Bruce Campbell and David Goodman
Man With the Screaming Brain (2005)
Authors: Bruce Campbell and David Goodman
Genre: Graphic Novel (Science Fiction/Thriller)
Plot Summary:
William Cole is in Bravoda in Eastern Europe to investigate a possible investment opportunity when he is robbed and then nearly beaten to death by the jealous ex-girlfriend of the cab driver that took him to his hotel. The jealous ex-girlfriend then shoots the cab driver in the head. Both men are at death's door. Lucky (or unlucky) for them, a Bravodian scientist has discovered a way to make tissues from two different hosts compatible. His assistant grabs the body of Cole and the cab driver, and the mad scientist takes the good half of each man's brain and stiches them together in the body of Cole. Unfortunately, both personalities persist, and this leads to a humorous chain of events that has both personalities finding a way to work together and seek revenge on their Gypsy attacker, the voluptuous Tatoya. SPOILER: In the end, Cole and the cabby end up exacting their revenge, but not before Cole's assistant (and lover) nearly dies. All is fixed when the scientist puts Cole's assistant's brain into the body of Tatoya.
Geographical Setting: Bravoda (a fictional Eastern European country)
Time Period: Present day (2005)
Appeal Characteristics:
Based on the screenplay of the film Man With a Screaming Brain, this graphic novel is likely to appeal to fans of the film as well as fans of Bruce Campbell's earlier novel, Make Love the Bruce Campbell Way, as it contains Campbell's characteristic campy wit. It will also likely appeal to fans of Campbell's films (especially those who enjoyed the camp, humor, and tone of his 2002 release Bubba Ho-tep. The story is short (being based on an 88-page screenplay) but packed with action and humor. There is a fair amount of violence and gore, and, while Tatoya is often pictured scantily-clad and is proportioned like manga character, there is no nudity. The artwork is top-notch and conveys the action and absurdity of the story in a way that a film never could. This is definitely not a literary piece of art. Still, it's another fine feather in Bruce Campbell's quill-filled cap.
Read-alikes: If you enjoy the wit of Bruce Campbell, you'll definitely want to check out his debut novel, Make Love the Bruce Campbell Way, in which a fictional Bruce runs into all manner of shenanigans while working with Richard Gere and Renee Zwelliger on the latest Mike Nichols film. You might also consider his autobiography, If Chins Could Kill, which details his childhood and early film work with Evil Dead creator Sam Raimi. If you enjoy the artwork, you'll want to seek out more by Rick Remender. He is best known for his creations Sea of Red (about a vampire who is freed from a 400-year old prison by a filmmaker and encouraged to seek revenge on the man who imprisoned him), Night Mary (about a teenage lucid dreamer who becomes uncomfortably caught up in the dreams of a serial killer) and Strange Girl (about a young woman and her demon friend who seek an escape from hell on earth ten years after the Rapture). He has also recently issued a colorized version of his first graphic novel, Doll & Creature, which tells the tale of a grim future in which hedonism is the norm and a new drug is making things worse. A wealthy eccentric creates a "Frankenstein"-ish creature to hunt down the addicts. All of these have a much darker edge than Campbell and Goodman's tale. A final suggestion for those looking for a slightly bizarre, SF graphic novel is Y: The Last Man by Brian K. Vaughan, which tells the tale of the last man on Earth and his quest to track down his girlfriend in a world populated entirely by women.
Red Flags: violence, busty women in low-cut tops
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