I think someone’s trying to pull a fast one over on me. THE CATERER #3 purports to be a reprint of an ahead-of-its-time comic book from the ’70s, except that it feels too ahead of its time, know what I mean? Jeff Lint is credited as its creator, supposedly a cult sci-fi author, albeit one who doesn’t show up on the excellent Fantastic Fiction database. So I’m officially calling BS on it.
That said, whether it’s the hoax I strongly suspect it to be, it’s still absolutely hilarious — a silly, subversive work and Pop Art parody. It doesn’t make a lick of sense, but nor does it need to, as being one long non-sequitur is all it aims to achieve. Somehow, it surpasses even that.
The title refers to our “hero,” a college student named Jack Marsden, aka The Caterer, even though we never see him catering anything, unless someone ordered a knuckle sandwich. He rants and raves, visits a graveyard, eludes a sheriff, hallucinates about goats, captures some hens, battles a bear, crashes a car, attracts gunfire and becomes — in his mind, at least — the scourge of the vampire classes, all within 26 pages under the story title of “Dial I for Inconvenience.”
Lint — whoever he is — has nothing if not crack comic timing. The sheriff wonders what The Caterer is doing now, and the very next panel is void of words, showing a smilin’ Jack present a coiled snake in the palm of his hand to an attractive young lady.
Jack’s dialogue is so weird, so off that a red flag was immediately raised. On page 1, he’s ordering a coffee pot in the shape of a severed head. Hell, that’s just the first panel. Consider these later lines: “Udders ain’t so bad, professor. You should try ‘em sometime, if your friends will let you. Know the fun. Know the fun. Know the fun,” or “Pete! I’d like you to meet Carol. She’s my hostage for Christmas.”
He’s not the only one who gets off good lines. Quoth blonde babe Kate, “Christ! Sheriff, did you kick me in the face? I feel terrible.” Or said sheriff: “Sit down young lady, and begin your education. We’ll learn about corn fries today.” Even the comic’s narrator, who writes during an intense scene of action in which many bullets are exchanged, “Nothing of interest occurs for the next hour.”
With a pull-out poster, a cover template ripped off from the Marvel era, and (fake) ads touting chintzy toys and T-shirts, THE CATERER certainly did its homework in appearing to be an actual comic from the ’70s. But — y’know — one that actually makes you laugh out loud. I don’t even think HOWARD THE DUCK could do that today. —Rod Lott
Buy it at Floating World Comics.
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“Lint” was a fake biography or something a few years ago. I was going to read it, but never did. Do a search for it at Amazon.