May 5, 2016
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Space: An Eschew Collection
Every time I think I have a handle on the small press comics world, I get a book from somebody who has been doing amazing work for years that I’ve never heard of. Nope, I am never going to be current on everybody I should be watching, but that’s no reason to stop trying, right? This is a collection of stories from Robert, some longer and some shorter. My favorite was probably the 13 pages of bad experience involving water (I’d be amazed if you didn’t relate to at least one of them; with all 13 I wonder if he ever swims at this point), but there was so much good stuff in here that it’s hard to pick just one story. Subjects include ignoring an ongoing problem while working on a crossword puzzle, his first kiss and the aftermath, getting a dead squirrel dumped on his car hood while driving, the saga of his favorite sweatshirt and how hard it was to find a replacement, Nintendo and its connection to an old childhood injury (and another injury that came from his complaining about said injury), the results of watching a yoga video on his computer, physical reminders of an ex-girlfriend, trying immersion therapy to help him get over his fear of crowds/dancing, whether or not Thoreau was a phony, and learning about and meeting an uncle who was always the black sheep of the family (mostly because he was an illustrator). There are at least a dozen other short pieces too, but why tell you about everything? All of these stories share a vague sense of unease about the world, or maybe a reluctant acceptance of his place in it. Anybody reading it will know what I mean, but it’s hard to dig into it without sounding like a phony, and anybody who has read this site for any length of time knows I don’t do that “deep critical analysis” thing. Leave that to the professionals, says I. Anyway, this is a thoroughly thought-provoking and engaging book, while still managing to make me laugh on more than a few occasions. It’s definitely worth a look, especially if you’re like me and had somehow managed to miss Robert for this long. That only leaves more new stuff for you to discover, as this book is huge. $15
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Posted by Kevin
May 5, 2016
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1944
I’ll confess, I didn’t think there were any angles to WWII yet to be uncovered, but I was wrong about that. The time frame of this one should be obvious from the title, and this is set in Karelia, an area of Northern Europe. Bombings were a regular occurrence back then (something most Americans can probably barely even comprehend), but meanwhile the citizens were trying to lead some semblance of a normal life. Or, at the very least, they were forced to deal with normal life going on around them, like what’s depicted in this comic. An alarm is sounded, the inhabitants of an area (including a barn that had obviously been hit before) were given two minutes to leave… and this was impossible because there was a cow giving birth. The people were confronted with a few options at that point, none of them good, but they went with the most human option and helped the cow. Still, the idea of traveling on the run with a baby calf wasn’t a good one, so they were once again confronted with a few options, and that’s where I’ll leave the story for the rest of you. There’s tragedy in the smallest things, and the image of the cow that I initially thought was amusing on the back cover turned out to be anything but. It’s a great but heart-wrenching story, all told in scratchy black and white that emphasized the feel of the whole area being under a constant cloud of greasy smoke. $4
Leave a Comment » | Reviews | Tagged: 1944, Hanneriina Moisseinen, Mini Kus | Permalink
Posted by Kevin
May 4, 2016
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The Electric Team #2
Parents who are reading this, you must love comics or you wouldn’t be here, right? Maybe you’ve already figured this out, but what’s the best way to get your kids interested in comics at a young age? Why not help them write the comic that you’re putting out together? That’s the case here, and don’t fret, it’s a solid story even for non-parents like me. And frankly, Abigail’s art on page 4 (she drew one of the characters, but it made sense in the context of the comic) is better than what I could do already. If you’re curious, the whole family did the story, Leighton did the script, and Samantha did the art (except for page 4). So what about that story? We start off with a flashback to the character on the cover from when he was a kid, and how he dreamed of growing up and becoming a hero. We then switch back to his modern day perspective, and how being a hero in real life isn’t as great as he thought it would be. From there we meet the whole crew of adventurers and get a little insight into where at least a few of them came from, although I don’t think it was ever made clear where exactly they were headed. Or it was made clear in the first issue, but I only got the second issue at SPACE this year, so that’s on me. It’s an eclectic bunch, and we see them run into some creepy (but somehow still cute) pandas with bat wings along with what looks to be the big villain of the piece. I’m curious about that team, how they all came together and how they’re going to get out of their current jam, which I think means that the comic was successful. And how could you not support a comic made entirely by a family? That’s just a wonderful thing. Check it out, help make sure this kid retains her current love of comics! $4
Leave a Comment » | Reviews | Tagged: Abigail Connor, Leighton Connor, Samantha Albert, The Electric Team | Permalink
Posted by Kevin
May 4, 2016
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Comic Con
And here I thought this was going to be one of those comics by an artist that was sold at a convention, with a story about past conventions, to me while I was attending a convention. I can’t believe I made it through SPACE this year without getting one of those, as they are a tradition, but the review pile is getting slim and none have showed up yet. Anyway, that’s irrelevant to the actual contents of this mini, which is a fairly adorable story about two snakes who are trying to decide on the best possible costume for a comic convention. Since it’s 8 pages (with the front and back cover) and since each page is one panel long, I don’t think I should say much more about it than that. Yes, I even believe in no spoilers for 8 page mini comics. What can I say, I liked the punchline. So yeah, I liked it. And Evette sells all kinds of things at her website outside of comics, including some jewelry and badges. Even a Beemo badge, which I would buy if I wasn’t a grown man and could get away with such things. But don’t let that stop you!
Leave a Comment » | Reviews | Tagged: Comic Con, Evette Langford, Evette Makes Things | Permalink
Posted by Kevin
May 3, 2016
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Laid to the Bone
Well, for once the internet has mostly failed me. I’ve been trying to figure out if this comic is part of a series (Mike and Kevin work on a strip called “Truth Dart”), and these look like some of the same characters based on the few strips I’ve found online, but I still can’t tell for sure. So how about I treat it like any old comic off the street and not a research project? That’s worked for me so far, more or less. This is the story of two people who I assumed were dating for the bulk of the comic but I later learned I was completely wrong on that one. Um, spoiler alert, unless that’s already established in the strips, in which case never mind. Things start off with the two of them at a party and the lady asks the dude to spit in her mouth to cheer her up. They do, everybody sees it, and a new party game is born! From there we see them hanging out, mostly in her apartment, mostly drunk, and spending endless amounts of time together, which also includes burning each other with cigarettes. The dude half has a crush, because this is how these things work in the real world, but is resigned to being friend after a decade of that being the case. “Resigned” is maybe too strong a word; the guy seems content with the situation as it is. From there we get a sudden shift to the perspective of the lady as she tries on old swimsuits and wonder why her body seems to be wasting away. There’s some sadness in both halves, but what I mostly came away with was the story of two people who were bored alone but happy together, even if neither one of them seemed to fully understand that. The full page panels and the sparse text also make it feel a bit like a visual poem. I’m not seeing any samples online but it is available to buy, so maybe check out a few of their strips and then take a chance on this comic. $5
Leave a Comment » | Reviews | Tagged: Kevin Eckert, Laid to the Bone, Mike Burridge | Permalink
Posted by Kevin
May 3, 2016
Website
Cocosoco
Here’s a sometimes surreal collection of stories by Mooney, translated into English by her husband (who did a really solid job, especially on the baby talk, as it’s often hard to tell what they’re trying to convey in comics form). Things start off with a silent piece about a young girl who looks to be exploring the things that make her a girl, starting with an open porn magazine and leading her to a covered bed, where she sees a pine cone that is actually a tiny fairy in hiding. The perspective shifts down to the fairy, who is stripped by the young girl, out of curiosity I guess? From there the fairy does some self-renovation, a fisherman finds the results of this experiment and has a good laugh with his wife about it later in the day. Next up is a shorter piece about racing to or from the past, how dreams as a child can reappear to you as an adult with no warning, and what can be seen and what’s just assumed about time passing. Yeah, maybe I’m making it sound lofty, but there are some big ideas in that story and I didn’t want to gloss over them. Finally there’s some whimsy, as we see a two hour stretch of a Monday morning shown basically from the perspective of a 2 year old (ish; still in diapers anyway) child. This is where her husband nails the dialogue, or maybe she’s familiar enough with the baby talk to do it herself, but either way it’s dead on. The little terrors, the little joys, the pooping and peeing in inappropriate places, and the joy that’s taken from damned near everything in the world from that perspective is on clear display. It’s an eclectic mix of stories, but they all come together to form a compelling comic. $5
Leave a Comment » | Reviews | Tagged: Big Ugly Robot, Cocosoco, Mooney Tomomi | Permalink
Posted by Kevin
May 2, 2016
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Vagabond Comics #2
The theme for this anthology is foods (and drinks, technically), which is maybe obvious from the cover, at least until you examine more closely what exactly is in that jello. First up (by Sequoia Bostick) is a story about the joys and obvious effects of drinking too much coffee, told so lovingly that it was impossible not to enjoy. Unless you hate coffee, I guess, but if that’s the case then how do you get through the day? No, seriously, I really want to know. Next up (by Clare Holat) is the confession of a former pie blogger, and she was nice enough to use an actual pie recipe if you’re interested in baking a pie. Zach Sabatino has the next piece, about the quest for the mythical Starburger and the lengths that people will go to to get it. Julia Simmons follows that up by showing us the horrors of a vegetable and fruit platter from the perspective of the sole surviving member. And if plants really do have a rudimentary intelligence like recent science (that I may or may not have read correctly) suggest, good luck vegetarians! Luke Grabber then has one of the longer pieces in the book, an extended story about the quest of a young man to get just one bite of candy out of the candy bar of a stranger. Lindsey Bryan follows with the shortest story in the book, a literal tale about her ability to make a mean burger. Fabienne Duteau is next with the efforts of a vampire and her friends to make a soup of some kind, helped along by using some potions. Possibly these were anime characters that I didn’t recognize, or possibly they were Fabienne’s own characters, in which case never mind; it’s just that I didn’t know their story. Anyway, it turns out that using potions in making food can get a bit tricky, but I should say no more than that. Finally there’s a tale (by Salem Powell) about the workaday life of a pigeon and his family. I’ll confess that this one didn’t do a lot for me, but then again maybe I’m still suffering flashbacks from recently watching that awful HBO show “Animals,” the one about the pigeons in particular. Either way, it’s just my opinion, and I’m often wrong. Overall it’s still a solid mix of stories, and this comic was nicely put together in every possible way. $10
Leave a Comment » | Reviews | Tagged: Amalia Degirolamo, Clare Holat, Fabienne Duteau, Julia Simmons, Lindsey Bryan, Luke Graber, Salem Powell, Sequoia Bostick, Vagabond Comics, Zach Sabatino | Permalink
Posted by Kevin
May 2, 2016
Website
Never Stop Drinking
Huzzah, a book of (mostly) single panel strips! Yeah, I go back and forth on the concept, but I always like them when they’re funny, and the bulk of these are funny. Sometimes I missed the references (there’s an recurring gag with what the characters of “Doug” are up to today, but I don’t know what that was so the humor was lost on me), but overall this is a really solid bunch of strips. I don’t fully get the mechanics of having a writer and an artist for single panel strips, but then again these were mostly done in bars, so I’m probably overthinking it. Subjects include a recurring gag where a kid eats from a different type of cereal every day (the joke is in the title of the cereal and his reactions), where all those barrels came from in Donkey Kong, a better ending for Lost, the Crest Cavity fighters taking care of some prisoners, recurring strips of the inner monologue of a dumb dog, Hammy Sagar, trying to avoid a nemesis, the descent into madness of a piece of ravioli, the good of a cure of all the diseases after looking at actual people for a bit, Sue Storm as a stripper, and the master plan of Aquaman. And all kinds of other subjects, as this book is packed, but what’s the fun of me spoiling the subjects of strips when they’re mostly only a panel long? I won’t be a party to that madness. This is also in full color, so the strips look great (drunkenness aside), and a number of them have beer rings (I’m assuming) like the dog image you see on the cover. Authentic! But yeah, if you’re a fan of funny things then there’s plenty for you to enjoy in here. $17
Leave a Comment » | Reviews | Tagged: Brian Canini, Derek Baxter, Never Stop Drinking | Permalink
Posted by Kevin
April 29, 2016
Website
Bad Sex
Right off the bat, Lauren might have my favorite disclaimer to keep the kids away ever: “Not for kids. What’s wrong with you!!!!” I mean, yeah. If the title alone doesn’t make the content clear then there’s not much else she can say to make it clearer. As for that content, yep, that title doesn’t lie. A few of these stories scream out for another page or two, but that’s mostly because I cannot imagine what happened next. Bad sex occasions include (and I’ll try not to spoil too much) drunken friend sex at a party, “stop moving so much” as a command during sex, a condom problem that turns a whole lot grosser by the end of the strip, blow job commands and “I can just pull out, don’t worry,” possibly the biggest asshole in the world (again, I don’t want to spoil it, but just an all-around asshole), and “Lost Boy” sex. Nope, not going to explain that. I also couldn’t help but notice that there was no cunnilingus depicted in here at all. Granted, I’m fairly out of touch with the youth of today, and maybe Lauren just didn’t want to draw it, but guys, that shit is supposed to come standard. 0 for 6 on the stories in here is a pretty terrible sign. Unless that’s just another reason for the title, in which case don’t mind me. Oh, and a fun fact: I bought this from Lauren at SPACE, and if you’re wondering if it makes you feel a bit like a creep to buy a comic called “Bad Sex” from the lady who had all that bad sex, a little bit, yeah! Stupid small town upbringing. Besides, I had been reading her True Life strips online, so the Bad Sex comic was what was new to me. Anyway, I absolutely recommend reading this. If you’re having sex you’re bound to relate to some of these strips, and if you’re not having sex this comic might make you decide that that’s not the worst thing in the world after all. $5
Leave a Comment » | Reviews | Tagged: Bad Sex, Lauren McCallister | Permalink
Posted by Kevin
April 29, 2016
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Cemetery Plots #1
I assume there will be some point in the future where I get sick of the concept of horror anthologies in the vein of Tales From The Crypt, but that day certainly hasn’t arrived yet. This one has about half a dozen horror stories, some better than others, as this is an anthology, after all. First up (by Rob Gant) is a zombie story called “Chomp”with a twist: we see it from the perspective of the zombie as he turns. He retains his mind, at least for a little while, but is utterly unable to communicate with anybody. Next is “Head Games” by Dan Johnson and Gary O’Donnell, which is told from the perspective of a severed head in a jar. He shares a mental link with the few other heads in the vicinity and has a front row seat to a mad doctor conducting different kinds of experiments. “Three Way” by Dan Johnson and Steve Casper is next, and while that title is literally true, there is naturally a twist on it, which I can’t exactly give away here. Search your memories for TFTC stories and you might guess it! Next is a werewolf story, which seems to be in short supply these days, called “The Unfaithful” (by Alexter Albury and Gary O’Donnell). It takes a few pages before I fully understood what was happening, but I can tell you that if you love werewolf mayhem then you’re bound to enjoy this one. “Rest in Pieces” (by Dan Johnson and Eric Bowen) was the shortest and simplest story of the bunch, dealing with a man trying to raise the dead and the fairly obvious problems with making that attempt. Finally there’s a single page strip called “Dr. Frank and Higgins” (by Robert Watson and Rob Gant) that helps end the book on a funny note. I thoroughly enjoyed the crossover bits with D.O. Mann (their answer to the Crypt Keeper) and his terrible puns, but your mileage may vary on that. Again, if you enjoyed TFTC then I can’t see how those puns would bother you. So overall this is a fairly solid collection of horror stories, and frankly the world always needs more of these comics. And all for a measly $3!
Leave a Comment » | Reviews | Tagged: Alexander Albury, Cemetery Plots, Dan Johnson, Derek Watson, Eric Bowen, Gary O'Donnell, Larry Underwood, Rob Gant, Rodney Bennett, Steve Casper | Permalink
Posted by Kevin
April 28, 2016
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The Longest Sentence
Once I’m again I sit here with a comic that is very difficult to talk about without spoiling too much of the contents, and once again I’m going to dance around it as best I can. But to make it easy for you, if you find that cover and title intriguing, the inside of the book is equally intriguing and I was fascinated by the journey all the way through. With that being said, unintentional spoilers ahead! This one starts off with a shackled man being dragged along by two guards wearing helmets that completely obscure their faces. He’s dragged through a gigantic open area, filled with doors and stairs, before coming out into the open on a long bridge. The group then stops for water and our hero makes the mistake of asking how far he has to go (he’s on his way to receive judgment from a king that he has heard isn’t particularly fair, meaning he doesn’t like his chances regardless), but he’s just getting started. There are all kinds of hazards and areas that are difficult if not impossible to traverse without help, and this is where you’re losing me as reviewer because I don’t want to tell you the nature of all of these hazards. I was thoroughly engaged for the whole journey, I’ll say that much, and we do eventually learn a bit more about the guards and the nature of this kingdom. If that’s enough to intrigue you, it’s well worth checking out so you should probably do that. If you need more, the internet exists so there are always more samples out there. $5
Leave a Comment » | Reviews | Tagged: Big Ugly Robot, Brian Reyes, The Longest Sentence | Permalink
Posted by Kevin
April 28, 2016
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Dating Jesus Stories
This one is a collection of short stories, and there was a definite theme early on (stories of the past that he regretted with the benefit of hindsight), but that shifted a bit over the course of the comic and it ended up being about a variety of different subjects. Subjects include the time that the lead character (I assumed that these were all about Josh, but looking through it again at least a large chunk of these stories have to either be fictional or about other people) caught his fiancee having sex with another man on top of his favorite blanket (which was obviously too much to take), how his buying a cheap used A/C unit led to a roach infestation and his revenge on the guy he bought it from, the power of first love and first orgasm (story partially by Elena Costello), how another character was able to eventually decipher bathroom code to have more mostly anonymous gay sex in a repressive small town (and how it went wrong), tree climbing and sleeping in trees, and a mysterious lady who’s eating alone in a restaurant and wants to buy a specific painting. There’s also the title story, which deals with a once devout (and deeply misguided) young man who turns down sex more than once because he’s waiting for marriage… until he takes a shower with a different lady and discovers what a blow job is. Yep, that’ll do it every time. It’s a nice wide range of stories, and them all being in color didn’t hurt a thing either. Check it out, learn all about how Jesus doesn’t stand a chance against shower sex.
Leave a Comment » | Reviews | Tagged: Dating Jesus, Dating Jesus Stories, Josh White | Permalink
Posted by Kevin
April 26, 2016
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Sleepless #1
I’ll get to the quality of this book in a minute, but when you review comics for as long as I have you start to develop some serious pessimism when there’s a long lag between issues of a series. In this case this comic came out in 2012, a #2 was mentioned (but, in fairness, no date was promised) and now it’s April 2016 with no second issue. However! This same writer has six issues of another series (Binary Gray) done and available, and two issues of another series (Black of Heart) available, so it’s not like he’s slacking. Maybe he’s just having trouble coming up with more stories for this theme. Which, in case you’re wondering and haven’t wandered off by now, is basically horror stories in the vein of Twilight Zone or Skeleton Crew (according to Chris in his afterward). Four stories in this, and first up is a fairly standard zombie story about a man who has given up hope and has his back against the wall. I kind of saw the ending coming, but I’ve read far too many zombie stories over the years, so good luck surprising me on that stuff. Next up is the story of a man who has waited out the apocalypse all by himself, listening for radio signals and coming to the end of his food reserves. The third story has a pretty drastic tonal shift, as it’s all about a redneck who gets himself abducted by aliens and his fight to escape, with a pretty great last couple of pages that turns it in an unexpected direction. Finally there’s the tale of a young boy who is tormented by bullies at school and his overprotective mother. Again, I did not see that ending coming, which is always appreciated. A different artist draws each story, and they all bring a unique touch to it, with my favorite being David Hollenbach because of his gorgeous, haunting artwork about the man who is living alone through the apocalypse. So yeah, I may not have loved the whole book, but there’s more than enough good stuff here to make it worth recommending. $6
Leave a Comment » | Reviews | Tagged: Chris Charlton, David Hollenbach, Greg Woronchak, Joe Badon, Matt Dicke, Rowel Roque, Sleepless | Permalink
Posted by Kevin
April 26, 2016
Website
Miserable Americans #1
A fantastic concept can take a comic series a long way, and this series certainly has that in spades. This one starts off with two fugitives on the run, and you can already tell from that cover that they’re Abraham Lincoln and John F. Kennedy, but bloodied and armed. From there we learn who is chasing them, then gradually go back in time to see them waking up in their new environments. They’ve both been cloned (I think; that’s still a bit vague) and remember everything almost up to their deaths. They’re both given the cover story that their wives have been killed and that they’re both too injured to resume their presidential duties, and both of them gradually see things that lead them to believe that they’re being lied to. They’re kept separate, of course, and Kennedy is the first one to suspect those around him, as he was aware that there were rumblings about a coup while he was still alive and wasn’t sure who to trust after he “survived” the assassination attempt. Lincoln, meanwhile, has difficulty communicating with the staff, as his speech patterns don’t match up to modern day talk and the doctors can’t really keep up with him. Finally one of them is given help and, still not sure what exactly is going on, starts to explore the hospital. There are four issues of this series out as of April 2016, so it’s clear that Evan has a plan here, and the first issue moves along at a solid pace. We still don’t know exactly who is responsible for this or why they chose these two specific presidents (or people, for that matter), so there’s a lot of ground yet to be covered. It has me excited to see what happens next, which is all you can really ask for out of a first issue. $4
Leave a Comment » | Reviews | Tagged: Evan Derian, Miserable Americans | Permalink
Posted by Kevin
April 25, 2016
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October 2015
Wrestling fans, you’re going to love this one. Other people, well, it’s still a good story, so don’t dismiss it because it deals (tangentially) with wrestling. M.S. has been doing monthly autobio comics (she had several at her table at SPACE) and this one deals with a very special month. She woke up late one morning to find that her “gentleman caller” (yes, I am a time traveler from the 1920’s) had left while she was sleeping, but he left one important thing behind: a WCW tag team championship belt. Once and possibly future wrestling geek that I am, I immediately started wondering if it was legit, which era it was from, if it was discarded by a wrestler or sold at a pawn shop, etc. M.S. doesn’t get into any of that. She instead tells the story of how she knew that she was living on borrowed time with this belt and how she wanted to make the most of her time with it. It seemed to give her a whole new outlook on life, and that outlook was mostly that she was a badass for as long as she had this belt. She took on the cockroaches in her apartment, practiced her street dancing, rode a bike one mile to school that had no seat, and enrolled in a 5K marathon. Out of several funny bits the marathon was probably my favorite, purely because it looked like your average drunken get-together that nobody took seriously as a race, but she was in it to win it. In case it wasn’t obvious, I liked this one a lot, and autobio people take note: it’s perfectly OK to do your monthly autobio comic as one story. There’s no need to do daily recaps if you have nothing to say on certain days! I don’t know why I got shouty there, I just read a lot of comics. Oh, and as of today this comic is on her Tumblr page, so read it and see for yourself. Otherwise you can probably get this from her for a few bucks.
Leave a Comment » | Reviews | Tagged: M.S. Harkness, October 2015 | Permalink
Posted by Kevin
April 25, 2016
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Role Play
This comic does something I don’t think I’ve seen before (assuming I’m reading it correctly, which is often a dicey proposition): it treats the entire story as a stage play, told from the perspective of the actor who begins the show as a complete blank slate. It’s just him alone on a stage with a spotlight, trying to understand the basics of life with help from the cues of the audience and the other two actors. He tries to understand wardrobe, the purpose of said wardrobe, how to relate to the female actor who is there to love and be loved, and how to deal with “a manly way to show appreciation” by the male actor. Things get awkward quickly, meaning that it does an excellent job of mimicking real life. It’s a thoroughly engaging story, and it accomplished the rare comic feat of making me go back and read it over again after the first time through. Check it out, see if you think my interpretation of the story is completely wrong! It probably is. $5
Leave a Comment » | Reviews | Tagged: Alissa Sallah, Role Play | Permalink
Posted by Kevin
April 21, 2016
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Soulcial Anxiety
OK, full disclosure time: I noticed the cover for this comic while I was working the Board of Elections table at SPACE this year (2016, for future readers or temporally confused time travelers) and couldn’t pass it up. I still think it’s mesmerizing, with the ghosts mixing with the other ghosts and the color changes. There’s also a clever pun, and those always draw me in when done well (and it’s so easy to not do them well), but I’m an objective reviewer, so no clever title/amazing cover is going to woo me! I shall only judge the contents of the book! And… yeah, I liked that a lot too. This is the story of a recently risen ghost (and/or recently dead person; I have no idea how long it takes for a theoretical ghost to appear) who rises up and tries to greet his or her fellow ghosts. Our hero is awfully cheery about the whole thing, but I do like the idea of starting any new undertaking with optimism. Did I throw a pun in there? I say no. Anyway, our hero tries to chat with other ghosts and discovers that they aren’t the chattiest bunch. From there we get some brief insight into what this ghost was like when it was still alive, followed by further attempts to make an impression on the other ghosts. I won’t spoil the ending, but it’s a compelling and wistful short comic that has me curious to see what else Cailey has done. She did mention that she’s a student at the local art college (CCAD), which makes this book even more impressive, as she’s still learning. I did grab her other comic too, so I’ll put a review up of that in the weeks to come, but I know for sure that I can wholeheartedly recommend this one.
Leave a Comment » | Reviews | Tagged: Cailey Tervo, Soulcial Anxiety | Permalink
Posted by Kevin
April 21, 2016
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Genius Junkies
Anybody else getting a serious “Bride of Frankenstein” vibe off of that cover? No? Just me, then. It’s actually a clever use of a giant pill behind one of the geniuses mentioned in that title. This is the story of two junkies that Brian has known over the course of his life and how easily they outsmarted everybody around them. First up is the local neighborhood junkie who is always asking people if they need help with any yardwork. That’s fairly common, and Brian was convinced that the guy was casing houses to rob later. It turns out that the guy was a little smarter than that, but why spoil it for you? Pretend to have a junkie brain and try to imagine what you would actually be up to with that scheme. He also relates the story of a girl he knew in school who used to make money babysitting various kids around the neighborhood. Her scheme may have been a bit more obvious than the other junkie, but I’ll bet you can figure out that one too if you think about it. As far as I can tell neither of them ever got caught with these schemes, or if they did Brian never heard about it, hence the title of the comic. Check it you, get some tips on how to be the best junkie you can be! $1
Leave a Comment » | Reviews | Tagged: Brian John Mitchell, Genius Junkies, Nate McDonough | Permalink
Posted by Kevin
April 20, 2016
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Caroline’s Catalog
Have you ever had one of those days when you realize that you don’t know as much about the universe as you thought you did? Or, rather, how the important bits of the universe were discovered? This comic is all about Caroline Herschel, who worked with her brother for years in the early 1800’s to discover and catalog comets, nebulas (nebulae?) and star formations where the people involved didn’t yet know what they were looking at. Her brother was an earlier tinkerer with different types of telescopes, constantly looking for better ways to view the stars and get a closer look at things that were very far away. A lot of those old telescopes look frankly ludicrous in modern times, but really it’s more the outside covering than anything else. Giant telescopes are still alive and well today, after all. Anyway, Caroline ends up helping her brother quite a bit, with their research almost becoming interchangeable over the years, and this book details the ways in which she was and was not recognized for her work. Frankly, I was expecting her plight to be worse, as it’s not like the early 1800’s were a particularly enlightened time in regards to women being recognized for their scientific achievements. She did get some slight recognition (nowhere close to the amount that her brother got, but there didn’t seem to be a systemic effort to take her achievements away) and had a comfortable life with the money she made doing this work. Oh, and her brother discovered Uranus. Maybe I should have led with that. This is a fascinating story to anybody who’s interested in the stars and how humans got really good at cataloging them and other celestial objects, told in a relatable way from the perspective of an older woman (she’s depicted as 82 here) who has had time to contemplate her life and work. Which isn’t a shock, as E.J. has been doing great work for years now, but it’s very much worth checking out. $3
Leave a Comment » | Reviews | Tagged: Caroline's Catalog, E.J. Barnes | Permalink
Posted by Kevin
April 20, 2016
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Middle-Aged Monster
Credit where credit it due: I did not see that final page coming. Granted, with a title like that I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect, but way to find a solid cliffhanger for what could have been a fairly standard giant monster comic. This one starts off with an unhappy monster couple, living together under the sea and bickering like an old married couple. Because, apparently, they are an old married couple, although I’m not sure who or what could have officiated over such a ceremony. That’s clearly digging too deep into things, but the monsters get into a bit of an argument (the monster on the cover would prefer to eat more humans, his wife would prefer to keep to his fish diet because it’s healthier), the angry monster storms off into Manhattan in a huff and runs into Kongo (based on King Kong, obviously) and they reminisce about the good old days while destroying large chunks of the town. They also run into one more monster who is strangely reluctant to get into a conversation with them, so naturally that comes back around eventually. Steve is able to put these comics at a ridiculous pace, and they’re always at least amusing, while I’d go so far as to call this one a blast. Is there a pun in there? No, I think I’m in the clear. Anyway, another solid addition to his growing library of comics, so check it out if you’ve ever wondered what giant monsters get up to once their glory days are behind them.
Leave a Comment » | Reviews | Tagged: Middle Aged Monster, Steve Steiner | Permalink
Posted by Kevin
