Hutch Owen: Aristotle
by Tom Hart
Top Shelf
“ho”
Here’s an interesting twist – digital delivery of underground comics. Tom Hart’s Hutch Owen is a street philosopher, part mystic, part burden on society. This 40+ page chronicle details Hutch’s stint as coffeeshop mooch, preaching Aristotle’s ethics to wide-eyed college innocents as he swills leftover lattes. Shortly thereafter, Owen becomes an unwitting tool of the man as he dons a stupid costume and distributes flyers outside the shop, in exchange for coffee and whatnot. Unbeknownst to him, the chain has been bought by his old nemesis, Dennis Worner, a horribly materialistic corporate king…
Since this entire tale is available online, I won’t waste your time describing it when you can click below and read for yourself. Suffice it to say, Hart’s rough-and-ready illustrations display far more plot and emotion than you’d expect, and his twisted sense of humor and attention to detail is unparalleled – a sellout student proudly displays what is unmistakably an O’Reilly book on “Aristotle,” the programming language, and Worner’s toadies are forced to undergo a sort of Outward Bound Marketing camp, led by a mixture of cowboy and corporate motivational speaker. Check out the online strip, and definitely invest in the available trade paperback, containing more stories, if you like what you see.
http://www.topshelfcomix.com/topshelf/comics/hart/aristotle/
