I bought Wild Bull & Chipper #1 and White Picket Fences #1-3!

Wild Bull & Chipper #1 White Picket Fences #1-3 Scout Comics (Scoot Imprint) Ape Entertainment Written by Richard Rivera Writer: Matt Anderson, Eric Hutchins Artist: Art by Dwayne Biddix Art: Micah Farritor

Wild Bull & Chipper Scout Comics has grabbed my attention a few times, but I’ve only picked up a couple of offerings upon release (The Mall Free Comic Book Day edition, Impossible Jones #1). While those titles didn’t make it to my pull list, I did notice the overall production value was as good as, if not better than, Marvel and DC. Because of this I went looking for previous releases and continue to watch the solicitations for books I think my family and I would enjoy. Wild Bull & Chipper, from Scout’s all-ages imprint Scoot, was one of the first to cross my radar and was only a few months old (release date: March 2021) when I picked it up for cover price ($1.99!). The concept is absurd: forty-something Wild Bull and Chipper were sixth-grade classmates but lost track of one another when Chipper’s parents pulled him from school. At some point (we’re not told exactly when) they reunite as amateur crime fighters, although Bull does not recognize his former friend, who hasn’t aged at all. After inadvertently stopping a convenience store robbery the shopkeeper (who, they realize later, had antennae) gives them Super Salsa, which gives them bellyaches first and superpowers second… Or maybe that’s NOT the case. There is a transition point that indicates that the origin COULD be all in the imagination of Wild Bull. However, they ARE part of a superhero team that includes characters such as Mesmer, twins Pete and Re-Pete, and Major Granny. Or maybe THAT’S the part of the comic

that is only happening in Wild Bull’s mind.

I’m not sure if I missed a few cues or if the telling is deliberately unclear. Maybe it’s all true or maybe it’s all made up. The issue is bookended by Bull breaking the fourth wall, which only adds to the confusion. (In the last panel Bull promises a “next issue” while Scout’s website indicates that the plan has always been to release this comic, then the entire story in one collected edition.

But the book is as entertaining as it is confusing. More often than not independent humor comics are built around a single throwaway joke thought up during a brainstorming session that quickly fizzles out before the end of the first issue, but that does not seem to be the case here. There seems to be a plan here, for which this issue only laid the foundation. I’m not sure what the plan is, but I’m curious enough to stick around and find out.

White Picket Fences

How this series came into my possession is a bit different than most. I had selected a bunch of books from a seller on atomicavenue.com who offered free shipping after the order reached a certain dollar amount, and I had reached the point where I would save money by ordering a few more books. Nothing stood out as a “must-have” so, after reading a couple of reviews, I took a chance on a series I knew next to nothing about from a publisher I was only vaguely familiar with for just over the cover price of a single issue. And I’m glad I did.

On his way home from playing with friends Parker and Tommy, eleven-year-old Charlie Hobson takes a detour through the off-limits-though-no-one-knows-why Old Miller Farm where he finds a piece of Martian weaponry and takes it home where he keeps it hidden. Eventually, he gives in to a combination of curiosity and temptation and presses the large red button in the center of the gadget, which leads the inhabitants of the red planet to believe they are under assault from earth. Although the brevity of the series did not allow for a whole lot of character building, I was reminded of the coming-of-age movies of my youth – specifically Goonies and Explorers. The boys in White Picket Fences were trying to navigate their way through a world run by adults who laughed off their efforts. The perspectives of the adults were skewed by having lived through the recent war with the Venusians, while the naivete of the boys let them to believe only they could solve the present issues. Throughout the series the boys were only able to do everything they did because they were not taken seriously. The art in this series was different than mainstream superhero comics, but outside of a few panels fit the story quite well. Overall this series was a pleasant surprise, and I intend to hunt down the WPF original graphic novel that was released about a year after it.