Everything Can Be Beaten

Reviewed by Russell Purdy
February 25, 2006

Author: Jhonen Vasquez (under the name Chancre Scolex) Illustrator: Crab Scrambly Publisher: Slave Labor Graphics Review Rating: Recommended

This short jaunt by Jhonen and Crab is a tiny story of “IT” spanning 24 pages of absurdly wonderful art depicting gruesome acts being done with a mallet. Of course I'd like to talk about the book itself before I get into the story, starting with Jhonen's portion. His writing always intrigues me and makes me wonder what he's like to talk to about everyday things, if one could get him to spout about that type of thing. Something tells me that might be a bit difficult some days. Crab's effort on this matter is equally as impressive, the painting (is it painting? It looks more like clay work to me, but I'll let that discussion rest for now) is top notch in presentation but I expect nothing less from him. As I mentioned beforehand, this tale is fairly brutal, but the art brings in a sense of unreality that is still concise enough to present such. The sight of a lizard getting “smooshed” still makes me grin, but that's all in the art of presentation.

The story itself is simple-- IT is in his room, mindlessly doing his task of crushing cats that come through the chute in the wall, when he has a lone thought of 'Is this all that there is?' and then noticing a doorway behind him, goes off to view a brand new world, one that has creatures that are happy and have fruitful lives, big and small. But IT is only good for one thing, a thing that he continues to do until he finds his way back to his room.

This story is short, sweet, and violent. Now I'm not saying it has a deep message, far from that, but it's a fun little read and if you don't mind bouts of extreme violence, I would recommend giving it a look-through. I mean, it can't hurt, can it?