Another week, another mini kus comic review, this time for Scraps of a Memory by Ula Rugeviciute Rugyte.
Rugeviciute Rugyte, Ula – Scraps of a Memory
March 4, 2026
This was one of those rare comics where I flipped it over and read it again immediately after finishing it. Is that a good thing or a bad thing? I’m OK leaving that up to the reader to decide, but on my end it was mostly because I read it thinking one thing and then realizing at the end that I had it wrong. Or did I? Eh, enough hypotheticals already. This is a straightforward enough story, if you’re worried that this was another of those abstract mini kus books that I just flatly didn’t get. Not so! This was entirely two women walking and talking, outside of the notable fact that one of the women might not have been there at all. I’m torn on whether the ghostly woman was meant to be the blond woman’s missing mother or grandmother (strongly leaning towards grandmother, but it’s open to interpretation). They’re looking for their old house, without much information or clues to go on, and the ghostly woman is regretting her life’s choices, specifically her choice not the speak up more when an old friend was deported. The fact that she would have been deported too, and possibly killed, is of cold comfort to her, especially as she takes stock of her own life and faded ambitions. She had stories to tell about her past and her own kids weren’t interested, but life has come back around to resemble the old horrors and now the young blond woman is very interested indeed. It’s all pretty ethereal, and difficult not to link it all back to real life horrors happening now. The only reason I’m not sure that’s what’s being referenced is that I’m not sure how long Ula was working on this comic, but it seems likely she’s obliquely referencing current events. There’s a lot to get out of this story no matter how you look at it, so as always you can get a copy for $7 or get a four issue bundle for $22. I usually recommend the bundle, even more so now that I’ve reviewed three of the four comics in that bundle…
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Posted by Kevin
Update for 3/2/26
March 2, 2026New review today for Duane’s Big Walk by Rusty Jordan. Election’s a’coming everybody, so I’m going to write at least a couple of reviews this week, but my apologies if this month ends up being a little sparse. I’m trying to juggle all of the things, I really am…
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Posted by Kevin
Jordan, Rusty – Duane’s Big Walk
March 2, 2026
One tricky thing about reviewing older comics is that I sometimes have no idea what the creator is up to these days. I liked Rusty’s books back in the day (it looks like the last time I reviewed one of his comics was in 2013), but lost track of him a bit and ordered this from the Spit and a Half shop recently. Now according to my usual cursory internet search it looks like his most current website is a Tumblr page that was last updated a decade ago? Eh, let’s just go with the theory that I’m missing something obvious. Besides, that Tumblr page does have images from this particular comic, so at least it’s relevant. Oh hey, I should also talk about the comic a bit, right? This one starts off with a brief story about Duane walking and talking with his bird pal Christian, trying to figure out what he’s doing with his life and what it all means. From there we go to a… I guess you’d call it Claymation if it was an animated short, but since it’s a comic it’s a series of staged pictures with malleable dolls, about a woman who’s giving a news report about a string of murders, but who may have lost the plot a bit on who exactly she’s reporting to. After that a trip to the bar is required, where the news woman runs into an old boyfriend, Duane tries to pet a bird and the band singer has a rough time of it. There was a nice through line on all of these stories, mixed styles and all, and hey look at that, it turns out that I still like Rusty’s comics. It’s a measly $5 and in stock at John Porcellino’s shop, give it a shot why don’t you?
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Posted by Kevin
Update for 2/26/26
February 26, 2026New review today for Rain in Tears by Mao, and you’d better believe I’ll be reviewing these mini kus books weekly until they’re gone.
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Posted by Kevin
Mao – Rain in Tears
February 26, 2026
Three cheers for the mini kus folks always posting links to the artists on their comics page, because an internet search for “Mao comics” was getting me exactly nowhere. This one is based on an intriguing concept: the androids in Blade Runner were designed so that they couldn’t evolve and they all had set expiration points. Well, what if all of that was disregarded, and no moral constraints at all were placed on genetic engineering? This one specifically deals with octopuses (which I’d always thought was octopi, but it’s mentioned enough here that I’m starting to doubt it). Specifically, since they usually only breed once before dying, what if that constraint was removed, along with tinkering with the results? This is going to be another one of those cases where I don’t want to say a whole lot about the evolving plot, but come on, when has checking out a mini kus comic ever been a bad idea? Maybe a literal few times in the (as of this one) 136 issue run? It’s a story well told, with the scientists being very human (worried about bad press and bad pictures in the stories about their work), the octopuses breaking containment at just about the first opportunity, and what happens when they inevitably run into other humans. As always, it’s $7 for just this one or $22 for a set of four different comics, and you know which option I always recommend. Hint: it’s the “you mean I basically get a free comic?” version.
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Posted by Kevin
Update for 2/24/26
February 24, 2026The new review today is For the Record by David Robertson, who I’ve been reviewing since the very early days around here. Hey, almost 25 years of this nonsense, I’m allowed to get a little nostalgic. Sorry the reviews last week fell apart, but I have more to do at my job than I maybe ever have at one of these elections jobs, and boy howdy is that ever saying something. I’m doing my best over here!
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Posted by Kevin
Robertson, David – For the Record
February 24, 2026
There’s one easy question to ask to help determine how much you’re likely to relate to this comic: was the first music you purchased physical or digital? People who have only ever pirated music, stay out of this one. If your answer was “digital,” there’s still plenty in here for you to like, specifically his talk of making mix tapes (“playlists” now, basically) along with a detailed, nostalgic walk through how buying and listening to music evolved over the years. For everybody who bought their first music in a physical format (cassette tapes for me), good lord are you ever going to have a lot to relate to in here. The overall theme of this one is the joy of discovery; this may be the most lighthearted comic of David’s yet. Or maybe not, as the man has made a whole lot of comics. But it’s definitely one of them! This one is 46 pages of a love letter to music, told through his own experiences and mixed in with stories from family members of different generations. One through line of David’s experience: he never stopped loving vinyl. I mean, even when it was literally impossible to get, he’d still go very far out of his way to try, and he never bought into any arguments about the “superior sound quality” of compact discs. Pops and crackles forever, and honestly I’d say he’s been proven correct over the years. Stories in here go all over the music landscape, and deal with trying to decide a favorite band as a kid, making a drum kit out of what was lying around, discovering Adam Ant (and finding out that he used to be punk), the benefits of getting a single versus the entire album, having physical pictures to look at while listening to music (some of the artwork in records was glorious, as was the giant posters of the bands), favorite records that have held up over the years, taping theme songs from tv shows, compiling a bunch of his old ticket stubs from live shows (a project I’ve been halfway working for a while now), a girlfriend going to a Yes concert because of his love for it (and her hating it), and taking the assignment too literally when asked to make a scary compilation. Along with many other stories, because, like I mentioned, this thing is huge. If reading this doesn’t make you nostalgic for some of your favorite music (and, most likely, dig out some older music you haven’t listened to in years), then I’m afraid that you just don’t have any soul in you. Yes, I’d call that highly recommended, wouldn’t you? $10 (ish, I still don’t know how to convert the cost to dollars)
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Posted by Kevin
Update for 2/16/26
February 16, 2026New review today for The Boy and the Worm by Heather Loase, and you know what that means: mini kus is back! I’ll be talking about these comics here and there for the next little while. As for the rest of the week, work is getting mildly out of control, so we’ll see how it goes. I’m cautiously optimistic that I’ll have at least some free time?
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Posted by Kevin
Loase, Heather – The Boy and the Worm
February 16, 2026
Over the almost 25 years that I’ve been talking about comics (yes, I really did start this nonsense back in 2001), I’ve seen a WHOLE lot of comics that are mostly about how the artist didn’t have any ideas for making a comic. I mean, it could almost be its own genre at this point. That being said, I’ve rarely if ever seen one as inventive and as thoroughly entertaining as this one. It starts off like an illustrated movie script, with stage directions and descriptions of the action, which is basically five full pages of setup. And right around the time you’re probably thinking, as the reader, “is this going to pick up the pace any time soon?”, Heather jumps in to point out her own doubts about the direction and pace of the story. We get a couple of pages of her describing her fears, wondering if this whole idea was a mistake, and then we’re treated to the most glorious two pages of procrastination in comics history. I almost used that double page spread as the sample image, but I couldn’t bring myself to give that splendor away for free. From there she spends a few pages going through the various stages of grief (and other things), before a pep talk from her dog finally get her back on track! We see the boy, the worm, their awkward friendship… and then we’re back to Heather’s self doubt. Will she pull it together to finish the comic, or are the next half dozen pages or so totally blank? Um, you can probably guess the answer to that one, but you’re getting no spoilers from me. This was a thoroughly entertaining comic, and good luck finding another comic that packs this much story into a 24 page comic about not really having a story. $8 (or $22 for a set of four different issues)
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Posted by Kevin
Update for 2/11/26
February 11, 2026New review today for Little Misanthropist by Gabriel Mason Howell, as the Spit and a Half pile continues to dwindle. Eh, if nothing else I’ll just buy more comics. What, you think I’m just going to quit that easily after doing this for almost 25 years?
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Posted by Kevin
Howell, Gabriel Mason – Little Misanthropist
February 11, 2026
I thought Gabriel’s work looked familiar, and luckily the search option on this website is better than my brain, because I reviewed Forget Me Not a few years back, which is one of those books that’s been lodged into a small corner of my brain ever since. Thanks, my own website! Sooner or later you’ll be doing all of my thinking for me. As for this one, between the title and the message on the cover, I think you can probably guess the general vibe of the book. I mean, it’s hard to argue with him at this point in American history. This one is all about seeing things as they really are and what’s he’s hoping to get out of it when he meets up with guys. It’s a simple three step process that I won’t spoil here, which works great until it doesn’t. The rest of the comic deals with that time, how he changed during it, how he could see what was happening but couldn’t stop it, and how it all confirmed his worst suspicions. But still, who could ever stick to those three steps forever? This is a little on the heartbreaking side, but it’s also not something that you’ll soon forget. $7
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Posted by Kevin
Update for 2/9/26
February 9, 2026New review today for Covers #2 by Jason Martin, and it’s been too long since I’ve had one of his comics on the website. Um, spoilers for how the review is going to go, I guess…
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Posted by Kevin
Martin, Jason – Covers #2
February 9, 2026
Boy howdy, does this type of story seem like exactly the sort of thing that should inspire more comics. These are tales of different bands and musical artists, taken either from their writings or interviews, interpreted into comics form. Jason says in his intro that he intentionally priced these issues low enough not to make any money off of them, just in case any copyright issues came up from sharing these stories. But if you have any interest in the bands mentioned on the cover (or Mike Watt, who I sure think should get a mention on the cover), this comic is a whole lot of fun, and you’ll probably learn something new about them. This one starts off with three stories about Sonic Youth: one dealing with the spectacularly ridiculous time that Thurston Moore (and a makeshift band) played Keanu Reeve’s birthday party (which involves them playing on an ice rink as movie stars skated by), one about how their new band member lived through 9/11 in New York and everything he experienced, and finally one about how Thurston and Kim Gordon started dating (and the further adventures of the guitar that broke the ice for them). That would be a fine comic right there, but it’s the halfway point of the issue. Next up is the story of Mike Watt trying to put hot sauce on a sandwich while driving, not being willing to throw out the sandwich after the inevitable happens, and trying to survive the experience. Other stories include an adaptation of the Juliana Hatfield song where she sings about having to sell her favorite guitar, Alex Zhang Hungtai’s journey to misery and back again (also including the story of one of the best human beings to ever exist, honestly), and Neil Young writing a song and having to save it for the perfect moment. It’s a genuinely engrossing comic, and if you have any connection to these bands it’s indispensable. And hey, even if you don’t, these are some thoroughly entertaining stories. $4
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Posted by Kevin
Update for 2/5/26
February 5, 2026New review today for House-Sitting by Carolyn Swiszcz, in which she tells stories about what would probably be an ideal to spend aimless hours inhabiting.
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Posted by Kevin
Swiszcz, Carolyn – House-Sitting
February 5, 2026
I’m always a fan of comics that keep me guessing, so I was delighted that the assumption I made when buying this (that this would be a comic about a time when Caroline watched a house when somebody was out of town, with or without hijinx) wasn’t actually what the comic was about. It’s actually a story about Carolyn growing up, experiencing art first through how her parents decorated their own home, before having her world completely opened up after visiting the house where her father had done some repair work. This house had been designed by one of the students of Frank Lloyd Wright, so it was already a unique experience inside and out, but the inhabitants of the house had dedicated it to art of all kinds. There’s a lot going on in here, but that sample image really is my favorite, showing how they all took in what they were seeing in their own ways. Of course, Carolyn does eventually end up house-sitting, but what it mostly did was expand on her own love for art and show what her own home could eventually look like. She also dog-sat (and learned what to do and what not to do with a dog), but that section is so delightful that I’ll just leave it for y’all to discover. It’s a thoroughly enjoyable comic, and a good reminder that you can always surround yourself with art, or at the very least you can always have reminders of it everywhere. $8
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Posted by Kevin
Update for 2/3/26
February 3, 2026New review today for Pandemic Parade by Elise Dietrich, and yes, I am in fact still reviewing the Spit and a Half books. Send me your comics (or send me comics of people that you like! I’m happy to write about whoever), because there’s still a few months until the next local (ish) convention and I’m going to run out of these comics way before then.
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Posted by Kevin
Dietrich, Elise – Pandemic Parade
February 3, 2026
I was curious how this one would hit me, now that we’ve got some distance from the pandemic. Well, we’ve stopped acknowledging it as a culture anyway, and that’s kind of like getting some distance, right? Oh America, you self-destructive scamp you. This is a collection of comics, starting off with a subject that a lot of people went through during the pandemic (including me): adopting a pet. I get nervous when I think about the number of those pets that ended up staying with the people who got them, but this is about Elise and her family, who adopted the adorable Bertie. She takes us through the adoption process and the acclimation process (for the dog and the humans), which luckily seemed to be relatively simple for all involved. Next up is a story about how Elise eventually started making masks for everybody she knew during the pandemic, and how it ended up bringing in some money for her due to odd jobs around the area and people in need online. That image of the environmentalist holding up a line filled with thrown away masks will haunt me, but people barely knew what they were doing at the time, and just about nobody was thinking long term. Next up is her family’s experience of all getting covid at the same time, and it will never cease to amaze me how differently that virus affected different people. She also mentioned in her update that her family got it again shortly before the book was set to be published, so there’s that. After a short piece about her imagination of how the new people she talked to regularly would look without their masks (versus how they actually looked when the masks came off), the last story of the comic deals with her getting way into making pizzas for the family while they were all stuck at home. And if you’re wondering, yes, she absolutely does include the recipe for the pizza, and yes, it does sound delicious. She even includes a recipe for another version of it that sounds a bit easier to make. So come on in, revisit a time when most of us thought “boy, it can’t get any worse than this, right?” Yeah, about that… $12
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Posted by Kevin
Update for 1/30/26
January 30, 2026New review for Night Air by Ben Sears, and that’ll wrap up Spit and a Half week. Will there be another one next week? It depends on if people send their review comics, because one look outside right now tells me I’m not going to be driving anywhere to buy comics. Happy weekend y’all!
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Posted by Kevin
Sears, Ben – Night Air
January 30, 2026
I got a rare, genuine, audible “huh” out of myself when I did a search for Ben’s name here and realized that I’d really never reviewed one of his comics. I’ve been hearing his name for ages, how was this possible? Maybe I’ve only seen his work in anthologies? Still, genuinely shocking to me. So how was this, the first of his comics that I’ve read? Well, it’s full color, and for this setting that was a solid choice. Things start off in a seedy bar, with our hero (I don’t think he’s ever named) using his robot to cheat at cards, which is something that the man he is cheating strongly suspects is happening. That was also an eclectic mix of thugs, considering the fact that we don’t see most of them again. Our hero excuses himself, tries to escape and is chased by a large rocky bodyguard. Due to a little bit of ingenuity they both escape, and then they get a tip (from as big of a “red flag” type tipster as you’re ever likely to see), and make their way to a mysterious city. They follow the clues (the dog standing in a spotlight was a nice touch), make their way inside, and are immediately confronted with oddities. A skeleton holding a mysterious book! A typewriter typing by itself (and getting very annoyed when our hero started typing)! Still, they’re not finding much in the way of actual treasure, but they do run across the couple who has set the trap, and there’s no way I’m going to spoil why they set it in the first place, but it got a solid chuckle out of me. Our heroes are put into a cell with more captives, things go down, and there’s even a series of illustrations in the back from other artists depicting our hero. It’s a thoroughly entertaining comic, and it opens up yet another artist who I’m apparently way behind on reading. $8 (on sale at Ben’s website)
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Posted by Kevin
