Dr Sponge

Dr. Sponge breaks most of the rules of the first issue by failing to properly introduce its main characters, failing to introduce any major themes or plot elements, refusing to place its scenes in any definite setting and not introducing any plot development throughout the first issue. Unfortunately by breaking all these rules Dr. Sponge simply manages to provide an excellent example of why all these rules exist in the first place.

The comic reads more like a pitch for a strip, possibly for something like 2000AD that tends to prefer the flash and the thunder over tender issues such as having a plot or at least something to say. The artwork is very strong and bold and makes dramatic use of line over texture. Lettering is also well done while remaining basic.

The basic story in the issue splits into two parts. First we have the character General Synod a tank-driving preacher converting a seedy truckstop. Perhaps we should pause here because I think if you find the idea of a character called, y'know, General Synod funny then you are probably on course to enjoy the rest of what is here. If you think it is a bit pathetic then you will be pleased to learn that there is absolutely no attempt to develop any kind of character for him. He's a general, he drives a tank, he likes god.

Then there is the bit about Doctor Sponge. The doctor runs a mental institution where he abuses the patients. Now the character could have been any kind of doctor: he could have been a malign cosmetic surgeon or a paramedic hell-bent on making it sure no-one leaves the scene alive but when you make a character the director of a mental institution you are entering territory that has been well-traversed before. When you make your character one that abuses the power of vested in the position of the mental health profession you are tipping into a deep cliché that is going to be tough to handle properly. When you also imply on top of this that the character's patients are actually being driven insane by their 'treatment' then you have to admit that your character is as two-dimensional as the paper they are being drawn on. Writer/artist Chris Askham makes no attempt to lift his story out of the deepest cliché and twaddle though and thus you have the least interesting asylum scene in years where a patient is tortured and then, for the punchline, executed in front of the other inmates.

Even suffering is no more than attempt to punch a few well-worn emotional buttons rather than trying to actually convey anything to the reader. It is tired pap and insulting to the reader to boot.

So in summary: Dr. Cliché meets General One-Joke downtown; boredom ensues.