"I'll chop your head off!"
Remember when you were a kid, when your imagination wasn’t fettered by things like “logic” or “coherent thought?” When in the throes of play, toys didn’t even need to represent what their creators intended; a truck could be a rocket truck, a Barbie could be an evil witch, a Batman action figure could be a guy named Jeff who can fly and also shoot lasers out of his mouth. Now try to picture that same sort of creativity embodied in a comic: characters can become new characters at any time, the laws of physics are wholly ignored, and the main character is a police officer who uses an axe as a weapon. Meet Axe Cop.
If you use the Internet, there’s a good chance you’ve heard of Axe Cop. Basically, Ethan Nicolle, a twenty-nine year-old comic artist, illustrates his six year-old brother Malachai’s ideas for a comic, and the result is completely ridiculous and hysterical. And I’m not the only one who thinks so; according to the site’s “About” page, Axe Cop had 750,000 unique visits within a month of its debut.
There isn’t too much to say about the story, since it’s about as random as you (or a six year-old) could possibly imagine. Basically, it’s about a cop with an axe and the ridiculous sidekicks he meets and situations they find themselves in. Within the first five pages, we’re introduced to Axe Cop, Flute Cop, Dinosaur Soldier, Uni-Baby, Avocado Soldier, Telescope-Gun Cop, Ralph Wrinkles the dog, and Pretzel Head. Are you still reading this? You haven’t clicked the link yet? Maybe you missed it. Here it is again. The structure for most of the stories follows the pattern of “This happened, and then this happened, and then this happened, etc.” but it absolutely works. And hey, it’s a kid, so cut him some slack.
Not only is the story awesome, but it looks great too. Ethan’s art perfectly complements Malachai’s story, walking a fine line between cartoony and badass, acknowledging the absurdity of the comic while recognizing that none of it is meant ironically; Malachai has these ideas because he thinks they’re cool, so the art has to be cool too. Character designs are always great, facial expressions are always hilarious, and there are always plenty of action lines. While the ideas come from Malachai, Ethan also paraphrases and does most of the actual writing for the comic (he goes into more detail about the process on the site, and there’s a video of an episode being made here), and he does a great job of crafting his brother’s ideas into a tangible product, without inserting much of his own influence.
The beauty of Axe Cop is that it couldn’t have been made by anyone other than a kid. If a twenty-something was the one writing it, we’d all either shrug it off as juvenile, or just say that he was trying too hard. And he probably would be trying too hard; I think I have a pretty active imagination, but I’d have a hard time coming up with some of this stuff, or resisting the urge to make the story somewhat coherent. The sheer randomness of Axe Cop runs completely contrary to the way (most) adults think, and to what is conventionally thought to be good storytelling.
Axe Cop lets us remember what it was like to be a child not through contrived nostalgia, but through the actual thought process and unbridled creativity of a child. Does that make it some brilliant work commenting on the nature of childhood and the gradual suppression of creativity? Of course not, it’s a kid telling a story about a cop with an axe. But it’s sure fun to read.
Happy reading,
-Nate
Tired of Superheroes 