Rock Candy Mountain Volume 1

LIBRARY JOURNAL -- Hobos, bums, tramps, vagrants-thesong “Big Rock Candy Mountain” promises enticements such as“cigarette trees” and a “soda water fountain” to thesedowntrodden itinerants. Yes, it's only a song, but Jackson the hobo believesit's real, and he's going to find it. Impediments include a middle-class,down-on-his-luck sidekick; the hobo mafia; the FBI (notably, kickass assistantdirector Babs Bardoux); and even the devil. But Jackson hacks and punches hisway toward his dream by laying low whole squads of attackers, jumping freightcars, and getting himself and “Pomona Slim” in and out of trouble.Getting back to his family is at the root of his journey. Starks's (Rick andMorty; Sexcastle) chunky art is perfect for this two-volume caper,with Chris Schweizer (The Crogan Adventures) bringing out the dirt andmalevolence of Jackson's world through dusty coloring leavened with fightingreds and nighttime blues. VERDICT An entertaining blend of martial arts actionand oddball humor, Jackson's epic quest will appeal to readers of American talltales in comics or prose. Rated Mature for amusingly uninhibited language andgraphic if cartoony violence.-MC