I'll admit I have no idea what the hell our two protagonists are meant to be.
Salmonella opens with a bizarre Bible story-esque tale of where Cookie Monster came from, and then turns into an adventure filled with blood hungry nurses and a chicken who just wants to eat cookies. But when the poor chicken gets filled with blood, he turns into a vampire, requiring a zombie Colonel Sanders to attempt to take him down. Things get even crazier from there, though eventually all ends well for everybody except the chicken. I especially enjoyed the idea of elderly vampires who can't actually drink blood because they have no teeth. And again there are some nice little gags like signs and things written on people's T-shirts.
This is definitely a product of it's time and status as a small press indie comic in that there's a fair amount of offensive humor here. It's definitely in line with the internet and certain TV shows of the late 2000s, but it means the book doesn't quite hold up as well now. In some ways this is too bad, because there are pretty good jokes that don't rely on offensive stereotypes, like the exorcist who's made a deal to shove all the demons into goth kids. And I did also bear in mind that Doug TenNapel, who wrote the intro, has become a rather controversial figure in the comics world, and I believe the author himself may be in a similar position.
So I'm left having had a fun time with this, but also feeling that I probably would've enjoyed it a lot more a decade ago closer to its release when I was closer to its target audience. As far as I can tell, there was only one other volume produced, and I'll admit I'm a little curious but since I already had to buy this used off Amazon, I'm probably not going to go through the process to get my hands on it. I don't think I can particularly recommend or not recommend this - it's entertaining enough for what it is, but it isn't as easy to track down as it could be and I think at this point it's somewhat niche anyway. Mostly I'm just happy to cross another thing off my TBR shelf.
Where Axe Cop is the hyper violent and ridiculous fantasies of a kid, this feels like the exact sort of thing a 13 year old boy hopped up on South Park and Adult Swim would create, for all that Ethan was in his late 20s at the time. The name is a bit of meaningless nonsense from Calvin and Hobbes, and it doesn't really indicate anything about the contents other than they're often nonsensical and ridiculous.
There are two stories here, the title Kill the Devil and another called Salmonella. The former involves the main characters, Gunther and Sam, coming into possession of a pig that is itself possessed by Satan. Thanks to a further wacky sequence of events, everybody winds up headed to Hell with a goal of finally getting rid of Satan once and for all. The whole thing feels like the diametric opposite of the Mark Twain quote about how nobody ever spares a prayer for Satan, the one sinner who most needs it. Amusingly, there doesn't seem to be much issue taken with the other demons, and in fact part of the story involves organizing them and the damned souls to rise up in rebellion. It's a ridiculous romp from start to finish, with a number of sight gags requiring you to really pay attention to everything that's going on in the good if demented artwork. While this is a world of humans and talking cartoon animals, I'll admit I have no idea what the hell our two protagonists are meant to be.
Salmonella opens with a bizarre Bible story-esque tale of where Cookie Monster came from, and then turns into an adventure filled with blood hungry nurses and a chicken who just wants to eat cookies. But when the poor chicken gets filled with blood, he turns into a vampire, requiring a zombie Colonel Sanders to attempt to take him down. Things get even crazier from there, though eventually all ends well for everybody except the chicken. I especially enjoyed the idea of elderly vampires who can't actually drink blood because they have no teeth. And again there are some nice little gags like signs and things written on people's T-shirts.
This is definitely a product of it's time and status as a small press indie comic in that there's a fair amount of offensive humor here. It's definitely in line with the internet and certain TV shows of the late 2000s, but it means the book doesn't quite hold up as well now. In some ways this is too bad, because there are pretty good jokes that don't rely on offensive stereotypes, like the exorcist who's made a deal to shove all the demons into goth kids. And I did also bear in mind that Doug TenNapel, who wrote the intro, has become a rather controversial figure in the comics world, and I believe the author himself may be in a similar position.
So I'm left having had a fun time with this, but also feeling that I probably would've enjoyed it a lot more a decade ago closer to its release when I was closer to its target audience. As far as I can tell, there was only one other volume produced, and I'll admit I'm a little curious but since I already had to buy this used off Amazon, I'm probably not going to go through the process to get my hands on it. I don't think I can particularly recommend or not recommend this - it's entertaining enough for what it is, but it isn't as easy to track down as it could be and I think at this point it's somewhat niche anyway. Mostly I'm just happy to cross another thing off my TBR shelf.
June 30, 2016
I absolutely loved this. Fantastically imaginative black and white comic. This book has everything from Satanic pigs to vampire chickens to singing poo and things you can't even imagine. I would highly recommend this for anyone who enjoys the bizarre, deplorable violence and juvenile humor.
December 4, 2008
Winning a pig as a prize gets complictead when it turns out to be possessed by Satan. Also, the terrible origin of the Cookie Monster is explained.
October 2, 2009
Funny, profane, a pig possessed by Satan, a journey to hell, and the discovery of Satan's favorite children's book author!
August 10, 2018
Disturbing, but hilarious. Sacrilegious? I could never quite decide.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews