In the immortal words of Dr. Boy Brett, impeccable man of science and fine purveyor of antiquated wordsmithery, “It’s all gone brown in Trouser Town” for the cast of Titan Comics series, It Came! And indeed, much like the exeunt of a curvaceous dame, sashaying as one does, hither and tither, whilst I hate to watch this particular arc go, I do rather enjoy watching it leave. As the monstrous and otherworldly automaton known simply by its trademark grunt, “Grurk,” makes its final perilous play to purloin and flay the world’s Britishness, Boy, his gal-pal Doris and their sciency chums must quickly discover where the military has gone wrong in their lackluster civil defense of Queen and Country, and instead brew up their own scheme, steeped as it is in that which makes Britain truly Great.
Yes, in a way that echoes the ill-advised machinations of the dastardly devils in M. Night Shyamalan’s alien spoof movie Signs, the Grurk clearly neglected to brush up on the most basic material weaknesses inherent in its ploy before making its, in retrospect, fairly unsound move to conquer England. I won’t spoil it here, but I will point out the irony that it usually goes quite nicely with saucers, though not necessarily of the flying variety.
Still, the ol’ Grurkin (or “space Jerry,” as it is at one point hilariously referred to) did manage some proper damage, thanks mostly to its decidedly nippular starship. He even got the better of England’s mustachioed RAF pilots, whose courage and culture are matched only by their brazen decision to smoke pipes in the cockpits of their jets. Of course, a similar stalwart commitment to tobacconism does win out in the end, since, as we all now know, pipe-smoking often allows for “optimum sciencing.”
However, It Came is not solely for the lads this time round, as Doris (who has basically been our eyes and ears during the story), finally grows visibly disenchanted with Dr. Brett’s dusty ways, delivering to her erstwhile suitor the comeuppance he has so richly deserved, and with no small amount of gusto.
As you can probably tell from the above, and every other review I’ve written for this damnably unique series, I enjoyed the absolute hell out of It Came #4. With a now-standard sharpness of wit coupled brilliantly alongside a crisp and cartoony, yet unfettered visual style that is colorful while simultaneously being basically monochromatic, this entire story has been nothing short of stellar and perhaps the biggest credit thus far (in my opinion) to Titan’s rampant originality and good bloody sense in comic book making.
Then again, it’s not just the more overt gags that make this book so well worth reading, but also the little hints and dashes of savory flavor with which It Came so holistically entertains. Alongside some exceptionally easter-eggy bits of lettering and quick yet sometimes imperceptible asides are the “intermission” advertisements - this time shilling “Grobule’s Better Butter” and the “London Air Filtration Snood” - which delight with their regular charms. So too do the banners at the end of the book for future stories featuring the ever-so pleasantly redundant Myopic Moon Men from The Moon and Lost Valley of the Lost, both of which I’m praying are actually real things.
I could talk all day about what a great, big bright spot this title has become for me, as I often do to family friends and passersby, but suffice it to say that in regards to this book, all I really have to say is, “It Came. It saw. It kicked ass.”
Score: 5/5
Writer/Artist: Dan Boultwood Esq. Publisher: Titan Comics Price: $3.99 Release Date: 11/13/13