Scurvy Dogs: Rags To Riches

*Starred Review* The question propelling sf and fantasy--What if?--makes great fuel for ludicrous comedy, too. What if, Boyd and Yount asked themselves, there were pirates, just like the murderous degenerates who plied the eighteenth-century Caribbean, around nowadays, and they decided to go for media stardom? Sounds ridiculous, and it is! Blackbeard, back from his legendary death by decapitation, after which the rest of him, fed to the fish, swam three times around the ship before sinking (maybe someone threw his noggin in later, once its career as a pike ornament concluded), captains a crew consisting of McDougal, a hulking Irish (or Scots) man; Pappy, a daft, hook-handed old salt; Jefe, who insists he's not a Spaniard, seems to hails from el barrio, and owns the gang's ship; and Chinese Pete, a cleaver-wielding mute. Though he was in a Menudo knockoff band, Jefe may be the only sane one; of course, it's hard to tell about Pete. In the five chapters here, the pirates start off taking regular jobs, war with the king of the hoboes and his subjects, and wind up as TV pitchmen. Once the drawn foolishness is over, Boyd and Yount offer nearly panel-by-panel commentary a la the banter of the McKenzie brothers (Dave Thomas and Rick Moranis) on the classic TV sketch-comedy series SCTV. Ray Olson
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