Nerd Culture Podcast

The Sixsmiths

Story: The Sixsmiths

Released: October 2010

Publisher: SLG Publishing

By: J. Marc Schmidt & Jason Franks

What you need to know

The Sixsmiths are a family of suburban Satanists who’ve fallen prey to the global recession. Now their life is in turmoil: Ralf needs to find a new job; the twins, Cain and Lilith, need to survive the public school system; and Annie needs to keep them all sane and under budget. Meanwhile, their estranged elder daughter Jezabelle is having her own crisis of faith.

The Sixsmiths strips are available on-line at www.thesixsmiths.com as well as the graphic novel from SLG Publishing. This review will focus on the graphic novel.

What we thought

DAVID: Sixsmiths is a comic that every parent should read. How many comics show the good old fashioned family values the Sixsmiths family have? Love and respect for each other, the perils of under-age drinking, supporting your family, teen angst, making friends, the list goes on. And more importantly, it’s funny as Hell (see what I did there!).

CRYSTAL: This is an interestingly amusing take on suburban life.  The Sixsmiths aren’t all that different from any other religious family, except the object of their worship happens to be the Lord of Darkness himself.

DAVID: I agree. It just goes to show that no matter our background or denomination, we all have the same wants/needs and tribulations, and it is how we deal with them that defines us.

CRYSTAL: While we laugh at the ridiculous things the Sixsmiths do in the name of religion, it brings to mind how bizarre some of our more ‘standard’ religions can be.

DAVID: Definitely. Are the Sixsmiths’ rituals and beliefs any weirder than any other religion out there? True, I can’t think of any that service faulty photocopiers by deflowering a virgin over it, but I know my job would be a lot more interesting if that was all it took!

CRYSTAL: I knew you’d like that bit. My favourite was the guy’s t-shirt that read ‘SARCASM is a little bit mean’

DAVID: I did notice that too. And that brings us to the art. I like it, it has a nice clean, newspaper strip style to it that is easy to follow and has all the detail you need.

DAVID: I have been a fan of both Schmidt and Franks since Egg Story and Mr Black respectively. They obviously had fun with this book and work well together so I am interested to see what else they come up with. They are on a winner here and I can’t wait to read the next installment 4 Lukes

CRYSTAL: I really liked this as well so I’ll also give it 4 Lukes

What do you think?

Have you also read the Sixsmiths? Do you agree or disagree with our opinions? Let us know! Send in your thoughts to feedback@nerdculturepodcast.com, or leave a comment on this post. We would love to hear from you!