There are few uk comic creators as original as Shaky Kane. From the epic Bulletproof Coffin to the superb Last Driver to last years awesome Kane and Able. But while is truly one of a kind it takes a certain kind of writer to really bring the best out of his unique technicolour artwork. Joining the likes of David Hine, Krent Able and Chris Baker is Frank on the Farm’s Jordan Thomas – and we have to admit this is one of those great pairings which feels perfectly suited.

Publisher: Burnt Barn Comics
Writer: Jordan Thomas
Artist: Shaky Kane
Price: Currently available via the Metallic Dynamite Kickstarter

As you would expect from this surreal pairing, Weird Work it is a book that defies description but is packed full of unique and strange ideas on every page – forget that, in every panel of every page. Essentially is a classic crime noir it sees a washed up detective get paired with an idealistic rookie partner to investigate a triple murder that involves a tech billionaires assistant, an enigmatic cult leader and the cop’s previous partner. All this is told in a world where a mysterious drug called froth is taking over and a power vacuum is developing after the arrest of the city’s crime boss.

When you describe it like that it feels like a gritty crime comic in the vein of a James Ellroy novel or an Ed brubaker comic. But this is a shaky Kane comic and as such it is filled absolutely Bat shit crazy concepts and artwork. In the three page prologue we meet a giant pig like gangster who is being entrained by a hooker who is an anteater, and then he shoots out of the car roof on a gun powered ejector seat. And that’s just the start. There’s Egyptian inspired villainesses, rock like chiefs of police who looks like Ben grimes gnarlier cousin, henchmen of every colour and shape and even copulating fish in the background of a tense business meeting.

Kanes artwork really is one of a kind. It has that 50s inspired sci-fi feel, with shiny diners and big fined cars that we saw in last Driver. But it also has the twisted brilliance of a nightmarish fever dream as we saw in Good News Bible, and there is also this surreal sense of fun as everything has this bright and primary coloured colour scheme to the whole thing. Even the gory execution scenes somehow have a sense of hyper reality to them, despite the content being brutal and graphic. Thomas does such a job of winding him up and letting him go that even though the story feels relatively tame, the world is anything but and you find yourself wanting to turn every page just to find out what gloriously insane concept is coming next.

All this is brilliantly complimented by the lettering from letter squids and Nathan Kempf. We often praise lettering on here, but this really is an example of it working perfectly for the overall style. There are so many different styles in use, from the first person narration of the newspaper column style dialogue similar to hush hush in la confidential, through to some of the more outlandish characters having their own complementary coloured bubbles later in the series (and not just major characters, it’s even lesser characters like the square dressed assistant with the square yellow speech).

All in, this Is another Kane masterpiece and Jordan Thomas has managed to do an amazing job bringing the very best out of this truly unique talent. If you’ve ever thought a classic crime thriller would be better with a few tabs of acid then this is the book for you!