Now this is the kind of crazy crap I like to see in my comic strips. Arson, didlo jokes, cripple jokes, Fair Trade ripping, addressing the issue of violence in schools in an insensitive manner — all this and more is within the pages of Kinky and Cosy, from the Belgian comic strip from writer/artist, Nix. You’re pretty much going to have to toss all your self-righteousness out the window because if you don’t, you’ll just get offended and end up missing something that is cute, funny, and disturbing all rolled up into the form of two twin girls who get into their own brand of trouble.
If there is anything to compare Kinky and Cosy to, it is South Park, except there are only two kids and they’re both girls. Yeah, just make Eric Cartman a girl and make two of her and bam! You got Kink and Cosy, dysfunctional family mayhem with a dad who seems to mean well, but just isn’t with it and a mom who’s addicted to sex toys. Man — reading this I laughed a lot, but I also just sat there and shook my head a lot too. There are parts of it that are a bit benign, there are parts that are laugh out loud funny and then there are parts where you cringe a little or have a laugh at something and then you think to yourself, I really shouldn’t find that funny.
Half the stuff that goes on in the comic strip would not fly in America and it’s amazing to see the difference in the culture of humor, what really stands out is the use of the word fag. The context in which it’s used isn’t malicious nor is it a verbal attack but it’s just thrown out there casually, but in America the use of that word in any circumstance is an attack. I actually found myself surprised to see that written in there. As much as I’d loved to open up the Sunday paper and see a Kinky and Cosy strip I can’t imagine anything like it would ever be allowed to grace American newspapers. This is why the Internet is such a beautiful thing. Sure it’s useful for news and crap like that, but let’s face it, we’re all reading fan fiction, determining what breed of dog we would be by multiple choice test, watching porn and catching up on our Cyanide and Happiness. Kinky and Cosy, just with title alone, fits wonderfully into that off beat pleasure category.
This Nix fellow has created something that speaks to the haunted little voice everyone has, waiting in the back of their mind, that shadow that makes to say and do bad things sometimes. I think I’m going to name mine after Kinky and Cosy. This is most definitely a special type of funny book; it walks a fine line of comic strip and adult humor. Most certainly not for little kids. So for all you adventurous, foreign independent comic loving grownups be prepared to laugh and groan at the humor of Kinky and Cosy because there’s a lightsaber joke in there that is still making me giggle.
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.
Karyn gladly accepts bribes in the form of carnitas burritos and/or Catwoman paraphernalia.