"Big Lizard in my Backyard"
by Fred Chao
Publisher: ADHouse
What It Will Set You Back: $2.95

Johnny Hiro. Have you heard of him? Me neither. It's not really his occupation... it's just his name. But don't tell his girlfriend Mayumi, she believes that Johnny is something out of this world. And it just so happens that Johnny would become a hero just so he can have one more moment with Mayumi. His opportunity comes to pass as an enemy of Mayumi's mother comes to the the Tokyo of North America: New York City.

Johnny loves Mayumi. Remember that. That is the key to this entire issue. Johnny loves Mayumi. Loves her so much that he has flashbacks, not of their life together, but of every time he has had great bodily harm inflicted upon himself due to a course of carelessness. We learn that Johnny isn't the most cautious of person. That, or he loves being placed in slings that hold his broken body up while his bones heal themselves.

For his one act of courage, he is paid back by being tossed into the air about the great city of New York. Falling, falling to earth: David Bowie sits in awe at home wondering what death will happen. Lucky for our hero, Hiro's fall is broken by a car.

The absurdity of this comic will provide a great deal of joy for most readers. It's refreshing. It follows a basic logic. Love. Anything else, including all the laws that we have built around science, is hearsay and can't be proven. There is no logic except for love. Scott Pilgrim has a lot of logic, it's all video game logic and some pop culture logic, the same can't be said for Johnny Hiro. Johnny is all love.

Johnny and Mayumi in a Brooklyn apartment,
S-L-E-E-P-I-N-G in their bed.
First comes Gozadilla from Japan,
Then comes a kidnapping,
Then comes Johnny running into a pole.

We get a recap as to why Gozadilla has come all the way from Japan to seek out the daughter of the one who had defeated him many years ago. When you're a monster that has wreaked havoc on a city for ages, once your ass gets taken out, that's it. You become a parody. Even worse than that, you know you've become a parody and now have to prove yourself again as a threat.

Off to New York he heads in search of the daughter of the woman who had stopped him years before. I won't even ask how he got her address. If I say anything else, I'll ruin how Gozadilla is stopped. Or how the entire affair is wiped from the city's memory.

I'll leave you with this sample of the closing dialog:

Hiro: We're not gonna get our security deposit back, are we?

Hiro: I love you, too.

I love this book.