The most difficult part of writing a ridiculous story is nailing the tone. A story that has too sharp a tone isn't fun. And a story that has too wild a tone can become a parody of itself. Conrad Van Cottonmouth is a story about a heroic rabbit with sci-fi powers. That alone is crazy enough, but the story moves quickly and takes itself earnestly enough to be a surprisingly charming adventure.
The story starts with a prophecy thousands of years ago about a rabbit destined to save the world. And then fast forward to the present day, where a rabbit accidentally stumbles upon an alien ship that transports it into space. It gains intelligence through the aliens and the ability to teleport. From there, the government recruits the rabbit to try and stop an alien reactor from exploding on Earth and destroying the planet.
By all accounts, Conrad Van Cottonmouth takes itself pretty seriously as a story. The art style goes a long way to present itself in a serious manner. But the story is anything but. It features a rabbit gaining teleportation powers because of aliens. The combination of using a serious narrative to tell a ridiculous plot only works because of the story's pacing. It moves pretty swiftly, never giving the reader the chance to stop and ponder all of the craziness. And it's not just that the plot moves fast. The book's sparse dialogue helps a lot, too. The lettering could have been cleaned up a bit and is probably the area that could use the most improvement. But all in all, the story's premier issue is a success at threading a difficult needle between silly and charming.
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