written by Dan Fogler

From the moment you pick it up, you know that Moon Lake is going to be a little bit…different.

For one thing, the dimensions are just a wee bit off. It's a tad thinner than your average graphic novel, about an inch taller. So it stands out right there.

Then there's the stock of the cover, a rough, nubby texture that softens the colors and makes them almost disappear. Graphic novels usually have bright, gaudy, glossy covers. Oddity number two.

Finally, you get to look at the actual content of the cover. It's subtle, and if you don't look at it for more than a second, you might not notice the disembodied head being swung around the bouncy cheerleader, or the Bigfoot clan up in the corner, or the jungle babe riding a dinosaur.

Whoa.

It all adds up to a most unusual comics anthology.

Dan Fogler is the only person credited on the front cover, but Moon Lake is actually a collection of work by more than a dozen talented writers and artists. Spinning off of a movie that Fogler directed called Hysterical Psycho, the stories here all take place on a haunted (to say the least) lake between the United States and Canada where a jealous moon sent a piece of itself down to earth to destroy its prettier and more popular sibling.

The tales are all so far over the top that the top can barely be seen any more. The seven stories in the book all take place at the titular lake, bringing us a collection of sex, violence, fart jokes, and other lowbrow comedy that would be at home in any Troma movie.

Art chores are done by Robby Rodriguez, Jim Daly, Jeffrey Zornow, Tommy Castillo, and others. There's not a bad drawing in the bunch. (Well, there are many drawings of truly awful subjects, but they're all well done.) Scripting duties are by Fogler himself, who adds interstitial bits between all of the stories in addition to writing one himself, as well as Hack/Slash's Tim Seeley, Spawn scribe Brian Holgun, and several others whose work I did not know, but just may seek out.

Moon Lake is for a very limited audience, and if you're into that sort of thing, there's enough nudity and flying intestines to keep you entertained. If you're not into that sort of thing, well, the book is still extremely well produced, with top-of-the-line art and color, so it's still worth taking a look at.