Kevin Smith is pandering to the comic book reading audience with this continuation of the adventures of Dante and Randall - not that that's bad, considering I'm the comic book reading audience he's pandering to. In fact, the story in the comic is downright hilarious... to those in the know. It deals with Randall dragging Dante into a get-rich quick scheme, delving into the seedy underbelly of the second hand action figure market. Of course the story contains the biting satire Smith is known for - specifically this time the Star Wars action figure resale market - as well as a fun-loving-poke at the individuals who devote too much time to it (again, I'm included as is Smith). He presents both the put down of those involved as well as the defense of it, as well as all the other sordid observations that Smith comes up with.
As well, what would be a Kevin Smith story without the further expansion of the New Jersy Tri-Towns legend. We are met again by Steve-Dave and Walt Flannegan (last seen in Oni Double Feature #1) the unfamous comic-book store owning, possibly bisexual duo from a deleted scene in Chasing Amy (the scene is available on laser disc), Jay and Silent Bob, who are wondering why their weed revenue is going down (because all their geek buyers are buying toys instead), and the famous assortment of the loser customers who frequent the Quick Stop Groceries and RST Videos ltd.
Smith approached this comic as he would approach one of his films, and it's another fine addition to his repetoir of work. Artist Jim Mahfood does a great job visualizing this texty story and keeping the characters at least recognizable. His style is a lot like Evan Dorkin's, only he uses black a lot more.
The only thing I can say I'm disappointed about is the fact that the comic won't be as accessable to the non-comics loving Kevin Smith fan, not for the fact that they won't know about it or get it, but at the fact that they won't understand most of the toy or comics related content Smith uses. Still. It's damn funny.