Comic Book Review: The Thrilling Adventure Hour by Ben Acker & Ben Blacker
The Thrilling Adventure Hour, it turns out, is a continuing theatrical performance and podcast in the style of old-time radio. As such, it’s full of action, comedy and thrilling adventure. This is their first illustrated tie-in graphic novel.
The contents range from straight-up science fiction (Tales of the USSA) through superhero action (Captain Laserbeam) to space western (Sparks Nevada, Marshal on Mars.) My personal favorite was “Down in Moonshine Holler”, about a millionaire undercover as a hobo seeking his true love; in this chapter he and his fellow hobos arrive in Jacksonville during their annual lottery, but something seems off…..
The art is nice, featuring a variety of webcomics and small press comics artists. Between the stories there are fake ads for the show’s sponsors, Workjuice Coffee and Patriot Brand Cigarettes. The latter, and the feature “Beyond Belief” about perpetually drunk paranormal detectives, means that parents might not want to give this to small children.
This is rollicking good fun, and recommended to fans of anthology comics and old-time radio.
