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Wolff & Byrd, Counselors of the Macabre: Case Files #3
Wolff & Byrd, Counselors of the Macabre: Case Files vol III
Horror and humor are tough to pair without the end product seeming forced and therefore neither scary nor funny. This combining is not a problem for cartoonist Batton Lash, who has been making the frightening funny since the 1979 debut of Wolff & Byrd. Using his two main characters--lawyers who only take cases involving the supernatural--Lash manages to pick apart popular culture and dig deep into touchy issues, all while reveling in the standard tropes of horror comics. In this, the third collection of his bimonthly comic book series, the stories span such subjects as alien abduction (in a dead-on X-Files parody) and a guardian angel being sued for neglect. This book also contains Lash's most controversial issue to date: in a setting reminiscent of Rosemary's Baby, a woman impregnated with Satan's baby weighs the pros and cons of abortion.
96 pages, Paperback
First published July 1, 1997
6 people want to read
About the author
Batton Lash
102 books4 followersBatton Lash was a comic-book and comic-strip writer-artist.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
April 9, 2020
#ThrowbackThursday - Back in the '90s, I used to write comic book reviews for the website of a now-defunct comic book retailer called Rockem Sockem Comics. From the January 1997 edition with a theme of "Funny Comics":
OBJECTIONS OVERRULED
WOLFF & BYRD, COUNSELORS OF THE MACABRE #1-12 (Exhibit A Press)
"A man went to a lawyer and asked what his least expensive fee was. 'One hundred dollars for three questions,' said the lawyer. 'Isn't that a lot of money for three questions?' asked the man. 'Yes,' said the lawyer. 'So what is your final question?'" (The Lawyer Joke-a-Day 1997 Calendar, Lame Duck/Paramount Enterprises)
Everyone has a favorite lawyer joke, and most everyone agrees with Shakespeare's edict to kill them all. However, deep down we all know that some lawyers are nice people. But, hey, did you also know that some could be funny too? Alanna Wolff and Jeff Byrd are two of the best examples I have ever come across.
Wolff & Byrd are not your average lawyers. What makes them distinctive is their clientele. Y'see, their clients are the things which go bump in the night -- monsters! They defend all the traditional bogeymen: vampires, zombies, gnomes, werewolves, and witches. They also have some unique creatures, like the zombie dog or the were-house. When a guardian angel is being sued for negligence by his klutzy ward, where else can he turn but the law firm of the supernatural? Or how about the comedian searching for an escape clause in the gypsy's curse which has his every sentence followed by a laugh track from beyond? Indeed, Wolf & Byrd are about the only lawyers you'll ever find defending the corpus delicti.
Aside from the usual gang of monsters, WOLFF & BYRD often features direct parodies of television, comics, and literature. Issue #4 has a doppelganger of the Crypt Keeper from tv's TALES FROM THE CRYPT facing charges of grave-robbing in a story drawn in the fashion of the 1950's EC Comics. Issues #8 and #10 have spoofs of H. P. Lovecraft stories and vintage romance comics respectively. With issue #9, Wolff & Byrd go nose to nose with Mulder and Scully of the X-FILES. This nifty little tale takes a stab at solving the long-standing mystery of the abduction of Mulder's sister. (My favorite part is the chapter title, "The Truth, The Whole Truth, and Nothing But the Truth is out There.")
Writer/artist Batton Lash has been doing WOLFF & BYRD for years, and his experience shines through. It has been a long-running comic strip in many law journals and papers, and it is reprinted weekly in the COMICS BUYER'S GUIDE. There are also two trade paperback collections of the comic strip available. I have always liked the comic strip when I came across it, but the serialized format and cramped panels were slight turnoffs. The comic book, however, features all new stories told in comic book format, and Lash uses the extra space well. His artwork is accomplished and professional, and his stories are consistently funny.
This is another one of those series that you can join anytime, regardless of how many issues you have missed. Lash's stories are almost always complete in one issue, with only minor subplots about the lawyers' love lives carrying over. Also, issues 1-4 and 5-8 of the comic book are collected in trade paperback form and are occasionally resolicited through PREVIEWS.
Of all the series I'm reviewing this time, the humor in WOLFF & BYRD is the most cerebral. It relies heavily on puns, parodies, in-jokes, and current events. While it may not inspire a gut-busting guffaw in each issue, you'll get a steady stream of chuckles every time. Sorry to say though, despite the presence of all the monsters, the scariest things in each issue are the lawyers' fees.
Grade: A-
OBJECTIONS OVERRULED
WOLFF & BYRD, COUNSELORS OF THE MACABRE #1-12 (Exhibit A Press)
"A man went to a lawyer and asked what his least expensive fee was. 'One hundred dollars for three questions,' said the lawyer. 'Isn't that a lot of money for three questions?' asked the man. 'Yes,' said the lawyer. 'So what is your final question?'" (The Lawyer Joke-a-Day 1997 Calendar, Lame Duck/Paramount Enterprises)
Everyone has a favorite lawyer joke, and most everyone agrees with Shakespeare's edict to kill them all. However, deep down we all know that some lawyers are nice people. But, hey, did you also know that some could be funny too? Alanna Wolff and Jeff Byrd are two of the best examples I have ever come across.
Wolff & Byrd are not your average lawyers. What makes them distinctive is their clientele. Y'see, their clients are the things which go bump in the night -- monsters! They defend all the traditional bogeymen: vampires, zombies, gnomes, werewolves, and witches. They also have some unique creatures, like the zombie dog or the were-house. When a guardian angel is being sued for negligence by his klutzy ward, where else can he turn but the law firm of the supernatural? Or how about the comedian searching for an escape clause in the gypsy's curse which has his every sentence followed by a laugh track from beyond? Indeed, Wolf & Byrd are about the only lawyers you'll ever find defending the corpus delicti.
Aside from the usual gang of monsters, WOLFF & BYRD often features direct parodies of television, comics, and literature. Issue #4 has a doppelganger of the Crypt Keeper from tv's TALES FROM THE CRYPT facing charges of grave-robbing in a story drawn in the fashion of the 1950's EC Comics. Issues #8 and #10 have spoofs of H. P. Lovecraft stories and vintage romance comics respectively. With issue #9, Wolff & Byrd go nose to nose with Mulder and Scully of the X-FILES. This nifty little tale takes a stab at solving the long-standing mystery of the abduction of Mulder's sister. (My favorite part is the chapter title, "The Truth, The Whole Truth, and Nothing But the Truth is out There.")
Writer/artist Batton Lash has been doing WOLFF & BYRD for years, and his experience shines through. It has been a long-running comic strip in many law journals and papers, and it is reprinted weekly in the COMICS BUYER'S GUIDE. There are also two trade paperback collections of the comic strip available. I have always liked the comic strip when I came across it, but the serialized format and cramped panels were slight turnoffs. The comic book, however, features all new stories told in comic book format, and Lash uses the extra space well. His artwork is accomplished and professional, and his stories are consistently funny.
This is another one of those series that you can join anytime, regardless of how many issues you have missed. Lash's stories are almost always complete in one issue, with only minor subplots about the lawyers' love lives carrying over. Also, issues 1-4 and 5-8 of the comic book are collected in trade paperback form and are occasionally resolicited through PREVIEWS.
Of all the series I'm reviewing this time, the humor in WOLFF & BYRD is the most cerebral. It relies heavily on puns, parodies, in-jokes, and current events. While it may not inspire a gut-busting guffaw in each issue, you'll get a steady stream of chuckles every time. Sorry to say though, despite the presence of all the monsters, the scariest things in each issue are the lawyers' fees.
Grade: A-
April 17, 2009
The X-Files and Rosemary's Baby episodes were great. "Save the damned baby" indeed.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews