February 14, 2014
Website
Blink Volume 2: To Go With This Doorknob
Note for everybody who isn’t living in the past: this is a rough cut edition of the second volume of the Blink saga. Can I call it a saga or is that word reserved for things in the fantasy/science fiction genre? Anyway, the official version of this is out, but here I am, reviewing the rough cut, because it’s the version that I have available. This is all to say that any complaints/comments/praise I make about this book could be completely wrong, as what I liked/disliked could have changed by the time the final edition came out. So doesn’t that make this review essentially meaningless? Eh, let’s not get too far bogged down in philosophical questions. At the very least this will serve to remind fans of this series that there’s a new volume out there. So! I’ll start with a complaint from me as a fanboy and not a hypothetically impartial reviewer: you just cannot put out an entire volume of this series and not include Sam in it. Granted, the series is called “Blink” and not “Blink and Sam,” but come on now. Sam is gold whenever she’s on the page, and even if she didn’t fit in this story, at least have a flashback to an older conversation of theirs or something. Oh crap, I just solved my own problem, didn’t I? Sam isn’t in this story because she doesn’t fit into THIS story. Dammit! OK, enough rambling, by now you’re probably wondering what’s in this volume. This is essentially a long conversation between Blink and a number of new people that she meets. It starts off with her drawing in a park when a large, smiling man walks up to her. She’s a little confused, but seems to get that there’s no real threat there, and she gradually meets this guy and the two guys that he’s with, all of whom seem to be homeless but getting by through shelters and free meals. This leads Blink to a free potluck dinner at a “hidden gem” in Columbus, where she runs into an older friend, a few other people and a creepy piano player. I always get the feeling that I’m not properly conveying the joy of these books in my reviews, as “lady talks to other people for about 40 pages about all sorts of things” might not be something that gets people to rush out and buy all his collections, but I have to again emphasize that you really should get all of his collections. The man is building a world, based on the actual world of Columbus Ohio, and he’s doing a hell of a job with it. This volume was a little lacking in Columbus landmarks compared to other volumes, probably because it starts in a park and ends at a dinner (after a walk from the park to the dinner), but he has 11 more volumes to include more landmarks. Check it out, but start from the beginning. Hey, just go SPACE in Columbus in April, that’ll make it easy to get caught up on his series. $7
Comments Off on Ink, Max – Blink Volume 2: To Go With This Doorknob | 
Reviews | Tagged: Blink, Max Ink, To Go With This Doorknob | 
Permalink
Posted by Kevin
February 13, 2014
Website
Red Right Hand #1
Quick, a show of hands: how many of you know who David Yow is? OK, I can’t see you through the screen, so the show of hands isn’t going to help me. I’m guessing the number is shockingly low. Would it help if I told you he was the lead singer for The Jesus Lizard? Unless you’re roughly my age, that’s probably not much help either. The man is a force of nature, and I’ll just leave it at that. Anyway, this comic starts off with a couple of people sitting at a bar, listening to the inane chatter all around them and getting increasingly upset at the general state of humanity. One of them recognizes David Yow (shirtless, as always), but is surprised to see the guy wearing an eye patch. This is because this David Yow is from the future, and he’s come back to the past to kill the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Oh, if only this comic was based on a true story. Anyway, mayhem ensues, a master plan is hinted at, and we’re well set up for the rest of this series. My only complaint was that (spoiler alert, I suppose) that awful band gets taken care of off-panel, which is a horrible punishment to the right thinking people of the world who would have liked to have seen them get taken apart in graphic detail. Other than that this is a solid first issue with a great premise, and I can’t wait to see who they go after next. $3
Comments Off on Crawford, Ryan; Margolis, Eric; Heimer, James – Red Right Hand #1 | Reviews | Tagged: Eric Margolis, James Heimer, Red Right Hand, Ryan Crawford | Permalink
Posted by Kevin
February 13, 2014
Website
DemonGunz
If you’re keeping track of the chronology of the life of Bernie, read DemonTears before this one. And hey, a little bit of trivia: DemonDust was initially called DemonGun, for reasons that he explains in this collection. This collection contains issues #1-11 of that series (the name change happened with #8), which nicely coincides with when I started reviewing this series at #11. I missed quite a bit of backstory coming in at that point, but now I’m caught up and know the whole story. Well, I know the parts he chose to put in his comics, as he’s pretty open about the fact that there are plenty of details of his life that he’s not going to be sharing with the readers. Which is fine! Anyway, this one starts at a time when Bernie’s recovery from alcoholism was still a new and shaky thing, and the early issues of his series very much reflect on this state, as he wonders whether his no longer drinking is what’s contributing to his writer’s block on his other series (An Army of Lovers Will Be Beaten, and don’t make me tell you to read that one again). This is very much a book where you’re rewarded for keeping up with his other projects, as characters from current and future series show up with a bit of regularity. He mentions who they are each time, but you’d get more out of it if you’ve also read their stories in their proper series. Other subjects in here include splitting himself in two over and over again, getting to know his addiction, the slow death of his grandmother, keeping up with his puppets, zen buddhism, bacon, coming to terms with the reality of his sobriety, dreams, and everything else that came with this time in his life. This collection includes everything from those comics, covers and epilogues and everything, so don’t worry if you missed them while they were coming out. This book along with DemonTears will tell you lots about these years of Bernie’s life. Not everything, and lots of it is dreamy and abstract enough to be left open to interpretation, but this is a fantastic collection of his thoughts over about a year and a half. $10
Comments Off on McGovern, Bernie – DemonGunz | Reviews | Tagged: Bernie McGovern, DemonGunz | Permalink
Posted by Kevin
February 7, 2014
Website
Lost Kisses #25
Hm, that is one scattered listing of reviews for this series. I reviewed #5-10, #21 and now this one. The good news is that you don’t necessarily have to read this entire series to get plenty out of individual issues, although I’m guessing that it wouldn’t hurt to have the whole picture. Ah well, maybe I can get caught up at SPACE this year. So this one is all about fictional Brian waking up next to a dead girl that he doesn’t recognize and eventually realizing this is because he has taken a drug to release himself from linear time. The sad part comes in when he realizes that he can’t change the future any more than he could change the past, so this girl will always be dead and will always have died. Other topics include his feelings on anonymous sex, whether or not it would be worth it to save the world (which is a question that doesn’t get asked in popular culture nearly enough), and how living forever would be fine if he didn’t have to feel anything. For most of his series I’d highly recommend getting the issues in order, but for this one it sure seems like you’d be OK grabbing whichever random issues he has available when you see him at a con. Or you could go nuts and throw a pile of money at him, as I don’t think anybody else is offering as many comics for your dollars as he is. $1
Comments Off on Mitchell, Brian John – Lost Kisses #25 | Reviews | Tagged: Brian John Mitchell, Lost Kisses | Permalink
Posted by Kevin
January 30, 2014
Website
The Casebook of Elijah Snugs #3
Don’t be alarmed at the condition of that cover; my postman doesn’t seem to care for comics. If you can’t tell that there’s anything odd about that cover scan, please ignore these two sentences or pretend that they were just a figment of your imagination. Oh hi there! This issue nicely wraps up this particular Elijah Snugs mystery, but as pretty much any aspect of the book would be considered a spoiler, I’m at a bit of a loss. I should mention that I love in comics/movies/anything where a detective who is clearly smarter than the police officer gets sarcastic with them, because that has a tendency to take me right out of the story. One smart-ass remark from Sherlock Holmes or just about anybody would result in that person getting beaten, either during the conversation or later on when there would be less suspicion. Or am I just too cynical about police officers? In most cases, yes. Anyway, the last issue ended with Winston finding the missing egg that was at the heart of this case, and getting caught holding the egg by said police officer in a seemingly compromising position. Then Elijah Snugs comes into the picture, and we get to learn what has really been happening over the last couple of issues. I thought it was all tied up rather neatly, although I don’t know if it was possible for the reader to figure out the identity of the thief before the detective. That’s not a requirement, but it’s always satisfying to follow the clues and come to the solution before the detective. Or maybe my memory is just hazy about this being set up earlier on and this is all bunk. Either way this turned out to be a pretty solid mystery, with another one starting off with the next issue. Oh, and the extra story in the back is a recipe for what seems like some pretty delicious cookies, so even if you disagree with me completely on the content at least you’ll be able to make cookies after you read this.
Comments Off on Sciandra, Sal – The Casebook of Elijah Snugs #3 | Reviews | Tagged: Sal Sciandra, The Casebook of Elijah Snugs | Permalink
Posted by Kevin
January 29, 2014
Website
Dump #2
Does this actually not say “#2” on the cover? No, I guess not. I had a few questions about various things in this one before I started (that cover, the abrupt ending of the Dump story) but David covered all that in his afterward, so never mind. This one starts with the second part (of three) of the “Dump” story, this time focusing on our hero as he gets more and more miserable at work, but he does finally meet somebody he can talk to and commiserate with. I love the little touch of the Garvo-Munchers, little horror shows of eyeballs and tentacles, amidst the generally mundane tone of the rest of the story. I’m looking forward to the finale of this one in the next issue, although he might want to put the whole story in one comic when it’s finished, considering the average attention span in this day and age (myself sadly included in that). The short pieces in here dealt with trying to remember the name of that one actor guy, a bicycle ride with a nice ending, overthinking things at a party, trying to come up with a good argument in favor of voting, coleslaw, appreciating what you have and an informal history of e-mail and the internet. Read that last part and feel old! Or bitter at the youngsters because they’ve always had the answer to every question in the world at their fingertips. The other big story in this one (it’s a pretty hefty comic) is David’s 24 hour comic. He starts with a brief history of the 24 hour comics, mentions how one of the rules is to go into such things without a plan, and ends up with a pretty damned compelling comic. He goes into detail about his own history, how he always wanted to do comics but ended up trying a bunch of different things because he couldn’t see a way for comics to be taken seriously. This is where the internet comes in, as the message board for The Comic’s Journal helped all kinds of people from all over the world (David is in Scotland) come together. 24 hour comics can be a bit of a mess, so it’s always nice to see one put together as well as this, especially considering the conditions involved in making such a thing. Read it and enjoy, as there’s plenty to like in here. Don’t let that innocuous cover scare you off!
Comments Off on Robertson, David (and various artists) – Dump #2 | Reviews | Tagged: Damon Herd, David Robertson, Donna Law, Dump, Keara Stewart, Neil Paterson, Stephen Boyd | Permalink
Posted by Kevin
January 28, 2014
Website
Monday Saddies #2
There’s no way that the “Locker Junk” story should have worked, but it ended up being pretty damned funny. I love it when comics end up working out like that, and in a perfect world it would make a great cartoon. Oh hi, did I start in the middle of the comic? Yeah, kind of. This one starts off with new characters from the last issue, so don’t be alarmed if you missed the first one. First up is the pair featured on the cover, as a bored young man suddenly has a ghost pop into his life. His immediate assumption that this ghost must be a member of the KKK was hilarious, and the revelation that this ghost died in 1983 and missed all kinds of important events could be fodder for many comics to come. Or the story could have come to an end in this issue, as the main problem seemed to be all the movies that the ghost never got a chance to watch. Anyway, there’s that initial “origin story” and another shorter piece where they try to watch the movie that the ghost never got to watch when he was alive, and they’re split up by the story of the locker objects. Ordinarily in stories like this (food items coming to life), there’s a certain uniformity to the proceedings. Either everybody can talk or nobody can, or maybe just the food items, or the inanimate objects, whatever. This time around none of that holds, as the main characters are a sandwich in plastic, a can of peanuts (?), a rubber band and a banana. Their only contact with “god” comes when he/she puts items into the locker or takes them out, and the items have a wild range of intelligence. There’s the horrific dirty gym bag that can relate on the level of watching a video of a farting donkey with the can of peanuts, the “elders” (who aren’t very smart, just old) and a couple of items that had clearly lost their mind from being neglected for so long. Again, it shouldn’t work as a story, but Steve pulled it off beautifully. Oh, and that last image of god may or may not haunt you, depending on your religious upbringing. $5
Comments Off on Seck, Steve – Monday Saddies #2 | Reviews | Tagged: Monday Saddies, Steve Seck | Permalink
Posted by Kevin
January 23, 2014
Website
Walrus
And here I thought comics about a post-apocalyptic hellscape had already been done pretty much every way humanly possible. I had failed to consider the possibility that there was still a story out there about a walrus who played the blues on street corners and how he would get by after society ended. Not to give anything away, but he did pretty well, all things considered. This seems to be one of Brian’s series that are one and done, not one of his many ongoing series, so I don’t want to give too much away. But if you’ve ever had questions about how a musician would maintain his artistic integrity in a lawless society, or whether or not a walrus would still have trouble finding clothes that fit in such a world, you’re in luck. Jared Catherine does a great job drawing this material, although I am curious whether Jared drew this because of his walrus drawing skills or whether Brian had a long search to find somebody who could handle it. It’s well worth checking out, and as always if you’re going to check out his stuff, my advice is to just send him $5 to get a wide sampling of what he has available. Because believe you me, he has a lot of comics available, and damned near all of them are worth checking out. $2, and I just checked his website, where he has an ongoing offer to give out the next ten mini comics he releases for $10 ($15 for you international folks), which would have saved you money on this one if you knew about it, so maybe you should start it up now.
Comments Off on Mitchell, Brian John & Catherine, Jared – Walrus | Reviews | Tagged: Brian John Mitchell, Jared Catherine, Walrus | Permalink
Posted by Kevin
January 23, 2014
Website
Star Pilot #10
Has there ever been a leading man named “Chest” before? Because “Chest Palmero” is one of the better names for a boxer that I’ve ever heard. This comic is unconnected from past issues, so don’t worry about being lost by that “#10” on the cover. Things start out with Chest stealing some food as a little kid in 1932. He’s chased down by the robot police (suggesting that maybe this is not quite the 1932 that we were thinking of) and, given the chance to surrender or fight, he fights. We don’t see what happens in that fight but instead are moved forwards to 1955 as Chest is defeated by a robot for his boxing championship. From there we get to learn a bit more about these robots and Chest’s plan to take them all down. I love how damned near every panel that Frank draws has such a manic energy to it. I’m not sure if I’ve ever seen biting into an apple done as an action panel, and there’s a constant sense of forward motion to go along with all the general weirdness. The perspective is a little bit off here and there (when Chest chokes the homeless guy I’d swear the guy’s head shrinks quite a bit), but that’s a minor quibble for such a fun story. Buy some of his books, the guy deserves a reward for making it to double digits. $2
Comments Off on Swartz, Frank – Star Pilot #10 | Reviews | Tagged: Frank Swartz, Star Pilot | Permalink
Posted by Kevin
January 17, 2014
Website
Loud Comix #2
It’s odd to start a review with the back cover of a comic, but the back issue of this one has a hilarious image of a frazzled Jamie Vayda promising that a new issue of this anthology will come out every two months. That’s ambitious as hell and I wish him all the best, but it seems like an impossible deadline to meet. Six issues of this series in 2014? I hope that I’m wrong, but that seems impossible. As for the stories, they’re another solid bunch, all illustrated by Jamie, and I have to say that I’d like their odds better of getting six issues out next year if another artist or two illustrated a story here and there. Stories in here include one of the more unique scenarios I’ve ever seen for a zombie outbreak from Darin Martinez, Lester the Porn Fairy by Erika Lane (which is either exactly what you’re expecting or nothing like what you’re expecting, depending on what’s in your head), an attempt to one-up that guy who jumped from space back down to earth last year by Christian Maes, a song about Electric Frankenstein by Sal Conzonieri, a night at the Apollo that doesn’t go all that well by Eric Todd (but it is funny as hell), and the finale of that story from last issue by Alan King. If you don’t remember that one the big question was how the guy ended up with a fake leg, and I could not have been happier with the answer. I think people should be lining up to support this effort, as a regular anthology series with a rotating cast of writers sounds like a great thing to me, so give this and/or the first issue a shot. $6 seems a little steep to me for a mini comic, but in a time where the popular Marvel stuff is going for $4 I don’t see how anybody could be expected to ask much less than $6 for a self-produced comic. Those old timey mini comic prices that are still in my head are a thing of the past, so don’t mind my nostalgia for an age of cheap things. $6
Comments Off on Vayda, Jamie (artist) – Loud Comix #2 | Reviews | Tagged: Alan King, Christian Maes, Darin Martinez, Eric Todd, Erika Lane, Jamie Vayda, Loud Comix, Magnus Sellergren, Sal Canzonieri | Permalink
Posted by Kevin
January 16, 2014
Website
RhiZome #1
I can’t help it, it’s just been beaten into me over the years: I get nervous whenever somebody puts the first part of a continuing story in an anthology. I’ve been proven wrong to be nervous about this before, but I’ve also been proven right plenty of times. Which is to say that Rob Jackson has a fascinating first part of a story in here, and I’d really rather the rest of the story wasn’t lost forever because there was never a second issue of this series. Eh, don’t mind me, I’m working on being less pessimistic in the new year. The other stories are all self-contained, so no worries there. These other stories include Max Mose’s tale of a civilization wandering the stars in search of more of the nuclear weapons that destroyed their homeworld, Kyle Baddeley-Read and his piece on the benefits of child slavery (to the children), John Robbins with his story of a man who discovers a giant hole in his stomach and his conversations with his therapist about it, and Pete Batchelor’s tale of a man who thought that he had outsmarted the apocalypse by freezing himself and thawing himself out in 2130. Pretty great stuff all around, and it all added up to a really odd and fantastic vibe for the book as a whole. Oh, and Rob’s story, as I mentioned, won me over completely. It’s all about a man who’s annoyed at getting his new job while also happy because he desperately needed the money. Which wouldn’t be that odd of a story, but this man goes into his first day and finds another man there who has his name and who kind of looks like him. This is more than just a simple coincidence or there’d be no story here, obviously, but the direction that it seems to be taking has me really curious to see what happens next. So check it out, is what I’m saying. Even if future parts of Rob’s story disappear completely (and he has a pretty good track record of finishing his stories so far), then this works perfectly well all by itself.
Comments Off on Baddeley-Read, Kyle & Jackson, Rob (editors) – RhiZome #1 | Reviews | Tagged: John Robbins, Kyle Baddeley-Read, Max Mose, Pete Batchelor, RhiZome, Rob Jackson | Permalink
Posted by Kevin
January 14, 2014
Website
Lucy the Octopus: I’ll Take What I Can Get
See? It couldn’t stay all bad for Lucy forever! Oh sorry, spoiler alert. Sort of. It’s complicated! This second collection of Lucy strips does a great job of expanding the cast of characters and giving a few of them more screen time, which is going to go a long way towards building a big universe for this crew. Assuming that Richy is going to keep going with this, which is never a sure thing, but judging from the response from readers that he got offering Lucy life advice it looks like he already has quite a fan base built up. Anyway, the main story in this collection deals with Lucy going to a concert for her favorite band, said band breaking up right after the show and Lucy auditioning for the vacant job of guitarist with the band. Her uncoolness shines through to the band even though they enjoyed her playing, so she doesn’t get the job initially, but things change a bit when she goes back to audition again wearing a disguise. Other subjects in here include her siblings trying to make her more presentable for the audition, another sibling getting the mistaken impression that Lucy is the favorite (with a hilarious strip featuring her father trying to correct the record in that regard, which is only seen as more proof of favoritism), checking in with Sandra from the last issue to find that she’s currently stuck holding the bags for the cool kids (or, as she puts it, climbing the social ladder), and the social pecking order of the school all in one strip. There are two odd artistic choices in here, although I’d hesitate to call either of them “bad” (mostly because I’m not the creator of the strips and cannot judge such things). He runs out of time on one strip, and instead of delaying it for a week he puts out the one finished panel, two black and white pencil drawings and one final panel apologizing for just not having the time to get the strip done. It ended up serving as a nice cliffhanger for the next strip, so no harm done, it’s just that I don’t recall ever seeing a late strip handled quite that way. The other oddity was the final three strips, as they each show a conversation from three different points of view. There’s Lucy recommending a theme for a class project that the other two students liked a lot, but they couldn’t say they liked it without publicly agreeing with Lucy, which is social death. It’s interesting to see how they each processed this contradiction, but this also means that Richy got to use the same strip three weeks in a row and just change the words, so I guess your level of cynicism will determine how you view this. There are a few bonus bits in the back, including Richy briefly drawing another strip, another artist drawing his and Lucy as a human. It’s a solid pile of strips and the concept as a whole is steadily improving, so check it out. And, as it’s a web series, there are plenty of free samples up at his website…
Comments Off on Chandler, Richy – Lucy the Octopus: I’ll Take What I Can Get | Reviews | Tagged: Lucy the Octopus, Richy Chandler | Permalink
Posted by Kevin
January 13, 2014
Website
Sugar Booger
Who likes their stories about candy to also be filled with nightmares? If it’s you, then you’re in luck! This is the story of an overexcited creature (monster?) who eats large amounts of candy, which transforms his boogers into candy for other people/creatures. Or it turns it into some kind of narcotic drug, it’s never made clear. But is if funny and/or disturbing? Oh yes. Yes, it is. There are basically two stories here, even though there is no kind of dividing line to indicate different stories. First there’s a brief introduction of Sugar Booger and his ability to transform candy into boogers for all his odd friends. The other story is the one depicted on the cover, where he meets up with a couple of (rightly skeptical) kids to share his treats with them. Things get a little dicey when the parents of these two kids show up, and why wouldn’t it, as that thing is almost certainly a monster. Kevin did a great job with the parents too, with their giant anime eyes and gross, gross perspiration/crying. It’s a three issue limited series, with the other issues coming out throughout 2014 (although the promotional material I got had these all coming out in 2013, so it’s good to see that fairly major comic companies can make the same mistake as me trying to write a check in the first week of 2014), so there’s plenty more of this to come. I guess this may be considered “all-ages,” although I have no idea where that line is any more. I recently discovered “Adventure Time” (always late to the party, that’s me), and if that’s considered appropriate for kids of all ages, I’d have to throw this in the pile too. It’s worth a look and I’m interested to see how this story evolves over the next couple of issues. $5.95
Comments Off on Scalzo, Kevin – Sugar Booger #1 | Reviews | Tagged: Alternative Comics, Kevin Scalzo, Sugar Booger | Permalink
Posted by Kevin
January 9, 2014
E-mail
Inspiration Point
Hey look, it’s the first comic I’ve seen with “2014” written inside of it! Why yes, I am easily impressed, why do you ask? This comic is about… well, it’s about a few different things, some stated outright, and some implied and referred to obliquely. Which makes it tricky to review, as if I get into the implied stuff then you won’t be able to discover it for yourself naturally, which means this will be another mess of a review, which should really stop being shocking after 12+ years of me rambling about comics. This one starts off with a man looking up safe places to go jogging in his area and heading out right around dawn. There’s someone sleeping on his couch and covered in cats, but we don’t learn the story of that person quite yet. From there the bulk of the story deals with this man and the people he encounters on the jogging trail, how they react to him, how he reacts to them, theories about what they might be up to, and what this man is doing jogging anyway. All along the way he’s also clearly thinking about that person on the couch, but trying very hard not to think about it or pretend that it has any importance to him. The comic would work just fine as an observational comic about the various types of people on a jogging trail and the experience of somebody who is clearly not a regular jogger, but it’s the subtext of that sleeping person that turns this into a great comic. And I’ve already made it clear that I’m not going to get into the specifics about that, so just take my word for it that this is a pretty damned great comic and you should check it out.
Comments Off on Hicks, Spencer – Inspiration Point | Reviews | Tagged: Inspiration Point, Spencer Hicks | Permalink
Posted by Kevin
January 8, 2014
Website
Nextuus: The Hunt for the Raamus Emerald
I’m a sucker for a big, immersive science fiction world, as is probably pretty well established around this website by now. Even when they don’t grab me completely right out of the gate, I give people a lot of credit for spending the time to build up a believable world (within the confines of the rules for that particular brand of science fiction as established by the creator). Anyway, I picked up this comic at SPACE 2013 (which means I’m really slow reviewing it, so oops), along with a free primer for the series to catch up people who haven’t been following along, and that ended up impressing me even more than the comic. Why? Because most of the people in the primer aren’t even in this comic, because the comic is a prequel, meaning that there’s already a complete past and future world to work with, and a 180 page graphic novel floating around. If this is your kind of thing too, you’re in luck. As for the comic itself, the title explains what the point is pretty well, but this is the old crew trying to track down this emerald for a museum that had had much of its stock destroyed during a recent war. It’s basically an excuse to get to know the crew better, as they spend a lot of time trudging through the jungle and chatting before running into some armed bad guys who also want the emerald. Just to make it clear, in my view spending a few issues establishing the characters is essential to the long term success of a book. Who cares about a story with cardboard cutouts for characters? That is all done well here but (and I mean this in the best possible way) this comic felt like a drop in the bucket to what they have planned. A self-contained drop in the bucket, so don’t be afraid to pick it up because you don’t want to be lost in the story. Even without the primer they include some character bios in the intro, so no danger there. The art is occasionally a little hard to follow (like that scene aboard the dark plane, but that’s maybe just because they were aboard a dark plane and they couldn’t see that well either), but overall it’s solid. Check it out, and they have plenty of samples/stories at their website if you still need convincing. $2
Comments Off on Hotka, Thomas & Petersen, Trey – Nextuus: The Hunt for the Raamas Emerald | Reviews | Tagged: Nextuus, The Hunt for the Raamus Emerald, Thomas Hotka, Trey Petersen | Permalink
Posted by Kevin
January 7, 2014
Website
It Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time #3: Artists in the Wild
Before I start the review of the actual comic, I’d like a word with the artists out there who, like Trevor, were told at some point that their lives weren’t “interesting enough” to make a comic about. For the rest of you who see this line of criticism as silly, feel free to ignore the next few lines, but for the few of you who took that criticism to heart and actually postponed/cancelled projects because you bought into that? Don’t be stupid. It’s a dated reference, but does anybody remember “Seinfeld”? The answer is that yes, all of you do, because it made all of the money in the world. And what was it about? Nothing! Or to take it into comics, how many of the great comics wouldn’t have been made if the artists had taken that kind of criticism to heart? It’s not like all of the autobio comics in the world are about spy missions and fights to the death. Most lives are at least a little bit boring, so don’t ever be talked out of telling your story. Hey, my first rant of 2014! So hey, let’s talk about this comic. The events in here happened about 5 years ago when Trevor spent a week with his brother camping and painting in Jasper National Park. And it’s fascinating stuff, so phooey to whoever talked him out of making a comic out of it until now. Along the way they show their interactions with needlessly aggressive drivers, show the different types of campers (the people, not the vehicles), detail their various interactions with tourists with little to no grasp of English, mistake a muddy river bed for a rocky river bed, and the wisdom of trying to stay up late to party after a week of camping. It’s great stuff, and I say that as a person who has never had much use for camping as a concept. Check it out, help make sure Trevor makes a pile of money from this and proves his friend wrong.
Comments Off on Waurechen, Trevor – It Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time #3: Artists in the Wild | Reviews | Tagged: Artists in the Wild, It Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time, Trevor Waurechen | Permalink
Posted by Kevin
January 3, 2014
Website
Silent Energy
Anybody out there looking for a remarkably solid science fiction comic dealing with events occurring in 3152 and later? Then you’re in luck! I’m always baffled by people who set their “futuristic” stories 10-20 years in the future, or well within their lifetimes, as they usually end up looking silly once that actual year comes along. No such trouble with this one, and we start off with the origin story of a young turtle boy growing up and listening to Ziggy Stardust. I guess that could be a minor quibble of mine: chances are that records aren’t going to exist 100 years from now, much less 1100 years from now, and maybe some other more fantastical form of media should have been included, but that’s a nitpick of the highest order. Maybe it’s just something that’s meant to look like a record for nostalgia reasons and I’m being stupid, which is likely. Anyway, from there we get a fantastic conversation about the meaning behind the music to a future people, and from there we check in with our turtle hero at various points in his life as a space pilot and defender of the planet from alien invasions. We see Johnny (that’s his name) converse with his dad about becoming a pilot and knowing that his shell will be surgically removed before that’s possible, some down time in his college days rooming with a celestial dragon, an encounter with evil (?) robots, using his advanced weapons to stop a theoretical invasion pretty much effortlessly, dealing with the last of the giant spider gods, another conversation with his dad as an older man, some interpersonal drama between space missions, a pretty damned sweet Jack Kirby tribute, and the dreams that he is haunted by as an old man. This is a hell of an achievement, as it detailed the quiet moments in the life of this turtle person so perfectly that I didn’t even realize until the comic was done that that was the damned point. A few of the big moments in his life are here, sure, but it’s obvious that the quiet moments were by and large the things that were most important to Johnny. John (the author) also does a fantastic job of throwing in little nuggets of information here and there, tantalizing clues to a larger narrative that I hope comes out one day. But for now this is self-contained and tells the story of a life in the 32nd century, and all for a measly $3!
Comments Off on Karnes, John – Silent Energy | Reviews | Tagged: John Karnes, Silent Energy | Permalink
Posted by Kevin
December 31, 2013
Website
Demon Wheat #2
Huzzah for words! After my review for Jon’s mostly silent last issue (last in terms of when I read them, not necessarily in the order they were released) I was hoping for something that made a bit more sense on the first read through. This comic has a few stories in it, and the different subjects give Jon a chance to really get inventive with his art. First up there’s the story of the Worm God and the unfortunate (though predictable, if you think about it) way that he meets his end. Next up is the story of an elderly radioactive snail and the creatures that live on its shell (including a Wuzzgutt cameo?), but mostly the creatures and their desire to see a bit more of the world than the back of a snail. Finally there’s the last story that takes up about half of the book about Moth Girl. Her costume is impractically designed, I have no idea whether or not those wings actually do anything, but it’s still a damned fascinating story (and also the first part of a serial, so there’s clearly more to see in #3). Things start off with her being sent away by her archnemesis to the rural mid-west, and her appearance causes a little confusion there as she’s mistaken for a prostitute and imprisoned. Still, the pimp has a pumpkin for a head and there’s the matter of all these vampires running around, so there’s a lot yet that has to be made clear in future stories. All in all this was a pretty great comic, much easier to follow than the last issue I reviewed but with the same great art. Check it out, and you too will believe that a man can have an enormous literal worm for a penis… $3
Comments Off on Lawrence, Jon – Demon Wheat #2 | Reviews | Tagged: Demon Wheat, Jon Lawrence | Permalink
Posted by Kevin
December 30, 2013
Website
Loud Comix #1
You know that thing with anthologies (or any small press comic really) where you’re not sure whether or not the next issue is ever coming out? Or is that only for cynics like me? Anyway, this one ended on a pretty big cliffhanger, so here’s hoping they have things well in hand and that the next issue comes out on time. Which should be out by now, and the website says that it is, so never mind all this. This is just my long-winded way of saying that the last story of the bunch did a really great job with its cliffhanger ending. Anyway, four stories in this one, but it’s a little different because they were all drawn by Jamie Vayda. Which makes me nervous about it keeping up a bimonthly schedule, but I’ve already mentioned that I can be quite the cynic about such things. Anyway, stories include “Mr. Breeze” by Sonny Joe Harlan (about the dangers of being hit on in a biker bar), “The Rise of Billy Bloodlust” by Frankie Nowhere (which I really hope is a true story about your perceptions while high on mushrooms and the aftermath of what you think happened during the trip), “Johnny Funhouse” by Erika Lane (the origin story of a kid who was pulled out with forceps by his mother, how he perceives the world and his first love) and “Wooden Leg” by Alan King. That last one offers tantalizing hints into the life of this guy with the wooden leg, including how he struck terror into the heart of the author as a kid, but it looks like they’re saving most of the good stuff (like how he got that wooden leg and what exactly made him such a lunatic) for the next part of the story. It’s a pretty great pile of stories, although I should probably warn off the squeamish who can’t handle a woman delivering her own baby in graphic detail, but it’s not as bad as you’re thinking after reading that sentence. I’ve been reading these things long enough to think that $6 is a little pricey for a book that’s all black and white, but some punk legends wrote some of these stories and I should get over thinking that that’s too much for a comic. Times change! $6
Comments Off on Vayda, Jamie – Loud Comix #1 | Reviews | Tagged: Alan King, Erika Lane, Frankie Nowhere, Jamie Vayda, Loud Comix, Sonny Joe Harlan | Permalink
Posted by Kevin
December 23, 2013
Website
Vortex #3
You know, as much as I love a coherent story, I have to admit that there’s a great deal of fun to be had whenever William gets the space to let his imagination run wild. And this story actually ended up making plenty of sense before it was all said and done, but there’s a lengthy setup that would have blown a hole through the brain of anybody reading this as their first issue of this series. Eh, better take a step back and get to analyzing. He does have a nice, concise recap to start things off, which is downright essential in a series like this. Just in case you haven’t read the other issues but are for some reason reading the review for this one, I’ll sum up: The Miizzzard has agreed to help free the Vortex, who are a race of shape-shifting enslaved berserkers. To do that he has to survive something called the dreamscape, and this is where William gets to go nuts. There are trials and dangers, all against the background of The Miizzzard not being entirely sure of what’s real and what’s all in his head. It’s a beautiful mind fuck of a book, and pardon my language if kids are reading this, but that one word will do far less to mess with your head than this issue will. He was nice enough to send along the next issue in the series, but so far things have been moving along really well and I’d say that this series is well worth checking out. And oh, to live in a world where this man had the money/backing to do a full color comic… $6
Comments Off on Cardini, William – Vortex #3 | Reviews | Tagged: Vortex, William Cardini | Permalink
Posted by Kevin
