Holy shit.
How else to start this without that simple statement.
Holy. Shit.
If you want to talk about the great debuts in this genre all time, impact wise, this has to rank really high. Joey Lynx: Wildcat Detective Agency is a quintessential smorgsboard of tickle art where no stone is left unturned, nothing is held back, and goes right for the kill without a single apology to the mess it leaves in its wake. And mess is right..because Jesus Christ does Joey make one helluva mess!
Before I even start, it's funny just how important some introduction to these characters and this world helped shape an expectation and a kind of anticipation to get this in my hands. Had you guys been releasing stuff longer, I'd of probably wanted to kill you because of all the promises and allusions you were making. It doesn't help that the illustrations are beautifully drawn, with lovely colors to accentuate curves and wrinkles and toned muscles. Joey, design wise, has a certain gruffness, whereas Mouse seems like a shy little thing who would leap to the ceiling from a door being slammed shut. Joey is toned and carries with her a confident coolness, a cockiness, while Mouse seems like the very embodiment of timid. They're made all the more attractive in their own ways, which, as I'll get to with the comix itself, only helps to make them more primed for the audience to want to see them put through their paces.
It's touches like this that are so often missing nowadays. I don't know if everyone appreciates this mind of material, but I adore it, and I think it makes these pieces take on a different sort of life in the run up to their release. It makes them feel special.
Onto the comic proper...
Joey Lynx is set in the same universe as Bullets and Laughter, meaning it's got a very 50s through the 70s noir vibe to it, which helps to lend itself to the sensibilities of the narrative. What I mean here is...it plays off them. The narration here from Joey reads like something from pure dime store pulp, which is true to genre but accentuates the sense of aware humor within. I really dug B&L and its titular (believe me, that's intentional!) character Betty, and have been dying to see more of her. Hopefully she manages to make a ticklish appearance in the near future!
Anyways, laughter is forbidden in the city. Think of it like prohibition. So the tickling takes on a different kind if edge. Not only that, but what it's done is created this sort of tickle repression, all bottled up in Joey. Again, Joey isn't a dame or a damsel...she's the detective here. She's gorgeous herself, but looks like she could throw down and handle herself. She drinks herself some bourbon. She's no dainty little thing. She's a magnificent tomboy type, something that you don't really see done well in the genre art wise...so the repression of it and her general demeanor, along with the world itself, make for a rather palpable build up to the action proper.
The cover is freaking fantastic! Joey is in absolute stitches, and her feet are some of the best drawn I've seen. Seriously, these look absolutely top shelf, and the wrinkling and the subtle shading, along with the faint lines of movement, really set it off. Speaking of colors and their usage, the light pinkening of Joey's nipples visible through her button up shirt, the rosiness of her cheeks as she wails in laughter, it's all set along with Mouse in her too short skirt and her ample backside having a deep red, which left me with all sorts of notions about what could be going on there. Mouse's pink cheeks as she is biting her fingernails is also an incredible touch, because it's as though she's nervous, whether in her being next, for what this could mean for her boss...or possibly being found out that she's really enjoying her boss being in such a hysterical state. Her eyes, though, that green is so stark. Her eyes emote so well, and they're characters in and of themselves on which the rest of her timid facial features rest. Covers are of such importance in this genre, and it's obvious a lot of care went into this one.
The art from the very first page sticks out to me. It's stylish in different places, and the colors are vibrant. Joey's narration is enjoyable to read as she goes from introducing herself to dropping us in on her caper. To be frank, seeing the daughter on that first page, with her choker and that dress barely clinging to her impossible figure, my thoughts were definitely on wanting to see her get it quite bad, as she fits the dame trope to a T. Then, there's the little details. The flushness of skin, drawing our eyes places. The little bandaid on the broken window is a great touch that I picked up on later and went back to see if it was there the whole time. Nice gag there.
There's no waste here. The story moves from introduction to peril really quickly, and actually, hell, even that feels so caught in those noir narratives, where it's out of the frying pan and into the fire. Enter our ticklers...two assailants who we don't know the names for, but in actuality, have rather interesting characteristics. The girl dressed in green is built like a ton of bricks and has a sort of pitbull mentality. Our girl in red is a lot more lithe, though her movements seem much more surgical to me in correspondence with her partner. The dialogue between everybody and the narration adds flavor and character to everything, and it is sone in a way that creates intriguing depth while at the same time acting as a wonderful tease.
Eyes, expressions, everything comes out. The eyes are especially stand out because of their vibrancy in color, especially on Joey and Mouse.
The ticklish assault is instant impact, and there isn't anything held back. Joey does manage to keep getting herself free, a play on her own toughness, which only makes her ticklers all the more intense in their need to pin her down. It's crazy how Joey keeps putting up a fight, only to be so ruthlessly undone by her sensitive body and her ticklish nerve endings. If you dig feet tickling, this has it in spades. Ribs and tummy? Yep. Belly button? You bet. And it isn't just simple fan service thrown out there, the scenes pack punch and feel so physical, be it how the tickling is drawn, or the detail work with shades and flushness of skin, or any of that, this is literally coming together as a total body celebration.
It's when Joey's top comes off that the real fun begins. The build up is so well executed, lines, stressed buttons, movements making everything rumple. Then, it happens, and Mouse enters the scene, and I laughed and laughed at Joey's meek "oh shit, I'm screwed" reaction.
This comic holds nothing back. I've said it a few times. When they say it's naughty, jesus christ...that's too tame for it. Joey's breasts and nipples are so evocative as they are getting tickled, and the longer it happens, the more it seems like her nipples are swelling TO MEET those caresses. Bandito loves him some breasts, but I don't think he's ever done a more completely unashamedly hot nipple tickle scene in his entire artistic career...and that's going back to some epic Dusty nipple tickles.
And once Joey's fully restrained? Once they have her toes bound back so they can't move? And every part of her is literally assaulted?
I bring up No Mercy a lot in the genre because of what it stood for in the early days...this unflinching, uncompromising full on tickle attack on a ticklee that you just want to see pulled apart at her seams...but even then, I feel like Ozzy blinked when it came to the outright overwhelming sexual response to what was happening to Yenny. There's been this talk and selling of material, promising the erotic, promising the naughty. One of my favorite places in tickling is the pussy, the clit. For years, there's been art and clips and everything under the sun sold with the promise of some epic and visceral naughty tickles? Clips have been doing it for over half a decade. Art? Art lagged behind for a long damn time...which made no sense to me, both because of the total freedom art can provide, but also because it was obviously important enough to advertise, to point out, to try and commodity. Hell...most of the time, even if it was done, it was used as a bait and switch. Someone would get cold feet. Someone would be all "but my artistic integrity", even though they were clearly not worried about that when trying to get attention to tickling the nethers like that. Sure, for some people, tickling isn't a sexual thing. But it is for me. Big time. And it is for a lot of people out there.
This comic doesn't just pay lip service. It goes all the way...in graphic, gooey detail.
This might just be the best debut comic I can remember. From characters to action, to the fact it more than delivers the goods and isn't ashamed to go there with a twisted smile, it's top of the shelf. It's one of the absolute best comics out there. And the fact is...everything here lends itself so well. This isn't just an introduction to the wonders to come as long as people get invested. No. This is planting great seeds and expressing some of the absolute hottest and explicit tickling action ever. It doesn't leave you frustrated in the end; it comes to multiple insanely hot climaxes.
I think, whether it is the art, the characters, the sharpness of the letters, or the shading that's done here...everything...EVERYTHING...is incredible. This is the total a package. A true Bandito labor of love. It's all those things...and more...like a mic drop to everyone else out there, saying "top that".
Don't even hesitate; you should've bought this already.
