STORY: Eric Powell
ART: Eric Powell
COVER: Eric Powel
PUBLISHER: Dark Horse Comics
PRICE: $15.95
RELEASE DATE: Thursday, May 20, 2009

 I swear I remember it as me picking up an issue of The Goon and then telling my brother that he had to read it. He remembers it another way. And I know this region of the comic world is usually left in his hands, and after reading this you'll probably understand why. But I just finished reading the new trade that came out a couple of weeks ago, and I have to do some excreting of my own.

The Goon was actually one of the first titles that I started reading when I came back to comics over 5 years ago. I stopped reading it because like Walking Dead and Invincible, it was too good to just spend 10 minutes once a month on. Like so many people have done, mostly with books where you don't have to keep up with a Universe's worth of continuity, I read it in trade. 

'A Place of Heartache and Grief' spins directly out of the Goon hardcover, Chinatown, where the story of Goon, his sidekick Frankie, and the community of Lonley Street all took a sudden and very serious turn. 

The Goon always had a path, or a story being told that was also perfectly mixed with some serious humor, sometimes dry, and sometimes slapstick, but always tongue in cheek. In Chinatown we finally saw where the scar on Goon's face came from, and a bit more of his origin and motivation. 

Last year was officially "Goon Year" where everything in Goon's life came to a head, and it starts here in 'A Place of Heartache and Grief'. As soon as I openned it and looked at the first page I could tell that sole creator Eric Powell was setting the stage for a monumental story in the life of Goon and freinds, and he maintains that same sense of importance throughout the entire arc. The creatures on each page come to life with an eerie desire to be real. Every character that Powell creates is unbelievably indigenous to this world, yet life like as if you know them from somewhere.

This arc brings back a few key characters from Goon's past, and places other mainstays in precarious positions. New characters are introduced, and others are expanded upon. You get the feeling that even more evil than usual is amassing as Goon is pushed to the breaking point only to be calmed with some pretty good cup-cakes.

Eric Powell's art is untouchable in it's uniqueness, and aided by Dave Stewart on colors...you've just got to look at it...and stare. This volume has all the Goon-isms that readers have come to know and love and laugh about. The story is daring and heartfelt, yet hilarious at the same time.

If you are not reading it, Eric Powell's Goon, in this reader's opinion, is one of the top 3 best reads out there, along with Robert Kirkman's Invincible, and Brian Bendis' New Avengers. 'A Place of Heartache and Grief': It's the same old Goon, but it nudges us in the direction of epic.

See you in the future! AC