While this series has never dropped in quality, I must admit it has dropped from my radar recently. It doesn’t help that a major comic company has literally taken over the market and that this series does take a while to come out in issues. But when an issue does come out, I immediately remember just why this series is the best comic on the stands right now. It all has to do with humor.

The moment I opened this page the moment I knew this was going to be a great issue. When you open the book with a character literally leaping in joy, with the sun having a smile on its face, you just know its going to go bad. While it might not have gone bad for that particular character, Tony Chu is starting off a pretty shitty day in this new arc. He’s been demoted to the DMV, which continues the long trend of this series giving government jobs too much power. There is so many great gags in this just from Layman’s script alone. The highlight though for me is just how much of a badass Tony is in this new role. He’s always been a great agent but to see the balance of crappy job mix with amazing talent really worked in this issue. Kinda like Hot Fuzz now that I think about it.

Of course this series wouldn’t be half of what it is without Rob Guillory’s pencils. Again the book opens with a great visual joke that just wouldn’t work without his touches. The way he layouts the pages is really the key here. He could’ve easily just drawn Applebee with a smile, walking down the road. But to draw him leaping in the air, with other characters happy too, and the sun smiling down on him it really turns an ordinary opening page into something hilarious. There are a lot of other great pages as well, but too many to count. You also get the usual hidden gags and Guillory puts a ton of them in each panel this time. Clearly he had a lot of time on his hands to put as much jokes into the panels as he did drawing some amazing stuff. Finally, I did love the final page of this and I won’t spoil it. Let’s just say that if this was a film or TV show, it would be a great ‘smash cut’ from the previous panel to the end. Really just great pacing by Layman which is enhanced by Guillory.

I will adore this series till the end of time. John Layman is telling one great of a story here and even if this particular issue doesn’t go into the overall narrative (yet), it’s just too much fun to really care. Rob Guillory really makes this series though with his incredible layouts and drawings. This book would be nothing without either men and I can’t really think of any other comic that could claim that type of power. That’s why I think it’s the best book comics have to offer right now.