Hipsters, juggalettes, a Suicide Girl, and a drunk lesbian dressed as Dracula. Bucko has it all. I think that the best way to describe this book would be as a comedy-mystery-buddy-romance that is probably set in Portland, or at least a city that bears a strong resemblance. I actually forgot about the Pixies cover band whose lead singer performs on a single-gear bike. Yep, they are called the Fixies. There are several reasons why I loved this book, but the first sentence of this review is probably the biggest one.

I honestly don’t know where to begin. I think that I should begin with the art. The story is funny and relaxed, but the art makes the whole thing downright whimsical. Keep in mind that there is a murder-most-foul and the heroes are trying to Scooby-Do everything they can to get to the bottom of it. The art here does a great job of keeping the mood exactly where it needs to be. Funny. There are characters that would have gotten zero sympathy if it wasn’t for the wonderful art in this book.

So, let’s talk about the mystery. Nah, I’m just kidding. Let’s talk about how the mystery fits in the book. This is less the story of a group of young, hip kids out solving a crime because the police can’t, and more the story of a group of youngish weirdoes stumbling around pretending to solve a crime and having bizarre adventures. The secret here is that the mystery is not the reason you read this. You read this because it’s funny.

I have only seen an episode of Portlandia, but there are definitely some similarities here. They both poke fun at the oddball fringes of culture that permeate the city. The big difference is that Bucko is more relentless. There is less the sense that these nutjobs are adorable and just too earnest than there is the impression that these people are off their rockers and potentially psychotic. What I don’t get is how this doesn’t make this book dark. It is still cute and funny, even when a juggalette is assaulting someone for bumping into her on the train. I don’t know how they did it, but somehow they managed to keep this comedic.

I really enjoyed this book. There were some of the most charming moments and cutting parodies right next to each other. This book is a quest and a mystery and a slight love (well, second date) story. There are incompetent heroes, incompetent villains, and police officers having an extremely inappropriately timed hook up. I thought that this was a well executed bit of comedy that was expertly paced and it just works.

Four and a Half-Drunk Dracula Dykes out of Five.