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
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
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
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.
For as long as I’ve been going to small press conventions (my first was at APE in Chicago in 1995), a man in a hat named Matt Feazell has been around with his Cynicalman comics. The “hat” part isn’t particularly relevant, but for somebody like me who has trouble with names and faces, I can always spot him in a crowd. His comics are a delight, I’ve mentioned them several times here, and I always leave SPACE feeling like I should have grabbed another comic or two from the man. Brian (and Michael Anthony Carroll, who also contributes stories) had the idea to make a bootleg version of the comic, mostly because the idea of a bootleg version of a stick figure character was hilarious to them. And hey, they were right! This is both hilarious in its own right and a fantastic tribute to a true small press original. Most of these stories are parodies of different Cynicalman stories, so I’m definitely not going to be completely up to date on the specifics. I’ve maybe read 1/3 of Matt’s comics, and probably, if I saw all of his comics in one place, I’d discover that I’m vastly underestimating that. So if you’ve been reading his for ages you’d most likely get more out of this, but I got plenty out of it with only some familiarity, and I’d bet if you’d never heard of Cynicalman you’d at a bare minimum be very curious about the source material. Stories in here include Cynicalman vs. Godzilla, an investigation into whether or not he lives in a bootleg world, the appearance of bootleg Galactus, his attempts to fight the Deconstructionist, some interesting work with panel structure and the concept of time (I maybe read a bit too much into that one), some terrible advice from future Cynicalman on where to invest his money, and the inevitable Cynicalman multiverse story. Like I said, there’s some really good stuff in here, it’s well worth a look. $5
One thing I’ve been happy to see as I get older (and older, and older) is people who put out mini comics 30-40 years ago either jumping back into the game or republishing their old material. And, honestly, since a lot of that old material was sold in one or two shops at the time (with little or no internet available) and had print runs of maybe 50 copies, it’s likely to be new to the vast majority of people who see it now. Woodrow Comics was started by Chris and a friend who were bored in high school in the late 80’s, to give you some idea of the origins of this material. Specifically they were bored in a “just say no” school conference, that infamous attempt to keep kids off of drugs that more often than not just explained to kids how the various drugs were likely to make them feel. So Chris and his friend made up a fake band, then fell in love with the concept and made up all kinds of fake albums, songs, band history, all of that stuff. He put the original comics out in 1995 (and, hilariously, puts some old reviews in the back; Terry Laban was actually a fan), they didn’t exactly make much of a splash, but he always liked them, so he cleaned the art up a bit and re-released them. There’s a fair amount of funny stuff in here if you have any experience with punk bands and/or Spinal Tap-like band parodies (30 songs on a 10 minute album got an audible chuckle out of me). Most of the book is descriptions of some of their albums, descriptions of them and a few songs from each, but there’s also an ad from the band for a bong cleaner, a few comic strips, and even a fake interview with them. Check out the sample page, that should give you some idea of whether or not this is your type of humor. Me, I laughed several times, so yeah, I’d say this is worth a look. $6 (or, as of this review, $7 for issue #1 & 2)
It probably says a lot about the indie comics I read in my formative years that I kept waiting for this comic to answer one basic question that it never got around to: does Ruoki (or the possibly fictional version of them in the comic) pick their nose or eat what they dig out of it, or just pick? Crumb and Chester Brown have both admitted as much, along with plenty of others that I’m not remembering at the moment. But this comic goes a different direction, as the theme here is that the act of picking one’s nose can lead to an almost zen state. Ruoki goes into detail about how the act of picking their nose is practically a requirement after a stressful day and even has a full page of various techniques (three fingers? How?). Eventually Ruoki starts teaching their methods in a class, with the “rewards” from the pickings of the class members being displayed and given different nicknames. There’s also a damned sweet ending here, but I’ll leave that for you to discover, gentle reader. If you’re disgusted by this concept I’m honestly surprised that you’ve read this far, but it’s safe to say that this one probably isn’t for you. If you’re secretly also in this club, or just like a good story that’s told well, check it out! Or do the four comics for $22 deal, which is, as always, my suggestion. $7 (for just this issue)
When last we spoke, I spent most of the review on (what I thought at the time) was a lengthy four page text piece from Dan instead of the comic. Well, this time it’s an 8 page text piece, between the intro and the outro, and it’s maybe my favorite piece of writing from him yet. I feel like I’ve said that before, meaning that if I put them side by side and read them I’d have to choose, but time only moves in the one direction, and the me of right now feels pretty confident in declaring this one the winner. It has Dan wrestling with the meaning behind creating a comic for 20+ years when so few people read it (“wrestling” might be too strong a word, the man is dedicating to keeping this going, which is great news for all of us), what he thinks might end up happening to his comics after he sends them out into the wild, being guilty (and then getting over it) about actually enjoying his day job, and so very much more. I usually save this for the end of the reviews, but seriously, if you’re not reading his stuff, there’s exactly zero other comics creators out there like him. You could really start just about anywhere, but heck, why not start with this one! It’s full color and fresh, fresh, fresh! Oh right, I should probably mention what this comic is about, since that is definitely the part of this process that convinces doubtful readers to spend some money on comics. Well, Oliver Platt has to build and ride (with his entire family) the fastest water slide ever so that he could make the movie Simon Burch. There are complications, to put it mildly, and things aren’t helped at all by Oliver being turned into a skeleton. But there are also rainbow tears, eating chex mix until a grasshopper asks for some water because it had eaten too many of the ones that fell on the ground, pinocchio, and Toby (that’s the grasshopper) getting to heaven and seeing what’s happening up there these days. And, again, so much more. Dan, if you’re reading this, and if you’re really wondering if it was wise to put that last image into your comic or if it ruined everything: you did the right thing. To everybody else, buy this and read it! I want to talk to people about these comics, and to do that more of you have to read them. And then talk to me about them. $5
Matt was nice enough to send me a few of his more recent comics, so I’m happy to report that A. he has indeed stuck to that monthly schedule, which is the sort of thing that brings me joy and B. he also has a big 300ish page collection of his comics out now, which would be a great and convenient way to get started on his stuff. Which makes it especially odd that I’m still not sure how to get individual issues of his comics, outside of emailing the man I guess. This time around there’s one main story, and it’s simple: the new issue of Bat Chap (with a solid running gag of if it’s Bat Chap or THE Bat Chap) is coming out, and since it’s the death of Bat Chap, it’s going to be worth big bucks one day. But there’s a blizzard, so there’s no easy way to get to the comic store. And thus begins the hero’s journey! Ick, that must be the first time I’ve used “thus” in a review. Anyway, there are plenty of hardships along the way, along with an excellent finale set in the far future that shows just how much that issue ended up being worth. And this might be the first time that I realized that these comics are set in the past, maybe roughly from when Matt was in school? The idea of the death of a superhero being a valuable comic was one big hint, but the existence of a working pay phone (combined with a book of actual yellow pages) sealed the deal. Two other short stories are also in here, one about the adventures of Bat Chap (a very British superhero indeed, with some funny dialogue and objections by the beaten up henchmen) and a brief conversation between the gang about chaos theory and the butterfly effect. It’s another solid issue, and it looks like the next three issues are a three part story, so I’m going to have to start being more careful about just grabbing an issue at random to review. $1
It’s been quite awhile since I’ve had nothing to say about an issue of mini kus, but it looks like that dreadful day has arrived again. Hm. OK, why don’t I paste the description from the back of the comic, maybe it’ll help you get a better picture of it. It didn’t help me, but here you go: Communication-simulation-induced hypnosis through information overload-fractionation. Got it? This one, on the surface, comes across as a duel between two mostly faceless beings, each emitting light/sound/force through their mouth holes of varying severity. It ebbs, it flows, it takes surprising turns, and it doesn’t lead to a good end for either of them. It’s visually striking, I’ll give it that, but I can’t say that it made much of an impression on me in terms of a story. Which maybe was the point? Eh, who knows. Usually this is the point where I say that you could either buy this single issue or a pack of four, but in this case I’d strongly suggest going with the four issues for $22 option. Sure, you might get more out of this single issue than me and it might be fine to buy it by itself, but the pricing for four basically makes that fourth issue free, so if this issue doesn’t do much for you either, consider it a freebie. $7 (or $22)
I’m ashamed of my scanner, because what you’re missing from that cover image is that those black lines are actually part of a foil embossed cover, so they’re actually silver. I was a little too old to care when those covers started coming out in the 90’s (still barely following superhero comics, mostly annoyed when I saw a cover like that because they were always expensive), but I’m oddly always overjoyed to see them for the covers of indie comics. This is yet another really great collection of stories from Jonathan and a cast of some of the best artists working today; if you’re curious about them, click on their tag, because chances are I’ve reviewed their solo work too. Jonathan mentions in his afterward that he thinks this is his most “cohesive” comic based on the themes, and I’d agree with that. His dad features prominently, which makes a lot of sense considering the themes of the last issue. Stories include reminiscing about his dad’s life and watching him seamlessly fit into a group of strangers just because he used to live in that neighborhood (art by Noah Van Sciver), his reaction to the death of David Lynch and his connection to his work (art by Bhanu Pratap, and I was nodding along to this whole story, because it really hit me too), his spotting a very famous movie star at an awards show where the movie star was very conspicuously missing (art by Danny Hellman), his job back in the day as a fetcher which meant he was loosely working for the film industry (art by Karl Christian Krumpholz), and his mom’s connection to movie musicals (art by Becky Hawkins). And several more stories, but come on, this is #15, you know the deal by now. If you’re buying his comics, you’re buying a pile of quality stories, and aren’t surprises fun? Also I may be writing this on my lunch break, which will be a good reminder not to do this again, because I can already be incoherent when I’m not rushed, who knows how this is going to turn out? Check it out, it would also be a fantastic place to give his work a try for the first time if you’re curious. And check out that cover!
This is yet another case where I’m tempted to just paste the description on the back of the comic here and call it a day, but I shall not! I’m a professional, damn it! Oof, how degraded has that term become if I’m allowed to say it? Anyway, avoiding my dubious qualifications regarding giving my opinions on comics (I’ve read a lot of them for a lot of years and I’m willing to pay a hosting fee for the website?), this one is fascinating. It starts off describing the infinite staircase from Super Mario 64, which I don’t remember at all, but the game is good lord 30 years old now, so it’s probably best that the fine details of it have left my brain. Leo goes into detail about how it’s of course not infinite at all but a trick to deceive the player, before tying that into the famous Penrose Staircase by MC Escher and then bringing that together with the 1946 film “A Matter of Life and Death.” How on earth does all that tie together? Pft, like I’m going to spoil her conclusion. I will say that her tying the only solution to the infinite staircase in Mario to both those three things and what we experience in life was brilliant and that, as always, it was disturbing to see Mario drawn as more or less a normal human being. I don’t know why that’s always unnerving, but it certainly is. Overall this is another damned fine entry in the mini kus catalog, so give it a shot why don’t you? Especially if you have fond memories of this game, because there’s technically a cheat in here for it. $7, or $22 for a pack of four comics (I haven’t reviewed the other three yet, but this is usually one of the safest deals in comics)
Well well well, looks like we got us an old fashioned anthology comic! With no obvious website to be found or easy way to purchase it either. Still, what am I supposed to do, NOT talk about it? I’m going with the theory that the links provided will be more active soon. There are a few different stories in here, as “anthology” implies, and the names are linked in the tags if you’re curious. If you want more details, first up is a Steve Willis story about the wonders of a food dish from the perspective of a cat, followed by a story (illustrated by Charles Brubaker) showing how a man in a giant cat costume responds to being challenged by three talking dogs. No, the “talking” part never seems to bother him, but the guy was being threatened, so maybe he was a bit distracted. Next is a story (illustrated by Bob Richart) about a very protective elf who guards the secrets of a statue, and does so by transforming the noses of anybody who asks. These noses also apparently grow into a second body coming from the person’s head, which could have been played for horror but was instead more about the farting ability of the new body. In an anthology like this one, that was clearly the right way to go. Next (with Jack Lattemann) is a story about the journey of artwork through the mail service, which anybody who uses the post office can sadly relate to. The last story in the comic (with Buzz Buzzizyk), is more of a musical piece, and in keeping with my habits I’ll leave that one up to the reader. Finally on the back cover there’s the story of a perplexed wizard, with an anonymous artist so I can’t say much about them. It’s a solid pile of funny stories, and what more can you ask for really? If you can find it, give it a shot why don’t you? No price, but $3 maybe?
Oh wordless mini kus books, we do have some fun together. Well, it’s not entirely wordless, but I’ll leave the one thing that’s actually said in the book as a surprise for the reader. As always, I’ll most likely get some things wrong in my theories of what’s happening, but hey, isn’t that half the fun? This is the story of a young girl who’s being put to bed for the night. I used the first page for the sample image, something I rarely do, because just look at the sheer level of detail in it, and how much is casually set up for the story ahead. There’s a frog perched on the girl’s head, there’s a goat sleeping at the foot of her bed, there’s what may or may not be a witch (wearing oven mitts to tuck the girl in), there’s the bedposts (and claws on the feet of each bedpost), along with several other tiny details. From there the light is switched off, the frog also falls asleep… and once it’s pitch black, the young girl decides to go exploring, guided by a strange odor. Well, I’m guessing “strange” here, maybe the right word would be “enticing.” They travel through a barren landscape before eventually winding up at a large structure that looks like a natural part of the environment. Inside of this structure is a giant snake (and you should also linger on the small details of this gigantic room), where the nature of her quest is finally revealed, and we get to see which of the members is a coward. That’s all you’re getting from me, but this is a gorgeous, haunting book, and a damned solid fourth issue if you’re doing the “buy four mini kus comics for basically the price of three of them” deal. $7 (or $22 for the deal)
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…
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?
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.
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)
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)
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
Posted by Kevin 
