“Yesterday’s” Comic> Captain Koala #1

The lack of giant koalas and people fighting is not the biggest disappointment here.

Captain Koala #1

Koala Comics (no date given, but it does mention an contest they were running until May, 2017)

WRITER: James Clifton

ILLUSTRATOR: Daniel Esperado

COLORIST/LETTERER: Nestor Tantiado

Jolly Joker of the Australian Secret Service Extreme Violence Division goes after gunrunners who were also his high school bullies. He’s rescued by a guy who lives in the park, Captain Koala. Yes, he’s a talking Koala named Captain. Oh, did I mention the gunrunning bullies were also anthropomorphic animals, as is Jolly’s boss, his best friend, one of the barmaids, and the random person. Anyway, Joker is forced to keep Captain with him on the mission because he’s a witness, as they purse one of the gunrunning bullies, Benton. Long story short, they eventually get him, but they have to get the rest.

Is this really the “improved” version? The concept is okay, but the execution has a bunch of issues. There’s no rhyme or reason to why the anthros are there or how a character is chosen to be an animal, or even who is wearing clothes. Not being Australian I can’t identify every animal here. I can tell you that the jokes fall flat for me, and unfortunately there are a lot of jokes. People won’t shut up with the gags and one-liners, Captain has never been to civilization before but knows a bunch of languages from park visitors, not that it ever comes into play. Jolly keeps quoting in Latin for some reason. I can’t tell if I’m supposed to take this seriously or if it’s a comedy. Even the very obvious acronym of what Jolly works for just seems to be there (but I don’t know if Australia has a secret service–again, American). I also don’t know why Captain is dragged along in this but he is an idiot. Or that could be part of the aforementioned quirky (you mean cringy?) gags that this thing is overloaded with.

Overall I really can’t recommend this comic. If there is an improved version, I do hope he has learned from his prior mistakes. If this is the improved version, he apparently hasn’t.