Snake 'n' Bacon's Cartoon Cabaret is a truly delightful comicbook by one Michael Kupperman. It is highly recommended to all fans of the unexpected and the absurd. On the back cover, it quotes the Comics Journal as calling it "the best kept semi-secret in comics." Can you argue with the Comics Journal? Have you even heard of the Comics Journal? I know I haven't!
The title characters, Snake 'n' Bacon, are, in fact, a serpent and a piece of bacon. The snake says nothing but "Sss" and the bacon ejaculates bacon-related truisms and instructions like "I'm good in a sandwich!" and "Pat me down with a paper towel to remove excess grease." The two are famous movie stars thrust into situations such as policework and house painting.
Snake 'n' Bacon only make up something like one-quarter of the book. Don't despair, though, as the other portions are similarly brilliant. It features mock-ads like "THEY ALL LAUGHED AT ME—UNTIL MY PENIS TURNED INTO A FISHING POLE!," one-panel shorts like "Two-Fisted Poe," and recurring themes like the "District Attorney" series and "Tales of Deep Irony." Take this example, from the book, for a good sample of the humor you'll find therein:
(Professor is standing in front of many machines and meters, working busily)
"Luke... I've become convinced that the earthquakes we've been experiencing are the result of invisible rays being fired at us from the lost continent of Atlantis!"
"Professor, we haven't been experiencing any earthquakes."
"Oh yeah, right..."
This writeup doesn't do the book justice; check it out if you can. It is $13 US, $19.95 Canadian, from HarperCollins publishers. Its ISBN number is 0380807904. See also: www.harpercollins.com