Scud: The Whole Shebang

I couldn't really tell you where I first heard about Scud: The Disposable Assassin, a cult favorite indie comic that ran for a few years in the late nineties before a long hiatus that culminated in an ending published nearly ten years later. But the premise was so good - a robotic assassin purchased from a vending machine discovers that it's going to self-destruct when it kills its primary target, so instead keeps it alive on life-support by taking odd jobs for the mob and anyone else who wants someone killed - and the bonkers tone so beloved that I knew I needed to check it out. So when Scud: The Disposable Assassin: The Whole Shebang, a collection of the entire series, went on sale, I decided it was time to pick it up. Nearly 800 pages long, The Whole Shebang covers all 24 issues of the comic - the original 20 and the 4 issue final arc - as well as two standalone episodes that provide backstory for a couple of characters.I had no idea what I was getting into, but what I got was absolutely, wonderfully, incredibly bonkers on almost every imaginable level. How bonkers, you ask? Let me give you a slight rundown of things that happen in this series:A horrific eldritch horror with a plug for a face, mousetraps for hands, and a piano sticking out of its backScud getting a human arm that also turns out to be a werewolf arm that ends up making him speak in Elizabethan EnglishBenjamin Franklin as an evil voodoo mastermind that's running his factory with kites attached to massive keysThe ghost of Gus GrissomA sidekick named Drywall who appears to be a large sack covered in zippers that can pull out anything from the extradimensional space inside of him (and who, incidentally, becomes one of the series' most oddly heartbreaking characters)Scud placing a crown of barbed wire on his own head in a berserker rage and declaring himself "Jesus with a laser gun" (see below)An intergalactic he-man competition that includes zero-g bullfighting, jackhammer fencing contests, and moreThe severed head of Jayne Mansfield conjuring demonic entities courtesy of Anton LaVeyAn 8o's summer camp/slasher film pasticheZombie dinosaursAnd honestly, that doesn't even scratch the surface. (Did I mention it all takes place during the Rapture?) Taking that basic premise - Scud's efforts to keep his first target alive - creator Rob Schrab, along with writers including Dan Harmon, toss in every idea they could possibly have and then some, creating this unbelievably ridiculous saga that's satirical, funny, action-packed, wildly imaginative, and surprisingly engaging. Scud is undeniably a product of its times - it has a lot of the spirit of the indie comics boom, and an anarchic spirit that could easily be dismissed as "random" if it didn't hold together in its own wonderfully weird, incoherent way - but it's also engaging and well-told, delivering some great action sequences and a constant sense of escalation that never gets boring or old. And as it satirizes the world around it, from TV competitions to brand names to sitcom tropes to absurd masculinity to the (then deeply relevant and timely) worries of sampling replacing actual talent, Scud makes you laugh at the world as often as you're laughing at the book itself.Now, this is a book that never really stops moving, and that can definitely get exhausting at times. But Schrab and company know how to make things work, and it's a wonder that all of the many, many action sequences all work - they don't get old, they don't get redundant, and they all stay fun, inventive, and well-staged. This is a series about a robotic assassin, of course, and so it's all about combat. And for a long time, that's pretty much what it all appears to be - chaos, absurdity, and violence on a grand scale.But then, we get to the end of the original arc, and the final arc, and things...turn.The story about Scud goes like this: Rob Schrab was dealing with a breakup, and decided to impress the girl and get her back by drawing a comic. But the comic - Scud - got his mind off of her, and became a hit. And Rob was having fun. And then he got his heart broken again, and the thing he loved was becoming a burden...and Scud got dark. Really, really dark. And rather than ruin the thing he once loved - a thing Schrab was apparently worried he had already done - he left the original series on a bleak, depressing cliffhanger and a moment of violence that feels excessive even by the standards of the series, not in gore, but in terms of emotion.And then, nearly a decade later, Schrab returned, and not only ended his series, but did so in a surprisingly heartfelt and emotional way - maybe to a fault, but a way that feels like it both values the characters but also - and maybe more so - reflects a Schrab who's a lot happier in his life, but also wrestling with what it meant to leave this world behind for ten years for pretty petty reasons.All of that means that Scud is sometimes more interesting as a reflection of Schrab than it is as a comic, especially in those final five issues, as Schrab's own feelings are coming through more and more clearly. And yet, even so, none of it keeps the book from being compulsively readable and generally completely fascinating, even as the final arc cuts way back on the anarchy of the rest and instead focuses in on the characters making their peace with who they are and their own place in the world.Look, Scud is, whatever else I can say about it, absolutely unclassifiable. Part sci-fi picaresque journey, part satire of America, part gonzo comedy, part relationship allegory, part action film, part supernatural thriller, part Mob drama...the list goes on. And no, it doesn't all fit together, and the ending is a bit jarring and doesn't quite fit the rest of the series, and the tonal shifts towards the end are odd. All of that is true.But it's also true that what you're getting is wildly entertaining, very funny, completely bonkers, compulsively readable, and unlike anything else you've ever read. It's a wonderfully personal work that's undeniably idiosyncratic, ambitious, sprawling, and messy, but all of that just makes it more interesting and wonderful to unpack and talk about. It's funny, violent, introspective, interesting, weird, thoughtful, metaphysical, and constantly entertaining, flaws and all - what else can you want in one book?

I forgot how crazy and kooky good ol' Scud was. This book is huge and heaps of fun to read, the character designs and story lines would have been right at home in the surrealist movement of the 20's, and they imagery alone can make you laugh before you've even read the dialogue. I haven't given it full marks because I thought the stories towards the end weren't quite as strong and the art could be hit and miss (although generally fantastic). I'd reccomend this for anyone into things like Earthworm Jim, the wacky Nickelodeon cartoons of the early 90's eg. Ren and Stimpy) and anyone into the Adult Swim cartoons of today. Also if you like some extreme annimation style perspective in you comic art, few do it better than Rob Schrab, I know he was a huge influence for my own illustration.

Paperback copy. Nice collection of the series. It lacks the covers and interiors from each issue, but the story more fluid that way. Scud is my favorite comic so I am not going to be critical at all. Glad to have it all in one bound book

Delightfully weird, fun and sometimes touching. There’s nothing else quite like Scud. I’d highly recommend it for anyone looking for something different.

When my friend told me his favorite comic was about a disposable robot assassin that will self destruct if he kills his first target a female plug head monster named Jeff with mouths for knees and mousetraps for hands, so he has to take on other jobs to keep her alive at the hospital, I raised an eyebrow, took a look and was like that's kinda out there man and sadly put the book down. Welp fast forward several years to now where I'm missing my friend. So I picked up Scud to see what it was all about. It's beautiful, funny, cool and soul filled. Beyond entertaining it really touched me. I fell for all the characters even Jeff. It made me feel closer to my friend too. Thanks Rob.

Scud is a superhero who falls in love, has existential crises, and has to choose between evil and not-quite-as-evil. And as a guy who hates comic book drama, I would happily give this book zero stars based on that desciption.But I won't. Because Scud is way cool. The characters are awesome, and they all are as human as you would expect. They don't act like automatons programmed to fulfill the needs of the author (or the audience). They feel like real people (and robots, angels of death, etc), with real reactions to totally unreal situations.Its kind of strange, how this all works out. You end up sympathizing with talking giraffes and spidergods. And you end up wondering whether Benjamin Franklin really is the world's most diabolical hypervillain.Spend a few hours reading this, and you'll change your life forever. Many comics promise this, but few deliver. This is one of them.

Love this classic. Schraab is the man! Superbly animated action. Meat and potatoes action comic with some bizarre humor.If you aren't familiar with Rob Schraab, start listening to Harmontown and join the ranks of th Schraab loyalists for the coming uprising!!!

This was recommended to me by a friend and was so much better than I expected. It's crazy, fast paced and often hilarious but the comic has real heart and strong emotional moments as well.I'm very glad I read it.

Good product

Great quality purchase, also an incredible book.

Fantastic. Great find and service

If you haven't read this, I recommend you go see the review by Chris on Comic Tropes' Youtube channel. I bought it after seeing it and I was instantly hooked, finished it in roughly a week. The first few issues are a little harder to read, the panels aren't always clear and it doesn't flow quite easily, but it quickly improves. The characters each have a very unique design to them and they're all very striking! Great storytelling too