(Adult Swim/Madman)

Killface for president

Adult Swim’s cartoons often drift in their later series. Shockingly funny at first, they run out of steam as the season sets pile up. Frisky Dingo is unusual in that it actually managed to improve in its second season, so of course it was cancelled immediately afterwards (a spin-off called The Xtacles lasted only two episodes). Frisky Dingo’s first season set-up incompetent supervillain Killface and his even more incompetent opponent Awesome-X as rivals, but then didn’t quite know what to do with them – they were forced to buddy up while lost in the sewers in an aimless plot that stretched over several episodes. The second season has an overarching storyline about Killface running for president and Awesome-X, or at least his alter ego billionaire playboy Xander Crews, campaigning against him. This sets up some tasty satire, like Killface’s attempt to appeal to black America by hiring a rapper named Taquil (voiced by real rapper Killer Mike) to be his running mate and the hijinx that ensue. The addition of politics doesn’t mean Frisky Dingo has gone highbrow though, and it still includes plenty of disgustingly hilarious moments where you don’t know what you’re watching or why you’re laughing but you do anyway. There are also still a few of those unnecessarily long pauses animators think are funny, but that’s the price you pay for a good Adult Swim cartoon.

***½

JODY MACGREGOR