John’s ProFan Review: Psycho Gran #1
What do you get when you cross Robin Williams’ Mrs. Doubtfire with absurdist and surrealist animation and decidedly British punk sensibilities that could have only been born in the 1980s? You get David Leach’s Psycho Gran, and you don’t ask any questions… or else, dearie.
Psycho Gran is a purple-haired grandmother with a pan-dimensional, TARDIS-like handbag, and she’ll use her hairy man-hands to deliver one hell of a mean right hook if you look at her the wrong way… or if you just happen to be in her vicinity when she’s walking down the street… or basically if she feels like it; it’s kind of a no-holds-barred situation with her.
Psycho Gran, the title, actually was born in the ’80s; 1986, to be exact; well before Mrs. Doubtfire or Big Momma’s House or Tyler Perry’s Madea. It’s the brainchild of David Leach, who first published the title in UK kids comic Oink! in the late-’80s. Since then, the title has resurfaced a few times here and there, but now she’s back in all her glory with this digital comic from Titan Comics, available exclusively through Comixology’s website and app.
In Psycho Gran #1, the aged madame gets into several surreal misadventures throughout the issue’s 29 pages; from swallowing one dog, to piloting another, there are numerous outrageous and irreverent moments that will elicit such varied reactions as uproarious laughter and confused disgust.
In reading this comic, you can absolutely tell why Leach has also been involved with the Wallace and Gromit newspaper strip and the Adventure Time comic. If that’s your kind of humor, as it is mine, you get it in spades with Psycho Gran, and I look forward to her future exploits.
As a person who grew up in the ’90s, I couldn’t help but read this and be reminded of the old Cartoon Network series Courage the Cowardly Dog-well, the grandmother thereon. Courage the Cowardly Dog was more of a children’s program, but I could absolutely see Psycho Gran finding a home on Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim; I mean, something like Assy McGee, Superjail!, or Mongo Wrestling Alliance could have been paired perfectly with an animated version of this. Just a little food for thought for anyone who may feel an inkling to make such a thing happen.
