This is that Kevin Smith movie that requires a water cooler to mingle around so you and your pals can talk about all the mentionable scenes. But the only intelligent things you could say about it was "yeah, that was awesome," "awesome, yeah, that was rad," and, "oh god, that was effin awesrad!"

And then there's the guy who hasn't seen it yet so he runs away before they could spoil the movie and say "I almost shit my pants!" afterwards. If you are this runaway prude, just know that those awesrad moments of what-the-hell-just-happened times won't be mentioned here.

It's Still Out There
The well deserved second printing of this graphic novel has been out and I just bought it--not because of the mini skirted heroine on the cover--picking out her wedgie with one hand while hoisting a crying baby like a burlap sack of drool in the other. It's also not just because I'm a "feel" freak and that the quality and texture of the black cover felt so right in my hands. But it was the other and only worthwhile "cover gimmick" that sold me: "Ennis". With a writer like Garth Ennis (of Preacher fame), I knew there was more to the story which seems to star the lovechild of Meg Ryan and Courtney Love.

It's a Parody
Out of some bet, a cosmic being gives a prostitute some old fashioned comic book powers and she's set loose into a super hero's world - where a good guy team try to get her to fight for goodness in the name of good. I groaned when I thought this was just another super hero satire. Yeah yeah, I get that the Batman and Robin ripoff might be gay, and everyone else in the team is just as fruity and naive. At least kill the jive talking black Green Lantern ripoff, man, please.

With this case, any good reader would then latch onto the prostitute. She was the gritty dirt and it felt so real. She was my sanction. And sure, it's very raunchy and cheap, but the sight gags really are worth conversing over a beer or herbal tea and biscuits. I was probably desensitized from any crudeness since I have female friends who share the same potty mouth - liberally tossing out abrasive words and vaginal references like the "c-word" and "t-word" like parade float sailors with bags of candy. Just like her, the garbage mouth rightfully launches verbal hellfire unto the world's idiots. She truly was my hero in this story and gave the book an ending that made my day worth living.

It's a Commentary
With Ennis there was enough substance to save it for intellectuals too ashamed to enjoy scenes of urination. It was a poignant satire on the superhero's take of the post 9/11 world. To the good guy team: "... you are not the kind of heroes they need, and you have nothing to do with their reality they have to live in. Because it is a harsh fucking place, and it is fucked to give people the idea that someone's coming riding to the rescue." And through her soap box driven diatribe of cynical heroism, we know and realize something: that the Flash rip-off can speedily pleasure himself in the length of one sentence.