The Freak Brothers in "Idiots Abroad"

by Gilbert Shelton

Gilbert Shelton, Paul Mavrides

Genres: Comix, Graphic Novels, Humor, Graphic Novels Comics

96 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1987

Reviews

[Stewart Tame · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ahhhhhh … the Freak Brothers! There's a reason they and their creator, Gilbert Shelton, are underground comix legends. This particular graphic novel reprints what were originally issues 7-9 (I think--I haven’t actually looked it up) of the Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers comic book. With the help of Paul Mavrides (one of the conspirators behind the Church of the Subgenius among other accomplishments) Shelton sent his hapless trio on an adventure around the world. It starts with the standard setup of Freddy being sent out to buy weed. Phineas points out that weed is cheaper in Colombia, and before you can say, “Sudden irrational desire to travel,” the boys are off to Bogota. Naturally, things go wrong. They make it to the Caribbean, Scotland, England, France, Spain, Saudi Arabia--pretty much everywhere but Colombia--in a convoluted plot that involves nuclear terrorists, piracy, totalitarian world government, religious satire, and more.

As always, Gilbert Shelton is a master of comic timing. There's this wonderful sense of barely in control chaos to his stories that makes for highly entertaining reading. And the use of color in this book is gorgeous.

My only real quibble about this book comes about halfway through. There's a one-page “Story So Far” thing that must have been reprinted from one of the comics, but it definitely didn't originally appear at that particular point, because it casually refers to plot developments that haven't happened yet. If you're reading this book for the first time, I advise you to skip this page. Come back and read it later, after you're at least past page 65 or so.

The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers are one of the classic series of the underground movement, and “The Idiots Abroad” is arguably one of their best stories. Highly recommended!

[Dan'l Danehy-Oakes · Rating 5 out of 5]

So back in the '70s I read several comics about the Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers: Freewheelin' Franklin Freek, Phineas T. Phreak, and Fat Freddy Freekowtski, ne'er-do-well hippies always looking for the next score and usually getting burned (especially when Fat Freddy was sent to do the buy). Throw in Fat Freddy's cat, an orange tom of evil intent, and you have a strong basis for an underground comic book.

Or, in this case, three underground comic books, for The Idiots Abroad was originally published as issues 8-10 of the Rip-Off Press comic that featured the F3B.

Our yarn begins when the threesome learn that dope is so cheap in Columbia that they'd save more money than it took to get there. In what quickly proves to be a surrealistic science fiction scenario, the airport (when they finally get there) has mostly been converted to a mall, because nobody flies to or from their unnamed city anymore.

They manage to acquire one airline ticket, which falls to Phineas. Alas, it turns out that he has boarded a plane not for Bogota but for Mecca.

Freddy into a bar, and sits with a drunken gang of Scots football ("soccer") fans. One of them swaps shirts with him, and when he wakes up, he's on their plane. Only, when it lands, it seems that two others are not really soccer fans either, but the notorious terrorist André the Hyena and his accomplice; they are carrying a pocket nuke disguised as a soccer ball.

Franklin ... well, it's complicated, but he winds up cooking on a pirate ship, then sold into slavery, where he finds none other than Freddy; they are both purchased by a fabulously wealthy cult leader who turns out to be Phineas.

That is a very redacted synopsis of about the first third of this wild tale. As is always the case in F3B stories, it all ends with them back in their apartment, but that's no spoiler: telling how they get to that point would be.

To call the art sketchy is not quite an insult; it works for the Brothers. The one real complaint I might make is that the dialog is, at times, so verbose that it becomes nearly impossible for these aging eyes to read without a magnifying glass and/or a very bright light.

Surrealistic, absurdist, and yet somehow pointed and occasionally poignant, the story more than earns the time it takes to read it.

[StrictlySequential · Rating 4 out of 5]

UK Knockabout edition = 1987 = £6•95
->"Not for sale in the U.S.A. or Canada"

So goofy!

[Ryan McArthur · Rating 4 out of 5]

i wonder if I can find this again, I really liked the bit about the football bomb, and when Phineas had to put on all of his clothes.