New review today for Dirt #3 by Ethan Best, the first (so far) of the Columbus comics with an easy way to buy it online. Low bar – cleared!
Best, Ethan – Dirt #3
June 10, 2026
It might be time to start looking a nice quiet home to put me in, because I completely forgot about buying the previous issue of this series (and reviewing it!) at SPACE last year and almost bought that issue again for my recent trip to Columbus. But I didn’t, I bought the most recent issue, so I should be able to take care of feeding and clothing myself for a few more years yet. Like the previous issue, this one also has a series of short stories, which is pretty much my favorite type of mini. Big ongoing stories don’t work well with the sporadic publishing schedule of most minis, and a single story covering the whole mini can be good or bad. But multiple stories? Well, there’s pretty much always gold in there somewhere. This one starts off with a story of Condor Blue, an intergalactic bounty hunter/detective. I’ve rarely been this conflicted about not spoiling the ending to a story, because I really do love it so, so I’ll just say that this one ends like I wish most dramatic confrontations with bad guys in a movie would end. If you can puzzle out the actual ending from that, congratulations! Next up is a story about the Bogman, who is, you guessed, a swamp creature. Also mixed up in this is a young lady who’s looking for love and finds it in a very strange place. But how is her father and the torch wielding mob going to take the romance? Then there’s the story of the kids who always sit on the bench during their basketball games finally having enough and taking a bunch of steroids to try to level the playing field, but these particular steroids have some serious side effects. Finally there’s Ug-Tar the Destroyer, which is basically a three page Conan parody, but at least it’s a funny one. “And more,” like the cover says, but I’ll let the single page stories be surprises for you. It’s funny, it’s gross, it’s occasionally alarming. Give it a chance, says I. And since he’s selling bundles of the first three issues of this series, and since I already like #2 and #3, it wouldn’t be the biggest gamble in the world to give the whole bundle a shot. $8 ($18 for the bundle)
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Posted by Kevin
Update for 6/8/26
June 8, 2026New review today for The Undad: Photographic Memory by Stu Rase. Does that mean that I’m making this week a theme week for the Laughing Ogre comics I bought on my recent trip? No! But that’s a reasonable guess, so don’t feel bad about thinking that way.
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Posted by Kevin
Rase, Stu – The Undad: Photographic Memory
June 8, 2026
The Undad: Photographic Memory
I ended up buying five comics from Laughing Ogre during my recent trip to Columbus (6/26, future readers, or maybe past readers who are very freaked out right now) and so far I’m 0 for 2 on reading comics that have active websites. But hey, at least this time around I was able to link to his active Instagram page, so if you’d like to check out his comic, maybe contact him there and see what you can find out! This one has a solid premise: what if a dad had been turned into a zombie but was calm enough to be able to still be around his family? Tied up to a tree in the backyard, granted, but able to mostly control his urges. Things start off with a distraught woman putting up missing posters for her daughter, while Undad was playing with his own daughter in the backyard. She recognizes the missing girl as a classmate who was kind of a jerk to her, but hey, somebody should at least try to find this terrible kid! They end up checking out a boarded up grocery store with a very stark warning written outside of it, which naturally leads to a zombie attack. But are they regular brain eating zombies or also kind of nice zombies? There’s a fun little moral dilemma involved, or at least there is for the member of the search party who’s still capable of higher thought. From there they can think of one other place to search, but it’s chained up and checking it out doesn’t look like a great idea either. How far is this girl willing to go to rescue a kid who isn’t even her friend? If you’re looking for a deep lore dive of “OK, so what is civilization like with zombies wandering around?” or “If this one guy can be tamed, can that happen with all of them?” then there are probably other comics out there for you. But this one was a sweet, self-contained story about what’s left of a dad trying to get along in the world and his family trying to navigate what’s left of the guy. And hey, it’s full color, so if you have $4 and can find a copy (there are probably some left at Laughing Ogre as I’m typing this), check it out! $4
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Update for 6/5/26
June 5, 2026Sneaking in a late review on a Friday, here’s a new one for Later Alligator by Aidan O’Doherty!
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O’Doherty, Aidan – Later Alligator
June 5, 2026
Later Alligator
Oh small press comics, never change. I picked this up at Laughing Ogre during a recent visit to Columbus. No contact info in the comic? Sigh, this happens a lot, to the internet! There’s a game on Steam called Later Alligator that takes up all of the search results? Double sigh, OK again, that’s a fairly unique name, let’s just search by that. There’s one result for an Instagram page using that name with no comics imagery visible, but at least the name matches exactly, so try contacting that guy if you’re interested! Once again I plea, to an uncaring universe: if you’d like somebody to be able to buy your comics, MAKE IT EASY ON THEM. So for the rest of you who might be near the Columbus area and might find yourself in Laughing Ogre (who had a couple copies of this left I think as of 6/26), on with the review! Actually, this one is pretty simple. Do you think it’s OK to make a comic purely to get to the punchline that is the title of said comic? If so, you’re in luck! This one is all about an investigator who goes down into the sewer to investigate some strange happenings. He’s looking for a pair of troublemakers who live in the sewers, but when he finds them he sees that they’ve both been shot. One of them is still alive, and with their dying breath they manage to point out the murderer, which is right around where the troubles begin for our investigator. If you’re going to make your entire comic based around one joke at least in this case it’s not a bad joke. If you can find this it’s worth a look, but honestly, if you’re not in the Columbus area, good luck with that. $5
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Update for 6/4/26
June 4, 2026I went out of town for a few days to catch the Comedy Bang! Bang! tour (go see them if they’re coming to your area, it was a fantastic show), but I still have time to put up a review or two before the week is done. New review today for Other by Apollo Baltazar!
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Baltazar, Apollo – Other
June 4, 2026
Just so you know, it looks like Apollo’s website hasn’t been updated in a few years, so maybe the best way to keep updated on their current work is through finding them on Bluesky and assorted socials. Eh, you all know the drill, you’re reading this online, after all. Anyway, how about this comic? It looks like it’s their latest book (published in 2025), and at a base level it’s the story of them trying to come up with a gender and personal identity that fully fits their needs. Things start off quietly, with Apollo in their childhood bedroom taking the time to watch the train roll by. From there we see them spending time trying to fit in at school when playing house with other kids (“I always opted to forego personhood and be the pet when on the playground”) and taking that attitude into classrooms, which led to more than a little bit of bullying. Once they got to the internet the idea of furries was introduced to them, which helped for awhile, but it was still tough to find real life friends to play along with them. Once Apollo got to college and started taking testosterone things seemed to be moving in the right direction, but there was always a sense that exactly what they wanted to become would be forever out of reach. It’s a fascinating story and it’s beautifully told (that last panel, told while they were at their most content, was still a bit of a gut punch), and I’ll bet there are lots of people out there who could get a lot out of reading this story. $5
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Posted by Kevin
Update for 5/27/26
May 27, 2026Hey, my comics from Partners and Sons arrived! And if you’re thinking that I picked this one to review first purely because of the title, well, you wouldn’t be wrong. New review today for Unicorn Fight Squad #1 by Christine Larsen!
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Larsen, Christine – Unicorn Fight Squad #1
May 27, 2026
Note: I’m putting a link to Christine’s Patreon account up top near her website link. Should I have been doing this all the time for everybody? Absolutely! Will I remember to do this going forward? …probably?
OK hi, review starting here, that other text is unrelated. Cartoonists who are just starting out, take note: the title of this comic jumped right out at me, so when picking a title, keep that kind of thing in mind, OK? This isn’t one of those comics with a random title either. You come in expecting a unicorn fight squad, and what you end up with is a unicorn fight squad. Things start off with one of our heroes (Twink) enjoying a night of watching wrestling at home and critiquing the story line. We’ve all been there! Her sister Jet comes home, in an obviously terrible mood, so Twink goes in to her room to cheer her up. Please note that this is where a lesser comic would spend a few pages finding out what’s wrong, why she’s sad, etc. Not this one! Sadness was detected, and a solution was immediately presented: going out to see a show at a dive bar. Cherry, a possible love interest of Twink (another thing that was gloriously left vague) was working at the bar, we spend some time getting to know the three of them a bit better, and the opening band starts their set. But, disaster! The opening band is a weird snake cult that opens up a portal to another dimension, bringing brain eating slugs into the bar. Will they be able to escape, and/or end the threat? Well, that’s the rest of the comic, I’m not going to tell you here. A solid comic, with funny bits and lots of action. Is this really a #1 or is this the only issue of the series that will ever exist? I have no idea, as there’s no date in this comic and it sure looks (from Christine’s website) that she’s moved on to other projects. Either way, this works fine as a stand alone comic. $5
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Posted by Kevin
Update for 5/25/26
May 25, 2026OK, so listen: I didn’t plan on taking last week off for reviews! I have some minis coming from Partners and Son, I thought they might get here in time for me review them last week, and they just didn’t. Anyway, new review today for The Ideal Copy by Ben Sears, and I reckon I’ll have those minis to review any day now…
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Sears, Ben – The Ideal Copy
May 25, 2026
So after reading my second Ben Sears book, done by a man who’s been cranking out comics for years but somebody who I’m only recently reading, let me say something that everybody else has already figured out: the man has range. The other book I read (Night Air) was a fantastical tale with all kinds of oddities in it. This one is more of a straightforward crime caper, with, sure, some fantastical oddities, but overall it’s much more grounded. Things start off with a man nervously testing some counterfeit money by trying to deposit it at the bank, and after he gets away with it this little angle is dropped for quite awhile. From there our heroes manage to take down a bad guy, go about their lives for a bit and then go back into the treasure hunters office to get more work. They’re asked to do something that’s morally abhorrent to them (rob the grave of somebody who died owing money), quit the business, and are forced to get real jobs. They end up in catering, which leads them to working an event in a hotel, which hey look at that, leads to them running across the people who were passing off the counterfeit money in the opening. There’s a chance encounter with the man who set up the counterfeiting operation years ago (and took the fall for it in the process) at the hotel bar, and the caper of our heroes trying to catch these people is off! One thing I love about Ben’s artwork is that you can really linger on any panels that have more than a couple of people in them or are outdoor scenes of any kind; the man does not waste any chance to tell stories in the backgrounds, which really increases the perception of it as a fully realized world. Also there’s a blurb on the back cover that describes these books as stealthily being OK for kids to read too, and you know what, that’s exactly correct. It didn’t dawn on me either, and there’s plenty here that an adult would appreciate more, but these are the best kind of “all ages” comics: the ones that don’t insult any age group. There are still many more Ben Sears books out there for me to find and read (and he has a Fantagraphics book coming out soon too), but after reading these two books, any doubts I might have had about that being a good idea have been erased. Check out his stuff, says I! $12
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Posted by Kevin
Update for 5/13/26
May 13, 2026New review today for Introverts Illustrated #11: King of Waters by Scott Finch. From one of the OTHER comics series where I have way too many issues to review and I’m never sure exactly where to dive in.
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Posted by Kevin
Finch, Scott – Introverts Illustrated #11: King of Waters
May 13, 2026
Introverts Illustrated #11: King of Waters
I feel like I should once again mention that Scott sent me these comics (roughly 21 in total) in bundles of four or five each, and that it’s entirely possible that it would be better for me to review them in clumps rather than one at a time. And, once again, maybe I’ll do that next time! But this time around I just read the one comic, so that’s what I want to talk about. Last time I used my traditional single page for the sample image, which I think shortchanged the man’s artistic ability a bit. Just about every page is a double page spread, so please take in an actual example of his work in the sample image below. That level of detail would be enough by itself to get me to check it out, so if that’s all it takes for you, please go about your day. The link in the title goes to a website where you could purchase each issue of this series, so see what strikes your fancy and go nuts with it. If you’re looking for a little more detail, keep reading! I can certainly provide very slightly more information, since I’ve never been all that great at reviewing what is basically an illustrated poem. This comic describes how the king of waters came into being, how many others tried for the role, and how reluctant the actual king was to accept the role. He flows through everything, but not everyone is interested in participating. See? Very few extra details indeed, but his art style is mesmerizing to me, and I’m still pondering some of the dialogue well after reading this a couple of days ago. Both solid reasons to check out his comic, I reckon. $5
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Posted by Kevin
Update for 5/11/26
May 11, 2026New review today for Eyeland #14 by Nick Forker. Sorry about last week, there was family stuff and just general chaos. Don’t worry, if I ever give this website up completely I’ll at least write about it here first. Barring the old “hit by a bus” scenario, I suppose. Oh, and hey, last minute notice: if you happen to live in or near the Champaign Illinois area, and if you wanted to talk about Ducks by Kate Beaton, I’m going to be hosting a book club at the Literary in downtown Champaign at 6pm on 5/12 (tomorrow). If people come out to it I’ll keep hosting book clubs for graphic novels, if not I’ll stick to only doing the online thing. We’ll see what happens!
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Posted by Kevin
Forker, Nick – Eyeland #14
May 11, 2026
Oh past me, you big dummy. Wasn’t there a plan in place to review these in order from now on? There sure was! Luckily this one is self-contained, so I can get away with not doing that for at least one more issue. This one covers some familiar themes in the Eyeland-a-verse, not that that makes them any less relevant. Nick (or his giant eyeball stand-in) is trying to nail down reality again, and makes the discovery that part of the reason he feels like his time is slipping away is because he’s spending over 5 hours a day staring at his phone. I wish this was a shocking revelation, but he’s probably still doing pretty well compared to the people I see staring at their phones while crossing the street. From there he throws himself into his work, ponders the terrible nature of the reality that we’re all stuck living in, and is eventually asked (from a voice on high) whether or not he thinks the human experiment is worth continuing. After a revelation that I’m not going to spoil here (hey, if you’re curious about the answer to the secret of the universe, buy his comics!), he decides to turn to an old friend to try and figure out how he can best live his own life. Like it probably would be for most of us, the actual answer is unwelcome, but does that mean it’s impossible? At the bottom of every page of this comic is Nick’s story of his times spent in an isolation chamber, what he went through, how he describes to it friends, whether or not he’d recommend it, etc. The main story is more than enough to give anybody an existential crisis, but if it didn’t do the job, give the secondary story a chance! These are always worthwhile comics to read and consider, which is just about the highest praise I can give. This issue is a solid entry point if you’re considering just jumping into this world, and this time around I was even able to find a copy of it for sale online. $7
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Posted by Kevin
Update for 5/1/26
May 1, 2026Sneaking another review in under the wire this week, this time for an oldie but a goodie: The Half Men by Kevin Huizenga.
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Huizenga, Kevin – The Half Men
May 1, 2026
It’s almost an Optical Sloth tradition at this point to pick up a comic from somebody I haven’t read for ages (but used to read regularly), wonder what they’ve been up to and discover that they’ve been cranking out comics this whole time. The rest of the comics world probably already knows that, sure, but if you’re like me, guess what? There are a whole lot of “new” Kevin Huizenga comics in the world that you probably haven’t read yet. I started reviewing his stuff back in the Supermonster days, and those don’t seem to still be in print, if that tells you anything. This is one I picked up at the Spit and a Half shop (always a good place to visit); if you’re curious, this came out in 2011. So 15 years ago if you’re reading this review as it’s coming out. There are three stories in here, and boy howdy did that alone make me nostalgic for minis like this. First up is a fairly abstract piece about the little creatures that literally eat the fissures that appear between our written words, over the course of years. If you’re a fan of oddball little dudes, you’re in luck here. Next up is the first part of Bona (so I don’t know how it ends), which deals with a family of at least moderately racist explorers who have troubles in their blimp and end up in a strange prehistoric land. I liked the idea that the mother would be the one to panic and leave her kids behind at the sight of danger, which is not how these things usually work. Finally there’s the title story, dealing with three broken men who are also explorers, but in this story they’re given the chance to have everything they’ve ever wanted. Can they resist such a thing? It’s Kevin Huizenga, so there’s solid art/storytelling throughout, with only the mild complaint that the middle story doesn’t technically have an ending contained in the comic. But the other two stories are great, and you can find the conclusion with a little searching. Check it out, says I. Meanwhile, I have to figure out how many spare dollars I have this month so I can get caught up on some of his stuff that I’ve missed over the years… $10
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Posted by Kevin
Update for 4/28/26
April 28, 2026New review today for the last of the mini kus books this time around: SARCO by Tom L-Kherif. But hey, one pile of review comics down means that there’s likely time for me to review a pile of comics from you, comics creator!
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Posted by Kevin
L-Kherif, Tom – SARCO
April 28, 2026
This one took several turns that I wasn’t expecting but it was also genuinely brutal in its depiction of mortality. So if you’re here for a quick review, yes, I absolutely recommend it, but since anything I say about it is going to be at least a slight spoiler, stop here if you’re willing to just accept mini kus as a mark of quality and go from there. For the rest of you, this is a wordless (but not soundless, and those are some genuinely haunting sounds) comic that starts off with a stone statue surrounded by some futuristic architecture, which instantly places the reader in another place and time. From there we briefly watch a woman getting ready for her day, followed by her distraction when she hears a loud scream coming from the street below. It’s not good news, to say the least, but she has to go back to continuing to go about her day before arriving at work. When she gets there… well, that’s what sample pages are for, as the image below is what she sees. Quick, what do you think is happening there? Place your bets! Her work day is also fairly mundane, before she finally gets a customer. What follows is also mundane, horrifically so, but it’s chilling and a fair representation of where we’re most likely heading as a society. This one is well worth checking out, either by itself or through my usual recommendation: as the last of a four issue set of comics that you can get for $22.
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