Book Review: White Trash

Book Review: 'White Trash' by Gordon Rennie (story) and Martin Emond (art)

Tundra, 1992

1 / 5 Stars

During the Great Comic Book Boom of the early 1990s all manner of independent publishers sprang up, their offerings available through the direct market of comic book stores then proliferating across the landscape. 

Among these indie publishers was Tundra, founded in 1991 by Kevin Eastman, the creator of the 'Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles' franchise and later, the owner of Heavy Metal magazine. The best known of Tundra's publications was the horror anthology 'Taboo'.

In 1992 Tundra released a four-issue series, titled 'White Trash',  by Scottish comic book writer Gordon Rennie and the New Zealand artist Martin Emond (1969 - 2004). The miniseries later was collected by Titan Books into a hardcover edition published in May, 2015.

The premise of 'White Trash' is simple: in exchange for being resurrected by the Devil, Elvis agrees to set off on a cross-country journey to Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas, there to give the greatest rock-and-roll concert in human history. Accompanying Elvis on his jaunt will be Guns n' Roses lead singer Axl Rose, referred to as 'Surfer Dude'.

The journey will not be a pleasant one, for a variety of malcontents are in hot pursuit of our rockin' duo. These malcontents include local law enforcement; the Ku Klux Klan; crazed Vietnam War veterans; inbred redneck psychopaths; and the FBI.

Will our heroes make it to Caesar's Palace in one piece ? And will Elvis wrangle his way out of his contract with the Devil and find freedom ? Will the witless, narcotized masses of the American public even care ?

'White Trash' was designed as the vehicle by which the Scottsman Rennie could make witty observations about life, and pop culture, in America, circa 1992. There's nothing inherently wrong with this; however, satire is always best when it is applied with subtlety. 

Unfortunately, Rennie doesn't know the meaning of subtlety. Within the first five pages his cliched, unimaginative approach to sarcasm set my eyes to glazing. Well before the book's halfway point things get relentlessly boring rather than humorous.

Emond's artwork is recognizably eccentric, but works best in small doses, as in (for example) the Lobo: In the Chair comic from DC in 1990. In the 126 pages of 'White Trash' it misfires. There are too many panels that are incomprehensible due to the overly sketchy, cramped nature of the artwork. And it doesn't help matters that the coloring in many panels is so dark and muddy that it's difficult to discern what is taking place.

The verdict ? 'White Trash' is a dud. The other writers at 2000 AD comics (where Rennie began working in 1993) such as Pat Mills, John Wagner, Alan Moore, and Alan Grant, all were more considerably more skilled at satire (including satire of American cultural and social mores) than Rennie. It's interesting to think what they could have done with the concept, had they been given the opportunity.