Brutal Best of Bruno the Bandit: Day 17

I'm including this one for no other reason than that I absolutely love the expression on the face of the waiter in the last panel.  Ian absolutely nailed it.  I mean, the rest of the strip's good too, but c'mon...look at that face!

Brutal Best of Bruno the Bandit: Day 16

Brunella!  Ian was gender-swapping before gender-swapping was cool! 
While I know Ian's not a fan of cheesecake for cheesecake's sake (don't even get me started on our disagreement over Frank Cho!), he occasionally pulls an interesting twist on the idea out of his hat.  The Brunella story was one of those times.  Imagine the personality of Bruno in a female body.  What changes?  What doesn't?  And what will happen when a stripling prince mistakes him/her for his beloved Octavia?  It's a fun story in all respects!

Brutal Best of Bruno the Bandit: Day 15

A revelatory moment for Bruno's parents.  Ah, good ol' Uncle Lucius. I've often suspected that Charlie Bucket's grandparents were pulling the same kind of scam as this guy.  Also, I'm pretty sure that single "Z" over Lucius is a nod to Charles Schulz. 

Brutal Best of Bruno the Bandit: Day 14

A triumphant moment for Maledict.
For this one I could do an analysis of how Ian perfectly paced the humour in this strip and tagged it with a sweet counterpoint in the fourth panel (and that "Whoopee" really sells it), but honestly, I chose this one just because I REALLY like that third panel.

Brutal Best of Bruno the Bandit: Day 13

Lucky 13!
This time around, we see the genesis of another recurring idea in Bruno the Bandit...the magic spell.  While at first glance it appears to be nonsense, after a close inspection, sharp eyed Bruno readers can pick out "hidden" messages in the text. Ian pulled this stunt a few times in the strip, always to good effect.  I'm not sure if this was inspired by Jim Starlin, Zatanna, or Judas Priest, but either way it adds to the enjoyment of the whole thing.  Bruno the Bandit...the only strip that's as funny backwards as it is forwards.

Brutal Best of Bruno the Bandit: Day 12

...and I mean it this time. 
I just realized that I had skipped Day 11 and mislabeled the last entry as Day 12.  All fixed now.  As you were.

Today's strip is brought to you solely on the strength of the first panel, which has to be easily one of the most unusual and possibly disturbing drawings ever done for Bruno the Bandit.  Truly a classic! 
Also of interest, both Ian and I have had a sort of long-standing, slow burning feud over which classic Conan artist was better, Gil Kane or Ernie Chan (cover artist for our first issue, can you dig it?!).  While I appreciated that no one drew battle scenes like Chan, I didn't care much for his heavy-handed inking style and always preferred Kane's sense of form and composition.  Ian always sided for Chan over Kane's sparse linework and up-the-nose shots.  I can't help but wonder if this strip was, in Ian's own weird way, a "tribute" to Kane.  If so, well done!

Brutal Best of Bruno the Bandit: Day 11

One of the defining and most enjoyable characteristics of Bruno the Bandit is the casual way it deals with the clash between old school sword and sorcery tropes and modern world technology. It's an interesting pocket universe that Bruno lives in, where the collision of ideas can lead to a man who wears a sword to work becoming hooked on the Home Shopping Channel. This strip very nicely sets out that juxtaposition to great comedic effect in this story. I also can't help but think that there's a slight tribute to Berke Breathed in the flat staging of that last panel.