Mesmo Delivery

“We all think we’re familiar with the language of comics and that’s why Mesmo Delivery is such a revelation: it uses the language in a way it hasn’t been used before.” —Brian Azzello, from his introduction.

Graphic designer and animator Rafael Grampa’s (who had previously done the art for a few short comics including a Hellblazer anthology) debut graphic novel, it is insane and depraved in the best way possible. Best described as Sam Peckinpah meets the Twilight Zone.

Mesmo Delivery is a short and ambiguously eerie story about a violent confrontation at a seedy road side diner between Rufo, an ex-boxer now working as a truck driver and Forceps, a mean-spirited street fighter. Unfortunately for everyone Sangrecco, Rufo’s fellow courier who is under specific instructions to not let any one find out exactly what their cargo is, decides to intervene in the fight and it’s not pretty.

Grampa’s art and story telling is … unique, a visual style that consists of cartoony proportions with lots of fine stippling and lush brushwork that suggests a rough texture and a visceral but distorted world. His skill at form and perspective gives the comic’s fight scenes some excellent choreography.

---

this comic gives examples of

• Complete Monster: Sangrecco really relishes getting to perform his “art”
• Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: You could be forgiven for mistaking Sangrecco as some lanky oddball who talks too much, but it would be a horrible mistake.
• Design Student's Orgasm: When Rufo gets knocked out his dream could be called one of these.
• Diner Brawl: The plot kicks off after a nasty altercation at a truck stop.
• Drink Order: Rufo ordering a glass of milk gets him mocked by Forceps and his group.
• Flash Back
• Foreshadowing: When Rufo enters the diner Forceps is telling his friends about how he punched someone so hard once one of their teeth embedded itself in his hand. And when Sangrecco is talking about how he would have been a better Elvis than Elvis he says what most readers would think of as ridiculous bragging.

Sangrecco: "He did Karate. I got that and five other styles under my hat."

• Gorn: You better have strong stomach if you want to read this comic.
• Greasy Spoon: the main setting.
• I Am Not Shazam:

Rufo: "What the fuck is a Shazam?" Sangrecco: "Old school superhero, kinda like a cheapass Superman imitation."

• Knife Nut: Sangrecco.
• Lean and Mean: Sangrecco and Forceps to lesser extent.
• Ravens and Crows: One shows up at the beginning and end of the story.
• Red Right Hand: Forceps has an artificial hand that he can detach and swap around for a massive grey fist because as a kid he went "plum crazy fer them cartoons where the fella'd blow his fist up big like a balloon"
• Riddle for the Ages: Are Sangrecco and the titular delivery company people smugglers or something even more sinister?
• Seinfeldian Conversation: The comic opens with Sangrecco telling Rufo he would have made better Elvis than Elvis and listing the reasons why.
• Top-Heavy Guy: Rufo
• The Un-Reveal: Just what is in that truck?