YOUR INDY WEEKLY: THE EXPERTS
by Ryan McLelland
The Experts #1 and 2
Near Mint Press - $3.00 each
Written by: Kenn Minter
Illustrated by: Clarence Pruitt
Website: http://www.kennminter.com
Rating: 4 stars (of 4)
With Kenn Minter’s The Experts you get a feeling that this superteam is called The Experts just like you call a big guy ‘Tiny’. But when you put together a team with old pros like Emerald Yeti and Doctor Delta with such nuebs as Ninja Witch, Free Mary, and the very dressed Naked Man one cannot expect to be as great as the Avengers, the JLA, or even the Great Lakes Avengers. Inanity runs rampant in this superb series that highlights what those who think they are great do in incredible situations…even if they aren’t that great.
The first issue features a trio of stories that introduces the newest team of Experts and also a shrink that caters to the problems of superhero and villain alike. The best story features IncredoLad – a youth in a small town that wears glasses and a bowl-cut ala Guy Gardner to preserve his secret identity. However everyone in this quiet town already knows that the unnamed teen is also the superhero IncredoLad.
The comedy moves forward when young Tina Tang falls into the river and starts drowning. All would have been fine with ol’ bowlcut running off to become IncredoLad to save the day except that Chet has to come over and provoke IncredoLad. Chet tells him to hurry and save Tina while IncredoLad defends everything from his eyeglasses, his bowlcut, and even a leg brace that appears out of nowhere that all but proves he CANNOT be IncredoLad. By the time he comes up with an excuse to get away from Chet (Chet and Tina’s friends all know he is going to change into his costume), IncredoLad runs into the woods, takes off his sweater, and finds that he left his costume at home. The situations get worse and worse as the reader gets a sinking feeling that Tina better learn to swim very quickly.
Issue two focuses more on The Experts themselves, namely Ninja Witch and Free Mary who are forced to take down the evil telepath Silver Muse. It seems that Silver Muse is able to control the minds of men and therefore only Ninja Witch and Free Mary can save the day. Not only that, the Experts’ leader Frost Queen points out, but the duo’s action figures (with exceptionally quality boobs!) are the lowest selling of the entire Experts line, so the two have to get out there more, fight more crime, thus causing more kids to want to go out and buy more of their toys. The two are off to fight Silver Muse, but the cattiness of two gals going to fight some evil bitch makes the comic sillier and better as it goes along.
Somewhat reminiscent of Bob Burden’s Mystery Men but with a devilishly sharp wit, The Experts is a perfect indy book that continues to throw pleasure at you page after page. From Clarence Pruitt’s sharp pencils to Minter’s ability to hit everything what would be wrong with every young superhero in the world, the Experts is truly a fun read that is destined to become a fave of every indy comic reader. It’s fun and it makes fun of all we behold, from masks to breasts to hopefully learning one day what Naked Man’s powers exactly are. The Experts is one book that indy readers should not miss.
