The Final ’90s Countdown, Part Twenty-Four.

So at long last, here we are…at the end of the single vote-getters in the Final ’90s Countdown poll! To repeat myself yet again, a single vote is nothing to be ashamed of, given the relative number of votes I received and the number of high quality titles folks had to pick from! And today’s subject is….

TUG & buster (Art & Soul, 1995-1998)

Now, despite owning most of these comics (I think I’m still missing an issue), I remember very little about this comic other than having Marc Hempel’s usual great cartooning. So, in a first for this series of posts, I’m going to pause here for a moment while I reread at least the first issue.

Hang on a sec.

[TEMPUS FUGIT]

Okay, I’m back. Well, that issue of TUG & buster, as Hempel himself stylizes the names, was quite the wild ride. The hugely muscled, leather-jacketed, continally-smoking, flammably-coiffed TUG remains entirely mute throughout the story, while his diminutive…buddy? Brother? Fifth-dimensional imp? buster constantly runs his mouth, extolling TUG’s virtues and basking in the glory he perceives from his idol. In the introduction to the comic, Hempel straight out says it’s “about hero worship…how low self-esteem alters our perception of ourselves and others.” TUG is basically inert throughout, cutting an imposing figure but doing little else, with buster’s continual praise clearly meaning to show how cool he himself is simply by being in TUG’s presence. So many actions and adventures are described by him, with none evidenced.

The story is about the two of them being dropped off at the local hangout by buster’s mom, where they hook up with a couple of ladies who essentially settle for them, despite buster’s constant self-and-TUG-aggrandizing and TUG’s lack of any interaction. The romantic encounters that follow involve TUG…essentially doing nothing, and buster putting moves on his partner by essentially saying throughout “and here’s what TUG would do!” And both achieving some success, oddly enough.

It’s a wild and adult story, the humor coming primarily from buster’s endless blustering dialogue. It’s not without some minor pathos, as once the pair are separated and each with their “date” in their respective rooms, it becomes clear that buster is a little lost once he’s away from TUG. Though, that goes away quickly once, as I said, buster begins to be all “WWTD.”

We also get introduced to a couple of supporting characters in this issue…the dour and downbeat Stinkfinger, who’s at the bar making sure people know he would rather be somewhere else but prefers to stick around to let people know he doesn’t want to be there. And then there’s Ben Genital who…well, he’s like Hitman‘s Bueno Excellente, except somehow worse. You can almost feel the sweat peel off this guy as he perpetually monologues about sexual things in a repellently non-sexual way.

Sorry, I haven’t really done straight-up “plot summary” in these entries much, but this should at least give you a sense of of what TUG & Buster is like. As I said, it’s been a while since I’ve read any of these, so I don’t know if TUG eventually says even a single word, or if there’s any growth of any of these characters. But I’m presuming it’s just variations on the formula…buster talkin’ big about the both of them, TUG not really doing much of anything, Stinkfinger and Ben complicating matters. All of portrayed beautifully in Hempel’s black and white illustration.

While Hempel may be best know for his work on DC’s Sandman, and perhaps his collaboration with Mark Wheatley on Mars, TUG & buster is probably most closely related stylistically to his Piranha Press book series Gregory, in which we follow the imaginative exploits of a young man confined to a mental ward. It’s all about the same level of “political correctness” (i.e. hardly any at all, on the surface level), all hilarious and compelling with a touch of “oooh, perhaps I shouldn’t be laughing at that.”

This probably isn’t the sort of book that’s easy to find in the back issue bins, giving its indie status and its late ’90s release dates. My sense is that if you can handle a little ribaldry filtered through critiques of various forms of “masculinity,” it’s well worth seeking out. There were seven issues released by Art & Soul, followed by a single issue from Image in 1998 (which I’m guessing the easiest one to track down). There is one reprint collection, The Four-Fisted Adventures of TUG & buster, released by Image in 1998 (and in a limited signed hardcover by Graphitti Designs). The collection contains only issues 1-6 of the Art & Soul run. Should also note there’s a TUG & buster/Radical Dreamer flipbook preview from 1995, which I believe contains material from the first issue of the Art & Soul run.

So…perhaps not for everybody, but a completely unfettered bit of cartooning from Marc Hempel that I think is worth seeking out. And definitely another example of the kind of work in comics that is unfairly consigned to the back issue bins and should probably still exist in some kind of in-print form.