Zine enthusiast Gary Usher kindly took a look at Phoenix Masters Joe & Daryl Hutchinson’s Joe’s Comix: WILD KINGDOM collection at Broken Frontier, and it looks like he enjoyed it!
Joe Hutchinson’s mini-comics also touch on absurdity in a humorous way, but with a horror (or disturbing) element clouding every story. This book, however, is a family affair collecting more than 20 short comics stories by Joe, as well as contributions from two more Hutchinson Brothers.
It’s a spot-on assessment, especially with respect to the artistic approach that Joe used back in the day.
[Joe’s] art is unique in depicting humans with extended heads, long (or non-existent) noses, and spiky hair. This “ugly” vein of cartooning was fairly prevalent in 80s mini-comics, but usually in straight horror or humour. Joe Hutchinson melded both genres seamlessly in a style that seems both familiar and unlike anything seen before.
Gary also takes a deeper look at “The Craving” (illustration above), which is remastered and colored in Joe’s Comix: WILD KINGDOM by Daryl. To that end, Gary offers technical insight on Daryl’s production work:
Daryl serves as editor and colourist, deftly rearranging A6 mini-comics layouts into an A4 format. Daryl’s colouring is an essential part of this collection, not merely colourizing b/w art, but adding mood and emotion to Joe’s harsh linework.
How Daryl reformatted the stories so well is beyond me. But it works!
Check out the entire review right here. And thank you to Gary for taking the time to explore these classic minicomics!
Phoenix Productions 
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