This ain’t no March of the Penguins! Like some passionate, forbidden collaboration between Walt Disney and Quentin Tarantino, Penguins vs. Possums is an angry stampede of fur and feathers like nothing you’ve ever seen before. By Sebastian Kadlecik, John Bring, and Lindsay Calhoon, Penguins vs. Possums initially catches your eye with the ridiculously fun concept, hooks you with tongue-in-cheek humor, and then reels you in so completely with its powerful story and character work. It is undoubtedly one of my favorite comics being made today.
In case you don’t know, Penguins vs. Possums follows the age-old, secret, interspecies struggle that is relentlessly moving toward a prophesied global war that will ultimately force other species to choose a side. Issue #2 finds the opposing sides licking their wounds after the incredibly awesome battle in the previous book. We spend time with both Penguins and Possums, getting to know more about each species and watching various power struggles play out amongst themselves. This issue starts out slower than the first but hits just as hard by the end. Maybe even harder, there are a few moments that are just insanely bada–. Much like the first issue, Kadlecik, Bring, and Calhoon strike a wonderful balance with the tone of this comic, taking the events so seriously that you cannot help but be drawn in, but maintaining an awareness of and an innocent joy in the inherent silliness of the whole concept.
Like some jam band of creators, Bring and Kadlecik, both artists, rotate the various tasks of penciling, inking, and lettering from issue to issue while also sharing writing duties with editor Calhoon. I would think that three writers on an issue-to-issue comic would be messy, but they clearly have a shared vision for this story and it shows. The story is wide in scope and rich with history, yet the narrative is tight, never meandering, but powering teeth-bared and beaks-sharpened toward one epic conclusion. I HIGHLY recommend checking out Penguins vs. Possums by visiting www.penguinsvspossums.com.
