New review today for Must Be a Happening by Fran Lopez, happy weekend y’all! Assuming that you hadn’t started your weekend a few days ago, what with the holiday and all…
Lopez, Fran – Must Be a Happening
November 29, 2024
Oh, random comic review mailings. You’d think that after 23+ years of reviews that I’d be numb to them, but nope, every time I crack open a mailing with an unknown name on it, I’m still hopeful and delighted. Eh, don’t mind the corniness, I’m feeling sentimental for some reason. Fran was nice enough to send a few comics (and he has a few more available at his website), so you’ll be seeing more of his stuff here soon. I honestly liked one of the other titles better and was going to review that first, but that horse head on the cover sent out a siren song to me that could not be denied. Like it says on the cover, there are two stories in here. The first one is all about the horse head, and things start off with a local old man setting up a lawn chair near the horse head in the street. It’s art, not an actual horse head, so don’t get all grossed out. People come by, ask about the head, the old man does an admirable job of avoiding the subject, a dog makes its own opinion known, and we see a completely different side of the horse head when everybody goes to sleep. The other story deals with a space explorer who has to wait a thousand days to get any response to his messages, which leaves him a whole lot of time for his thoughts to wander and for any locals to check him out. I liked the diary style entries, as each was sent off as his own thoughts for the day, before things take a real turn that I’m not going to spoil here. The art was a vaguely sloppy but meticulous combination (I’m aware that that makes no sense) that had the effect of making everything seem to be constantly humming, not moving but vibrant. Kinda like the old Dr. Katz cartoon, which is only a reference for my fellow olds. Anyway, two great and completely different stories, well worth a look is what I say. $5
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Posted by Kevin
Update for 11/27/24
November 27, 2024New review today for Bald Knob by Brett Hamil, as I’m finally digging more into the review comics that came in the mail this week.
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Posted by Kevin
Hamil, Brett – Bald Knob #1
November 27, 2024
You know, I thought that “Bald Knob” sounded familiar, but this old brain ain’t what it used to be in regards to remembering specifics like that. Luckily, I have an easy cheat option: use the search function on my website! I can’t decide if that’s pathetic or hilarious. Both? Anyway, I was right: John Hankiewicz put out a mini probably 15 years ago or so with the same title, and Robert Sergel put out a graphic novel called Bald Knobber about 6 years ago. Relevant? Related to this comic in any way? Not at all! But if you’re curious, look them up yourself and be amazed! Now that that bit of nonsense is out of the way, what’s up with this comic? It’s the start of a series (and the second issue is already up on his website, which is promising) about two guys who are staying at a cabin in the Blue Ridge Mountains. Glenn is trying to make the next great American rock album (it’s more specific and defined than that), and Shad is mostly there to help and/or keep his eye on his troubled friend. Glenn had been through a breakup recently and he wasn’t taking the whole thing very well, so to Shad this seemed like the perfect distraction. Things start off with Shad trying to convince Naomi (who he’d hooked up with the night before) to leave before Glenn saw her in the morning, as he didn’t think that would help Glenn’s mood, but that plan did not work out. We spend a lot of time getting to know all three of these characters, which is crucial to any kind of lengthy series. The two of them get to their job, Shad takes off his shorts for his walk (which, creepiness aside, does seem like a great way to enjoy nature if you’re alone), and they discuss how they still need a drummer for their band. Meanwhile we see a lot more about Naomi’s life with several generations all in one room, which seems like the sort of thing that’ll come up again later. Finally they all go to a local music show in the hopes of finding a drummer or at least having a good time, and we even get a bit of a cliffhanger in terms of Glenn’s love life, even if it seems like he’s heading towards a disaster. I’d call this a solid first issue with plenty of avenues he could still explore. $6
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Posted by Kevin
Update for 11/25/24
November 25, 2024New review today for It’s Oola Too!! by Karl Christian Krumpholz. Technically this is a review for a comic he sent me in the mail, but if I’d returned to his table at Cartoon Crossroads when he was busy like I’d intended, this would be another CXC review. Just in case anybody is keeping track of these things…
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Posted by Kevin
Krumpholz, Karl Christian – It’s Oola Too!!
November 25, 2024
The people have spoken, and I’m assuming that what they said was that they wanted more adventures of Oola as quickly as possible. If you’re unfamiliar with Karl’s work, Oola was a cat that entered their lives (Karl and his partner Kelly) after both of their long term cats had passed away. They didn’t have specific plans to get another cat, but cats don’t wait on human timetables for such things, and the little creature quickly took over a solid chunk of their home and lives. A few of these strips first appeared in other comics, but mostly they’re new, and if you’re at all a cat lover then you’ll be delighted. If not I’m not sure what you’re doing here to begin with, but I suppose you cold-hearted cat haters could also take some joy in how much disruption Oola causes in their lives. Also sometimes it’s tricky to pick a sample comic, but this time it was a no brainer. Hanging something over your bed with a cat in the house is just an invitation to head trauma. I know, it always seems like they couldn’t possibly reach/destroy/knock down at item that high up, but they tend to take that sort of thing as a challenge. Other stories in here deal with the lesson of a cat jumping into the shower, the quiet moments (they exist, even for the most manic of cats), her imaginary spy adventures that always seem to devolve into biting, her opinion at being left alone in the house for a few days, Oola as the mighty hunter, the unfortunate meaning of Oola in the Tamil language, and the true origin of her zoomies. Lots more, but I’m not going to spoil all of her adventures. I know they’re happy with just Oola in the house, but from a pure storytelling perspective, introducing a new cat would set up all kinds of great story possibilities. Sure, it might completely upend their lives, but think of the mayhem! Eh, I might have to work on my sales pitch about this. Anyway, it’s another great issue of Oola fun, and if you need a laugh in your life you should get both of these issues ASAP. $10
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Posted by Kevin
Update for 11/20/24
November 20, 2024New 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.
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Posted by Kevin
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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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
