The huge and obvious selling point in these comics is the humor; however, I was immediately put on notice when I scanned the issues and saw the cover of Issue #2. Apparently, there is nothing more awkward than peeing, while the adjacent urinal is being used by a Slave Leia. For the record, yes, the rest of this issue is as progressive about gender roles as the cover. Now, before I dog the book for its juvenile humor, I have to admit that it knows that it is immature and it owns it. I think that the book really improved when they hit Issue #3 and took off by Issue #4. These issues do a much better job of portraying the characters as more dimensional. I also liked the jokes better. In fact, the fourth issue had a really impressive plot twist and great pacing.

The characters felt to me like they were trying for a Cowboy Bebop type of vibe, but they just didn’t nail it. One thing that hurt this comic was that they didn’t introduce the characters slowly. Every once in a while, the book turns into Exposition! The Comic. What made Bebop work was the slow introduction of characters. Lou Scannon feels like the creators started halfway through season one, and we are expected to just understand the characters. Ultimately, I saw them as stock characters, because I wasn’t given enough detail to fill in the blanks.

The entire series is a loving parody of sci-fi, with references to most of the popular shows and movies you would expect. The high point for me was in the fourth book, which was a huge homage to Alien, but the issue was titled Predator. See? Two levels. Lou Scannon is a series that knows what it loves and has no problem making brutal fun of its heroes. There are some moments in these comics that are just hilarious. Unfortunately, the book is too reminiscent of the Scary Movie franchise and not Mel Brooks enough. I am curious to see if the upward trend continues, but I was only impressed with two of the four issues here.

Two and a Half Totally Mature Jokes about Peeing out of Five.