Drawing Travis Bickle from Taxi Driver for today’s comic kind of gave me a queasy feeling. The character has become synonymous with a deranged world view. Its like drawing Charles Manson.

That said, I think you guys will be impressed by the incentive image I cooked up for Top Web Comics. It’s my rendition of a classic Bickle pose. You’ll recognize it when you see it.

I tried something different with this sketch and made a conscious effort to loosen up my inking style. I think it fits really well with Bickle’s unhinged nature. Vote for Theater Hopper at Top Web Comics to see it.

I’ll take this opportunity to mention that Theater Hopper has been hovering around the number 15 spot on the list since we reinstated our relationship with Top Web Comics at the beginning of the month. Thanks so much for voting. Let’s see if we can crack the Top 10!

Back to the topic at hand, Observe and Report comes out this weekend and it sounds like people are on guard for this one. Paul Blart 2 this is not.

While star Seth Rogen was making the promotional rounds on all of the talk shows last week, he kept mentioning over and over how he couldn’t believe how a major studio let them get away with making a comedy this dark and disturbing. It was Rogen himself who I heard spit the comedic Taxi Driver reference (although didn’t DeNiro already cover that territory with The King of Comedy back in 1982?)

But I digress.

Some people might accuse Rogen and the producers of trying to distance themselves from the surprising success of Paul Blart: Mall Cop and it’s family-friendly tones by focusing on the subversiveness of Observe and Report and I think that’s a smart strategy.

I think it was an unfortunate coincidence that two comedies that focus on mall security guards happened to come out within months of each other and certainly no one wants their picture to be viewed as sloppy seconds.

But what’s possibly most unsettling is that Observe and Report was going for the jugular from the get-go. Writer/director Jody Hill knew he wanted to film something disturbing and – from the sound of it – Rogen’s character was a fully-formed sociopath from the word “go.”

Does the film go to far? Some people are already complaining that it does. Read this article from New York Magazine that asks the question Does Seth Rogen Rape Anna Faris in Observe and Report?

Yeah, duck and cover, kids.

With this kind of buzz swirling around the movie, it’ll be interesting to see how it stacks up against the competition. I don’t think anyone has a chance standing up to the juggernaut that was Fast & Furious last weekend. Even if it loses half of its audience in the second week, it’ll still land with $36 million in box office.

But because of it’s reputation, I wonder how strong of a showing Observe and Report can make.

Cami has told me she has no interest in seeing the film and steeled her resolve when I told her how dark the film was supposed to be. Dark comedies have a hard time finding audiences. Look at The Cable Guy or even Donnie Darko (to a degree). I think the people who love those films love them.

While most people who are on the fence about those films can appreciate what makes them entertaining, I think most of the audience would not prefer to see them ever again. Will Observe and Report suffer a similar fate once the curious onlooker quotient moves on? Once the shock has worn off, will the movie become a simple cult film? Time will tell.

Personally, I think the climate might be right for a subversive comedy like this. After a string of non-offensive comedies capped by the much-loved (be pretty much toothless) I Love You, Man, Observe and Report might find a niche.

What’s your take? Will you see Observe and Report this weekend. How do you feel about a film that plays date rape for laughs? Are there some subjects that just aren’t funny? Where do you draw the line?

Leave your comments below!