Outrageous post title? Perhaps. But Codename: Knockout was a pretty outrageous and wildly entertaining comic that died too soon, as in just halfway through the story writer Robert Rodi was trying to tell. He won my undying respect for posting the synopses for the remaining issues on the DC message board (I'm pretty sure that's where it was) after the book was cancelled.
The entire book is pretty much cheesecake, so I didn't bother scanning any pages with Angela (whose breast were bared more than once) or any of the other scantily clad or unclad females, but I couldn't resist this page featuring her young sidekick, the very gay Go-Go Fiasco.
I loved this book. It was one of the first I had to pull out to read on the subway ride home on Wednesdays after work. I remember laughing out loud (yes, I LoLed!) and old folks would stare or glare at me when they saw the suggestive covers of the books.
This was a farce, a satire, a comedy, a tragedy all rolled into one. It played with stereotypes and was fair in dishing out art like the above; okay, maybe showing a bit more female flesh than male. But it was fun. And it was well written. And I still miss it.
Shelly, I miss it too. I loved the tongue-in-cheek banter between Go-Go and Angela. Robert Rodi was absolutely brilliant and the art was gorgeous.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if Vertigo would ever consider bringing it back....
So nice to find another C:K fan. Even if Vertigo would bring it back, Rodi's probably moved on. He had said on the MBs that he had 40 or so issues planned and that was that. But it sure was fun.
ReplyDeleteI didn't know that about Rodi saying that, so I am really glad you mentioned it.
ReplyDeleteIt is a bit of a bummer because the book was so much fun. At least I have the issues themselves, so I can go back and re-live the fun.
Any idea what Rodi is doing these days? I always enjoyed his work!
I made a printout of his DC message board post with the synopses of what was to come next. He said:
ReplyDelete"So CODENAME: KNOCKOUT has wrapped -- about seventeen issues earlier than I would've liked. And there are no plans to bring it back, either in one-shots or miniseries, anytime in the foreseable future.
"I hate to leave those of you who have been loyal readers, twisting in the wind -- so to thank you for your support (and, more selfishly, to at least get this out of my system) here's a brief rundown of what you would've seen in the final year-and-a-half of C:K"
What really annoyed me is that the issue when Go-Go got shot was supposed to have him in a coma and the next issue was to be a weird dream with him as a super-hero named Lambda Lad. With the cancellation, Go-Go had to recover rather quickly, in that last issue. I would have loved to have read that coma issue.
I don't know what Rodi's doing now. Haven't seen any new novels, but I haven't looked much. He did another comic for a while, I seem to remember. I should Google him and see what's up. He's got such a great sense of humor in his writing.