ADVANCE REVIEW! Space Warped #3 will come out on September 14, 2011.
I really don’t know if this is the dumbest thing I’ve ever read or if I’m secretly in love with it. I’m starting to think it’s something like love. So many parodies of Star Wars have come and gone since 1977, and after Mel Brooks’ Spaceballs, the Star Wars spoof to end all Star Wars spoofs, you think it’d be tapped out. Well, not necessarily.
Space Warped is the first to be a medieval, sort-of-Bollywood-inspired, translated-from-the French version that I’ve ever seen. Yes, that is correct, a medieval, Bollywood inspired Star Wars spoof. That alone has to convince some people out there to at least check this out. In a lot of ways, this really is downright foolish and nonsensical, but so was Naked Gun and Airplane! At times, the humor can be facepalm-inducing and at others it’s surprisingly sharp witted for a comic aimed at a younger audience.
Part 3 of this 6 part mini series begins the Empire portion of the Space Warped saga. The Dread Castle has been destroyed and all the rebels have fled to the icy planet of Hött. Bounty Hunters have been called in, and a strange, supremely backward talking green man named Yoga is out to teach Jean-Luc some Jadis skills. It follows the path of The Empire Strikes Back perfectly, so there’s really nothing to spoil unless I typed out the comic word for word. But why would anyone do that and steal from you the shameless frivolities of Space Warped? By no means is this comic an award winner, but it’s got heart. It was created by fans for fans and that’s what counts. It’s drawn like a cheap cartoon, but anything bigger and better would take away from the down to earth humor of Hervé Bourhis’s writing.
If you like goofy humor — really, really goofy humor and Star Wars, then Space Warped just might be for you. I can guarantee that in 20 years, Hervé Bourhis won’t go redubbing, inserting bad characters or otherwise screwing with Space Warped.
Karyn Pinter has been writing for Comics Bulletin since 2008. Born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area and was one of those kids who was raised by TV, babysat by the likes of James Bond, Mary Poppins and Darth Vader. In college she spent her days critically analyzing Dorothy’s need to befriend a lion, scarecrow and man of tin and writing papers on how truth, justice and the American way ultimately lead to Superman’s death.