Paul Kirchner-The Bus (BONUS)

This is going to be a unique one for me, and I may file it under "bonus content" simply because this is so unlike everything I've done before. I'd like to continue the "bonus" section of my page simply because I'd like to expand the horizons of what I do. If that goes into film and television, scripts, plays, and comic strips, all the better.

The bus, styled simply as 'the bus' was a comic written and drawn by Paul Kirchner from 1979-1985 in the magazine Heavy Metal. Described as an anti-story between a hapless commuter and a demonic bus in Kirchner's own words. The Bus is a surreal and unique experience. As much as their is to take at face value, there is more to gain from the small details. Kirchner uses things like signs to show the passage of time. Or simply tears down the set all its own for a joke. Paul Kirchner continued the strips in 2013 and these too have been collected into an omnibus by Tanibis Editions.

Paul Kirchner has his own claims to fame, he's also written the well known comic "Dope Rider" which was published in High Times, which is totally understandable. Reading both I was certain Kirchner was on something. Reading Kirchner's resume is also a trip. He's done pornographic covers for Screw, illustrations for the likes of The New York Times and Wall Street Journal. This man did the art, backstories, and comics for toys like Robo Force, Dino-Riders, Crash Dummies, and Spy-Tech. He worked on comics for He-Man, Go-Bots, the Thundercats, and even Power Rangers. He's written non fiction books that cover everything from dangerous individuals, the history of sword and pistol dueling, and Bowie knife fighting techniques.

The Bus is a comic, so it's kind of hard to describe what makes it so great without showing you some of the comics to peak your interest. There is an album on Imgur that comes close to having the complete first omnibus. The reason I like The Bus is the odd situations that The Commuter finds himself in. The world he exists in being some sort of personal Sisyphean Hell of non Euclidean reality. Too often the gag will be the non rules of this world. Such as when The Bus pulls up to the stop and instead picks up his reflection in a puddle rather than The Commuter himself. In fact these strips tend to be my favorites. For every odd comic where say, giant man eating spider crabs grab someone from an open window (I'm not kidding), there's a strip where The Commuter leaves The Bus onto the stage of a full auditorium, only to step back onto The Bus and it's a cardboard prop set.

It's difficult to review The Bus in the same way it's difficult to explain a joke. Since it's such an absurdist setting any comments on what it does so well is like letting air out of a balloon. My best advice is to go buy the two omnibuses, or if you're strapped for cash, go to the Imgur album, and sit down and read. Grab a cup of coffee, maybe a bagel, and read and re-read these strips in an attempt to understand the joke. Like a Magic Eye poster you have to squint at for it to all come together. Though I'll be honest that's a bad analogy. No matter how hard I squint or strain my eyes I can't make anything out of those things.

The ride doesn't end.