Day Seventy-Nine: The Tragically Hippo
Back in the heyday of comics' sales, when a book called Daredevil sold millions of copies (and didn't feature a blind lawyer), there were more genres with a wide representation on the stands than there are today. There were the war books, and the romance titles, and the horror series. The one which has found it hardest to stand the test of time, though, is the genre known as "funny animal". These pretty much did exactly what they said on the tin, being anthropomorphic animals going through comedic routines and while they may only have been funny in the most generous of dictionary senses, the intent was there, bless 'em.
Nowadays, funny animals are few and far between, outside the realms of newspaper strips. Anthropomorphic animals are more the province of those interesting people who call themselves "furries", but that's a can of worms we don't want to open right now (particularly as those worms will doubtless all be wearing Richard Scarry-style hats and neckties) so let's move right along. There certainly are comics which star animals, although they're mostly carving out niches such as "soap opera animal" and "high fantasy animal". The road least trodden, though, has to be "hard-boiled dystopian noir animal", as practiced by only one milieu - the world of Hip Flask.
Hip is a genetically-engineered hippopotamus, who is one of a number of creatures created by a madman by the name of Nikken by experimenting on kidnapped human women and implanting them with hybrid human/animal foetuses to carry to term. The intent was to create an army for domination, and it was only when the UN attacked Nikken's hideout that the elephantmen, as they were dubbed, became publically known. Having liberated the elephantment from Nikken, the UN left them to get on with it and get integrated into society; unfortunately, most of the elephantmen are a little on the mentally damaged side, to say the least, and some (like shady rhino businessman Obadiah Horn) are downright nasty pieces of work. Perhaps the best-adjusted is our hero, the product of the container marked Hippopotamus Hybrid Flask #7A, or simply "Hip Flask", as it says on the tattoo he bears. He works for a government information-gathering agency, along with his human partner Vanity Case (who, truth be told, has a bit of a crush on ol' Hip), and his dress sense, methods and adventures to date cast him squarely in the mould of the hard-boiled gumshoe.
Hip was originally created by British comics letterer/writer Richard Starkings, founder of lettering studio Comicraft, as a mascot for the company's ads in the late 1990s. Eventually, Starkings teamed up with writer Joe Casey and fantastic Mexican artist Ladrönn to launch the character in a series of one-shots which carry tinges both of Blade Runner and of European comics such as Metabarons, whose artist Juan Giminez can be seen to have influenced Ladrönn a great deal. Unfortunately, the main Hip Flask story is playing out at a pace which can charitably be called glacial - sometimes the issues might come out as speedily as one a year, but other times it's a bit slower than that. Still, it can't be rushed, and Ladrönn is an artist who is most certainly worth waiting for.
The set-up which Starkings, Casey and Ladrönn have created, though, is just too intriguing to go without for long periods, which is why in mid-2006 Starkings launched a companion series, called simply Elephantmen, which is set before the main Hip Flask story and is drip-feeding us background information on Hip, the Elephantmen, Nikken, Horn and others. Each issue features two stories - an ongoing tale of Hip Flask, and one of a series of spotlight stories focusing on other elephantmen. It's a wee bit on the bite-size side, but it's giving us a greater insight into the world of Los Angeles in 2262 and has to gain brownie points for that. Remarkably, the Elephantmen series isn't watering down the rich scenario posited by the Ladrönn-drawn book, but rather is fleshing out the attitudes, the tensions, the character dynamics and the building drama which is set to kick off in the main Hip Flask title.
Starkings is doing a great job of keeping all the issues of Elephantmen and Hip Flask in print in a variety of formats (including some severely nice looking hardbacks which would be great on the shelf but murder on the wallet) and your local comic shop owner will be able to get hold of them for you if you ask nicely. Next time you're in buying the new Spider-Man, you need to ask for these too. Make like an elephant, and don't forget.
