Kane & Able

by Shaky Kane, Krent Able

Comic book wise guys, Kane and Able, serve up a summer dump cake of genre-busting mischief and masked mayhem in this oversized anthology of never-before-published strips.

Slip in and out of subconsciousness with the Astonishing Shield Bug!

Surf the fleshwave with Black Fur in "Who Fears The Deathroach?"!

Journey into the sub-basement in the gasoline-tinged "Dustmites"!

Ride into the Creepzone with Nightmare and Sleepy in the aptly named "Creepzone"!

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Anthologies, Science Fiction

72 pages, Paperback

First published June 23, 2021

Reviews

[Alexander Peterhans · Rating 4 out of 5]

Chock full of facestomping goodness! If you like your comics trashy, excessively violent, and bordering on the nonsensical, do I have a book for you!

Yes, it's trash, but it's funny trash, which I feel is an important distinction to make. It's also well drawn trash, which just makes the whole thing even more delightfully wasteful.

The final story especially, Creepzone featuring messrs Nightmare and Sleepy, made me laugh a lot, but I won't deny I shed a manly tear over Sleepy's bootprinted fate.

Perfect Christmas present.

(Hugged my face from Edelweiss)

[Chad · Rating 3 out of 5]

An anthology of over the top, ultra-violent comics that don't make the most sense. It's like a 10 year old boy's fever dreams drawn on a page, yet, I kind of dug it. Lots of odes to EC and out to prove that Frederic Wertham may have been right. Comics will rot your brain.

Received a review copy from Image and Edelweiss.

[Alex Sarll]

Yes, I suspect the title came first, but this collaboration of sorts does make sense, featuring two cartoonists whose unsound sensibilities mesh just as well as their pen names. Truth be told, there's not that much of them actually working together; a game of Exquisite Corpse, and possibly the letters page, of whose alleged correspondents (especially the one nocturnally menaced by a 'fuck monkey') I find myself unaccountably sceptical. The Shaky Kane material ties into his recent Bulletproof Coffin work, and I would say you don't need to have read that to follow this, but it would probably be truer to say that I have read Bulletproof Coffin, and I still had only the barest clue what was going on. All the same, I enjoy his decomposed Kirby-isms; his off-kilter EC nods; the way there are so many holes punched in the fourth wall that by the time the whole thing is tilted on its side, you fall right through the floor. I'm not so familiar with Able's work, so I don't know whether his Black Fur really is a recurring character – but given Black Fur is a bear in a jetpack who may be a superhero or a tyrant, flanked by two babies with chainsaws, and fighting a lurid scenario suggesting Greg Bear's Blood Music by way of loopy anti-drugs propaganda, I'm certain I'd like to see more of him. The whole thing is a mess of ghoulish laughs and improbable gore, harking back to the sort of comics which gave the whole medium a bad name for decades – and in case it wasn't clear, that's a recommendation.

(Edelweiss ARC)

[তানজীম রহমান · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not bad.

Felt like a relic from the mid-90s indie comix/Vertigo era. The first story distinctly reminded me of an issue from Morrison's Doom Patrol run, the one where The Men in Green harass a bearded man (can't recall the issue number, it was a part of the arc where DP goes into space). I liked the ode to Kirby, and the artwork had that bright, semi-realistic quality that was common in a lot of Vertigo books from a decade ago.

Exquisite Corpse! Huh! Who plays Exquisite Corpse anymore? That was almost charming in its quaintness.

[Christopher · Rating 5 out of 5]

So delightfully odd. Who needs drugs when there’s this gem?

[RSC_Collecting · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was incredible! A little anthology full of gore and laughs. I loved every second of it. Let's see what's inside!

The Astonishing Shield Bug:
This was a decent way to start the book. Showing some stunning art that keeps throughout the entire thing. And introducing us to some common items that overlap within the other stories.

Black Fur:
Badass! This is gnarly! A cockroach queen and a crazy bear that takes her down! And the most hilarious Easter egg if you read the author's name. So good.

The Astonishing Shield Bug Dustmotes:
Here's that big continuation of the first story. Turning into an insanely surreal one. Really cool stuff.

Creepzone:
Brutal! Crushing heads! So much gore and action. I need more Creepzone!

[Jake · Rating 3 out of 5]

This felt like an exercise in getting weird and improvisational with whatever an artist can come up with. Pretty funny and absurd designs to meet the situations. Nothing all that special, just two artists expressing themselves in whatever strikes their fancy.

[Theediscerning]

One thing is for certain – you really have to have a taste for the badly-written, gonzo-styled old-school comic to get on board with this one. Here, characters old and new (all unknown to me) hack and slash, and stamp on vampire heads, and meet with aliens – oh, and a humongous humanoid form created by a cockroach character out of thousands of melting humans gets bested by a flying bear and two chainsaw-wielding baby dolls. Of course it does.

[Steve Chang · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great-looking oversized graphic novel, with 2 stories from each artist. This book is like a fever dream of American comics of the past, seen through modern eyes.
Kane's stories are colourful and Jack Kirby/Pop Art influenced. The storytelling is free-flowing and mysterious, with meta touches. A version of the artist appears in his own strip, as well as characters from his previous graphic novel, The Bulletproof Coffin.
Able's strips are beautifully drawn, and with a sick and very funny sense of humour. Each of his stories are drawn, coloured and lettered in completely different styles, making me wonder if he is actually a real person.
There's also fake ads, a letters page, an artist's bio page in Loren Ipsum and much more. A fun, bizarre, often gruesome yet strangely joyful, book, that bears re-reading.

[Angel Hench · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm not exactly sure what I read but I enjoyed it and found myself laughing out loud a few times at just how bizarre and fun this was. If any of the following images intrigue you, then you really should pick this up.







Thanks to Image Comics for the review copy!

[Rick Ray · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fun little medley of short comics by British comic creators, Krent Able and Skaky Kane. The stories are sparse in substance to be sure, but it's the comedic elements and Kirby-esque designs that make them an engaging and fun time. The boldness of Shaky Kane's linework and vibrant colors alone make Kane & Able a worthwhile time, even if most of the stories didn't really leave much of an impression on me. The "Creepzone" feature was the strongest in this collection getting some laughs from me along with the brilliant use of screentones and offset coloring to really capture the bombastic artistic sensibilities of old school comics.

[Harry Jahnke · Rating 4 out of 5]

When I was a kid, I was gifted a couple of book called Little Lit books; Strange Stories for Strange Children. They were anthology books with small comics that sometimes followed a traditional story path and sometimes did something entirely different and always with incredible artwork.. That's what this felt like. A lovely homage to the comics of yesteryear complete with Jack Kirby, E.C. Comics, the Marvel Bullpen, and even those wonderful ad pages that promised everything from X-Ray specs to the Charles Atlas fitness system. My only complaint is that it isn't longer.

[Clint · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars
This was pleasantly bizarre even if I never fully felt like I was on either creator’s wavelength. Kane’s contributions were more immediately appreciated by me as a new reader as he leans more on goofy gross-out genre thrills than Able’s nonlinear meta style, but both are distinctly idiosyncratic enough that I bet I’d enjoy them more if I’d been down either rabbit hole before. In any case, I thought this was a fun, quick read if you’re okay with playful gratuitousness.

[April Gray · Rating 5 out of 5]

Feel like reading something that will make you think "Wtf did I just read?!?" Look no further, this is the book for you! This was weird, odd, and delightfully lowbrow, I'm not really sure what was going on through most of it, but I did enjoy it! The art was great, just, wow. I mean, look at that cover! Some very solid laughs, too. Good stuff, Maynard!
4.5 stars, rounded up to 5

[Mark Laliberte · Rating 3 out of 5]

I came for the Shaky Kane (having read and mostly enjoyed his ‘Bulletproof Coffin’ project), but in the end it was Krent Able’s twin stories that really left me wanting more, more, more; I’d love to see a full book featuring the characters Nightmare & Sleepy: the story, ‘Creepzone’ was face-stompingly good, the 5/5 highlight of what is otherwise a 3/5 book!

[Brandon · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's deliberately over the top and hyperviolent with lots of gore, but the art in each section pulls it off spectacularly. Lots of goofy over-the-top references to other comics, I'm sure some of them mean-spirited and some of them loving, that's bizarre and goofy enough to be a fun ride.

[Alex McCullough · Rating 4 out of 5]

I hadn't heard of either of these writers before but I gotta read more of Krent Able now, that art is so good. The Kane stories are more quiet and surreal, Able's are just wildly violent and insane. Very cool book.

[Rod DiManna · Rating 5 out of 5]

In a perfect world a new issue of this bizarre masterpiece would be available on a monthly basis. Alas, this may be the first and last collection of this demented duo. Or not. What do I know? Just read it!

[Greg Trosclair · Rating 4 out of 5]

How does the old saying go, "Two wrongs don't make a right"? Except in this case it makes a solid right. This was a fun fast and wrong read. I loved it. Good job pairing Shaky and Able together. Fun stories and solid yet weird artwork. Great stuff.

[Rick · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've got no idea what some of the stories in here where about, flew right over my head. But, no matter, because the artwork is handsome in the extreme. The ones I did get where straight forward sci-fi madness. If you're a fan of weird shit like I am, go for it.

[Paul Allard · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun satire of the comics industry.

Difficult one to review effectively but this is a hotchpotch of comic ideas, some of which satirise the comics of the 60s. There’s humour as well as interesting illustrations. Worth a look. I received a copy of this in exchange for an honest review.

[Simon Sweetman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved this. Felt like a real old-school comic; those ones you’d leave sitting around for months and just read and re-read, guffawing at the madness, all while loving the artwork. This felt like a nice throwback to that.

[Daniel Mossop · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really easy to read. Some of the stories better than others. Good new age pulp.

[Eye-ra · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well that was…. Different! It made me chuckle a lot, say what the fuck a lot, and the art was soothing to my eyes in the most grotesque of ways.

[Bill Coffin · Rating 1 out of 5]

Nope.

[Sarospice · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not sure how I feel about this. Some hits with the art, mostly a miss with the stories. Was interested because I've wanted to write a Nightmare and Sleepy series, but not this.

[Patrick · Rating 4 out of 5]

Innovative and really weird. Really weird.

[Sal · Rating 4 out of 5]

The existence of this publication was inevitable. If you know, you know.

[Ralph · Rating 3 out of 5]

Insubstantial. Kane's story is weird meta thing about Jack Kirby and his own career, it doesn't really say much and isn't all that interesting. Able's stories are straight action with essentially no story but the art and fighting isn't exciting enough to carry them. Doesn't really merit the large format and it has suffers from a common problem with colour comics where the line work is all pixelated and blurry. Might be worth a read if you already like these cartoonists. but otherwise I wouldn't recommend.

[Serge · Rating 2 out of 5]

This perhaps was written and drawn under heavy influence of LSD.
Reread it number of times and stil had no idea what it was about