Safari honeymoon

A rich man, his trophy wife, and their guide are camped in a very weird outback, location unspecified (on this planet or where, exactly?), teeming with fauna bent upon consuming or infesting (and then consuming) them. The man hunts, the woman tags along, and the guide saves them again and again, including cooking them Cordon Bleu repasts. But then the stealthy regnant parasite Half the animals in this jungle are infected gets the guide. The couple ends up fleeing him, to be rescued, perhaps. Well, it seems they're rescued, anyway. Jacobs' tale eludes labels: it may be an environmental or evolutionary parable or a wry tribute to the 1950s B-movie spawn of King Kong. As far as comics go, its inspiration or model seems to be Jim Woodring's disturbingly alluring Frank, though Jacobs eschews Woodring's lush color for two greens and white. Unlike Woodring, Jacobs allows his characters dialogue, inserts the occasional page of omniscient explanation, and spaces the story's parts with oracular pronouncements by a topiary head. Prime strange amusement.--Olson, Ray Copyright 2014 Booklist

Jacobs (By This You Shall Know Him) belongs to two groups that are increasingly influential in the art comics world. He's among the many cartoonists influenced by the abstract fantasy art style of the 1990s art collective Fort Thunder, and he's also worked on the wildly popular cartoon Adventure Time. The fusion of the two styles makes for lush, lively fantasy. In his latest, a pair of newlyweds, accompanied by an accomplished safari guide, spend their time observing and shooting at wildlife in a jungle jam-packed with bizarre, soul-eating parasites, all the while wading through the awkwardness of their newfound married life. The jungle seeps in around them in both obvious and subtle ways: the guide's tongue has been replaced by a parasite that heightens his sense of taste, and the husband's frustration with his lack of authority away from his prestigious job captures the shifting power dynamics between him, his wife, and their escort. The writing is terse and effective throughout, full of tantalizing glimpses at the bizarre creatures that inhabit the jungle. Jacobs makes some of the most intricate, most fascinating, and oddest stories in comics today. (June) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.