CAPTAIN SAMOUFLAGE AND THE FRANKENSAM SCAM!

A horror director clashes with a greedy producer in Irvin’s wickedly satiric illustrated novel.

The story opens with a stranger approaching spooky Frankenstein Castle. Inside, he meets Frankensam, who has Dr. Frankenstein’s brain inside his monster’s body. The visitor is revealed to be Ygor, the doctor’s former assistant. Sexual attraction builds between them until…the monster’s neck bolt falls off. That’s when it becomes obvious to the reader that this scene has been playing out on a movie set. This latest mishap gives producer Max Million, a Peter Lorre look-alike, the excuse he needs to shutter the production and take a tax write-off instead. Sam the director, who also plays Frankensam, stumbles onto an idea to save his movie when invoking the mumbo-jumbo phrase “Zhuzh time for the glam squad!” turns him into Captain Samouflage, “Waging all-out war against injustice, toilet paper shortages, and crimes of fashion – all while stylishly hiding in plain sight!” Samouflage sneaks into Max’s mansion looking for incriminating information; hijinks ensue during the cat-and-mouse action between the two throughout the volume’s second half. Irvin and illustrator Gallagher’s narrative has the madcap energy of an old-school Looney Tunes cartoon; it also offers a big basket of Easter eggs to pop-culture fans of all types. (Irvin even points these out in detail in his afterword so that the reader can enjoy the layers of this work.) The duo’s first topical storybook parody was 2020’s Sam’s Toilet Paper Caper!, released during the Covid-19 pandemic. This second spoof was inspired by the decision of David Zaslav, CEO of Warner Bros. Discovery, to kill three nearly-completed HBO Max movie projects and convert them into tax write-offs. The morality of such maneuvers makes a perfect target for Irvin, who has a knack for creating adult content that still manages to appeal to the kid in all of us. There’s a bonus of five additional cartoons included at the back of the volume.

A kinetic, knowing takedown of corporate greed.