Shirtless Bear-Fighter Volume 1

LIBRARY JOURNAL -- This gloriously goofy action epicfrom former Marvel editors Leheup and Girner and rising artist Vendrellintroduces a new kind of hero in the form of the titular hirsute macho man.Raised by a race of civilized bears until a tragedy saw him eschew society andembrace a solitary life of bear slaughter in the woods, Shirtless Bear-Fighteris the only one capable of saving the day when an evil industrialist with anarmy of bears at his disposal launches attacks upon cities across the UnitedStates. Before long, our hero himself is in the middle of a vast conspiracy withties to his own tragic origins. Collecting the entire five single issues of theseries, this volume is about as silly as it sounds. And while the humor works atad better when it veers more absurd and less scatological (and it does getfairly scatological), it's a total blast to spend some time in this verystrange, bizarrely well-developed world. VERDICT Featuring almost as many jokesas Shirtless Bear-Fighter has hairs in his thick, inky black beard and anadmirable devotion to a ridiculous concept, this title has the exact rightenergy to garner a huge following.-TB