Hip Flask: Unnatural Selection

by Richard Starkings and Joe Casey

Featuring the art of Eisner award winner Ladronn, the long-out-of-print Hip Flask: Unnatural Selection Hardcover collects the remastered and expanded "widescreen'" art and story from Hip Flask:... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0974056707
• ISBN13: 9780974056708
• Release Date: July 2003
• Publisher: Active Images
• Length: 48 Pages
• Weight: 1.15 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 8.9" x 12.5"

Customer Reviews

Hip Flask: Unnatural Selection

This is where you should start reading. Definitely not for those looking for a traditional comic. You know right away who are the villains and who are the victims. Keep an open mind; not for those easily offended as Starkings' creation transcends boundaries. An excellent story.

One of the most remarkable comic books you'll ever read

I don't read as many comics as I used to, and when I do I like them to be something different. Something a bit special. Something grown up. Something that need not be about humans with special powers. Something with artwork that is out of the ordinary, and with a story that, while accessible andentertaining, is relevant and thought provoking.Something like Unnatural Selection, in other words.Unnatural Selection is a remarkable piece of work.Its setting is a dark, dystopian future, with horrendous genetic experiments taking place on innocent human beings.This Orwellian society is brainwashing its twisted creations to follow only the party line.Yet out of this appalling situation appears a new kind of comic book hero - a talking hippopotamus.Well, 'Hip' doesn't actually say anything in this first issue, but he is destined to become a futuristic Sam Spade, who just happens to be a hippo.I first read this book in standard-sized comic book form, but the higher grade paper and larger format really does the artwork proud.It reminds me of the feeling I got when I saw H.R. Giger's work for the first time. In some frames you're not instantly sure what's going on, and it's only after studying the image for a minute or so that what it shows becomes clear.Horrifyingly clear, in the case of several images in Unnatural Selection. This is the sort of stuff that sticks in the mind long after you put the book down.A criticism? The story, since it's an origin, doesn't really satisfy - butleaving the reader wanting more is no bad thing.I'm keen to see where it all goes - but eager though I am I don't want the writers rushing out the next part of the story if it means compromising the quality... (Footnote - Elephantmen, the second part of the Hip Flask series, is now available in standard comic format - and they didn't rush: it's cover-dated a year to the month since the first one!)