Anyone familiar with Dan and Mab’s Furry Adventures has undoubtedly witnessed the song and dance that occurs between cartoonist Amber M. Williams and myself. I’ll write a review that praises some element of the comic and compliment her artistic and storytelling abilities, and she’ll act all puzzled that anyone can find her comic worth reading, let alone writing a positive review about. Well, I see no reason to deviate from a tradition that harkens back to the early days of my reviews. And while anyone who finds clowns creepy rather than amusing may shudder at what Dan is going through (in having to sleep in a Clown-themed Room while at the Cubi Academy), I have to admit I find it to be a hoot.
Perhaps part of the reason lies with Dan himself. Here we have an adventurer who has on multiple occasions fought and killed the demon Dark Pegasus (who, like most effective villains, has family on the side who resurrects him each time some hero comes along and lethally thwarts his latest scheme) and who has faced some nasty critters in the past… who is afraid of clowns. Well, perhaps that’s too strong of wording. He’s crept out by clowns and honestly doesn’t want to sleep in a bed that is surrounded by clown dolls (including a headboard that is basically a huge clown reaching out at you – that alone would make me consider sleeping off the bed).
No. It’s the glow-in-the-dark paint that gets him. And this is where I have to applaud Williams for one of the most effective uses of copy-and-paste art I’ve seen. By darkening the room, with just bare glimpses of light on Dan’s arm and eyes (and the glow of over a half dozen clown-dolls providing just enough light to shift the dolls from harmless but slightly-creepy, to downright disturbing and ominous figures), she managed to disguise quite nicely the fact it’s virtually the same panel. (I also enjoyed the cartoonist avatar insert on top of the headboard. It was a cute touch.) My only question is… will Dark Pegasus learn of Dan’s newest fear… and does that mean he’ll be putting clown makeup on prior to his next confrontation with the young hero?