Think Your Job Is Weird??
Written by: Ken Marcus
Published by: Action Lab Comics
Review By: Branden Murray
What if I told you someone had a recipe to spice up what some of us refer to as, “the grind”, or an average week of work? What if while we’re taking care of business like Bachman-Turner Overdrive, we’re also rubbing elbows with a bunch of superhero coworker’s? Wouldn’t that make the endless hours of duty a little less shitty and a little more exciting? Well then I would like to introduce you to Ken Marcus and Justin Bleep’s Super Human Resources which decided to answer all these questions for us, unwittingly of course, and lift the curtain into a day in the life of Tim. See Tim is a billing specialist navigating “the grind” at a company called Super Crisis International. SCI is different from our jobs because its filled with super powered co-workers and more shenanigans than an old lady could shake a broom at (they do that right? I swear it was on the Simpsons at least once).
We kick off our story with Tim taking over as a temp-worker sent to take care of the billing fiasco over at Super Crisis International. This is a company that for some reason or other employs mostly Super Powered individuals to “take care of people, places, and things”. The satire in the book is right up my ally from the get go as Tim is the subject of a case of mistaken identity. A crazy ninja assassin gives Tim a death poison all because the ninja thinks Tim is here for the same job interview. This scene is great for early laughs and sets the tone for what to expect from the rest of the title.
From there Tim is whisked away by a company chaperon and quickly and effectively introduced to the eccentric cast that he will be interacting with throughout the balance of the story. A couple that gets the early focus and are my personal favorite characters would be Zombor, the zombie Frankenstein receptionist, and the Wombat, a Batman type character relegated to the dark company basement he calls the Wombat Hole. When Tim is sent to the Wombat Hole and has to ask him to produce a purchase order for the mysterious Hovercraft he’s bought, on the company time and dime, it leads to some hysterical back and forth between the two even Batman would smile at.
As we go further into the trade Tim is subjected to more and more office mischief and we see the flaws each and every hero at the office is hysterically littered with. Office parties do not end well, Zeus has no idea what a Greek Salad is, even the office electronics are in on the gag as the copy machine is trying to take over the world which we find out as the story progresses from its own display.
The copy machine is even given some character progression as it begins to recruit the coffee machine in on its plan of domination. The two office necessities have a little bit of a Pinky and the Brain vibe going on and it worked so well. By god if my work was a little more like this I would happily show up to look busy at least half the time.
Ken Marcus’ writing is a perfect blend of office humor and dry sarcasm, mostly from Tim our main characters point of view. The other characters however never take a back seat and are quite fleshed out and funny enough on their own to enjoy each appearance as they pop in and out.
The art is handled by Justin Bleep who captures the humor and tone of the book perfectly with his jagged wild style. The colors and character work only further enhance the comical experience overall.
Bits and Pieces:
After a long week of reading about hero’s kicking ass to sit back and enjoy a lighter book where I don’t have to worry about a characters history and baggage going forward is nice. Just enjoying jokes as them come is a nice treat. The bonus Super Human Resources provides is it’s able to take something everyone can relate to, an individual’s work life, and highlight how humorous these simple daily interactions most of us forget about can really be. If work has you wound a little tight, and you’ve already seen Office Space 458 times, give Super Human Resources a try to break up “the grind”.
7.5/10
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