Operation Sunshine The Comic: Quality Dialogue

Operation Sunshine is a comic from Dark Horse that fans have been waiting for. Probably because it’s the latest in The Last Podcast on the Left‘s journey into comics. I will say this, the dialogue they write for the characters and their sense of humor go well together. It’s what gives a pretty basic plot a lot more weight because you really want to root for the heroes.

Quick disclaimer this isn’t a review, I didn’t get a request; this is a recommendation.

What’s The Last Podcast on the Left

The Last Podcast on the Left is a where true crime meets campfire stories. The hosts Henry Zebrowski & Marcus Parks babble on for an hour about their love of horror movies and other scarily weird stuff. Sometimes they play characters to act out the scenarios they come up with with some funny results, like foodie Detective Popcorn.
Operation Sunshine isn’t even their first comic, with this pair first dipping their toes in Soul Plumber. I personally never saw the podcast so reading Soul Plumber for Monkeys Fighting Robots was my first experience with them. While I thought the pace was a bit off since it struggles to balance horror and comedy, each character was memorable. But since DC Horror didn’t last a year, the hosts manage to reach out to Dark Horse comics for another shot. This time around they get a new artist to help out with a more even pace.

Podcast Goon Dialogue

What stands out to me about Zebrowski & Parks is how characters talk. After reading so many comic books, you can’t help but notice how much dialogue sounds alike. It’s like you hear your factory default voice in everybody and that puts you to sleep faster than a school lecture. That’s not even including the overwhelming amount of text that make your eyes tired. But every major character in the Operation Sunshine comic follows the tips for Podcasters: speak as if breathing, give a voice personality, and tell a story through that voice.

Operation Sunshine The Weight of Quirks

Let’s look at how Operation Sunshine makes its heroes Hex and Steve so memorable. Because it’s sure not their story, it’s a basic arc of vampires wanting to be human again. Not that Hex doesn’t sell you on her reasons without saying it out loud. She’s been around since the depression era and the expenses for someone who looks like she’s 12 bite deeper than the “true” vampire who turned her. She definitely likes to have her thoughts on the matter, but not dwell on them. She’s already burned out on being a “Bug” and there’s no point wasting energy about it.

Unlike Steve who is trying to put a positive spin on the whole process by acting like a podcast bro. From his day job, the app he developed to help him and other bugs, and wanting some contact, everything about him says he wants to be as human as possible. Plus there’s how this optimizing lifestyle is a mask to help Steve deal with the trauma of the vampiress who turned him.

It’s enough for some mix between Count Dracula and Danny Ocean to get them into a heist for some MacGuffin to be human again. But then again, given how menacing he is with how he can change the tone of his voice; who knows what Gobin’s selling?

Operation Sunshine: The Dialogue Influences

So there we go, a basic plot about two vampires wanting to be human without rubbing it in readers faces. Plus it’s nice to have a comic where character’s quirky dialogue doesn’t feel like a checklist. The fact that Operation Sunshine was properly scripted and paced to shop it to Dark Horse speaks to that. Even with a basic plot, you can create an infectious experience by making characters who indirectly tell you what they’re all about. Not to discount David Rubiin’s artwork perfectly matching the tone of this series. If you can find it, I highly recommend this series.

Thanks for coming to the end and as always remember to look between the panels.