The Egg-Xas Chainsaw Massacre. Chris Allen (Writer, Colours & Letters), Juan Fleites (Art). Swampline Comics 2018

Highly enjoyable anthropomorphic parody of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre. A set of young chickens travelling in a minibus pick up a hitchhiker who turns out to be unsettling weird and is pushed from the van. He leaves a threatening message on the van. When the group arrive at their destination, one of them decides to explore an old house. This proves to be a fatally bad decision, followed by more fatally bad decisions from the rest of the group.
Chris Allen has managed to solve a difficult problem with considerable with and flair. The beating heart of the film is the violence committed by a deranged family, turning everyone into chickens goes a low way to removing the impact of the story by making it ridiculous. This would be funny, it would also lack the edge that the parody needs to be successful. The writing reduces the impact of the chicken cast by being deliberately aware of being a horror film parody, the well placed use of chicken jokes and a whole hearted commitment to gore. The creepiest scene in the film is barely less creepy in the comic, the writing is strong enough to support a jokes and chills.
Juan Fleites is friendly and inviting and brings the story to gory, funny life with a wonderful cast that are exactly the chicken characters that they should be. The cast are wonderfully expressive, the deranged family have the advantage as they are deranged. They get to be flamboyant and driving the action in the story. The group of victims are limited as their purpose is largely to be slaughtered. They do go to their fate with good jokes and a post Scream awareness of horror film rules. Leatherface is as iconic as he should be. The real star is the youngest member of the family, he is drawn to be very strange, just at the acceptable limits of strange, not quite frightening. His range of expressions and actions are big enough for him to emerge as much more of a character.
Chris Allen's colouring is a joy, it is bright and cheerful, it never gives a horror film sense. This gives the story a great contrast for the reader, it supports the parody and gives the gore an added boost. The lettering is quiet and never draws attention to itself. The sound effects are nicely muted, they support the action without distracting from it.
Unexpected, clever and very enjoyable The Egg-Xas Chainsaw Massacre is great fun. It is a pleasure to see talented creators making smart comics.
Chief Wizard Note: I was very kindly sent The Egg-Xas Chainsaw Massacre by Kim Roberts at Swampline Comics. It can be purchased from https://www.swamplinecomics.com/shop, you really should give yourself the pleasure of a smart comic, a sure path to sparking joy.