Devil’s Due’s newest series “The Odd Squad” is like The X-Files is headed by two of the three chicks from “Mean Girls,” and yet in spite of my inherent annoyance with the trite dialogue and cheesy pop culture references, I really enjoyed it.
As a guilty pleasure, “The Odd Squad” is a routine science fiction supernatural comedy series about a bubbly blond and her equally bubbly blonde sister who are asked to head a branch of the Office of Dimensional Defense to investigate the paranormal. Charlotte Springs is a simple college professor who isn’t as dumb as she looks, and she is forced to work with Frank Flood, a local stiff working for the government who has to team with both sisters to explore why the president’s son is turning in to a beast during the night. And by beast, I mean literal bipedal hairy beast.
While “The Odd Squad” can be bothersome with the attempted comedic dialogue that’s either flat or just plain annoying, the storyline actually works once you get in to it, and I was rather surprised to find myself chuckling at Flood pointing a gun at a professor dressed in a chicken outfit. Apparently something is happening in Oregon that no one can explain and the anomalies become even weirder when a woman is found flying above an officer with large wings, picking flowers. In spite of the occasionally irksome dialogue, the characters are genuinely funny.
Cindy started out as a nuisance and quickly became a source of comedic relief, while Mr. Apollo is hysterical as the mentalist assigned to the team who may or may not be a complete fraud. And let’s not forget the Trekkie scientist. Charlotte Springs is actually not as vapid a character as she is perceived to be in the opening pages and her depth becomes apparent as the first issue trogs along. Flood is also a great straight man who is teamed with a batch of weirdos and losers he’ll have to endure for the series, like it or not. I could easily imagine him being played by Adam Baldwin, should a movie be made.
You know it will. While the issues aspires at Mel Brooks level of humor and puns, it can never quite get there frankly because it’s a fifty fifty bet most of the one liners will either be rib tickling funny, or so utterly hideous, and writer Todd Livingston really seems to be looking for a balance with the paranormal activity and the slapstick with the mini-series. The Fraim Brothers art work is fantastic providing the right tone of light hearted tongue in cheek character designs that keep this an easy read. Though it may eventually be a series, issue 1 of 3 for “The Odd Squad” is a fun comic and I’ll keep up with it.