The Thrilling Adventure Hour is a throw-back, spoof, homage to the 1950’s when creativity reigned supreme and anything was possible as long as you could imagine it.
A robot cowboy-western on Mars? It’s here. A Ghostbusters/Shakespeare mashup? It’s here. A detective (by the name of Phillip Fathom) who operates under water? Yeah, it’s here, too. And tying the individual stories together are spoof ‘period’ ads, such as Betsy Ross hawking Patriot Brand Cigarettes!
There’s really not much to this book. The quality of the art varies nearly as much as the quality of the stories. No story is going to be long memorable, and the only reason really to pick this up is if you want a quick laugh. Or … because you’re a fan of the radio show. That’s right … the radio show.
Apparently this book was published as a result of a radio show/podcast. I am not familiar with the show, but judging from this graphic novel I can only assume it’s a wacky fun time.
All in all, there’s not too much to this, hence there’s not too much to this review. It’s almost more of a Mad/Cracked magazine than a graphic novel. Almost.
Looking for a good book? If you love graphic novels and/or humor magazines and you’ve got a spare couple of minutes and a spare couple of bucks, then this is just the ticket.
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The Thrilling Adventure Hour
author(s): Ben Acker, Ben Blacker
artists: Randy Bishop, Jeff Stokely, Chris Moreno, Lar deSouza, Evan “Doc” Shaner, Evan Larson, Joanna Estep, Joel Priddy, Natalie Nourigat, Tom Fowler
publisher: Archaia
ISBN: 1936393964
hardcover, 136 pages