Axe Cop: insane comic collaboration between 5 year old and his 29 year old brother

Dark Horse's Axe Cop: Volume One collects 130 pages' worth of the insane, hyperactive and absolutely delightful webcomic Axe Cop, created by five-year-old Malachai Nicolle and his 29-year-old brother Ethan Nicolle.

Axe Cop began when Ethan visited his family for the holidays and found himself illustrating the madcap adventures of his little brother's imaginary hero "Axe Cop" -- basically a cop with an axe who has the power to behead, poison, explode and chop up his many enemies, often with the assistance of a super-team of shape-shifting giant babies, giant avocadoes, giant dinosaurs, giant robots, ninjas (including a pair of Vampire Ninja Werewolf Wizards From the Moon!) and so on and on, each superlative attracting another until they are daisy-chained into a synthetic molecule of pure, superdense awesome.

Axe Cop became an Internet sensation, and sold enough merch to keep young Malachi in toy guns and action figures for quite some time, and it was only a matter of time until the book came out. Getting all your Axe Cop between covers in one concentrated blast is quite an experience, but in a very good way! Ethan's notes about Malachi's creative process and their extraordinary collaboration really help to frame the strips, and the best stuff of all are the reprinted Ask Axe Cop, in which Malachi fields questions from the Internet at large.

There are plenty of comics artists who've tried to recreate the unbridled exuberance of a hyperactive kid's imagination, but this is the real deal. As Graham Linehan says in his cover-quote: "Axe Cop is actually a time machine. Through its pages, we can return to that state of intensely excited, unbound imagination-overload that we all shared as children, and lost bit-by-bit as the years progressed. Read Axe Cop, and you will remember the kid you once were."

Axe Cop: Volume One

I write books. My latest is a YA science fiction novel called Homeland (it's the sequel to Little Brother). More books: Rapture of the Nerds (a novel, with Charlie Stross); With a Little Help (short stories); and The Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow (novella and nonfic). I speak all over the place and I tweet and tumble, too.

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AzzaMcKazza

Kimmo- that’s super unfair! Even if Ethan is a rightie he’s a super nice guy. Any Right-Winger that creates a comic called ‘Jesus Christ: In The Name of The Gun’ (http://www.jesuschriststory.com/?m=200807) is A-Grade awesome in my books.

‘What time is your job? ALWAYS’

Axe Cop forever.
W. James Au

Some of the strips have been turned into epically epic videos with appropriate narration and voice acting:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ZquaoUMfIc
- EeyoreX
  
  According to the Axe Cop facebook group, there is a fanmade liveaction version in the works too.
  Squee!
Toplus

Am I the only one that thinks that is seriously worrying that a 5 year old fantasises about beheading, poisoning, exploding and chopping up characters?
- Boondocker
  
  You probably are, Toplus. Malachai’s stories seems like pretty typical imaginative play for a little boy.
InsertFingerHere

Ethan is probably the best big brother ever.
Guysmiley

How could I not have heard of this before? I’m sitting here with tears in my eyes trying not to bust out laughing at work. http://axecop.com/index.php/acask/read/ask_axe_cop_8/
- BastardNamban
  
  I can’t stop laughing!
  
  I can totally see how a 5 yr old came up with this stuff. But it’s genius the way he condenses like every meme on earth of sweetness and his brother illustrates it.
  
  A flying dinosaur with machinegun arms flying an axe weilding cop into space, then fighting a samurai lamp. I’m crying this is so funny!
  
  Why didn’t anyone before illustrate what a young kid thinks up in playtime?
BastardNamban

This is friggin hilarious! I love it!

The last one is the best. “And they would die. Because it is really poison.”

They might not know it, but they are channeling the very absurd among Japanese manga. Specifically, it feels like I’m reading something by the writer of Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo, one of the most insane manga ever made. Serious in presence, yet devolving into absurd realism.

My god, this is genius. I am totally buying this!
Jeff Vader

now I’m getting very interested – does BB have a promotion deal of some sort for axe cop?
EeyoreX

I think one of the big appeals of Axe Cop is that, while the story is off-the-walls batshit surreal, there is actually a very strict consistancy of how things work in the Axe Cop world. Unicorn horns grant special powers, so getting more unicorn horns naturally expands your powers, lots of little things like that.

It’s worldbuilding that makes perfect sense on a gut instinct level, and I don’t know if that comes from Malachai or Ethan, or if it something that happens when two people who are on the same level share a story. But it gives me a warm, fuzzy feeling.
Antinous / Moderator

Bruno Bettelheim – The Uses of Enchantment
W. James Au

If they keep doing this strip for a few more years, Malachi will enter junior high and Axe Cop will slowly morph into Emo Cop.
Bookburn

Not that I’m a huge Axe Cop fan, but I hope everyone has been to the online store at TopatoCo.com. Through it, I’ve “discovered” some other awesome web comics. Most BBers know “Hark! a Vagrant” as well as “Sam and Fuzzy.” But I get the most enjoyment from Aaron Diaz’s comic “Dresden Codak.” It has bits of extreme nerdism with more art that xkcd ever imagined. I love the story lines that relate to science (even ordered a single for my classroom display) and his blog where he compiles his sources and inspirations. Through that blog I’ve also found some great French comics (that I can’t read but look cool) and “The Meek” (not sold at TopataCo). All are worth checking out.
Anonymous

in my son malachai’s defense as an avid gamer no enemy goes into councilling and and re-hab, they are killed. if you are good you are an hero, if bad you die.
Kimmo

Too awesome for words… it’s PMSL city : D

Sad to hear Ethan’s a right-wing Rushbot, though : (
ZippySpincycle

Is it just me, or does the cartooning style look a LOT like MAD Magazine’s Jack Davis?
Gloster

The last one totally cracked me up.
- Boondocker
  
  Some of the funniest moments in Axe Cop are when Ethan matter-of-factly illustrates the rather horrible fates that Malachai invents for the bad guys (or civilians). Kids have a very abstract view of violence.
  - Michaelchr
    
    My own kid (who is 6) comes up with very similar scenarios to those that occur in Axe Cop, including ludicrous violent fates for whatever bad guys there are. When I actually read Axe Cop to him once it totally freaked him out and scared him.
Ben

I’m fortunate enough to have a friend that works at Dark Horse. I received a birthday present from him in the mail the other day: my own copy of Axe Cop, signed by both Ethan and Malachai. OH YEAH.
barrymcw

Ethan & Malachai will be @ Meltdown Comics in LA doing a signing on Tuesday night. If you’re local & want a copy there’s no better time.

I believe it’s from 7p to 10p so maybe Malachai won’t be there the whole time but I suppose if you’re the creator of Axe Cop, bedtime means nothing!
husseycombe

This is awesome! Axe Cop is definitely gonna be my next comic book purchase.