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For some reason I’m having trouble figuring out, I want Micah Farritor to do a Rat Pack story.  There’s a couple of characters in White Picket Fences who just have a swagger and coolness to them that reminds me too much of Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and Joey Bishop.  It’s the way Farritor captures the 1950’s male, as exemplified in the father and the soda jerk.  Or maybe instead of the Rat Pack, a good Bing Crosby biography-- that’s probably who the father reminds me of a bit more with the way sweater vest and pipe.  I hear Bing’s voice whenever the father in White Picket Fences speaks.

This three issue miniseries from Ape Entertainment has been an enjoyable series, combining stereotypical 1950’s family sitcoms with stereotypical 1950’s monster movies to produce a truly retro in spirit and in heart story.  Writers Matt Anderson & Eric Hutchins and artist Micah Farritor’s story about kids, growing up, the 1950s and alien invasions is a sweet, heartfelt story without any hint of cynicism or condescension to the genres it adapts.  It would be too easy to point out how silly family life was in the 1950s or how out of control the Red Scare with its bomb shelters and fear of radiation would be.  It would be easy to make this story into a farce or a parody but the creators never fall into that trap.  They honestly accept everything that’s corny and cool about the genres and mash them together into a story about how kids nearly start a war with an alien race.

Issue #3 features Charlie, the boy who inadvertently started the war setting things right.  He’s smart and crafty enough to do things that the adults in the story can’t or won’t do.  Meanwhile, his best friends to what they can to distract the military presence.  Parker is a great sidekick to Charlie, doing everything he can to frighten soldiers but instead distracting them by making them laugh to hard to notice Charlie.

White Picket Fences #3
Written by: Matt Anderson & eric Hutchins
Drawn by: Micah Farritor
Lettered by: David Hedgecock

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