A blue ostrich, a pink hippo, and a green Jesus crack wise on the lawn in this absurd comedy, drawn entirely in crayon.

32 pgs. FC; $2.50

(W / A: Ryan Wells)

Ostrich, Hippo & Jesus on Grass is a comic drawn entirely in crayon. The ostrich is blue. The hippo is pink. And Jesus is green. Occasionally, a monkey makes an appearance. He is brown. There is a Native American, who is orange, mostly. And, oh yes, Protestant reformer Martin Luther also shows up. He's what you might call gray.

These fellows stand around on the titular grass and make wisecracks. It can be very funny:

Hippo: "Ostrich, me thinks you need to admit you has a problem."

Ostrich: "What are it, hippo? Does these titties no longer please?"

Later, Jesus shows up dragging his big wooden cross. Ostrich wants to know "Why is you giving a piggyback ride to a lowercase 't' and not a capital one?"

The deadpan and often gross exchanges sometimes click, and sometimes don't. Sometimes a non sequitur is truly a non sequitur. Then, too, there is some racial humor that some will find edgy, but others will likely find just plain racist. In any case, the comic has a giddy, anything-goes, Theater-of-the-Absurd feel that's good for some laughs. The sophomoric humor should appeal to fans of Ralph Snart Adventures,

The Tick, Milk and Cheese and so on.

And in the end, the fact that this thing is drawn entirely with about ten crayons makes it an oddly compelling achievement. | Byron Kerman

To read Ostrich, Hippo & Jesus on Grass for yourself, visit Fartoons.net!

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