What’s it about and why should I read it?

I have to confess that lately I am becoming indifferent to many films and TV series adapted from comics – the ones with complex character development, diverse casting, dazzling CGI, and in alignment with mainstream political agreeableness. At the hands of large production houses, comic book fantasies that were once considered lowbrow and childish have certainly evolved into serious drama worthy of today’s sophisticated audiences, but are simultaneously sanitised of their irreverence, rebelliousness and inappropriateness which made them illegally enjoyable in the first place. Kenfoo’s latest masterpiece, COCKMAN, rekindles such guilty pleasures which I might be a little ashamed to admit that I enjoy. 

COCKMAN unabashedly advertises its “lowbrow idiocy”, with “none of that woke B.S.” and “just good ol’fashioned B.S.”. Set in Singapore, the quad of superhero vigilante protagonists consists of Cockman (an ethereal chicken spirit stuck in human form), Policeman (not an actual policeman, but obviously referencing certain fetish), Gym Master (whose body-builder parents took so much steroid that he inherited the ability to produce the substance naturally) and Buttboon (Dr. Sanjay Bala, a neurologist who turned into a pink baboon after a lab accident, has the ability to heal others via golden showers…). There are ample swearing, sexual harrassments, graphic violence, allusion to drugs, scatologial humour and satirization of political figures for the book to be labeled as “for mature readers”, which ironically questions my level of maturity when I was amused with contents that are morally unbecoming considering my educational profession.

Under its colourful and cartoonish guise lies Kenfoo’s technical mastery in story delivery, action choreography and book design. Every page contains elements of absurdity, jabbing at vaguely familiar pop-cultural tropes, and every few panels produce page-turning tension that resolves into farcical surprises. Action sequences are dynamic and intense, as Kenfoo switches seamlessly between cinematic and manga elements. A close comparison would probably be The Adventures of Dr. McNinja, or probably Gintama for their similar use of comedic devices and thematic elements, but unlike many stories with classical character struggle and transformation, at no point does the action stagnate into moral didactic, lengthy origin stories or soppy romance. At a hefty 368 pages, the physical feel of the book is substantial. With full colour pages, perfect bound with matt lamination, it is an aesthetic object to behold and collect. 

I am already waiting for COCKMAN II.