New review today for Night Shift by Various Artists (mostly from Washington, edited by Kelly Froh). Am I going to mention the ongoing 25th anniversary celebration/fundraiser for me getting to SPX after all of the reviews this month? Sadly, the answer is “probably.” So scroll down a bit to donate, if you’re so inclined and financially able!
Various Artists – Night Shift
August 12, 2026
I can be a little rough on anthologies at times, but that’s almost always for technical reasons, and this anthology does all of that stuff right. The artist’s name is clearly labeled at the bottom of their story (you’re not seeing it for the sample image purely because it’s the second page of a two page story by Kat Wong) and their contact info is clearly provided, usually in multiple formats. That’s all it really takes, so take note, other anthology editors! This is also one of those cases where the temptation to be lazy in the review is strong, because take a look at that list of tags showing all of the artists with stories in this sucker. SO many names that I’ve already reviewed, it’s just a solid list of names of a lot of the people doing the best work in comics today. But no, the show must go on! “The show” being me yakking about comics for a bit before that vague, undefined voice in the back of my head tells me that I’ve said enough. This one starts off with a strip from Roberta Gregory, and kids, if you don’t know who that is, she’s been doing this since (just after) the original comics underground days, and also just so happens to have a giant new collection of her work out as of maybe a week ago. Following that are stories about really getting into a deep clean (by Megan Kelso), sifting through the mess and finding the positive aspects of dealing with a father with dementia (by Meredith Li-Vollmer), getting into the cat psychology of chasing a laser pointer (by Kiku Hughes), being able to take in all of the different people that two people in a partnership can be over the years (by Robyn Jordan), maintaining your mood with scents (by Ellen Forney), drastically misunderstanding some Australian slang (by Natalie Dupille, but I would have honestly made the same mistake), regretfully going through how a stool became haunted (by L. Armstrong), living the life of a gargoyle gardener (by Lara Kaminoff), getting older and the dreams you have to leave behind (by Rachel Scheer), learning how to cope with and live in a terrible world (by Amy Camber, with some solid advice), some life advice for turning 50 (by Tatiana Gill), and the end result of doing kegels every time the world gets you down (by Marie Hausauer). That’s maybe half of the stories; there are 34 artists in here. All of the stories are either one or two pages long, and a whole bunch of them made me curious to see what other comics that author has created, which is another task that this anthology has done successfully. Also your buying this supports the Short Run festival in Seattle, so you get to support a great cause while reading a pile of great comics stories. Everybody wins! $15
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Reviews | Tagged: Alex Barsky, Alex Graham, Amelia Miller, Amy Camber, Colleen Frakes, E.T. Russian, Elaine Lin, Ellen Forney, Freyja Baileykaze, Gil Rhodes, Gina Siciliano, Handa, Jae Kwon, Jane Yohnson, Kat Wong, Kelly Froh, Kiku Hughes, L. Armstrong, Lara Kaminoff, Laura Knetzger, Marie Hausauer, Megan Kelso, Meredith Li-Vollmer, Mita Mahato, Momoko Heaton, Myra Lara, Natalie Dupille, Night Shift, Rachel Scheer, Roberta Gregory, Robyn Jordan, Sarah Romano, Sierra Rozario, Tatiana Gill, Veronia Velazquez-Aviles, Vivian Li | 
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Posted by Kevin
Update for 8/10/26
August 10, 2026New review today for Eyeland #12 by Nick Forker! Also my 25th anniversary “celebration” is going on all month, so if you’re at all interested in helping me celebrate by making it possible for me to buy more comics at SPX this year, scroll down a bit and hit that fundraiser.
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Posted by Kevin
Forker, Nick – Eyeland #12
August 10, 2026
One of the hazards of my “unstuck in time” method of reviewing these Eyeland comics is that sometimes an issue will end up being out of print. And hey look, that seems to be what happened here! It was sold out in both online stores I was able to find, but I’m including the link to Partners and Son anyway, because maybe they’ll get more copies eventually, and if not there’s plenty of other great stuff to check out at their website. Anyway! So do I remember what was happening in the story at this point? No way. Is this going to be what causes me to go back and read all of these issues sequentially, maybe reviewing the issues that I missed as I go along? Sorry, but no, not yet. What can I say, I’m enjoying the chaos. Lots to talk about in this one, starting off with a single page comic about what we all end doing with our old batteries. Um, allegedly. Next we get the bulk of the comic, which continues the story from the last issue (and Nick was nice enough to include a brief recap). From there we get maybe the single most action packed issue in the series. A couple of full page spreads of a giant cyclops attacking the wizard cat, several more pages of the fight, our hero unconscious on the ground, our other hero getting a cryptic message about protecting the eye dude, before they’re finally able to move on with their quest. Spoilers, maybe, but I’ve already reviewed #13. Other stories include a gathering of animals in the forest (which may or may not have been just an excuse for Nick to draw a bunch of animals, but he’s great at it so I have no complaints), an argument between the creators of the universe, tips for which pen to use for other artists, an advertisement for a truly disturbing cheese delivery service, and a back cover with some excellent advice on how to approach life. Oh, and I almost forgot to mention that front cover! Embiggen that sucker and take it all in, there’s a whole lot going on there. It’s another solid issue, so track down a copy and give it a shot! $7
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Posted by Kevin
“Update” for 8/7/26
August 7, 2026So way, WAY back in the day, at roughly the start of August in 2001, I started Optical Sloth. I even wrote 100 reviews before I posted the website online just so it would never look like a blank mess, and look at it now! It’s more of a… severely cluttered mess. Anyway, I had various thoughts for how to celebrate this milestone, but at the end of the day I’ll stay with the general feel of the website and keep it simple: I’d like to go to SPX on September 12 and 13th next month, but I always end up having to pass up a whole lot of comics because I can’t afford everything. But hey, what if I COULD practically afford everything this year? That’s right, I’m starting a fundraiser. If it ends up getting little or no money, well hey, people are broke all over, no hard feelings, and I’ll just buy a bunch of stuff from Spit and a Half or another online comics shop. But if it actually makes it into the several hundreds of dollars? Well, all of those dollars will be spent on comics at SPX. If you’ve been a regular over the years thanks for reading, and if you pop in every half a decade or so just to say “wow, you’re STILL writing comics reviews?” then thank you too. Here’s the link to the fundraiser!
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Posted by Kevin
Update for 8/3/26
August 4, 2026New review today for Everybody Dies! by Kelly Froh. You know, it’s a big anniversary for this website, and I’ve been thinking about what to do about it. By the end of the week (or maybe next week, let’s be honest) I’ll be announcing something or other. Vague teaser!
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Posted by Kevin
Froh, Kelly – Everybody Dies!
August 4, 2026
It’s always great to see a new comic from Kelly, but there was a brief moment when I cracked open the envelope, checked out the title and said “… oh.” I mean, she’s not wrong, it just briefly hit me a certain kind of way. This is a collection of several stories, mostly (if not entirely) dealing with aging and/or death. Kelly and I are roughly the same age, so you’d better believe that a few of these hit me pretty hard. Kids, or youngsters in their 20’s who think this will never happen to them, don’t rule this one out. It actually will happen to you, and I know I wish more people told me what to actually expect as you age, which Kelly does an excellent job of in here. There are several single page strips in here, dealing with how your perceptions change as you get older (her image of the grandma in the former hipster barbershop was brutal; solid chance that that lady had been a hipster in the 90’s), trying to navigate the maze of online help for an elderly client, and trying to navigate similar obstacles (along with literal ones) on a trip with that same client to the bank. The rest of the stories are longer, one detailing the step by step process of her having to get her gallbladder removed (and the extended recovery process; this was a fascinating journey with even more “fun” with dealing with medical professionals), and another going through her eye surgery several months after the gallbladder. That one was terrifying, as she went through the urgent need for the original laser surgery, her inability to keep from moving during her recovery period in no small part due to the fact that she had a comics convention to run, and the subsequent regular surgery to try to make the repairs stick. She led a terrifying but oddly boring existence for several months of that recovery, with it coming along slowly and her being unable to do most of the things that distract people from worrying about things like eye surgery. Other stories include a lengthy tale about Dorie (the woman mentioned above with online/bank issues), the terrible habits Dorie fell into, her eventual death and the problems of trying to deal with her family around that time. There are also a few other surprises (I loved both the “outtakes” and the specificity of an average day dealing with the eye surgery aftermath), but I have to leave something for you to discover. This is Kelly at the top of her game, and it’s absolutely worth checking out. Yes, even if you think you’re immortal. $15
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Posted by Kevin
Update for 7/30/26
July 30, 2026New review today for Pixie Lice by Amanda Vahamaki. Who also did a mini kus comic that I enjoyed thoroughly over a decade ago, which is not something I remembered until I searched my own website for her name. The process of this website replacing my own brain is almost complete…
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Posted by Kevin
Vahamaki, Amanda – Pixie Lice
July 30, 2026
Can you have a slice of life comic about a made-up world? I mean, sure. One of the main reasons why this comic was such a joy was because there was no need to have every little thing explained; this was a world of magic and odd creatures, and since both of those things were a given, we got to see some of them go about their daily lives. Things start off with a couple of vampires riding a scooter (which we only know because the first panel of the comic is a close-up of their fangs), followed by three kids hanging out and discussing their upcoming class schedules. Then they break out their hexes for the year, each surprised (and some disappointed) at what pops out of them. We shift to a school administrator trying to go about their day before hearing a crash, which leads to counseling a student who’s hanging out in a tree stump (who also happens to be a talking monkey). Another family appears next, which is where we get our first sighting of the creatures in the title in this comic. There’s no big quest or dramatic emotional reveal to be had in here, but it’s a world I’d like to experience again. It’s a hoot, is what I’m saying, and I’d thoroughly recommend this to anybody who loves a casually weird story. And it’s cheap! $5
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Posted by Kevin
Update for 7/28/26
July 28, 2026New review today for How I Leave You by Sydney Heifler. Sorry about the week off, but I’m in anther one of those constant states of having very few comics on hand to review. I’ll buy more soon, or if you have a new comic, this is also another one of those cases where there will be very little wait for a review of a comic that makes it to my mailbox…
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Posted by Kevin
Heifler, Sydney – How I Leave You
July 28, 2026
Just so you know, the link in the title goes to a full and free version of this comic online. I didn’t see any links to buy a printed version like I did, but if you live near Columbus Ohio The Laughing Ogre still had copies as of 6/26. Or maybe contact Sydney directly through her website? I don’t know, this was originally an art show so maybe physical copies were meant to be limited. Anyway! I went into this as a blind grab, and my initial thought based on the cover (always a bad idea) was that this might be a memoir about heartbreak and getting over a relationship. That wasn’t at all the case: this is a comic about sexual assault and rape, and the various methods she attempted to get over those traumas. This is more of a primal scream than a comic, and a difficult one to critique in an objective sense other than my usual “I hope the dude responsible for this gets hit by a bus eventually” response. This starts off with her trying to come to grips with her PTSD and the constant doubts constantly flooding her brain, and it’s one of several single page images in this comic that just floored me. The image of the liquor bottle surrounded by her attempts to describe what happened was another one, and another image that needs to be experienced to be fully appreciated. There’s the casual way that the whole thing starts (the guy was a trusted friend, then it jumps straight to the aftermath and how the experience completely changed her. She didn’t report anything to anybody for months, she withdrew from friends and the world, panic attempts set it, and there was the extra trauma of trying to navigate life with her friends (who knew about it) trying clumsily to will her back to being her former self. Then there were her attempts to take control of her life before finally finding other ways to experience joy, but an experience like this never completely leaves a person. It’s a gutting experience as a comic and, while I’d recommend caution if you’ve been through a similar experience, there may be comfort to be found here in watching another person navigate it. $10 (if you can find a copy, if not it’s available for free online, so maybe take that $10 and donate it to a worthy cause?)
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Posted by Kevin
Update for 7/15/26
July 15, 2026New review today for Ukestadli by Cole Pauls, and if I’d ever figured out how to use umlauts and that various symbols that can go over letters that title would look much different.
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Posted by Kevin
Pauls, Cole – Uketsadli: He Loves Her
July 15, 2026
This comic is turning into a real mystery. I bought it at The Laughing Ogre in Columbus last month, and they had to basically invent a price for it since there was no clue on the comic. So I thought maybe once I reviewed it that I could verify that from his website, but it’s not listed there either, even though it came out only a couple of years ago. So I’m going with the theory that if you contact Cole, he could get you a copy of this, maybe for the arbitrary $7 I paid for it. If not, he has a number of graphic novels available, you could always give one of those a shot. That’s all well and good, but what’s the actual comic about? There are two stories in here, and the first is about Cole’s first time on a ferry, but it’s mostly a solid example of how (when you’re a kid, anyway) a crush can develop, blossom and then come to a crashing end all within an hour or so. Next there’s a sweet little story about getting swept up in a crush as an adult, then having to decide on the fly (when asked by somebody on the street) exactly how seriously you’re taking that budding relationship. Those are the basics, anyway; Cole also gets into some clan cultural stuff from the Yukon territory in Canada that’s fascinating. Why can’t we in the U.S. have a dance where all the single men dance first to attract all of the single ladies? That sounds like an absolute blast. Anyway, check this out if you can find it (Laughing Ogre had two more copies as of last month).
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Posted by Kevin
Update for 7/13/26
July 13, 2026New review today for Random Short Stories by a Future Bestseller by Brian Canini, and could it be? Am I actually caught up with his comics? I’m just going to assume that he’s fallen behind in posting new books in his online store…
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Posted by Kevin
Canini, Brian – Random Short Stories by a Future Bestseller #2
July 13, 2026
Random Short Stories by a Future Bestseller #2
It’s one of my favorite types of comics: a collection of short pieces that mostly originally appeared in anthologies! Yes, you cynical bastards, I’m actually being sincere here. Those types of stories are generally lost to history otherwise, as most anthologies drop out of print quickly (assuming they had much of a print run to begin with), and these short pieces are an excellent opportunity for artists to challenge themselves. And for this one, even if you have been following every last bit of Brian’s work over the years, he was nice enough to put a brand new story in here too. This one has several long pieces and a few single page strips (one graciously included below by your friendly reviewer). First up is a fairly complex piece called Silk Stockings that, in 6 pages, manages to capture the feelings of being in an awkward vacation spot, discovering that your parents aren’t as well off as you’d like to think, and accidentally giving your budding sexuality a kick start by hiding in the wrong place for a game of hide and seek. Next up is a piece about the grim reality of going off to live in the woods after quitting your job, followed by a short strip (where Brian really flexes those artistic muscles), then a longer piece about a sad sack who goes out with the wrong girl (“wrong” in this instance meaning “is a spy under surveillance”). But wait, there’s more! Next up is a longer piece about a battle with a necromancer with soul stealing eyes (I admired his commitment to realism with this one, or at least the level of realism that comes with the concept of trying to attack a being that could kill you with a look), followed by a Tom and Jerry type of strip that takes a really dark turn, then a couple of single page strips that I’ll leave it to you to discover. That final punchline though, it did indeed get a solid guffaw out of me. Not a laugh, you see, but a legit guffaw. Those are hard to come by, so kudos to Brian for that. Look, if Brian ever puts out a real stinker of a comic, I’ll tell you about it, but this is another solid collection of stories from the man, and you should check it out, whether you’re already a fan or a new reader. $8
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Posted by Kevin
Update for 7/8/26
July 8, 2026New review today for Woodrow Comics #2 by Chris Auman, in which things take a turn and I try to discover the workings of my own brain. Also there’s a comic review in there somewhere.
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Posted by Kevin
Auman, Chris – Woodrow Comics #2
July 8, 2026
Let’s call this review an object lesson in why you should never trust the opinion of a reviewer. Go back and read the review for the first issue of this series, if you haven’t already. If you can’t be bothered, fine: I loved it, legitimately laughed out loud several times, and was eager to see more. So here I am, roughly three months later, seeing more, and my general thoughts on this one were… meh. Still some funny parts, but the whole thing seemed like more of a chore, which was not at all my experience from the first issue. And, since both issues are pulled from the same era of Chris’s comics (and since they both really need to be read together), it’s ridiculous to think that the quality changed much at all so, once again, that just leaves me as the dummy. I can live with that! Oh, I still haven’t given any synopsis of this. Basically think of Spinal Tap and you at least get the seed of the idea; Chris and a friend were bored in high school and made up a fake band with dozens of albums, all released in a comically short period of time (also with comically short album lengths compared to the amount of songs). There’s also an extended fake interview and even a few comics, all of which made me at least smile, so I honestly can’t tell you why there’s a disconnect in my head on this compared to the first issue. If you liked the first issue I do think that you’ll also enjoy this one, and I even included a link to buy both of them in a package deal (for $7 instead of the $6 for a single issue). Maybe somewhere down the line I’ll read these together just to see what’s wrong with my brain, but this is as clear of an example that I could present showing that my problem with a comic is me, with absolutely nothing to do with the comic. They were made at the same time, for the love of all that’s holy! $6 (or $7 for the pair of them)
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Posted by Kevin
Update for 7/6/26
July 6, 2026New review today for Uncle Andy’s BLT Baby by A.T. Pratt and no, I can confirm that this baby does not know how to make a BLT sandwich.
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Posted by Kevin
Pratt, A.T. – Uncle Andy’s BLT Baby
July 6, 2026
Quick, you don’t know anything about this comic yet (unless you’ve read it already, obviously; this is for the people coming in new). Do you think this comic is about a baby who likes BLTs or do you think this is a comic about a baby who is part of a BLT? Just me for that last one? Ugh, that probably doesn’t say anything good about me. This one actually starts off a little smaller, as it’s all about a cranky baby who won’t eat their tomatoes. Many attempts are made (although I would have given up when the old standard of tomato soup and grilled cheese didn’t work), a professional chef is even consulted, but nothing prevents the baby from throwing a tantrum and tossing the tomato-based attempt on the ground. As for what it is that finally breaks through, it’s somewhere between difficult and impossible to spoil such a thing when it’s right there in the title. It’s a cute little story, but I may be burying the lead here, as it’s also a fold-out comic. No, not one of those comics that makes you wonder if you’re reading things in the correct order, this one just folds out into a giant maze in case you want to help the baby find the lost tomatoes (now that she loves tomatoes). This naturally made me wonder about the author, and it turns out that these fold-out comics are kind of A.T. Pratt’s thing; he has all kinds of them on his website, some with some truly impressively complex designs. If you’re a fan of those types of comics I’d suggest checking out a pile of his comics, if you’re only a fan of angry babies I’d suggest giving this one a shot. Yes, I’m afraid that you’re required to fall into one of those two categories. $5
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Posted by Kevin
