Outlandish, Wacky, Pure Chaos: Reviewing ‘The Oddly Pedestrian Life Of Christopher Chaos’ #2

Welcome to the table,

Monsters have always fascinated me. In a world where I saw humans do some really twisted and cruel stuff, I was never worried about the things under my bed or hiding in my closet. If anything my hope was The Mummy or Dracula would show up and save me from random surgeries, painful medical tests, and insane religious people who may or may not have been my family.

This childhood trauma coupled with my enjoyment of comic books could indeed be why I keep finding The Oddly Pedestrian Life of Christopher Chaos so damn entertaining.

Issue #2 of the series picks up in New Briar City where there is clearly some kind of vigilante on the loose thwarting crimes done by street-level criminals who could easily be at home in an episode of Animaniacs or the pages of The Invisibles. The book has this cartoonish slant that never dips into the goofy but travels this beautifully fine razor’s edge that exists between an unhinged nightmare and Saturday morning nostalgia.

In plain salty English, this book is fucking fun but lives up to the chaos of its namesake.

 The Oddly Pedestrian Life of Christopher Chaos shines in its ability to take you on an adventure in a world where you don’t know the rules and still make you feel like you have been here for years and can’t wait to hang out with your favorite lunch lady who may or may not be The Gill-man’s aunty and a super scientist who only works with lunchmeat and roly-poly bugs.

If that sounded outlandish and wacky that’s because this book is exactly that. It’s outlandish and wacky but told by a team of really solid creators in such a way that all the weirdness is filtered onto the page and comes across in a story I want more of. The first two issues could have been 20 pages longer and I would have not been bored with them.

That really solid team I mentioned consists of idea person and writer James Tynion IV, along with writer Tate Brombal, artist Isaac Goodhart, letterer Aditya Bidikar, and colorist Miquel Muerto. The frantic and free-flowing harmony this collective of creative cohorts creates is nothing short of madcap monster fun!

This issue adds some fun new characters to the lineup and we get time with Jesse Tombs who has some of the best lines of dialog in the issue firmly setting herself up as one of the take-no-bullshit characters I feel like I’m going to love. Our pal Christopher also comes face to face with a fanged figure who may be friend or foe, the verdict is still out on that one.

If you love weird and wonderful stories where you are just along for the ride then The Oddly Pedestrian Life of Christopher Chaos is going to continue to be a comic you need to be picking up.

Until next time, if this book ends up being a bunch of super-powered monster-themed kids from underrepresented voices fighting overly religious jerks I’m going to be so pleased. We already have three of the main Universal monster characters represented in this story and we are only on issue #2. I seriously think this could be going in a direction that is going to make me SUPER happy… and even if I am wrong, I am overjoyed to be along for this weird ride.