Review: The Crumpleton Experiments

Note: The following review was originally published in the December 2005 edition of Collectormania magazine. I've reprinted it here, in a slightly amended and expanded form, to introduce readers to The Crumpleton Experiments, an Australian comic book published by Daniel Reed, and to coincide with the recent release of the series' eighth issue. My comments concerning this title, written at the time of its debut, hold true today as they did then, and equally apply to the latest installment of this charming series. If your local comic shop doesn't stock The Crumpleton Experiments, then you can email Daniel Reed to purchase your copy, or write to him at: 5 Dorrington Avenue, Reservoir, Victoria 3073 Australia.

The world of Victorian-era Britain, characterised by its technological advancement, radical politics and scientific discovery, continues to exert its hold over our popular imagination even now, at the dawn of the 21st century.

This is particularly evident in science-fiction literature, which has seen the birth of the so-called 'steampunk' genre, with such diverse authors as K.W. Jeter, Steven Baxter and Bruce Sterling reinterpreting the technological dimension of the Victorian age through contemporary eyes.

Comic books and graphic novels, for their part, have also revisited this historic period, as writers and artists look back to the past, recasting the heroic archetypes of imperial England with a distinctly modern twist. Two of the most notable examples have been created by the English writer, Alan Moore – The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (illustrated by Kevin O’Neill) and From Hell, an epic graphic novel about Jack the Ripper (illustrated by Eddie Campbell), both of which have been adapted into films.

While you may never see its name splashed across the marquee of your local cinema, a new Australian comic explores similar historical terrain and does so in a thoroughly entertaining manner.

Written and illustrated by Melbourne cartoonist Daniel Reed, The Crumpleton Experiments is set in Victorian England and focuses on the sinister-sounding Psychological Institute of Research.

Timid and prim Gwendolyne (Wendy) Elizabeth Brown applies for a job as a maid at the Institute, which is run by the eccentric and enigmatic Professor Crumpleton.

It’s bad enough she has to work alongside the Professor’s violent and foul-tempered assistant, Mangus. But when she stumbles into the Professor’s secret basement workshop, Wendy’s life is changed irrevocably.

When professor Crumpleton finds his new employee lying unconscious on his laboratory floor, he discards any last remnants of medical ethics and decides to test-drive his Dream-O-Matic device on the unsuspecting Wendy.

This curiously-named device allows one or more people to enter a subject’s dreaming mind, in order to identify and treat any psychological disorders they may be suffering from.

Professor Crumpleton’s Dream-O-Matic works better than even he anticipated. It isn’t long before the Professor identifies a horrible, slug-like creature in Wendy’s mind as the physical manifestation of the low self-esteem that has seen her endure life as a downtrodden wallflower.

With the aid of a cricket bat-wielding Mangus, Professor Crumpleton attempts to beat Wendy’s low self-esteem into submission. However, the wretched creature escapes the laboratory, only to be run over by an omnibus.

Liberated from her oppressive sense of self-doubt, Wendy Brown indulges in an ‘extreme makeover’ of her own, discarding her frumpy maid’s clothes in favour of a revealing costume that turns her into a 19^th century Lara Croft!

After leading Crumpleton and Mangus on a merry chase through London, Wendy decides to accept the professor’s suggestion that she retains some self-doubt (by eating a portion of the creature not crushed by the omnibus!), as well as joining the Institute as Crumpleton’s assistant.

So began The Crumpleton Experiments! Issues 2-3 of the series saw this band of misfit adventurers try to help Father O’Reilly save a parishioner from himself in ‘Fiddling Around with Evil’. Issue 4-5 mark the beginning of a new storyline, ‘Sapienta Flos’, which entails a dangerous journey into the seemingly placid mind of Bradley Brinkman, filing clerk for the Office of Statistics.

In the space of just five issues, The Crumpleton Experiments has proven itself to be one of the most consistently intriguing and entertaining Australian comics being published today.

Daniel Reed’s crowded and inventive plots are perfectly complemented by his scratchy, intricate artwork. The recurring dream sequences, bizarre monsters and oddball eccentrics are rendered in a suitably grotesque style.

This comic cannot be neatly slotted into any mainstream genre. Combining elements of satire, science fiction and horror, The Crumpleton Experiments is one of the best titles appearing in the otherwise currently moribund Australian comics’ scene[*]. For these reasons alone, The Crumpleton Experiment was a worthy recipient of the Ledger Award for Best Independent Press Title for 2004.

[*] That's certainly how I felt about the frequency and quality of a good many Australian comics being released at the time this review was originally published, but anyone with more than a passing interest in Australian comics realises that this situation has changed dramatically, and for the better, during the last 18 months or so.