This particular volume of Nugget is the longest one yet, with the longest stories yet: 64 pages and only two stories. Should I be irrationally annoyed that he didn’t call it “giant-sized Nugget”? No, I should not. Am I? Maybe a little bit. He seems to be drifting more into body horror this time around, or possibly I’m just noticing it for the first time. First up is a story about Nugget and a friend, seemingly lost at sea. They’re amusing themselves by making faces to each other and generally being friendly, which matters a lot for what comes later. They reach land and the friend makes a discovery: a strange orb that’s making noises that compels them both to lick it in return for visions. And boy howdy, can Tony ever draw some visions. I’ve compared this to Jim Woodring’s work before, and see no reason to stop doing that now. The orb quickly becomes a point of contention for both of them, which leads to some fairly brutal physical violence, in which the orb gets cracked. And if you’re thinking it might have been an egg, you were certainly on the right track with that guess. I’ll say no more about specifics, but it’s a grim tale of friendship and broken trust; that last page is going to stick with me for awhile. The other story is about Nugget, alone again, as he meets a sea nymph while he’s working on a giant head in his yard. Just roll with it! He falls for her immediately and takes her on a tour of the woods, where they stumble across a seriously violent act, and she decides that she wants more of that type of thing in her life. Nugget is heartbroken, but it turns out that there’s another sea nymph wandering around. Do we get to see what passes for sex in this world? I don’t want to say for sure, but I think so? You tell me. This is all entirely wordless, which I must have mentioned in past reviews but haven’t here, and it’s no less devastating for it. It’s the best issue yet, which has been true of all of them, which is a hell of an artistic trajectory. $14
Programming note: I’m probably not going to review it since I reviewed the series issue by issue, but there’s a collected edition of Applewood Canyon out, and y’all should know about it. In case you didn’t want to buy individual issues, well, now you’re all out of excuses! Oh look, here’s a new issue of Airbag, which is how I’m going to segue into the actual review. He’s done a few of these now, each with its own theme, and they’re getting better each time. Considering my short term memory that might not actually be true, but they’re all great so work with me here. This time around it might be “themes” more than “theme,” since the stories deal with loss, feeling forgotten, social awkwardness and, uh, tricking another mouse into springing a mouse trap. Hey, he never said that all of the stories in these issues had to be about humans! The issue starts and ends with a boy who’s laughed off of the basketball court for having the wrong shoes on, with some wise words from his grandfather on how this sort of thing usually ends up if he follows the wrong path. Next we have a brother and sister, both with relationship issues of different types, dealing with the death of their mother and the conflicting feelings that came from it. Each get their own story as they try to connect with other people, with drastically different results. A grandmother and grandfather each tell their story about feeling abandoned, one with the self-awareness to realize why this probably happened and one who’s left without a clue. Finally there’s the longest story in the book, which deals with a college student whose drinking has gotten out of hand slowly, ever so slowly, trying to get her life back on track, or at least put together some semblance of a plan for it. Plenty of tears in here along with a few laughs, and plenty to think about if you’re one of those stoic types who doesn’t cry easily. As always, the man does a lot of comic series, so if you ever want to jump into his stuff without worrying about backstory, his Airbag comics are the way to go. $8
I don’t know where I should mention this, so I’ll just do it up front: Fantagraphics is putting out a nice looking hardcover edition of the first five issues of this series in March, which you can and absolutely should pre-order here. Haven’t I been singing the praises of this book since #1? Don’t you trust me? Also you should check out the first six months worth of books coming out from Fantagraphics in 2025 because sweet Christmas are there ever some amazing looking books on their way. But this is not the place to talk about such things! This time around we get the second part of “What Time Is It?”, which if I was ruler of the world would be put out in larger installments, but I’m not so I’ll shut up about it. We have the sisters attend a chess tournament (mostly because Ambar is into one of the players), see a lot more of the plot gong on behind the scenes (what the heck is Quibble?) and get a good indication of how Todd is going to get mixed up in all of this. Next up is the cover story, and if you don’t get a laugh out of at least one line from that sample image, I don’t know what to tell you. Todd is once again front and center, as he’s kidnapped by Blue Agua for mating purposes. Which may just involve him fertilizing eggs, but thankfully it doesn’t go quite that far. Poor Todd is just trying to keep his job, and I’d call this story a good indication of Alana’s interest level in Todd. Then there’s a brief intermission of ads, which might be annoying in another comic, but here it’s just a pile of comics/people/other items that look, at a minimum, intriguing. Which, hey, is a good reason to buy a few comics before the big collection comes out, especially since that only covers #1-5 and 6 and 7 are out too. And #8, according to their website, but one thing at a time. Back to the comic! We get another wordless tale of the drunk bees, but it’s a shortie so I’ll leave it to you readers, and finally there’s “Trojan Horsing Around,” and if you guess that that might involve enemies of the sisters sneaking into their house using a literal horse disguise, do I have good news for you! Ridiculousness and hilarity abound, as we’re given one more example of why it’s a bad idea to have a fight against a villain in your home. As always, I’m barely scratching the surface of the one-liners and generally funny bits, and my talking about it doesn’t do justice to the utterly unique line it rides of innocent sincerity and mild cynicism. It’s a mix you won’t find anywhere else, and I’m thrilled that they’re getting recognition from a big publisher. $5
Well, last time around for these reviews I was utterly unable to find a good link to buy Martin’s comics, and I’ve at least solved that this time around. And they’re all in print, so go get caught up why don’t you? If not, or if you’re waiting to be convinced, this is probably the first issue of the series where you don’t need a lot of knowledge of the previous issues to follow along. The pigeons, for example, are completely gone this time around, but if this is your first issue, you won’t miss them a bit. The art seems a bit, um, looser at the beginning, but it’s generally a minimalist type of comic anyway. What’s happening with the story? One of our bunny heroes is having all kinds of trouble with depression (well, specifically the Depression Wolf), the bunnies are also having relationship problems, and the two brothers seem to have lost their time machine. Which is the bare bones explanation of things, as the depression angle covers a good chunk of the comic (involving mental and physical therapy), and it could be argued that the therapy ends up hurting both of the bunnies in the end. We also get a grimly hilarious bit throughout the second half dealing with job interviews, with a depressingly accurate version of the low key humiliation involved with pretty much all of them. Funny stuff here and there again, a safe place for new readers to jump in, and it looks like the next issue is double sized, which Martin was kind enough to send my way. $5
I’ve been reading David’s comics for… a decade now? Time doesn’t work properly in my brain any more. Anyway, my point is that this might be the most visually diverse issue of one of his comics yet. David always draws a few of his stories, so you’re obviously going to get his style for those, but several other stories were by people I hadn’t seen before, making this issue really stand out. Not that that would matter much if the stories were garbage, but good news everyone! There were some pretty solid stories in here too. Like what, you ask, as I set up the segue? Stories in here deal with the age gap in McDonald’s employees (with Clio Ding), trying to relate to a sign about loving music at a record store (with Zu Dominiak), the constant destruction of the old in favor of the new in this modern culture (with Helena Edwardson), a parody of Neil DeGrasse Tyson’s critique of the Black Hole Disney movie that went off the rails quickly in a delightful way (with Andy Hanks), the last “witch” to be burned (with Rozi Hathaway), the differences in depictions of a raised middle finger (with Olivia Hicks), when The Police (the band) finally and briefly got back together (with Marc KZ), the timeless majesty of Purple Rain (with Francesca Mancuso), and the impotent fury of watching as the host of a quiz show on tv gets the answer wrong (with Ludi Price). And lots more, obviously; I doubt if that’s even half of the stories. Are there stories that involve Star Wars in some way? Always, yes! Is there an oddly touching story involving a person dressed up as Goofy at a theme park? Very specific question, but also yes! It’s another solid pile of tales from David and friends, and hey, why not give it a shot? One of the joys of his comics is that they’re all self-contained, so don’t fret about being lost.
Oh, random comic review mailings. You’d think that after 23+ years of reviews that I’d be numb to them, but nope, every time I crack open a mailing with an unknown name on it, I’m still hopeful and delighted. Eh, don’t mind the corniness, I’m feeling sentimental for some reason. Fran was nice enough to send a few comics (and he has a few more available at his website), so you’ll be seeing more of his stuff here soon. I honestly liked one of the other titles better and was going to review that first, but that horse head on the cover sent out a siren song to me that could not be denied. Like it says on the cover, there are two stories in here. The first one is all about the horse head, and things start off with a local old man setting up a lawn chair near the horse head in the street. It’s art, not an actual horse head, so don’t get all grossed out. People come by, ask about the head, the old man does an admirable job of avoiding the subject, a dog makes its own opinion known, and we see a completely different side of the horse head when everybody goes to sleep. The other story deals with a space explorer who has to wait a thousand days to get any response to his messages, which leaves him a whole lot of time for his thoughts to wander and for any locals to check him out. I liked the diary style entries, as each was sent off as his own thoughts for the day, before things take a real turn that I’m not going to spoil here. The art was a vaguely sloppy but meticulous combination (I’m aware that that makes no sense) that had the effect of making everything seem to be constantly humming, not moving but vibrant. Kinda like the old Dr. Katz cartoon, which is only a reference for my fellow olds. Anyway, two great and completely different stories, well worth a look is what I say. $5
You know, I thought that “Bald Knob” sounded familiar, but this old brain ain’t what it used to be in regards to remembering specifics like that. Luckily, I have an easy cheat option: use the search function on my website! I can’t decide if that’s pathetic or hilarious. Both? Anyway, I was right: John Hankiewicz put out a mini probably 15 years ago or so with the same title, and Robert Sergel put out a graphic novel called Bald Knobber about 6 years ago. Relevant? Related to this comic in any way? Not at all! But if you’re curious, look them up yourself and be amazed! Now that that bit of nonsense is out of the way, what’s up with this comic? It’s the start of a series (and the second issue is already up on his website, which is promising) about two guys who are staying at a cabin in the Blue Ridge Mountains. Glenn is trying to make the next great American rock album (it’s more specific and defined than that), and Shad is mostly there to help and/or keep his eye on his troubled friend. Glenn had been through a breakup recently and he wasn’t taking the whole thing very well, so to Shad this seemed like the perfect distraction. Things start off with Shad trying to convince Naomi (who he’d hooked up with the night before) to leave before Glenn saw her in the morning, as he didn’t think that would help Glenn’s mood, but that plan did not work out. We spend a lot of time getting to know all three of these characters, which is crucial to any kind of lengthy series. The two of them get to their job, Shad takes off his shorts for his walk (which, creepiness aside, does seem like a great way to enjoy nature if you’re alone), and they discuss how they still need a drummer for their band. Meanwhile we see a lot more about Naomi’s life with several generations all in one room, which seems like the sort of thing that’ll come up again later. Finally they all go to a local music show in the hopes of finding a drummer or at least having a good time, and we even get a bit of a cliffhanger in terms of Glenn’s love life, even if it seems like he’s heading towards a disaster. I’d call this a solid first issue with plenty of avenues he could still explore. $6
The people have spoken, and I’m assuming that what they said was that they wanted more adventures of Oola as quickly as possible. If you’re unfamiliar with Karl’s work, Oola was a cat that entered their lives (Karl and his partner Kelly) after both of their long term cats had passed away. They didn’t have specific plans to get another cat, but cats don’t wait on human timetables for such things, and the little creature quickly took over a solid chunk of their home and lives. A few of these strips first appeared in other comics, but mostly they’re new, and if you’re at all a cat lover then you’ll be delighted. If not I’m not sure what you’re doing here to begin with, but I suppose you cold-hearted cat haters could also take some joy in how much disruption Oola causes in their lives. Also sometimes it’s tricky to pick a sample comic, but this time it was a no brainer. Hanging something over your bed with a cat in the house is just an invitation to head trauma. I know, it always seems like they couldn’t possibly reach/destroy/knock down at item that high up, but they tend to take that sort of thing as a challenge. Other stories in here deal with the lesson of a cat jumping into the shower, the quiet moments (they exist, even for the most manic of cats), her imaginary spy adventures that always seem to devolve into biting, her opinion at being left alone in the house for a few days, Oola as the mighty hunter, the unfortunate meaning of Oola in the Tamil language, and the true origin of her zoomies. Lots more, but I’m not going to spoil all of her adventures. I know they’re happy with just Oola in the house, but from a pure storytelling perspective, introducing a new cat would set up all kinds of great story possibilities. Sure, it might completely upend their lives, but think of the mayhem! Eh, I might have to work on my sales pitch about this. Anyway, it’s another great issue of Oola fun, and if you need a laugh in your life you should get both of these issues ASAP. $10
I was wondering if I had many reviews of Ariel’s comics on this here website, and it turns out that I did review a few of her minis, including a couple from the last time I moved to Champaign Illinois. Time is a flat circle? Is that what that means? Anyway, she’s on the very short list of people who got me into the world of zines, she’s always funny, and I was thrilled to see a book from hers that I hadn’t seen at CXC this year. It’s been out a few years, it’s just new to me, and… this is not one of those funny books. Which should be clear from the subtitle, but trigger warning for anybody who’s had to deal with this in their lives. The book bounces back and forth a bit between a linear narrative and her thoughts and memories, and I probably shouldn’t say that nothing here is funny. Just not, you know, most of it. Things start off with a couple of disturbing incidents, one involving a stranger wanting to take pictures of her, another with a stranger resting his hand on her knee in a movie theater. She was a small child for both of these and didn’t know quite how to take them, but it was clear to her that neither incident was normal. Next we see the routes of some of the many cockroaches in her home at the time, followed by the worst sexual assault incident of them all, which was possible because of a ladder that was left outside by some handymen. This incident is the background for the rest of the book, as it’s the kind of thing that never fully leaves her mind, or at least not for long. Still, life goes on, and we see some happy times with her friend, laying a field of clovers, somersaulting to music, and her friend’s secret candy stash. The story eventually moves on to her current life (as of 2010ish) with her husband and child and her attempts to find peace and grace. It’s a solid, occasionally disturbing book, and it could help a lot of people who have had similar experiences. On a completely unrelated note, she also mentioned that she’s been doing daily strips for several years, and wow do I ever want to get a look at those. I’m guessing they’re some of her “complete” work that Silver Sprocket is putting together into one volume. Here’s hoping, anyway! $20
You know how sometimes when you’re watching a great show, you’ll notice that in the middle of a season you’ll get an episode or two that contribute to the greater story but don’t have a whole lot to say on their own? You still need them for the complete picture, but there just isn’t that much to talk about after the episode is over. Welcome to The Re-Up #5! Things happen, but nothing too serious, and the story continues. I’ve established that I’m hooked on the series overall by now, right? Good. So what’s there to say… that “buried” statue in the sand makes a hell of an impressive wraparound cover. Things start off in the issue itself with Chad dropping a class and making a much larger monetary commitment to dealing, which I’m sure will come into play later. We see his “base” (i.e. the apartment for a couple of college girls who let him do his thing while they hang out), we get some possibly significant foreshadowing of how the other weed dealer in town is pretty pissed at him, and we see how he’s able to get out of a situation where the cops pull up right behind the car as he’s making his drop. It’s to the perpetually late lady, and I’m honestly curious what his plan was to get out of that if she hadn’t taken the lead. So yes, all around another solid issue, it moves the plot forward a bit and it probably won’t be one of the issues that sticks to my brain when it’s all said and done. And there’s nothing wrong with that in a long series where the issues come out on a consistent basis like this. $8 (or get the set up the first six through the link)
This is a comic about a series of relationships that started online that more or less went well. Mostly! With a lot of caveats! Matt would probably disagree with that assessment, but it’s possible I’ve seen too many comics with horror stories of online dating (and my own, occasionally less than delightful experiences) to be able to be an effective judge of this sort of thing. And, as always with autobio comics, I’m not sure if all of this is 100% true or rounded up to make a better story. Anyway! This one starts off as Matt is getting out of a long term relationship and hesitantly joins the world of online dating. He starts seeing a woman who isn’t exactly his type, but things are going well so he doesn’t want to blow things up. She then suggests that they start dating each other exclusively, which is right around when we learn that he’d also been seeing two other women casually while this was happening. As we get caught up on what we missed when he was describing how the situation with the first woman began and developed, it ends up with Matt having to make a choice: either pick one and stay the serial monogamist that he’d always seen himself as, or take things in a less exclusive direction. And, as is always the case in any kind of relationship, that decision wasn’t entirely up to him. The rest of the book is mostly how these relationships wrapped up, who he ended up choosing, how that went, his thoughts and feelings as they all went down, etc. It’s not as wrapped in self-pity as some of these dating comics are, but he’s open and honest about the whole thing and doesn’t even try to make himself the hero of the piece. And, speaking as somebody who’s been living in a new area for a couple of months and will have to hop back on the dating apps myself soon, it’s nice to see this sort of thing work out, at least for a little while. If you’ve been on the online dating trip you’ll find something to laugh or cry about in here, and if not, check it out to laugh at the rest of us suckers. $14
This feels like one of those comics that started off being about one thing, but then life happened and it ended up being about something else entirely. Probably his most emotionally devastating issue yet; it definitely hit me right between the eyes a few times. Oh hi, do you not know what this comic is? That’s OK, Jonathan writes these stories about his life while various comics people illustrate them. And, like the best autobio people, he has great stories to tell. This issue very much starts off as being about celebrities, as he tells his story of meeting Producer Gary from Howard Stern (and relaying the story of what that show was like on 9/11, which I’d never heard before, with Box Brown illustrating), his jealousy of his wife getting to meet Chester Brown before him (but finally ending with his own great moment, illustrated by T. J. Kirsch), his briefly meeting Jaime Hernandez and being at least mildly unimpressed with Love and Rockets (with art by Sophia Glock; everybody is entitled to their own opinion, even if it’s wrong), and having James Earl Jones give the commencement speech at his college (with art by CM Campbell). OK, I can’t help myself. Would Love and Rockets be so universally loved if they’d stopped after the initial 50 issues like they’d planned? Who knows, but the fact that they’ve kept it up for 40+ years and had the characters age and evolve as they have is something that unlikely to ever be matched in comics. And… hopping off my soapbox and back into the review. Apologies to all concerned. This is right at the midpoint of the comic, and it shifts from here into family stories, including trying to show his son the original Pinocchio movie, learning about the death of the man who’d been selling him comics for 40 years, saving a baby from choking and, in the real shift of the issue, the death of his mother. The rest of the stories involved her in ways great and small, and I was thoroughly impressed by how various stories used panels from others to illustrate how completely she was a part of his life. Like I said, it’s devastating stuff, and for what it’s worth I’m genuinely sorry for his loss. $10
Very quickly after starting to read this issue, I realized that I made a mistake: I really should have gone back and reread the previous issues to refresh my brain, since my last review of Audra’s work was four years ago. Don’t get me wrong, she’s been busy, but you know how it is with trying to keep track of all comics at all times. Anyway, I went back and read some of my old reviews (I’m pretty much a snake eating its own tail at this point, but I’ve made peace with it), and now I’m mostly caught up! On the things I said about the comics. Eh, I’ll read them all again before the next issue when my life isn’t completely berserk. I’d obviously recommend that you read the previous issues before this one, as she jumps right into things, thankfully after the courtesy of a page spent briefly showing all of the characters. There are several named stories in this issue, but they all flow so seamlessly into each other that I’m not going to even try to differentiate them. Things start off with Owen having a deeply insecure dream on his train ride (going from how much Bea must hate him to Margaux trying to kill him), then we bounce over to Bea and Jonah working at the diner. Bea is more than a little disappointed at the fact that she’s been there for two years, and Jonah is baffled that she’s still doing the long distance thing with Owen. Then we spend some time with Owen and Bea as they both prepare for a date, and finally a lengthy story that starts off talking about how terrible “girl shows” are, but I’m not spoiling any more from the comic, as I’ve once again reached my arbitrary “I’ve said too much about the specifics of this comic” moment. I’d say this is her most solid issue yet, but since my memory of the previous issues is hazy, that’d be a stupid thing to say for sure, wouldn’t it? Check it out, if you already have the previous issues. If not, hey look, here’s a collected edition of the first six issues! What a great way to jump in, but don’t stall too long, as there aren’t that many copies out there. $6 for the issue, $25 for the collected version of all six.
I was surprised to see that it had been a decade since I reviewed one of these comics (and bereft to find out that I missed out on #3; if my memory wasn’t a flaming trash pile I would have grabbed one at CXC), but it turns out that this is the first issue in ten years, so I’m more or less on top of things after all. Also I feel obligated to link to this vinyl toy of Sugar Booger, which was one of the stars of the con for sure. Maybe one day I’ll go to one of those with unlimited funds, because I surely would have picked this one up otherwise. Anyway, it’s been ages since there’s been a new issue, what’s changed? Not a whole lot, and that’s exactly how it should be. Why mess with perfection? If you’re unfamiliar with the character/series, Sugar Booger is a… monster? creature? who mostly eats everything that the other creatures find, with hilarious and/or distressing results. This one starts with that pink creature showing Sugar Booger (who’s reclining on a clump of those peach colored creatures, who are seemingly delighted with the situation) a new type of candy. And, naturally, he eats it. Things seem to be going fine for a bit, until the inevitable rampage begins. One of the joys of these comics is the sheer level of detail; you can have a fine time just reading the story, but it’s packed with characters who don’t say a word but who are also drawn with enough specificity that you can imagine an entire backstory for them. His comics were always a hoot back in the day, and I’m thrilled to say that that hasn’t changed. Check it out, hop back on that Sugar Booger train! $10
Would I usually use punctuation and no caps in the title for a comic I’d reviewed? Probably not, but that’s how Ruby consistently has it listed, and respect the artist, I always say! This is a collection of strips, maybe from previous comics (but I’m not seeing any evidence of that on her website) about various large and small crises, feelings of hopelessness and wondering if you even exist. Would you believe that it’s also sometimes funny? Because it is. Also personally, as a guy who just moved back to a town I lived in 20 years ago, the sampled comic hit me right between the eyes. Wisdom of the move is still uncertain, but that specific old feeling doesn’t seem to exist here anymore. But enough about me, this is meant to be about a comic. I’m stalling because this is one of those where I shouldn’t say everything about it, or even most things, because those things are always and forever best discovered by the reader. But this is the path I’ve chosen, so I’m stuck with it. If I’ve already intrigued you, stop here and just check it out. It’s delightful. Strips in here deal with aimless walks, regretting those drugs you took hours ago when people were still around, holding onto a good feeling, missing smoking, trying to and not to smoke weed, losing yourself in a crowded city landscape, successfully achieving brain freeze, zoning out to a good show only to eventually have it end, and rejecting the phone for a different screen. Please know that that sentence was typed with a cat’s head trying to bonk my hand off of the keyboard, and that I stopped typing several times for pets. I’m not a monster, after all. If you’ve had any existential questions in your life, give this one a shot. If you haven’t, you need to read more, and you should also give this a shot. $10
Well folks, we’ve reached the portion of the CXC review comic pile where I’m not at all sure where I got a comic in the first place, meaning I’m not sure who made it, also meaning that they didn’t put their name in the comic. Rookie mistake, comics person! I was all set to give you credit for this comic, but here we are. This comic is exactly what it looks like: a guide for likely voters, unlikely voters, convincing unlikely voters in your family/friend group, and all of the resources you’ll ever need to make the process as smooth as possible. I kept waiting for a punchline or a bit of cynicism, but it’s to ____’s credit that this stays exactly what it appears to be throughout. Longtime readers will know that I work in elections for a living, so it’s a subject near and dear to me, and also that I’m a member of a particular party, and you can guess which one if you ask yourself “what’s the only major political party left even slightly tethered to reality?” Yes it’s true, fence sitters, and you’re not getting to heaven any faster than anybody else by wasting your vote on a protest candidate. You also don’t get to stay “pure” while the rest of us are stuck in the mud you basic, simple child. It’s tempting to go off on a longer rant here, but that made my point well enough, I reckon. If you have questions about the voting process I’d recommend checking out this comic, or even better that linked website, which has everything you’ll ever need to learn about voting and then some. As far as how much this costs, this feels like the sort of thing handed out for free at events, but I’d guess $5 if you saw one in the wild.
Note: that link in the title goes nowhere at the moment, but they said “coming soon” for their online store, so I’m taking them at their word. Or you could just contact them at one of the many options on their website if you’re the impatient type. So this is a comic that really speaks to me, with the sample image below really summing things up: getting a good pillow. A few years ago I went on a similar quest myself, and I still have several different pillow types in my closet. Short answer: the Purple pillow was the winner for me. But that’s just advice, I’m meant to be talking about a comic here. Max and Mazey are doing laundry and the process ends up destroying Mazey’s pillows. She has a very specific type that she’s trying to find, Max destroys her illusions about there being any good pillows out there, and the bulk of the comic is a quest to find the exact type of pillow that she already owned as a replacement. Some funny stuff in here, including a salesperson catching them getting a little too friendly with the pillows, and definitely plenty to relate to if you’re at all like me and have spent way too much time thinking about this subject. Give it a shot, and I’m curious to see what other comics they’ve put out when the store link opens up, as that “Max & Mazey in” above the title sure implies the existence of more of these. No price listed, but I’m randomly going with $8.
One of the pitfalls of my “gotta grab ’em all” approach to conventions (which always fails; at best I come away with comics from about 1/3 of the attendees) is that I end up having to get the “affordable” comic from certain tables. Which is not to say bad things about this comic, or any other comic where that’s been the circumstance. Ernie has a larger comic called Bellwether out that looks intriguing, but it also cost twice as much as this one, so you can see where this is going. No, it turns out that I cannot actually have all of the comics. Benevolent billionaires, you can still sponsor the website! I continue to believe that it’s possible to get and review all of the comics, with resources and help, and without the time sink of other full time employment. Anyway, enough of the “boo hoo, I can’t have all of the comics” nonsense, what’s the story with this one? It’s a collection of three autobio pieces, which were probably new to this and not previously published in anthologies? I think. First up is a piece dealing with his annoyance at a writing class, confirming my sad suspicion that most of those classes these days are more about online engagement than the art. Nice hopeful message and a solid closing bit, not that I’m going to ruin it here. Next up is a story about a moment in time in his food service career, where one employee is having a bad enough day to storm out and can’t even find a brief bit of privacy on her way, this time with a closing that’s bleak as hell, at least to me. Finally there’s a story about collecting trash from a backseat, which I’m really glad he clarified on his website was based on a dream. It ends up being a bizarre contest where he has to convince people that his bag of backseat trash is actually clothes, with disastrous results. Nice solid pile of stories, and one more name I’ll have to be on the lookout for at Cartoon Crossroads next year. Oh, will the pile of quality comics never end? In case I haven’t mentioned it, my new apartment came with a fainting couch, so I’ve been looking to get the vapors whenever possible. Sometimes I have to give them to myself, like here. Still, worth it! $5
I’m happy to report that this series is rolling right along (this is me after attending Cartoon Crossroads ’24). I picked up the next three issues of the series and Chad said that they’re working on #9 already, so if you were holding off on checking this one out until making sure that it wasn’t going to become yet another promising series that flamed out and disappeared… yeah, I think they’ve passed that point. Go back to read the older reviews if you need to get caught up (or better yet, just get the comics), but this time around we get some insight into how much all of his dealing is affecting Chad’s classes. He’s taken aside by his Buddhist Religious Thought professor and asked why his work has been slipping so much lately. Side note: apparently his professor was in the religion episode of Ali G way back in the early aughts, so now I have to watch my Ali G DVD of that episode. Yeah, can you believe that the guy who only reviews physical comics still has physical media? Shocking! Anyway, during their conversation we see a flashback into what exactly it is that’s been keeping him from focusing on his studies, and it shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise to see that it’s mostly due to him making $1000 a week or so dealing. Which is still real money now, but 20+ years ago that would clearly take precedence over his classes. We see a wide range of his customers: a student who insists that he’ll be a senator some day (I’d love to see an update on that kid), a group of students studying who just need to relax, one who’s all business, one who tries to make a game of it by having Chad choose which hand the money is in, etc. They all do seem to be united in saying that Chad’s code system (having people call or text saying that they need t-shirts) was stupid, which Chad solved by… making up some t-shirts and literally giving them out with the weed. Kind of a genius move, honestly, and the shirts were against a rival school, so there’d be no reason for them to cause suspicion. An ongoing saga throughout the comic is him waiting for one customer who repeatedly pushes off their meet-up, and still ends up being several hours late. Which is a gigantic hassle for him, obviously, but it turns out that she’s his best client, which makes it tough for him to make any ultimatums for her. There are also a few treats in the back of the comic, as he reveals his transcript (just in case anybody was worried about whether or not he dropped out) and has another funny and informative afterward. He’s looking for letters to fill that space, but honestly I’m enjoying the informal chat feeling of it. Get caught up, read the series, is what I say. He’s also selling a bundle of the first 6 issues to make it easy on yourself. $9
Have you ever thought about the hotel room you’re staying in? I mean, really thought about it, what’s it’s seen, who’s stayed there, what they’ve done while staying there? As somebody who worked in a hotel ages ago, I confine myself to “they clean it every day,” because any introspection past that is terrifying. Violet, on the other hand, really gets into it with this comic. I wonder if this insight comes from former (or current) employment in the field or just natural observations from life. This comic is all aspects of the hotel stay, from the human compulsion to try to make the blank area look lived-in to contemplating anything and everything that was done on that bed. It’s a evocatively told story, and if somebody told me that it was Violet’s poem before they decided to make it into a comic I would absolutely believe them. There’s beauty in this subject too, as a whole lot of dreaming also went on in that room. This is one of those comics that will make you think about something you’ve possibly never thought about before, and you can’t ask for more from a book than that. Meanwhile, now I have one more person that I have to seek out at the next CXC to see what else they’ve done. Plenty, judging by their website, so when you stop by there to check this one out, grab another one or two, won’t you? $5
Posted by Kevin 
