New review today for Clutter by Ariel Bordeaux, as I continue the seemingly eternal task of getting to the bottom of my pile of comics from Cartoon Crossroads this year.
Bordeaux, Ariel – Clutter
November 20, 2024
I was wondering if I had many reviews of Ariel’s comics on this here website, and it turns out that I did review a few of her minis, including a couple from the last time I moved to Champaign Illinois. Time is a flat circle? Is that what that means? Anyway, she’s on the very short list of people who got me into the world of zines, she’s always funny, and I was thrilled to see a book from hers that I hadn’t seen at CXC this year. It’s been out a few years, it’s just new to me, and… this is not one of those funny books. Which should be clear from the subtitle, but trigger warning for anybody who’s had to deal with this in their lives. The book bounces back and forth a bit between a linear narrative and her thoughts and memories, and I probably shouldn’t say that nothing here is funny. Just not, you know, most of it. Things start off with a couple of disturbing incidents, one involving a stranger wanting to take pictures of her, another with a stranger resting his hand on her knee in a movie theater. She was a small child for both of these and didn’t know quite how to take them, but it was clear to her that neither incident was normal. Next we see the routes of some of the many cockroaches in her home at the time, followed by the worst sexual assault incident of them all, which was possible because of a ladder that was left outside by some handymen. This incident is the background for the rest of the book, as it’s the kind of thing that never fully leaves her mind, or at least not for long. Still, life goes on, and we see some happy times with her friend, laying a field of clovers, somersaulting to music, and her friend’s secret candy stash. The story eventually moves on to her current life (as of 2010ish) with her husband and child and her attempts to find peace and grace. It’s a solid, occasionally disturbing book, and it could help a lot of people who have had similar experiences. On a completely unrelated note, she also mentioned that she’s been doing daily strips for several years, and wow do I ever want to get a look at those. I’m guessing they’re some of her “complete” work that Silver Sprocket is putting together into one volume. Here’s hoping, anyway! $20
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Posted by Kevin
Update for 11/18/24
November 18, 2024New review today for The Re-Up #5 by Chad Bilyeu and Juliette de Wit, can’t talk now, I’m on my lunch break.
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Posted by Kevin
Bilyeu, Chad & de Wit, Juliette
November 18, 2024Website (Chad)
Website (Juliette)
You know how sometimes when you’re watching a great show, you’ll notice that in the middle of a season you’ll get an episode or two that contribute to the greater story but don’t have a whole lot to say on their own? You still need them for the complete picture, but there just isn’t that much to talk about after the episode is over. Welcome to The Re-Up #5! Things happen, but nothing too serious, and the story continues. I’ve established that I’m hooked on the series overall by now, right? Good. So what’s there to say… that “buried” statue in the sand makes a hell of an impressive wraparound cover. Things start off in the issue itself with Chad dropping a class and making a much larger monetary commitment to dealing, which I’m sure will come into play later. We see his “base” (i.e. the apartment for a couple of college girls who let him do his thing while they hang out), we get some possibly significant foreshadowing of how the other weed dealer in town is pretty pissed at him, and we see how he’s able to get out of a situation where the cops pull up right behind the car as he’s making his drop. It’s to the perpetually late lady, and I’m honestly curious what his plan was to get out of that if she hadn’t taken the lead. So yes, all around another solid issue, it moves the plot forward a bit and it probably won’t be one of the issues that sticks to my brain when it’s all said and done. And there’s nothing wrong with that in a long series where the issues come out on a consistent basis like this. $8 (or get the set up the first six through the link)
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Posted by Kevin
Update for 11/14/24
November 14, 2024New review today for Fugue Omnibus by Beth Hetland, and if you’ve mailed me review comics over the last couple of months, yes, the Cartoon Crossroads pile is almost gone and I’ll be getting to your stuff soon. There aren’t enough hours in the fricking day…
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Posted by Kevin
Hetland, Beth –
November 14, 2024
Now that I’ve read Tender, you’d better believe that I’m going to pick up everything I see with Beth’s name on it. This book could not be more different than Tender, but it’s still amazing, which is a positive sign for my “grab all of her stuff” plan. And hey, now I’m only a couple of hours away from Quimby’s, which should be a big help in letting me get caught up with what all the Chicago artists are up to. If you don’t know Quimby’s, they’re a mandatory visit if you’re in town, along with Chicago Comics. There are probably more by now, as my information is outdated, so I’ll mention any updates the next time I visit. Anyway! This is a collection of three mini comics put together into one volume, detailing the Hetland family’s experiences with music over a couple of generations. The first mini is entirely about Beth’s mother, but there are no hints given about that fact, so I was left wondering for awhile whether this is one of those kinda sorta autobio comics, the ones where some things are true but events are played up for dramatic effect. Nope, it’s just that the first comic is the detailed story of her mother (as a child) getting a piano in the house, playing it throughout the years before finally ending up going to college for a different major. A chance meeting with some musicians changes those plans, and she carries her love of music into the second comic, where she’s raising three daughters. This section covers the reactions of all of her kids to her attempting to teach them to play music, and it’s probably not too much of a spoiler to say that they each take to it in different ways, but none of them with the fervor that she was hoping to see. There’s a complete journey for all three and they’re each beautifully told, with a bit of a heartbreaking finale, but that’s all I’ll say about it. The third comic is almost an epilogue to the previous two, as it’s much shorter, but it details a trip back home for the graduation of the youngest daughter, and it really ties together how much music effected each of their lives, even if it took a bolt of inspiration for the connection to really become clear. It’s another really solid graphic novel from Beth, and it makes me wonder once again how I’ve mostly missed her stuff for all these years, since these comics came out from 2011-2013. It’s almost like it’s impossible for one person to keep up with all of the amazing comics in the world. Still, it’s not like I’m going to quit trying… $12
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Posted by Kevin
Update for 11/12/24
November 12, 2024Boy, good thing I took the week off of reviewing for the election, huh? Good to see that America is delighted with an absolute, all-encompassing piece of shit as the head of state for the next four years. I’m thinking maybe it’s time that I diverted some of the energy I put into political things and move it into the comics things I’m doing here, but I’ve had big ideas in that area that have fizzled out before. If I don’t run out of steam, stay tuned, I’ll be trying some new things soon. In the meantime, the review today is for OKCryptid by Matt MacFarland.
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Posted by Kevin
MacFarland, Matt – OKCryptid
November 12, 2024
This is a comic about a series of relationships that started online that more or less went well. Mostly! With a lot of caveats! Matt would probably disagree with that assessment, but it’s possible I’ve seen too many comics with horror stories of online dating (and my own, occasionally less than delightful experiences) to be able to be an effective judge of this sort of thing. And, as always with autobio comics, I’m not sure if all of this is 100% true or rounded up to make a better story. Anyway! This one starts off as Matt is getting out of a long term relationship and hesitantly joins the world of online dating. He starts seeing a woman who isn’t exactly his type, but things are going well so he doesn’t want to blow things up. She then suggests that they start dating each other exclusively, which is right around when we learn that he’d also been seeing two other women casually while this was happening. As we get caught up on what we missed when he was describing how the situation with the first woman began and developed, it ends up with Matt having to make a choice: either pick one and stay the serial monogamist that he’d always seen himself as, or take things in a less exclusive direction. And, as is always the case in any kind of relationship, that decision wasn’t entirely up to him. The rest of the book is mostly how these relationships wrapped up, who he ended up choosing, how that went, his thoughts and feelings as they all went down, etc. It’s not as wrapped in self-pity as some of these dating comics are, but he’s open and honest about the whole thing and doesn’t even try to make himself the hero of the piece. And, speaking as somebody who’s been living in a new area for a couple of months and will have to hop back on the dating apps myself soon, it’s nice to see this sort of thing work out, at least for a little while. If you’ve been on the online dating trip you’ll find something to laugh or cry about in here, and if not, check it out to laugh at the rest of us suckers. $14
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Posted by Kevin
Update for 10/31/24
October 31, 2024Oh look at that, it’s Halloween. I should have picked a spooky comic to review, huh? Well, instead of that, you’re getting So Buttons #14 by Jonathan Baylis and friends. Maybe I’ll review something spooky for Thanksgiving instead…
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Posted by Kevin
Baylis, Jonathan – So Buttons #14
October 31, 2024
This feels like one of those comics that started off being about one thing, but then life happened and it ended up being about something else entirely. Probably his most emotionally devastating issue yet; it definitely hit me right between the eyes a few times. Oh hi, do you not know what this comic is? That’s OK, Jonathan writes these stories about his life while various comics people illustrate them. And, like the best autobio people, he has great stories to tell. This issue very much starts off as being about celebrities, as he tells his story of meeting Producer Gary from Howard Stern (and relaying the story of what that show was like on 9/11, which I’d never heard before, with Box Brown illustrating), his jealousy of his wife getting to meet Chester Brown before him (but finally ending with his own great moment, illustrated by T. J. Kirsch), his briefly meeting Jaime Hernandez and being at least mildly unimpressed with Love and Rockets (with art by Sophia Glock; everybody is entitled to their own opinion, even if it’s wrong), and having James Earl Jones give the commencement speech at his college (with art by CM Campbell). OK, I can’t help myself. Would Love and Rockets be so universally loved if they’d stopped after the initial 50 issues like they’d planned? Who knows, but the fact that they’ve kept it up for 40+ years and had the characters age and evolve as they have is something that unlikely to ever be matched in comics. And… hopping off my soapbox and back into the review. Apologies to all concerned. This is right at the midpoint of the comic, and it shifts from here into family stories, including trying to show his son the original Pinocchio movie, learning about the death of the man who’d been selling him comics for 40 years, saving a baby from choking and, in the real shift of the issue, the death of his mother. The rest of the stories involved her in ways great and small, and I was thoroughly impressed by how various stories used panels from others to illustrate how completely she was a part of his life. Like I said, it’s devastating stuff, and for what it’s worth I’m genuinely sorry for his loss. $10
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Posted by Kevin
Update for 10/29/24
October 29, 2024New review today for the triumphant return of The Audra Show (#6) by Audra Stang! As you can tell from the previous sentence, I am very unbiased about this comic.
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Posted by Kevin
Stang, Audra – The Audra Show #6
October 29, 2024
Very quickly after starting to read this issue, I realized that I made a mistake: I really should have gone back and reread the previous issues to refresh my brain, since my last review of Audra’s work was four years ago. Don’t get me wrong, she’s been busy, but you know how it is with trying to keep track of all comics at all times. Anyway, I went back and read some of my old reviews (I’m pretty much a snake eating its own tail at this point, but I’ve made peace with it), and now I’m mostly caught up! On the things I said about the comics. Eh, I’ll read them all again before the next issue when my life isn’t completely berserk. I’d obviously recommend that you read the previous issues before this one, as she jumps right into things, thankfully after the courtesy of a page spent briefly showing all of the characters. There are several named stories in this issue, but they all flow so seamlessly into each other that I’m not going to even try to differentiate them. Things start off with Owen having a deeply insecure dream on his train ride (going from how much Bea must hate him to Margaux trying to kill him), then we bounce over to Bea and Jonah working at the diner. Bea is more than a little disappointed at the fact that she’s been there for two years, and Jonah is baffled that she’s still doing the long distance thing with Owen. Then we spend some time with Owen and Bea as they both prepare for a date, and finally a lengthy story that starts off talking about how terrible “girl shows” are, but I’m not spoiling any more from the comic, as I’ve once again reached my arbitrary “I’ve said too much about the specifics of this comic” moment. I’d say this is her most solid issue yet, but since my memory of the previous issues is hazy, that’d be a stupid thing to say for sure, wouldn’t it? Check it out, if you already have the previous issues. If not, hey look, here’s a collected edition of the first six issues! What a great way to jump in, but don’t stall too long, as there aren’t that many copies out there. $6 for the issue, $25 for the collected version of all six.
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Posted by Kevin
Update for10/25/24
October 25, 2024New review today for the triumphant return of Sugar Booger (#4) by Kevin Scalzo! Also with the election season heating up, is this the end of reviews for awhile? I sure hope not, and I’m going to try to sneak them in when I can, but we’ll see how it goes. I do want to mention that there’s a new issue of So Buttons out by Jonathan Baylis, which I’ll get to soon, but I’m mentioning it here as more of a general announcement. Happy weekend y’all!
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Posted by Kevin
Scalzo, Kevin – Sugar Booger #4
October 25, 2024Website
I was surprised to see that it had been a decade since I reviewed one of these comics (and bereft to find out that I missed out on #3; if my memory wasn’t a flaming trash pile I would have grabbed one at CXC), but it turns out that this is the first issue in ten years, so I’m more or less on top of things after all. Also I feel obligated to link to this vinyl toy of Sugar Booger, which was one of the stars of the con for sure. Maybe one day I’ll go to one of those with unlimited funds, because I surely would have picked this one up otherwise. Anyway, it’s been ages since there’s been a new issue, what’s changed? Not a whole lot, and that’s exactly how it should be. Why mess with perfection? If you’re unfamiliar with the character/series, Sugar Booger is a… monster? creature? who mostly eats everything that the other creatures find, with hilarious and/or distressing results. This one starts with that pink creature showing Sugar Booger (who’s reclining on a clump of those peach colored creatures, who are seemingly delighted with the situation) a new type of candy. And, naturally, he eats it. Things seem to be going fine for a bit, until the inevitable rampage begins. One of the joys of these comics is the sheer level of detail; you can have a fine time just reading the story, but it’s packed with characters who don’t say a word but who are also drawn with enough specificity that you can imagine an entire backstory for them. His comics were always a hoot back in the day, and I’m thrilled to say that that hasn’t changed. Check it out, hop back on that Sugar Booger train! $10
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Posted by Kevin
Update for 10/23/24
October 23, 2024New review today for bird comic. by Ruby Carter, and I also had a chance to talk to her publishers at CXC. They’re called Fieldmouse Press, they have many intriguing comics already available, and they have big plans on putting together a complete collection of Ariel Bordeaux’s work, among other things. Support them while buying yourself some quality comics, OK?
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Posted by Kevin
Carter, Ruby – bird comic.
October 23, 2024
Would I usually use punctuation and no caps in the title for a comic I’d reviewed? Probably not, but that’s how Ruby consistently has it listed, and respect the artist, I always say! This is a collection of strips, maybe from previous comics (but I’m not seeing any evidence of that on her website) about various large and small crises, feelings of hopelessness and wondering if you even exist. Would you believe that it’s also sometimes funny? Because it is. Also personally, as a guy who just moved back to a town I lived in 20 years ago, the sampled comic hit me right between the eyes. Wisdom of the move is still uncertain, but that specific old feeling doesn’t seem to exist here anymore. But enough about me, this is meant to be about a comic. I’m stalling because this is one of those where I shouldn’t say everything about it, or even most things, because those things are always and forever best discovered by the reader. But this is the path I’ve chosen, so I’m stuck with it. If I’ve already intrigued you, stop here and just check it out. It’s delightful. Strips in here deal with aimless walks, regretting those drugs you took hours ago when people were still around, holding onto a good feeling, missing smoking, trying to and not to smoke weed, losing yourself in a crowded city landscape, successfully achieving brain freeze, zoning out to a good show only to eventually have it end, and rejecting the phone for a different screen. Please know that that sentence was typed with a cat’s head trying to bonk my hand off of the keyboard, and that I stopped typing several times for pets. I’m not a monster, after all. If you’ve had any existential questions in your life, give this one a shot. If you haven’t, you need to read more, and you should also give this a shot. $10
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Posted by Kevin
Update for 10/21/24
October 21, 2024Hey Champaign Illinois people, there are now 12 early voting locations open around the county! Other Illinois people, check your local County Clerk to find your options. Other states, good luck. Speaking of voting, the new review today is for You Win… When You Vote! by Resistbot. It’s actually made by a person, but they didn’t put their name in the comic, and I wanted to talk about voting today, so here we are.
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Posted by Kevin
Resistbot – You Win… When You Vote!
October 21, 2024
You Win… When You Vote!
Well folks, we’ve reached the portion of the CXC review comic pile where I’m not at all sure where I got a comic in the first place, meaning I’m not sure who made it, also meaning that they didn’t put their name in the comic. Rookie mistake, comics person! I was all set to give you credit for this comic, but here we are. This comic is exactly what it looks like: a guide for likely voters, unlikely voters, convincing unlikely voters in your family/friend group, and all of the resources you’ll ever need to make the process as smooth as possible. I kept waiting for a punchline or a bit of cynicism, but it’s to ____’s credit that this stays exactly what it appears to be throughout. Longtime readers will know that I work in elections for a living, so it’s a subject near and dear to me, and also that I’m a member of a particular party, and you can guess which one if you ask yourself “what’s the only major political party left even slightly tethered to reality?” Yes it’s true, fence sitters, and you’re not getting to heaven any faster than anybody else by wasting your vote on a protest candidate. You also don’t get to stay “pure” while the rest of us are stuck in the mud you basic, simple child. It’s tempting to go off on a longer rant here, but that made my point well enough, I reckon. If you have questions about the voting process I’d recommend checking out this comic, or even better that linked website, which has everything you’ll ever need to learn about voting and then some. As far as how much this costs, this feels like the sort of thing handed out for free at events, but I’d guess $5 if you saw one in the wild.
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Posted by Kevin
Update for 10/17/24
October 17, 2024No time to chat, I’m writing this quickly over a lunch break. Why yes, it is the busy season, why do you ask? New review today for Bedhead by Presley Taylen!
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Posted by Kevin
Taylen, Presley – Bedhead
October 17, 2024
Note: that link in the title goes nowhere at the moment, but they said “coming soon” for their online store, so I’m taking them at their word. Or you could just contact them at one of the many options on their website if you’re the impatient type. So this is a comic that really speaks to me, with the sample image below really summing things up: getting a good pillow. A few years ago I went on a similar quest myself, and I still have several different pillow types in my closet. Short answer: the Purple pillow was the winner for me. But that’s just advice, I’m meant to be talking about a comic here. Max and Mazey are doing laundry and the process ends up destroying Mazey’s pillows. She has a very specific type that she’s trying to find, Max destroys her illusions about there being any good pillows out there, and the bulk of the comic is a quest to find the exact type of pillow that she already owned as a replacement. Some funny stuff in here, including a salesperson catching them getting a little too friendly with the pillows, and definitely plenty to relate to if you’re at all like me and have spent way too much time thinking about this subject. Give it a shot, and I’m curious to see what other comics they’ve put out when the store link opens up, as that “Max & Mazey in” above the title sure implies the existence of more of these. No price listed, but I’m randomly going with $8.
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Posted by Kevin
