I have said this before and I will say it again. I’m not a fan of indie superheroes. There are too many superhero stories out there and so rarely do I give an ounce of fucks to read an indie version of this character or that character. That doesn’t mean that I’m not often surprised by an indie superhero title. This year alone I’ve been surprised a few times which is a nice change of pace. The title made me cringe a little. I mean… Frog Man? It sounds like a child’s superhero. Thankfully, that’s the point. It’s supposed to be goofy and dumb because the world of Frog Man isn’t serious. Frog Man is like a 90s comic book, but a 90s comic book that knows it’s a 90s comic book and so it’s just having a grand ol time. This book is a romp. I actually laughed at a few parts and while there wasn’t anything earth shattering about it, it was an enjoyable read.
The story stars Frog Man, an up and coming hero that pretty much sucks at heroing. His first civilian rescue is the decapitation of a woman’s boyfriend. After that we see his shitty life as a fast food worker and learn his origin which is very Swamp Thing inspired. Frog Man pretty much sucks at what he does, but after growing tired of working for the man he decides to hunt “the man” down and kill him.
The second chapter sees the art improve a lot and a meta joke made about that. Frog Man is mistaken for a frog serial killer that is going around ripping women’s boobies off… the sick fuck. The third volume finds Frog Man in hell after not avenging a squirrel in the second chapter. The squirrel has already gone through hell to come back and fuck with Frog Man. First up he bangs the woman of Frog Man’s dreams…
There’s plenty I’m leaving out of this because spoiling every joke isn’t going to make you want to read it. That and I basically did that on this episode of the CBMFP. The writing is good. It’s not perfect, the dialogue is shaky at times, but overall is put together well and humorous.
The art changes three times because this is an indie book and the writers clearly had to work with other people’s schedules and were able to get better artists as the series went on. The second chapter is by far the best looking even if it’s the weakest of the stories. None of the styles are bad and honestly if they were given more time I could see them improving.
If you’re looking to be entertained by a story that’s aware it’s a comic and full of humor about the industry, the comic itself and just in general then you could do a lot worse than Frog Man. I had low expectations because of the title, but by the time I was done I was happy to have read The Frog Man Trilogy and there’s a strong chance you will be too.
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The Frog Man Trilogy Writers: Mark Lewis, Matt Fitch Artists: Matt Fitch, John Aggs, Gibson Quarter Publisher: Dead Canary Comics Price: £4.99–£9.99 Format: TPB; Print
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