FIST OF THE NORTH STAR #3 - - Watch & Learn

| Friday, August 23, 2013



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FIST OF THE NORTH STAR #3 - - Watch & Learn



You should all know that I pressed the Five Second Rewind button on the
my Hulu viewer about twenty times while watching this. What could I have
possibly wanted to re-watch that many times? What short snippet of screen time
was so intrinsically amusing that it made me chortle, over and over?

Well, there’s a part where Ken steps forth from the shadows to interrupt
another scumbag’s sadism session. The villain
smirks, wryly remarking, “What’s this? I’ve never seen one so eager to be sent
to hell.

And what is Ken’s response? Is there a clever comeback? Does he trade
witty barbs with this jerk? Not quite…

== TEASER ==

Ken goes straight to shrieking, flaring his battle cry. A powerful aura
surges around him. His chest swells enough that it literally just bursts right
out of his denim get-up. And then he fans his arms around… more ready to throw
down than anybody on the planet.

Sure, this exact same scene plays out, with minor differences, in every
single episode of FIST OF THE NORTH STAR. Sam called it out correctly during
our recent Vice Pit - - the ultra-violence in this show is taken to such an
absurd degree, and so insistently, that it basically plays like TOM &
JERRY. Of course, I never enjoyed TOM & JERRY that much when I was a kid. I
said I t was because the slapstick gags were predictable (it was more so
because I could never get behind a ‘Tom’ losing every time
), but I
think the quality that keeps this funny business from getting stale is
that it’s juxtaposed with such a direly grim setting.

Like, the world of the show is so incessantly grim that Ken’s shrieking
tension releases are always that much more cathartic. It’s like some stand-up getting
on stage and delivering some ultra-serious monologue for ten minutes that's punctuated with him getting an abrupt pie to the face.

A pie stuffed with cherry filling of such a crimson hue that it looks
like entrails spilling out, of course...

Watch this
episode,
“In the City Without Light, a
Lone Fist Burns! The Furious Death by the Five Exploding Fingers” here and
decide for yourself, then read my comments on the previous episode here.

About the Author

Tom Pinchuk’s a writer and personality with a large number of comics, videos and features like this to his credit. Visit his website - - tompinchuk.com - - and follow his Twitter: @tompinchuk







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