Comics Smartass Bob Fingerman Laughs Off the Apocalypse in From the Ashes
In Bob Fingerman’s hands, even the apocalypse is hilarious.
Talk-show tyrants and cannibal foodies experimenting with dipping sauces that complement long pig are just part of the fun as Fingerman laughs his way through the End Times in his invented memoir, From the Ashes, due in collected form Wednesday from IDW Publishing.
“I look at things like The Food Network as part of the problem with modern America,” the New York-based Fingerman told Wired.com in an e-mail interview. “Too much emphasis on food, food, food. And if it all came down, I think some people would start chowing down on their barbecued neighbors.”
The Cracked vet unleashes his biting satire on all manner of public figures, cultural traditions and political movements in his comic book series From the Ashes (see panels above and below). It’s a light-hearted romp through the post-apocalyptic landscape that’s lately been charted in deadly serious films as different as the environmental documentary The Age of Stupid and John Hillcoat’s The Road.
But if we’re all going to hell-on-Earth in a handbasket because of our apathy, hyperconsumption or deep love of the Food Network, Fingerman reasons, we might as well have some laughs on the way to our demise.
“Paradise is what you make of it,” said Fingerman, who’s worked on Heavy Metal and the Ignatz-nominated Beg the Question. “A tropical beach can be a nightmare if you hate tropical beaches. If you’re not big on your fellow humans, a post-apocalyptic wasteland is not without its charms.”
So when comes From the Ashes, the movie?
“I’d love to tell you that and not, at this point, be lying,” Fingerman said. “But who knows? We’ve had our serious post-apocalypse movies, so I think it would be great to have a balls-out comedy to balance things.”
From cannibal foodies to talk-show tyrants, From the Ashes makes sweetly smoked fun of the End Times.
Images courtesy Bob Fingerman/IDW Publishing
Against all odds, some of From the Ashes‘ outsider freaks, cannibals and other irradiated mutants have held onto their previous humanity. Those living the good life in underground bunkers are ruled by a tyrannical cyborg squid named Modoz (pictured above), a purposeful mash of Marvel’s villainous MODOK and a certain bilious talking head from Fox News.
They’re subjected to totalitarian rule that governs everything from slave labor to sex work. It’s a well-padded futuristic nightmare we’ve seen before, in books and films like Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale and the cult classic A Boy and His Dog.
That terrifying future is already here, according to Fingerman.
“Look around you; the world doesn’t get less scary,” he said. “Eight years of evilmegadipshitism, also known as The Bush Years, plus terror, equaled a climate conducive to pondering the End. Jesus, just look at the Supreme Court granting corporations personhood. Bye-bye, illusion of democracy.”
But Fingerman isn’t going to let the real apocalypse get him down. Which is why he spends most of the fake one in From the Ashes with his equally hilarious wife, Michele, feeding all the devastation through his comedy grinder to produce shiny jokes that put a happy face on self-created extinction. Whatta guy.
“There’s room for some laughter amongst the ruins and remains,” he said. “I used to have nightmares about it. Now I feel more shruggy.”
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