The Big Bad Wolf of yore has supposedly kicked his more obvious vices and is attempting to live out his days in peace, until a cigarette-smoking Little Red Riding Hood blackmails him into a sordid plot of her own. Such is the case in the melodramatic potboiler pastiche ‘Double Crossing’. Some of these hit harder than others, but the artist shows a particular knack for transforming popular fables. Throughout Bad Boy, a parade of well-known personalities – religious, mythological, musical, and historical – take the stage for the sake of a throwaway joke or an extended meditation. Sometimes (as in ‘Another Brick’), there’s even a touch of hope at the end. We know that the next panel probably holds a punchline with our “hero” as the butt of the joke, but it’s hard not to root for him all the same.
In the latter two stories and several others, Oljača paints a loving portrayal of the classic fall guy.
#Bad sequential art examples professional
The standout ‘Another Brick in the Wall’ follows an aging punk’s abortive attempts to integrate himself in the professional workforce. ‘The Degeneration of Man’ focuses on the withering effects of mass media consumption, while ‘All You Need is Love’ is a tongue-in-cheek guide to romance in the modern day. The brevity of the segments gives Oljača rein to cover a variety of topics in short order. While it would be obtuse to call these “political cartoons” (with the exception of the biting ‘Election Day’), these stories are very much concerned with the political in its broader sense – the ways in which men and women situate themselves within communities and do their best to play by a cohesive set of rules. Fittingly, it’s this sort of too-easy platitude that Oljača satirizes throughout his work.Īs you might guess, there’s nothing placid about Oljača’s darkly comic vision.
“People from the fertile Pannonia Valley are considered to be peaceful and pleasant, even lenient in difficult situations,” translator and editor Živojin Tamburić writes in Bad Boy’s introductory essay. This slim but worthwhile volume from Modesty Comics collects single-page gags and extended sketches by Serbian artist Mladen Oljača. Initially appearing in various underground media, these shorts buzz with the kind of fetid vitality that’s often found in the shadows of the mainstream.
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