January 15, 2013
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Super Lobotomy
Have you ever wondered about the domestic life of a walking, talking brain and the piece of itself that was cut off in a lobotomy? You haven’t? Lucky for you, Sara is on the case. The basic story here (and it will be difficult to do this madness justice) is that the vast majority of the brain has no interest at all in household chores, and instead chooses to focus on daydreaming and loafing. Maybe the portion of its brain that was removed was the part that controlled such things? Eh, I’m thinking way too literally and scientifically here, and I apologize. Anyway, the brain sends away for a “hero cape,” it finally arrives in the mail and the brain proceeds to go into town, looking for various ways to save the day. It’s likely that I wouldn’t want to live there, but this world would be a fantastic place to visit. Sentient waffles, one of the ghosts from Pac-Man (purely guessing here) as a criminal, a pineapple parking enforcer, a piece of toast working as a hot dog vendor (would it be unethical for a piece of toast to sell hot dog buns, as they might be related? Yet another thing that I had never considered before reading this comic), and an ice cream cone and a gumdrop playing together. Why does the gumdrop only have one leg while the ice cream cone has two? It’s probably best left to your imagination. My only minor complaint is that, as a silent comic, there are a couple of moments when I had some difficulty following the action. But it always made itself clear in a panel or two, which is why it’s only a minor complaint. This is a pile of fun, and good luck not chuckling at least a few times. $5 (guessing again, as it’s not listed on her website as being for sale yet, but it totally is)
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Posted by Kevin
January 15, 2013
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Startled Maggie
Well, this book took a turn for the better when I found out that this was actually all about Meghan as a kid and not about the early days of her child (if she has a child, which she may or may not, how should I know?). It deals with the first few years of life of a young girl, her various utterances (it’s tough to call them conversations) and happenings. It seemed almost too cute if it was about Meghan’s mythical child, but learning that it was about Meghan as a kid and that she’s doing this series to document the nature of memory and early life makes it a lot more interesting. This wouldn’t be the case if I had a kid of my own and/or shared the belief of all parents that their children and their children alone are precious little snowflakes, but alas, that isn’t the case. It’s irrelevant, as these are all stories told to Meghan by her parents about her very early days. I’d be curious to see a comparison after this is finished between her own memories and the memories that she depicts here. Are they largely the same? If not, where do they differ, and what does that say about everybody involved? This has the potential to be a downright fascinating series when all is said and done. I have no idea how long she’s going to depict this (it would lose some of the point if she kept it up through her teenage years where, if she was like most other teenagers, her parents lost touch with exactly what she was up to on a daily basis), but I am very curious to see how it all shakes out. $6
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Posted by Kevin
January 11, 2013
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The Return of the Magic Whistle (#12)
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One of the oddest things about my reviewing comics on this site for the past 11+ years (!!!) is that I’ve lost touch with more than a few of the comics that got me started doing this in the first place. It’s hard to overstate the importance of Magic Whistle during my small press formative years when I was climbing out of the superhero ghetto, and I still have most of his mini comics before he was published by anybody to prove it. Still, I ended up getting overwhelmed with comics submitted for review (a damned nice problem to have) and taking fewer trips to the comic stores, so the end result is that I haven’t read an issue of this in at least six years. It turns out that Sam hadn’t put out an issue in roughly four years, so it turns out that I hadn’t missed all that much anyway (although there are at least two issues advertised in the back of this one that I don’t own, a situation that will soon be rectified). So, much like my King Cat reviews, don’t expect to find a lot of negativity here, as the sheer joy at seeing another issue of this series overwhelmed my critical faculties. Which is not to imply that it’s bad and that I’m too biased to see it but, humor being subjective and all, I guess you might not find it funny. Hey rambly, what’s this comic about? Well, for those of you who have never read an issue of this series (and, after being gone for four years, I could even excuse a few of you for that), there are no magic whistles present in these comics, except for maybe the very early days. Instead they’re a series of funny bits of differing lengths, which may sound like a lot of comics, but Sam’s style is simplistic in his own unique way, and there’s no mistaking it once you see it. Subjects in here include a protest about the reality of the constitution by a man in the audience of a school play, the trials of having a large ass and always being expected to give people rides on it, a look back at a really terrible gym teacher from grade school, Dirty Danny’s sneaky trick after getting elected, the lonely robot duckling asking questions about the terminology behind pornography (in the story that got the loudest laughs out of me), the differences between how you’re perceived crossing a section of the river as a child versus doing it at 42, learning about his teacher and her possible gay relationship as a child, some letters from ages ago, and several one panel gags that I’m not going to spoil even a little bit. If you’re just wondering if he’s still funny: yes. Yes, he is. And that’s why you’d be buying a Magic Whistle comic anyway, right? It’s good to see Sam back and, with his announcement of a big collection of strips coming out in 2013, it looks like we’ll be seeing a lot more from him in the near future. Hurray! $4 |
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Posted by Kevin
January 10, 2013
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SF #2
If only Ryan didn’t have to worry about making a living, I’d say that this story has the potential to become one of the next great comic epics. As it is I don’t see how he’ll have the time to do this story justice, but please, prove me wrong! I say that because Ryan puts together supplemental issues for the regular issues, expanding this universe of his every step of the way, and reading this issue showed me about a half dozen different ways he could take this story. There’s a handy and concise recap on the inside cover (every other comics artist ever who puts out a continuing story, take note), then the bulk of the main story deals with two members of the SF squad (actually SFSFSF, but maybe that was too clunky for a title) trying to free an admiral who they hope will become an ally. A game is played to determine his fate, something goes horribly wrong, and the planet ends up devastated, as you may have guessed from that cover. And oh, the devastation! Ryan shows a world both crumbling and being eaten away, and he does it beautifully. He even saves time in the end to show off the SF headquarters and for some character development, although I maybe shouldn’t tell you what kind, as that would give away more of the content of the main story. The only complaint I have is a technical one, as pages 8 and 29 are completely blank (unless that is some artistic master plan that I’m not catching onto). Ah well, something to fix for the collected edition, right? If you’re not following this series and you’re at all interested in anime/giant galactic skirmishes, I’ll just come right out and say it: get it together. Maybe ignorance could excuse you before this, but you’re reading these words, right? Buy the issues and put them in a vault, as this man will become famous for his comics if there is any justice in the world. Which there usually isn’t, but hey, we can always hope. $7 (for a damned hefty comic)
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Posted by Kevin
January 9, 2013
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Segway
Hollywood, take note: “Time Puncher” should be a major motion picture in the next few years. Conversely, Rob should really trademark that idea. Oh right, you probably don’t have any idea what I’m talking about unless you’ve already read this. The main story in this comic deals with time travel, hilariously set up by a guy who’s just trying to read the electricity meter and has no interest at all in the fantastic goings on around him. The professor who invented the machine wants to go back to a few moments in his past (relatively minor moments, sort of, but they do involve punching), but things naturally get a little tricky by the end. But wait, there’s more! Other stories include an anxiety dream involving spiders shaking their fists in anger (I wonder how many fists they were shaking? It’s just the one in the image, but with the eight legs and all…), the only good thing about the power going out in a freezer full of Rob’s homemade ice cream, living the life of a ventriloquist, having a ghost in the house (song lyrics, not some dope who actually thinks that ghosts are real), the ups and downs of how dreams were interpreted in ancient times, and the true origin of a woman named Marigold. That last story seemed to just fade away at the end, but it was still an amusing story while it lasted and I have no complaints at all about the rest of the book. I’ve been reading Rob’s comics since damned near the beginning of this website, and I have to confess that there were moments when I didn’t think that he’d make it (whatever that means). But the man has built his own niche, handling short pieces and longer pieces with equal skill, and this one even has a genuinely striking cover. The lesson to people who put out a few comics but maybe weren’t happy with the results? If you have something to say, keep at it! You’ll get there. Dave Sim has said a lot of genuinely crazy things over the years, but one thing I always liked was his comment that every artist had 1,000 pages of terrible art in them (I’m probably getting the number wrong, but you get the idea) and the only way past it was to draw the pages and get them out of the way. Anyway, buy this comic and enjoy. No price, but his books generally go for somewhere in the $5 range.
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Posted by Kevin
January 8, 2013
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Coffee and Donuts
Hey, who’s up for a heist involving cats with pants? Well, shirts too, and one of them even has a pair of glasses on. You also may be thinking that the title and that image of a cop car on the cover have an obvious correlation, but you’d be wrong! And a little too quick to go with a stereotype, frankly. Anyway, this is another review of an older (2006) graphic novel in my continuing series of “oh, that person that I really like put out a graphic novel 5+ years ago and I somehow never heard of it? Huh.” reviews. This one starts off with two cats (Dwight and Jules) who are living in a dumpster, trying to find enough food to live on. They also have a mysterious benefactor who leaves (you guessed it) coffee and donuts on their dumpster lid every morning. Life goes on for these two until they notice that the same armored truck makes the same stop near their alley on a regular basis, and there’s only one guard to the truck, so they figure that it should be easy to rob. Not that they’re bad people (um, cats), but a bag of money would do wonders for their situation. Little do they know that two professional criminals have also come to the conclusion that this armored car would be easy to rob and they’re making their own plans. Well, Dwight and Jules get there first, and their heist attempt goes disastrously wrong, as you’d probably imagine regarding a heist planned by two homeless cats. This failed attempt is seen by the criminals and another mysterious observer who isn’t revealed until later, and the rest of the books deals with those two cats trying to get out of this increasingly dangerous predicament. This is all making the book sound like a serious, tense heist thriller, when this could actually be pretty easily be categorized as a children’s book. The danger never gets too serious and the characters do cartoon character moves, like jumping safely from a roof onto an overhang several stories below. But it is still an absolute blast, and it manages to be adorable without crossing that line over into obnoxious. And those flailing cat arms! Ridiculous and mesmerizing. It’s a complete shift in tone from Max’s first book (“Hello, Again”) and it’s well worth a look, unless you have moral problems with cats wearing pants. $10
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Posted by Kevin
January 7, 2013
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The Homeland Directive
When my biggest problem with a book is its fairly generic title, it’s safe to say that I don’t actually have much of a problem with the book at all. This is the story of a conspiracy within the U.S. government, told with snippets from all sides. There are the two scientists who have been targeted for assassination, although we don’t learn why for quite some time (and obviously one of them gets away initially, as there wouldn’t be much of a story otherwise). There’s the Homeland Security chief, who’s fed up with a feckless President who is more caught up in his image than in doing what the chief considers the necessary dirty work. You also have three agents from disparate government agencies who have detected that something is up and have decided to help the targeted scientists, and there’s the agent (or assassin) who’s trying to take them all out. These are the trickiest comics/stories to review, as they’re based almost entirely on suspense and the ability to keep surprising the reader, and a sloppy reviewer can take that away pretty easily. I can tell you that the suspense is so expertly handled that the ending of the book completely snuck up on me, which is tough to have happen when you’re holding a physical copy of a comic and can tell that there aren’t many pages left. It felt like it could have gone on longer, but they mentioned in the story a fact that would have kept a book like this short: there are tons of ways for the government to find you and only so many ways that you can avoid being found. One thing that I usually pick up on in a story (sometimes too much, depending on who you ask) is whether or not it’s plausible, and it has to be plausible the whole way through for a book to “win.” This one meets that test all the way through up to and including the way the ending is handled, and what more can you ask out of a suspense/thriller? It even has a few messages tucked in, which can be dishearteningly rare in small press comics. Of course, Robert Venditti is the guy who wrote “The Surrogates,” so maybe “small press” is stretching it a bit. Anyway: it’s relentlessly suspenseful, the use of color only in portions was inspired, and, just to give them something hokey to use as a quote that I also believe, it was a hell of a ride. $14.95
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Posted by Kevin
January 6, 2013
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Bad Breath Comics #5
It’s the constant danger of comics made of a number of short stories: there are bound to be some stinkers in the bunch. Or if not necessarily “stinkers,” then definitely lower down on the “meh” scale. Josh’s covers also don’t seem to have much of anything to do with the interior, which is a perfectly valid option, but if you only bought this because you love flying cars you’ll end up disappointed. These books are narrated by a Crypt Keeper-esque dude called “Step-Brother Scary,” which is something that I think should be in more comics, but I’m not the boss of the world. Things start off a little awkwardly with a story about a young man who is obsessed with a certain type of candy bar, but only for the wrappers. This story is all over the map, as the young man veers away from people to avoid incidental eye contact but also offers the candy to strangers so that they can eat it and give him the wrappers. The “why” of this is never established, unless it’s just for the sake of telling a brief story about a creepy dude. Josh also has a few spelling mistakes where he uses a word that sounds like the word he’s supposed to be using, to the point that I started wondering if he was doing it on purpose. If so, bravo! If not, everybody knows that you can plug any word into Google and the definition is usually one of the first things that comes up, right? Just saying that’s it a very easy thing to fix. Other pieces in here involve a misunderstanding involving fishing, an honest group reaction to a self help class, the tai-chi guy, hijinx with a grown-up in a bee costume, a haunted house conversation that’s all build-up with no payoff (but it’s still funny), a duck buying back his stolen bike, an introverted guy giving a speech, two parking lots, and a story about a young woman falling asleep on the bus that goes absolutely nowhere (but is, for some reason, listed as “to be continued”). The humor was a bit dopier than my preference at times (“Wall-Fart” instead of “Wal-Mart” probably isn’t going to cause a whole bunch of people to guffaw), but there’s still enough good stuff in here to be worth a look. And that page I sampled below was brilliant. $2
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Posted by Kevin
January 4, 2013
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Monday Saddies! #1
Go ahead, make a first impression based on that cover. It shouldn’t be too difficult, with what appear to be three depressed and/or confused characters. That hat on the bear makes it obvious that it’s a talking bear (what other type of bear would wear a hat? Don’t be silly), and you might also get that same impression from the snake because he’s sitting at the table. Do you have that impression firmly established in your head? Yeah, you’re wrong. Or if you end up not being wrong, you might want to look into getting psychiatric help. Things start off with the ranger taking a bunch of kids camping, hoping to show them some constellations. This plan is interrupted by the snake, who has recently purchased a bat signal and is loathe to turn it off. Mayhem ensues, the snake gets the better of the ranger, and you might think that it would turn into a wacky adventure with the ranger trying to put one over on that rascally snake. Well, no. It turns out that the ranger likes getting beat up a little too much, and tries to escalate things with the snake. Meanwhile, the snake (and he’s called Sweetie Snake, which is too awesome for me not to mention) learns that he isn’t exactly punishing the ranger by attacking him, and asks that talking bear for advice. I should say no more, as you should see how the rest of this goes down for yourselves (and the fate of that bear had me laughing out loud), but it’s very much worth a look. And apparently future issues will have entirely different characters, which already has me wondering what Steve comes up with next. $5
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Posted by Kevin
January 3, 2013
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Homesick
My apologies to the rest of the people out there making graphic novels, but it’s three days into the new year and we already have a winner for best book of the year. Yes, it’s obviously too early to say that, but I’ve rarely seen a book that’s managed to be this perfectly devastating. This is Jason’s first book, which is damned near criminal, and it’s the story both of a lost cosmonaut and Jason’s mother struggling through ten years of various levels of cancer. How could those two things possibly go together? I had the same question early on, and he managed to pull them together in an impressive manner. But that’s getting ahead of the story. Things start off by giving you the impression that this is going to be a happier book, as Jason calls his mother to tell her about his recent engagement. He learns that her cancer is back and it’s all downhill from there. Jason lives far away from his mother and it’s difficult to visit her, but he had problems with seizures as a child and she has always been there to support him and keep him safe. We see his early days and a number of snippets that are exactly the sorts of things that pop into your head when you can see the end coming up, the moments that end up comprising your best memories of a person. The cosmonaut ends up being one of the first people sent up into space, back when they had no way of getting the person back down again. His difficulty in accepting his fate intersects with Jason’s nicely by the end, and if you can read this whole book without shedding a tear then you’re a heartless monster. Anything else I say would either be repeating myself or giving away bits that don’t need to be given away. I recommend a lot of books on this site and no one person could possibly buy them all, but save up those pennies and put together the $16 needed to pick this up. There are precious few books out there with the potential to make you a better human being, and this is on that list. $16
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Posted by Kevin
January 2, 2013
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The Ticking
I don’t think anybody out there does silent comics better than Renee French. Granted, this graphic novel isn’t completely silent, but the sheer amount of silence really magnifies the few words that do make it through. This is the story of Edison Steelhead… hey wait a minute, doesn’t she already have a graphic novel about Edison Steelhead? Yes she does, and if you were mystified by that book, it ends up serving as a great companion piece to this book, as that’s a series of drawings and this character is an artist. Anyway! We see Edison born, we see that his mother didn’t survive the birth and that Edison was born deformed like his father. He basically looks like Tina from “Like a Velvet Glove Cast in Iron” by Dan Clowes, what with eyeballs on the side of his head and all. We gradually (and I really need to emphasize “gradually,” as Renee’s ability to reveal these story bits piece by piece is remarkable) see Edison grow up, see when Edison figures out that his father had had cosmetic surgery to fix his deformity, and see Edison’s own struggle to either cover up his appearance like his father or embrace it and take on the world. It does say which way he decides on the back of this book, but I consider that a spoiler and it’s not like you’re reading the back of the book right now anyway, so I’ll leave it a mystery. The story scrapes right up against “uplifting” a few times but never quite makes it, which was the perfect tone for it. I also have to point out the existence of Edison’s adopted sister and how much I love that the obvious questions about her existence (you’ll know what I mean when you read this) are never addressed. This book somehow snuck by me when it was released in 2005, but if you’re looking for a hefty graphic novel from this woman then you’re in luck. And if you’ve heard her name and aren’t sure where to dive into her work, I can’t imagine a better place to start. $20
Renee F
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Posted by Kevin
January 1, 2013
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King Cat #73
Sure, you probably think that I give all issues of King Cat glowing reviews and that there’s no point in even reading this one, so I’ll start you off with something new: the first strip didn’t do a whole lot for me. There, criticism! Even if it is vague, as humor is subjective, and the thought of a bear sneaking in two cats to watch a slightly risque movie didn’t get a chuckle out of me. Of course, the rest of the issue is still fantastic, and that first strip is only two pages (that, again, you might enjoy just fine), so forget I mentioned it. The bulk of the book is John on the hunt for a cuckoo that he may or may not have seen, and we get a history of his various possible sightings of that bird over the years. Hey, that sounds boring. Bring on the killer robots! OK, granted, John does not have any killer robots in this at all, and if that’s what you’re looking for I’d advise you to start in a comic called something other than “King Cat.” This one, for new readers, is all about the quiet moments and the constant search for clues about life and everything. Just in case you’ve been reading small press comics for years and have never picked up a copy of King Cat, you poser you. The rest of the comic has his usual “top 40” list (that is rarely if ever actually 40 things), a few letters, John’s dream about being a monk and his ethical dilemma in it, some facts about a certain type of squirrel and a cat on shoelace patrol. Yes, John still puts out a fantastic comic on a regular basis and yes, you should still buy it. $3
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Posted by Kevin
December 26, 2012
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The Disappearance of Gordon Page, Jr.
Hey look, Robert is getting into sequential stories! You may remember Robert from the fascinating “Stranger Two Stranger” series where he illustrates those “missed connection” ads on Craigslist, but (as he makes clear in the intro) he’s been wanting to branch out for a while and saw an opportunity to submit a story to an anthology. This story didn’t make the cut, but hey, that’s why mini comics exist! This is the story of a young man who was misdiagnosed at a young age as a schizophrenic and spent years basically living as a vegetable under the wrong medications. Eventually they figured out that he was autistic, he was placed on the correct medications and he disappeared. It’s a heartbreaking story, especially considering the fact that he was most likely trying to get back to his family (who put him in a home in Michigan before moving to Florida, which seems a little callous to me, but they’ve had to live with the guilt of it for 20 years and what do I know anyway). The truly tragic thing about missing persons stories is that if it’s older than a year or so (really, more like six months) then the chances that that person will ever be found are vanishingly small, and Gordon disappeared in 1991. Robert does list a phone number that you should use if you do know anything and hey, stranger things have happened. Judging this as his first (?) foray into sequential storytelling, he does a nice job of getting out all the facts of the story, with quotes from his family (based on an old episode of “Unsolved Mysteries”). It probably didn’t need to have roughly have of the pages as full page spreads when there are only 9 pages in the story, but that’s a minor complaint and it’s not like they were heroic posing pages; you still got snippets of information on them. It’s worth checking out, and I’m curious to see if Robert keeps these kinds of stories going or goes back to his previous series. Hey, there’s room enough for both! $1
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Posted by Kevin
December 21, 2012
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Daggurs: Troubled Youth
It always makes my job so easy when I can use basically any page of a comic for a sample and still have it be hilarious. That’ll probably give away my opinion of the book right there, but how much suspense were you expecting in a review? Get a grip on yourself. Anyway, this is mostly a 24 hour comic (“mostly” meaning that Sam drew the whole thing in 24 hours, then went back in after the time limit to add some greys, which still counts in my book) about the life of a man/creature named Daggur. He is absolutely awesome and the idol of the children of his area, but he has a crisis of conscience when it dawns on him just what he’s done after the children praise his killing of a sea creature. So he goes back and examines why he is what he is, which leads to an eventual confrontation with said cause, and the introduction int my life of the word “whangel.” Sorry, you’re going to have to read the comic to find out what that means, although I guess it’s possible if you just break the word down a bit. Oh, and the last page of this book is something that should be put in a time capsule to show to future generations/our eventual alien conquerors, as it sums this whole “life” thing up pretty well. Buy it, read it, laugh. $2
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Posted by Kevin
December 20, 2012
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The Pig Sleep
Noir comics are easy to review. I’ve read plenty of Raymond Chandler, James M. Cain, Jim Thompson and the gang, so I’m going to have a pretty good idea of whether or not the writer nailed the tone. And this time? We have a winner! This comic is mostly in color, but the page sampled below is such a perfect representation of the way that detectives typically size up women in those books that I had to use it. So if you hate it, feel free to spend your precious dollars elsewhere, although I think you’ll be missing out. The story is summed up pretty neatly in the sample too: four cops have gone missing and the detective is hired to find out what happened to them (and given precious little to go on). A suspect is found dead with a note indicating that he kidnapped the cops and that they’ll never be found, but our hero thinks the whole thing is a little too easy and keeps looking for the truth. It’s a pile of fun, and it even uses the old mystery trope of the typewriter with one letter that’s off to identify it. There are also four one page stories in the back, each told in rhyme, and those managed to be pretty damned engaging too (and it’s damned easy for a comic told in verse to annoy me). Matthew Daley’s art really completes the package, as the whole thing has a unique look to it that still somehow fits the theme perfectly. If you have any interest in this type of story, it’s rarely done any better than this. If you don’t have any interest in noir, why not give this one a shot to see if maybe this time you can build an interest? Expand your horizons! $5
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Posted by Kevin
December 18, 2012
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Gingerbread Girl
I generally have a problem with comics/tv/movies that have characters talk to the audience in the first person. Not that I have a problem with it in books, as I’ve read too many books written in the first person to still have a problem with it, but in other forms of entertainment it usually takes me right out of the action. But then there was Gingerbread Girl, where everybody in the damned thing (animals included) stop and chat with the audience. And it’s fantastic! This story could have been told without it, I suppose, but it would have made it much less of a story. So yes, I am starting this review by telling you that the graphic novel I’m talking about could very well change a fundamental aspect of how I view most modes of entertainment, so you can probably guess that I liked the book a whole lot. It’s the story of Annah, a young woman who is convinced that she has a sister out there somewhere who was created by her scientist father from an extracted portion of her brain. This sister feels what Annah feels, so Annah has taken to wandering around different parts of town and striking herself with a ruler to see if she hears any cries of pain. Oh, and this sister is missing. And quite possibly imaginary, as she appeared right around the time that Annah’s parents got divorced, and Annah doesn’t seem to have any pictures or any other physical evidence of the existence of a sister. Then again, there are also no pictures of her parents, but they had to exist or Annah wouldn’t exist, and there don’t seem to be any pictures of Annah either before she was around 20… so yeah, lots going on here, and the fun of the book is trying to unravel it all and see what’s true. There’s also the fact that Annah is a bit of a monster, as the book starts with her waiting for a date after making two dates at the same time (she was letting fate decide by going on the date with whoever showed up first). I was still riveted the entire time, and I don’t know what more you could ask of a mystery. It’s funny (some of those animal dialogues had me chuckling out loud), utterly compelling and beautifully drawn (it should be obvious by now that I liked the writer quite a bit too). If you’re a fan of those things you should probably buy a copy of this. Or get it from the library, if you live near a really fantastic library that has a good selection of such things. $12.95
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Posted by Kevin
December 17, 2012
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DemonDust #12
You know what just about everybody who makes comics should do? Put out little 8 page niblets like this. Make your own theme, do your own thing, but just doing something on a regular basis would do wonders for some of the artists who only put out graphic novels or gigantic mini comics. Just a suggestion, and it has nothing to do with the contents of this comic, but hey, I occasionally like to make helpful suggestions/meddle. This one starts off with a very brief recap of the state of the world (it’s election time) and features a man with a pumpkin head and an elf using various over-the-counter drugs to get themselves ready to go for an evening of playing video games. See, I say it like that and it seems overly simplistic. You also have the ethics of a man with a pumpkin for a head having a friend who is looking to buy a pumpkin and carve it for a decoration, some traveling, some conversation, and the inevitable result of all of those drugs. It’s all capped off by an afterward on the state of life in general at the moment of his producing this comic, and a tidbit or two about the making of it. It’s funny, bizarre, and has a nice starter list of drugs that you can buy anywhere (although I have no idea of their effects, as they’re all new to me/possibly made up for comedic purposes). So check it out. In fact, why not just buy a stack of these? Like I said, they’re short, so that makes the most sense. $2
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Posted by Kevin
November 2, 2012
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Underwire
I should admit one thing right off the bat, as it will color my review: I don’t generally care for comics that deal with young artists and their kids. That’s a blanket statement, and there are all kinds of exceptions, but it’s based on the general parental idea that their kids are unique, and their interactions with them are unique, and therefore worthy of outside attention. More often than not that’s just not the case, which is why comics like this are always a welcome change. Her relationship to her kids is a relatively small part of this book, but I found myself genuinely interested in it when it did come up, which I though to be a rare enough event to be worth a mention. This book is a series of web comics from Jennifer (plus 17 pages of new material, so even if you read all of that stuff there are still new comics for you to read), mostly in the 1-5 page range, dealing with subject like the growing realization that both of her kids are their own people and are needing her less and less (and she has the refreshing honesty to talk about how crazy they can be on certain things), two of her oldest friends hitting it off and how their collective kids fit into the picture, dueling sex dreams with her husband, her son going off to boarding school and her reactions, head lice, the intricate (and thoroughly modern) life stories of some of her daughters’ dolls, the deer that jumped at the side of her car, how her kids went back and forth between releasing their helium-filled balloons, going back to check on their favorite old college spots, and a dream where she was a terrible serial killer. “Terrible” meaning that she was really bad at it, as it’s kind of implied that all serial killers are terrible. This series was done with the intention of being something that she worked on while finishing her graphic novel about breast cancer, and it has made me plenty curious to check that out when it’s released. You’d probably get the most out of this if you were female, middle-aged and with children in school (as there’s plenty here for you to relate to), but there’s lots here for the rest of us too. Check it out, why don’t you? $9.95
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Posted by Kevin
October 31, 2012
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Any Empire
I should start this off with a disclaimer: I haven’t read Nate’s “Swallow Me Whole,” and this is listed as a follow-up to that book, so it’s entirely possible that I’m missing a lot of context here. What can I say, the man has put out all kinds of graphic novels over the last ten years and I’ve its own way. Things start off bouncing around between Lee, Purdy and Sarah, three kids who are each doing their own thing. Sarah is trying to figure out which kids have been hurting turtles, Purdy is a budding crazy person who is still looking for something resembling friends, and Lee bounces seamlessly back and forth between reality and his fantasies while playing with his toys. Lee’s bits hit the hardest for me, as this was set around the time that I was a kid and I vividly remember going from bored to totally immersed in the intricate imagined happenings of whatever toys and accessories were around at the time (there were all kinds of G.I. Joe/Transformers/He-Man crossovers when I was playing). School is included as well, but just barely. It’s mainly all about how these kids interacted with each other and how every little thing was crucial and fundamentally meaningless at the same time. A number of years pass quickly to the to the second part of the book (maybe ten years?) and we see snippets of what our heroes have been doing with their lives. (THIS IS THE PART WHERE I SPOIL BITS OF PART 2, IN CASE YOU DON’T WANT TO READ IT) Lee is wandering a bit, Sarah is established in a good job but bored silly, and Purdy is off in the armed services. Sarah and Lee have some catching up to do after losing touch since their childhoods, and things get downright weird when Purdy enters their lives again. Your childhood may play a role in how much you enjoy/can relate to this book, but it triggered all kinds of memories in me. I think you’d still get something out of this even if you were raised in a nunnery away from all other kids, but that’s because it’s a fascinating story that’s expertly told. What can I say, I’m biased towards such things. $19.95
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Posted by Kevin
October 30, 2012
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Lucille
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I doubt that Scott McCloud was the first one to mention it, but his comment about the real action of comics all taking place between the panels really came back to me while I was reading this book. This is the story of two teens who feel completely abandoned by the world. Lucille is anorexic, disgusted by the act of eating and is basically trying to disappear. Arthur (later Vladimir, which would be a spoiler if you already knew all the details of this story) makes himself more important to the other kids by pretending to have a direct line to Satan, giving kids advice and “telling their future” in exchange for their souls. Both have troubled relationships to their parents, with Lucille constantly annoyed by her mother (even though she seems to want the best for her daughter, but what teenage girl ever accepts love like that?) and Arthur trying but failing to develop some kind of love for sailing so that he could be closer to his father. The power in this comic comes from the quiet moments in both of their lives, as Lucille tries to find a reason to keep going or ever take her medicine, while Arthur deals with a life or death decision that he’s forced to make while working alongside his father on a ship. It isn’t until about halfway through this gargantuan book that these two finally make a connection with each other, and it doesn’t take long for them to see each other at their lowest points. What follows is an eerily accurate account of the problems and pitfalls facing two young people who are exploring a relationship for the first time, with things happening later that I’m not even going to touch here. This won all kinds of awards in France before finally being translated and released by Top Shelf, and I can see why. It’s always a good sign when images or pages pop into my head unprompted hours after reading a book, and that’s been happening to me all morning. The structure of the whole book is deceptively loose, as Ludovic doesn’t care for panels, but make no mistake: this book is intricately plotted, with even the seemingly unconnected and brief dream sequences eventually playing a major role. There is also a sequel out in France, but so far it hasn’t been translated into English (as of 10/12). Still, I’m absolutely hooked on this story and will be checking in with Top Shelf every now and then to see if the next book is available. This book, by the way, is damned near flawless. It’s not light reading by any stretch of the imagination, but who wants all of their entertainment to be light and fluffy? This takes on huge life problems in interesting ways and, while not always finding the answers, is going to leave you thinking about them long after you’ve finished the book. Read it, is what I’m saying. $29.95 (or cheaper if you were smart enough to pick it up during Top Shelf’s yearly sale).
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Posted by Kevin
