When he's not writing books like Gambit, John Layman has a separate line in indie comedies.  His latest one is Armageddon & Son, an original digest format book from Oni.

Put up for adoption as a child, Doon Feeney is a complete loser, scraping by in (more or less) the real world.  But one day dad shows up, and it's arch-villain Alfonse Feeney, on the run from his former allies in CLAW.  Alfonse needs Doon's help to stop them destroying the world.  Not because he wants to save the world - he just doesn't want somebody else to get the credit. 

Of course, as Doon points out, there won't actually be anyone around to give any credit, but such matters are mere technicalities to Alfonse.  Since Doon is no use whatsoever, the Feeneys end up allied with the family's arch-enemy, the Falcon, a thinly disguised James Bond.

It's pretty much impossible to review this comic without acknowledging that, yes, this has been done before with Austin Powers and Scott Evil.  It's certainly an unapologetic parody of the conventions of the Bond movies - or at least the sillier ones - but the tone is a little different from the Austin Powers films. 

Alfonse is a subtler character than Dr Evil, with the comedy coming from his genre blinkers and stubborn conviction that there's some sort of point to everything he's doing, despite the best efforts of the cast to explain otherwise.  And Doon is more baffled and lost than Scott, not to mention more open to the whole "demented supervillain" idea.  I'm tempted to mention Mark Millar's Wanted here, but that would give entirely the wrong impression, so please just ignore it.

All right, so it's not the most original idea in the world.  But it's funny, and not simply by repeating Mike Myers' take on the theme.  Although it's endearingly over the top, it's not simply a vehicle for set piece jokes.  Alfonse is a great creation, a character who's just so set in the absurd ways of his genre that it's impossible not to love him.  And the Falcon is enough of a smug bastard that there's no risk of us rooting for him instead.

Silly, but good fun.

Rating: B+

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