Fish Police Special (1987) by Steve Moncuse et. al.
I’ve never read Fish Police before, but I know that it was a pretty well-regarded comic — published by … Fishwrap Productions? Hey! How come I know that? I don’t think I’ve thought about Fish Police since the 80s, but I still remember the name of the publisher? I must have found it particularly amusing as a teenager? Or perhaps my brain just made the name up right now. Wow, no, that’s right — even the “Productions” part.
My brain ejected the knowledge of what the square theorem is, but it retained that bit of info? Thanks, brain! You’re the best!
Fish Police creator Steve Moncuse explains why Comico is publishing a Fish Police special all of a sudden — Diana Schutz thought it was a good idea. Possibly as a way to test the waters for taking over publishing the regular comic, too? Which Comico started doing a year later, so I guess the experiment was successful.
Moncuse explains that this book is a prequel, which sounds like a good idea for introducing new readers to the concept, right?
What… er… who… what? I don’t even know what order to read these pages in. No matter what order I try, the dialogue doesn’t make much sense.
… what? Why is the magician being so snippy with his boss? Why is the boss so angry? WHAT IS GOING ON
…
wat
The guy in the helmet didn’t say anything, so why did the magician shrink his head?
Buh ah wha
OK, OK, OK… I think I’ve read what the concept of this series is in a review back in the 80s, and now it’s coming back to me: It’s about a human guy who has his conscience transplanted into that green fish guy above, and the green fish guy is a cop. That’s a good set-up for lots of humour, but this book doesn’t explicitly mention this — after about two thirds, the fish guy starts wondering what’s happening to him, so I think a reader might puzzle this out, but I’m not altogether sure.
The book basically reads like one giant non sequitur.
Hey! I got an extra staple! *kaching*
And this is how the plot ends — that green fish guy is possibly a villain, and he’s fighting the red guy? Who wanted to kill the green cop fish guy? But then there’s an octopus who is a journalist? And they have a conversation about… er… the green cop fish guy?
And then they disappear. The end.
I’m guessing all of this makes perfect sense if you’re already a Fish Police reader, but it makes zero sense to a new reader. It’s the weirdest way possible to introduce your characters to a broader audience.
And the jokes aren’t very good, either.
Now I’m kinda looking forward to reading the regular series (which I’ll be getting to in a couple of weeks), bizarrely enough, so perhaps this total ? of a book was a good strategy, anyway?
The Comics Buyer’s Guide #711, page #4:
Introduction: Fish Police Special
By Steve Moncuse
The Fish Police.
The Fish Police Special.
“Special.” It’s that one little word that gave me so much trouble.
About this time last year, Diana Schutz asked me if I would be
interested in doing a Fish Police story for Comico. Maybe I draw
talking fish for a living, but I’m not nearly as silly as you, or my par-
ents, might believe. I said I’d love to.
My regular book keeps me fairly busy, so I figured I’d just pound
out another clever little FP story. (A little mystery, a little action, a
lot of beer, and — voila! Fish Police!) Take the money. And run. It
would be called The Fish Police One-Shot, or maybe The Color
Fish Police — something along those lines. It would look real nice
sitting next to all those other books in the real comics section. And
everyone would be happy.
But, geez, they went and called it The Fish Police Special!
Maybe I’m just old-fashioned, but it seems to me if they’re gonna
call it special, then I ought to make it special.
So I did.
When talking about their favorite comics, most readers ask,
“What happens next?” Mine ask, “What happened first?” For those
of you reading a Fish Police story for the first time, this is an excel-
lent place to start. The Special actually takes place before Fish
Police #1. What follow are the first pages of a 40-page story, avail-
able from Comico in July.
What happened first?
This did…
