THE SIX SIDEKICKS OF TRIGGER KEATON #1/ Script by KYLE STARKS/ Art and Cover by CHRIS SCHWEIZER/ Coloring Assists by LIZ TRICE SCHWEIZER/ Published by IMAGE COMICS & SKYBOUND ENTERTAINMENT

Trigger Keaton is dead and not many people are sad about that fact. At least, most of the people who worked him him are glad to see him gone. While Keaton spent several decades in Hollywood banking on his image as a man’s man, modern day cowboy and martial arts master, the real “Marshal Art” was a drunk, a womanizer and the bane of professional stunt performers; most of whom have quaint ideas about how you aren’t supposed to actually hit the other actors. Or that you have to choreograph fights. Or rehearse them.

When Trigger Keaton’s body was found strung-up in his trailer, his co-worker Miles Nguyen felt something was wrong. The LAPD were quick to write Keaton’s death off as a suicide, ignoring evidence of a struggle that even Nguyen noticed, despite only having a modicum of detective training for his role. With no other options, Nguyen turns to the only other people who might have an interest in seeing Keaton’s killer brought to justice: the five other actors who played his sidekicks in other projects and had their lives ruined to varying degrees by Trigger Keaton’s abuse. But what if one of them is the killer?

I’ve enjoyed Kyle Starks’ previous work on various Rick and Morty comics, but The Six Sidekicks of Trigger Keaton proves that he can be just as funny and original with his own ideas. While not all of the six sidekicks are fully developed in this first chapter, the characters who do take center stage are memorable and amusing. The fun spirit of the story, which evokes the same campy B-movie energy as Hollywood Blvd. is echoed in the animated artwork of Chris Schweizer. There’s a constant sense of motion and change to Schweizer’s work, with shifting perspectives even in the normally static scenes of characters just talking.

I’ll consider it a miracle if Kyle Starks and Chris Schweizer manage to avoid a lawsuit or a firm punch from the third fist concealed under Chuck Norris’ beard. With any luck that legal shutdown and lethal strike won’t arrive until after we’ve seen the rest of The Six Sidekicks of Trigger Keaton. This is one of the funniest comics I’ve read in some time.

The Six Sidekicks of Trigger Keaton #1 releases on July 9, 2021.