Pantalones, TX: Don’t Chicken Out.

In the town of Pantalones, Tex., Chico Bustamante is a menace to some, a legend to others. In colorful, fast-paced panels, he races his go-cart around town causing hilarious mayhem, pursued by Sheriff Cornwallis, whose police car is actually a chicken shack on wheels. Cornwallis is also Chico’s school principal, and the mayor of Pantalones, a town he’s eager to put on the map by entering his giant chicken into the Texas Poultrystock Rodeo and Cook-Off. Chico, eager to make a name for himself in the Texas history books alongside the likes of Pecos Bill, issues a bold challenge to Sheriff Cornwallis: if Chico can hold on to and ride Cornwallis’s monstrous chicken for nine seconds, he gets to eat it. If he loses, the chicken gets to eat him. Soon, mayhem engulfs the town, as Chico prepares himself to ride the chicken, and Cornwallis does everything he can to ruin Chico’s chances. The story reads like the script to a 90’s Saturday Morning Cartoon loaded with quick gags, fake product tie-ins, over-the-top action, and a giant chicken that could ruin everything. Mercado’s fast-paced humor and art—part graffiti, part Cartoon Network—make a visit to Pantalones worthwhile. (Mar.)