Editor's Note: Starr the Slayer #3 arrives in stores tomorrow, November 4.

If Marvel is going to keep their "mature readers" MAX imprint around, they might as well use it and do their best to earn the garish "explicit content" warnings that they emblazon across the covers. That seems to be the reasoning behind this series, which really isn't very mature at all, given its reliance on naughty words, exposed skin, and gratuitous violence (which is probably still less shocking that what you would find in plenty of superhero titles). And that's fine; it's an enjoyable wallow in the gutter, and a chance for writer Daniel Way to get his nastier impulses out of his system. We might as well have some fun while we're being profane.

As with the original story in which Roy Thomas and Barry Windsor-Smith introduced the barbarian Starr, Way has taken a metafictional direction, having the bad guy, an evil wizard named Trull, transport Len Carson, the creator of Starr, into his own fictional world and enslaved him, making him rewrite "reality" to suit his whims. In this issue, having disgraced Starr and driven him out of the city of Zardath, Trull sets about acquiring more power for himself by usurping and eventually killing the king. We learn all about this, as we have the rest of the story so far, from a foul-mouthed bard telling the story to people in the street. It's been a cute device, allowing for some funny, swear-filled, rhyming lyrics that often incorporate the dialogue, but it appears to come to an end here, as the troubadour is apprehended and Trull begins to cement his iron-fisted rule. But, as expected, Starr is waiting in the wastelands, ready to return and get his revenge…

It's an enjoyably nasty story, but what really brings it to life is Richard Corben's artwork, which lends a somewhat exaggerated, cartoony look to the characters and makes the setting look grimy and dirty. He's had experience making these sorts of fantasy comics for decades, and it shows; the style has been pared down to the essentials, playing every grimacing face, broad smile, and grotesque bit of violence for the maximum effect. Interestingly, while Starr himself seemed to be a buffoon in the last issue (since that's the way Trull was "writing" him), he has a chiseled, heroic look here, foreshadowing what will surely be his eventual triumph.

How Way will end this in the final issue of the miniseries is up in the air, but it should be interesting to see if he plays with the concepts of storytelling, possibly having the bard and Carson competing to finish the story. Or maybe he'll just make it a bloody battle full of shouted obscenities. Whatever the case, it should be fun to read. It's a pretty inessential comic, but as long as you can handle the "maturity", it's a pleasing diversion.

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