“Yesterday’s” Comic> Ps238 #1

“Hey, there’s Straogale. I’ll say…oh. Nevermind.”

Ps238 #1

Do Gooder Press (March, 2003)

WRITER/ARTIST: Aaron Williams

Ron Peterson, aka Captain Clarinet (because he plays the clarinet), is scared of flying. He’s been having nightmares that makes my Incredibles reference in the caption more on the nose than I planned. On the playground, Zodon deals with bullies but he and some of the other kids with non-human looking bodies (the kid hulk type and the Neil Gaiman knockoff) holograms that kind of solve the problem, though Zodon’s needs some tweaking so it doesn’t look like he’s eating through his neck. Zodon and Suzi (aka Suzi Fusion) learn that Ron’s nightmare is keeping him from flying, so Zodon plans a practical joke that actually helps Captain Clarinet solve his fear of flight by actually getting a small plane to buzz him when he has to retrieve his cape from the flagpole.

What they got right: I was hoping the first issue, the only other one I have access to as of this writing, would be more of a story, and I wasn’t disappointed. It takes the comic strips (there’s another short in here about dealing with special needs metaprogedies, which is also explained in a text section) intros and gives us more of the characters. The focus is Ron and his fear of flying due to his nightmares and does a good job with is character arc while giving Zodon his own story. I also kind of wonder if, despite the whole “I’m going to be a supervillain when I grow up” thing he wasn’t planning to help Ron overcome his fear with all the safeguards he explains to the teachers, but that’s just headcanon at this point. I could see Ron, Zodon, and Suzi as friends.

What they got wrong: I do kind of wish the story was in color, but that was either more work for the creator or in keeping with a print version not having them due to budget.

What I think overall: This is what I wanted last issue to be and as funny as Zodon’s forces pseudo-cursing is something I can get behind, I kind of identified with Ron, and not just because I have acrophobia. I hope to get to read more issues in the future.