Shirtless Bear-Fighter! Volume 2
by
Jody LeHeup (Writer), Nil Vendrell (Artist), Dave Johnson (Artist)
Rating: 4 of 5 𝜴‘s
This comic series is about a Shirtless man named “Shirtless Bear-Fighter” (I shit you not) who was raised by bears until he was betrayed by them and then proceeded to roam the forest fighting them and being the angriest man you’ve maybe ever seen in general – then one day when evil bears are attacking Major City (yup, that’s the name!) he comes to the human world to fight them and to eat flapjacks (pancakes…) and the rest is history. This book is proof of the magnificent absurdity of life and how wonderful something insane can be when done right.
Oh and his weakness? His Kryptonite? Wearing shirts. I shit you not.
Picking up after the first volume which was a stunningly silly book filled with utterly terrible jokes (that made me laugh way too much) and a narrative that had no business being as well crafted as it turned out to be, we return to the world of Shirtless who is now an agent of government agency known as The Fuzz. Yup. And alongside his new friend from the last volume, Agent Silva, he fights against evil bears – but he is struggling with his rage and other issues and finds himself kicked off the team, leading him to be bereft and lost and on a quest to find himself. Meanwhile, evil machinations are underway and there are plans underway that will bring all our heroes to face the ultimate threat: The Bear-God himself… URSA MAJOR!
Not only do I enjoy the story, but the art team is just as insane as writer Jody LeHeup. Every page is vibrant with energy and colour and so much feels amped up and over-the-top and some of the art choices and layouts add so much more silliness and enjoyment to the humour. On top of that, they actually manage to switch gears very nicely when there is the (very) rare serious(ish) moment. Visually it is a book that wears every single damned emotion on its sleeve and then puts a dozen spotlights on it while bellowing into the void.
The nicest part is that you don’t even have to read the first volume, you can just read this one and then choose to go check out the first if you like it, because the narrative gist is simply and easily filled to roll you right into the story.
This is til date one of the most well written, utterly stupid and yet cleverly fun good times I have read in comics and if any of the above sounds even slightly intriguing to you – I would highly recommend checking it out.
One Happy Monk 
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