Spencer & Locke is a mini comic book series written by David Pepose, drawn by Jorge Santiago, Jr., colored by Jasen Smith, and lettered by Colin Bell. The first volume was released in August of 2017 by Action Lab Comics’ Danger Zone label.

This past Saturday morning John sent out an email saying that he had read the first complete run for Spencer & Locke in preparation for an interview with the series’ writer, David Pepose. He said that it was “incredibly good” and that it totally deserved a review for our site. I said that I would do it, and, whoa boy, did I not know what I was about to get myself into.

Have you ever wondered what ever happened to Calvin and Hobbes after they matured into adulthood? What kind of life did Calvin live? Did he ever get over his imaginations of his good ol’ pal Hobbes or did he carry that schizophrenic behavior with him into adolescence?

You may not have wondered those questions to yourself, but I can guarantee you that after reading Spencer & Locke you’ll wonder if Calvin ever did grow up to be an overly aggressive detective with an unhinged license to kill.

As I began reading this trade, I had no idea what kind of adrenaline-fueled high jinks I was about to embark on. The story was a mix between Bill Watterson’s Calvin and Hobbes and Frank Miller’s Sin City. The creators do not hesitate in telling you what kind of story it was. It was very self-aware in the fact that it was parodying a story about childhood mischief sprinkled with crazy trauma.

Spencer & Locke takes the concept of Calvin and Hobbes and flips it on its head. It fills it with blood, murder, action, sex, drugs, and real adult crap. I wouldn’t say that the story was Earth shattering, but I couldn’t tell you that it was like anything else I have read before.

My mind got completely engulfed in the mystery. A real who-dun-it. Of course, there were a few moments where the twists were so silly that it took me out of the book, but the art always drew me back in. Once the murderer was revealed I had a lot of fun going back to earlier pages where the clues were dropped in subtle ways in several panels.

Of course the murderer was [expunged character name]! How could I have missed that? Well, it was pretty easy. I was looking at what was happening in front of me, and not what had happened. So many hints were included in the first issue that it should have been simple for me to catch it, but I got distracted with all the adult stuff.

The action was pretty bloody and violent, but never gratuitous. It added to the craziness of the characters and the situations they were in. I felt like the characters had history with each other, but the only characters that fully evolved were of course the title protagonists.

SPOILER WARNING!

Here are some things to contemplate when you pick up this mini series. My belief is that this story all took place in some broken kid’s delusion in an adult body. What if Calvin had some horrible trauma as a child, and that is why he gravitated towards outlandish adventures with a invisible stuff animal friend? Like horrible trauma: an abusive mother whom he killed accidentally, a drug lord father, a child molesting baby sitter, a kid that he never knew about until his seemingly innocent girlfriend was axed, or even being called out by a waitress for talking about some investigation with a child’s toy.

These bits of trauma can fester in one’s mind until it completely tangles an individual. Someone with schizophrenic tendencies couldn’t tell the difference between reality and the fantastical world they creating in their head. I felt like this mini series was just that. A fantastical story with bits of traumatic history and reality sprinkled throughout like a bread trail leading to the fact that the boy never grew up. It’s much “safer” to live in the explosions and the violence in his mind.

If I can sum up my thoughts about this story in few words they would be: aggressive dark comedy. There are moments that are hilarious, moments that made me cringe (because of those traumatic moments in Locke’s past), and moments that were action packed. It was an overall enjoyable reading experience, and I say it is a must read for adults who grew up reading both Calvin and Hobbes and DC Comics from the 80s.

Be sure to pick up your copy of Spencer & Locke Vol. One on Action Lab’s official website (http://www.actionlabcomics.com/shop-comics/). Also, don’t miss out on Volume Two dropping later this year from Action Lab: Danger Zone.