Holy shit, folks, this is the comic book release of the century (and no, not just the century so far, this is as good as it’ll get until the year 3000). At comic-con this year, the world was privileged to be given a full-sized omnibus collecting all 24 issues of Scud: The Disposable Assassin (plus some nice extras). This book was my favorite book all through High School, and changed a) the way I look at comics, b) what I expect from comics, and c) how much I love comics.

Rob Schrab created a comic book icon in 1993, when he began drawing his robot assassin epic on his kitchen table in Wisconsin. And in this giant, paper-bound, boner of a book, Rob treats us to the tale of a robot called Scud, an assassin that can be bought from a vending machine, and programmed to kill anyone you desire, only to self-destruct upon the termination of said target. Seems easy enough, right? Well, once Scud learns of this, he maims his primary target, puts her on life support, and begins taking freelance assassination gigs to pay the hospital bills. Each of his gigs then takes him to all corners of the earth and beyond, and what follows, is easily the most creatively inspired storytelling the comics medium has seen since the 1960’s. Scud battles zombie dinosaurs, Jane Mansfield’s decapitated head, a robotophile hottie, a bull with chainsaw horns, and a voodoo Ben Franklin just to name a few; all the while entertaining his readers with twists and turns no one expects from a mile away.

This book clocks in at over 700 pages and is worth every last penny. Rob Schrab let’s it all loose in the pages of this book, along with the beautiful, crisp artwork and snappy dialogue, Rob is never pussying out on great visual gags or “saving that idea for another book”. No, Rob Schrab squeezes every last creative juice from his brain onto every single page, and he does it all with structured and precise storytelling that most other creators couldn’t manage to duplicate in a book twice as long.

I proclaim Rob Schrab as the new Stan Lee and Jack Kirby combined, and I hope he gives us a new book soon.  Seriously, go buy this book now, you’ll be doing yourself a favor, not Rob.

Go buy the book here at Amazon

And be sure to check out Rob’s other work, here!