October 28, 2012
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Lower Regions
Have you enjoyed various RPGs and dungeon crawler type games in your life? Did you, when given the opportunity, play through said dungeon using a warrior woman with large breasts (as that does seem to be the default breast setting of several of these games) of your own creation? If not, congratulations on your rich and successful social and business life! For the rest of you, I don’t see how you could find a thing to complain about here. This is a wordless comic, so it takes a few pages before we get to see the “point” of this adventure (the heroine is out looking for her lumpy captured boyfriend). But who needs a point? Things start off with the heroine fighting a large three-balled monster (which is obvious because the dude isn’t wearing any pants). From there she has to fight off a series of challenges and guardians, all while protecting her companion hobbit (or possibly gnome) whose only purpose seems to be holding a torch so that she can see. That whole character is done to perfection, and should get a good laugh out of anybody who has ever played one of these games while trying to keep an obviously inferior character alive. What happens to this hobbit a couple of pages after the sampled page below is absolutely priceless. Anyway, monsters are fought, limbs are hacked off with increasing abandon, and things finally reach their more or less inevitable conclusion. Like I said, if you’re of the right mindset to like this comic then you’re going to love it. If you’re looking for another tale of somebody in their mid 20’s complaining about the meaninglessness of their existence, you could try about 3/4 of the rest of the small press comics out there to satisfy your need. I checked the Top Shelf page out of curiosity to see if there were more issues of this series, and there’s one that’s “web only,” so screw that. Physical comics only please, says that curmudgeon! Then again, it is $7 for this relatively tiny book, which is probably why the next one hasn’t been printed yet. $7
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Posted by Kevin
October 26, 2012
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Ci Vediamo
I should start this off with a disclaimer: the sample below is technically only half a sample, as the construction of this comic makes it difficult to sample a page fully without giving away the meaning that comes from putting two pages together. That’s probably not going to make sense to you unless you’re holding the book, so I should just start at the beginning. The title is an Italian phrase that means “we’ll see each other” and the book deals with two people who are either entering or leaving a relationship. Or they’re just the two proverbial ships passing in the night, but it’s open to interpretation. Anyway, several of the pages are transparent with images imposed on them, so when you turn one page it causes those images to show up on the previous page. When you put that page over the page sampled below the meaning changes considerably, which is why I was leery about the best way to sample it. It’s a short melancholy tale, and I just now pieced together that last page, which makes it a little less sad. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything quite like it, which is always a welcome thing in the world of mini comics. She also won a Xeric award for this, proving once again that those folks know what they’re doing. $6
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Posted by Kevin
October 25, 2012
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The Lovely Horrible Stuff
It’s constantly annoying to me that Eddie Campbell isn’t fabulously wealthy. He seems to get by OK, judging from his comics (it’s not like I’d have any other way to assess his finances), but somebody who has been putting out some of the best comics in the world for 30+ years now should be sleeping on a pile of money. This particular graphic novel, as you may have guessed from that cover, is all about cash, and that title should give you some idea of Eddie’s opinion on the subject. He gives us a tiny peek into how his finances work, why it’s a terrible idea to ever loan money to a father-in-law and why timing in pitching any sort of tv show based on him or his work is everything (anybody else remember that global financial catastrophe that started in 2008? I know that American voters seem uncomfortably hazy on the subject, but I’m hoping the rest of the world has better memory). Eddie wanders around a bit, but the conclusion is the same as always: the man just wants to make art and live a comfortable life. It’s a little disconcerting to see his kids as young adults, as I remember them as the tiny creatures from his earlier books, and it’s even more annoying that he has to worry about their college fund. Anyway, my bitching about the total lack of justice in the world isn’t going to change anything. The second half of the book is a bit more dry, as it’s all about an obscure form of currency from the island of Yap, what’s happened to it over the years and how it’s value was measured obliquely preceded some of the other tricks that are a huge part of the current global finance system. And they’re very large circular rocks with holes drilled in the middle of them, so their construction and how they got from place to place was also covered. This book was a bit of a departure from some of his other graphic novels, as he liberally sprinkled in pictures of people and places to mix with his drawings, which served as a vivid reminder of the almost invisible line between his character of Alec and his real world. It’s another great graphic novel from one of the best comic artists/writers working today, and there’s no reason in the world why you shouldn’t have a copy of it. Unless you hate really great books, in which case you seem to have wandered into the wrong website. $14.95
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Posted by Kevin
October 23, 2012
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DemonDust #11
Did I black out and miss a few years of Bernie’s comics? Nope, I just checked the review from his last book and it’s from August 30th of this year. Still, here he is with #11 of the series that supposedly comes after that book. Baffling! Well, whatever he’s doing, it’s working. Normally I’d be at least mildly annoyed that I was only seeing #11 of a series, but this issue is perfectly self-contained.Which doesn’t tell me much about the rest of the series either way, but I’m trusting where this guy is coming from. This comic is all about picking new characters to star in the series, as “writing your self as a protagonist in comics can be a little nerve-racking for an introverted procrastinator” (said by the ambulatory brain from the last issue). We get to meet a wide range of characters, some from other series (who knew that “An Army of Lovers Will Be Beaten” was up to seven issues? Everybody but me? Damn) and some that seem to have come right from his imagination. Or other sources that I couldn’t identify. It’s a damned funny book, which is something that has been missing from most of Bernie’s previous comics, so if you’re just looking for a good cry you may want to go back to some of his previous work. For the rest of you, when exactly is funny ever bad? It’s a good starting point for people who are new to this series, so you could either go with this issue or take a risk and start from the beginning. Based on everything I’ve seen from the man I’d be pretty shocked if the early issues of this series were terrible. $2
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Posted by Kevin
October 22, 2012
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Delayed Replays
Hey look, it’s a collected edition of her series from a few years back! I reviewed the first issue of this series a little while back and I mostly stand by it: damned adorable at times, but marred by some sloppy line work in the early days. Well, “marred” is too strong a word, as the early work for most people is going to be far from perfect. Anyway, this is 111 pages of these strips, so if you liked them in smaller doses, you’ll love them here! Subjects include cat conversations (her with her cat, not cats with each other, as that would be crazy), boys and their shenanigans, her with her friends (including one that looks like her doppelganger), fudgesicles, and various other observances that fit in three panels. There is also a distinct lack of comics about the difficulties of making comics, which is a nice change in a diary strip. You get quite a bit of comic here for $7, but if you were smarter you would have taken advantage of Top Shelf’s recent sale to get it for $3. But you weren’t, so those extra $4 are your punishment for a lack of planning on the right time to buy a pile of comics. $7
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Posted by Kevin
September 26, 2012
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Veggie Dog Saturn #6
Has anything contributed more to creating small press comic artists than long lines for more established creators at comic conventions? This issue is an origin story of sorts for Jason, as it details his first big comic convention in Chicago, where he was finally able to meet his hero (Bob Burden of “Flaming Carrot” fame). But it was the mini comics of Paul Koob (“Hamster Man”) that seemed to make the biggest impact on his life at the time, and he only happened across that table because the lines for the people that he really wanted to see were too long. Anyway, this comic starts off with Jason tensely waiting out a bomb scare at his place of employment when he was 16. The comics that he wanted to get signed were in the pizza place and, even though nobody thought that the bomb threat was real, he still theoretically risked his life just to grab his comics before they left on the trip to Chicago. Off he went with his older brother and a few of his friends (although the afterword mentions that the contingent that actually went off to Chicago was shrunk for dramatic purposes), and Jason did a really fantastic job of building up Chicago after he had seen it (mostly in the background for Cubs and Bulls games on WGN) for years. The reality matched his dreams, as they had a hotel room on the 30th floor of the convention center and he got a hell of a view of the city. From there he goes on to describe the experience of finally getting to a gigantic comics convention, and there’s no sense of my ruining any of that. It’s a thoroughly engrossing story, one that will no doubt seem familiar to just about anybody reading this review, as most of you must have gone through a similar experience to cross over to the small press stuff. Except for those of you were awesome enough at 11 to start off buying Fantagraphics books, and I honestly think that you people missed out a bit, as it’s hard to value the really great stuff unless you have at least some background in the crap. I was wondering why there aren’t more origin stories out there, but it’s probably very similar for a lot of people. Still, an anthology with this theme would most likely be fascinating. Just saying… $3
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Posted by Kevin
September 22, 2012
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Drunken Cat Comics Anniversary
This is a special for the 11 year anniversary of Brian’s assorted comics, and I just have one question: where the hell is the Ruffians story? There are updates for a few of his older comics (otherwise known as “new stories”), but Ruffians, which was far and away his longest series, is nowhere to be found. Boo! Ah well, I can still judge the rest of the book on its merits. Our “host” for this comic is the drunken cat from the name who, if memory serves (and it probably doesn’t), has never really gotten this much face time before. The cat introduces us to the new stories and does make a passing reference to Ruffians, so at least it isn’t completely disregarded. New stories in here include Satan’s high school reunion (in which we catch up with Satan after he was introduced in Brian’s first comic 11 years ago), Fall Back (in which our hero goes back in time to try to recapture his perfect past love) and Big Metal Robots (in which… aw, the title tells you everything you need to know). Satan’s story had more than a few funny bits, the time traveling story managed to be a bit heartbreaking, and the story about robots sure did have robots punching and kicking big monsters. Kind of a waste of time for most of it, but the ending made it all worthwhile. The drunken cat shenanigans were also pretty funny, although that probably would not have been the case if the comic had gone on for much longer. 11 years is a damned long time in small press comics and, even though I haven’t seen much new from the guy in the last few years (which may well be entirely my fault), Brian has managed to amass a decent pile of comics over his time. Here’s to 11 more years, and to his getting back to work on Ruffians. Or, if he’s not going to get back to it, he should at least have the decency to put out a mini comic where all of the characters in that series get taken out in as many gruesome ways as is humanly possible. $4
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Posted by Kevin
September 16, 2012
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The Index #2
Which do you prefer: organizing all of your thoughts and trying to make some sense of them or merely writing all of your thoughts down and leaving them alone? Is there a greater truth to uncover by going over all of them, or is the act of writing them all down the greater truth that you were shooting for? If I’ve lost you already then you probably shouldn’t bother with this comic, but for those of you who enjoy the act of thinking, you should latch onto Caitlin’s work and absorb her wisdom. Or lack of wisdom, as who can say for sure? It’s the journey, right? After all, we all know where it ends. Crikey, do her comics ever get me into an existential frame of mind. I’ll have to watch something with a lot of explosions in it after this to get back to being a good American. Anyway, this comic starts off with John writing everything down on Susan’s blank index cards and having a grand old time of it. Susan eventually comes home and catches him, but instead of freaking out and having a dull shouting match, she does something that completely messes with his head: she puts his name on one of the index cards. It’s a simple act, and you wouldn’t think that it would cause such trouble, but Caitlin does a fantastic job of telling the tale of why it would be such a mind fuck. To sum it up: there’s a thoroughly engaging story, art that tells that story while leaving you plenty of little bits to mull over, and a closing line that would be damned difficult to top. I’m looking forward to seeing what else she comes up with over the years, as she seems to be entirely too good at this stuff to be so new at it. The potential for serious improvement out of her comics after she’s already at this level boggles the mind. $3.50
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Posted by Kevin
September 11, 2012
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Colossal: Vulpes Vulpes
I was all set for a righteous rant about this comic, but it turns out that it’s not #3 in the series after all and is instead just another part of the series. Supplemental material. Which is fine, but isn’t there a law that says that you can’t do such things until you have at least five issues of a series out? There isn’t? Well, there should be. Still, this is Jason’s vision, he gets to let things unfold at exactly the speed he prefers. So what’s this comic about? Well, it depicts the day that the big guy from the past two issues crashes to the ground. Or does it? We’re left to assume that it does, and it seems like a pretty safe bet. Anyway, we also get some technical chatter, with a few intriguing code words thrown in. The bulk of the comic is the reaction of the red foxes in the area (hence the title), but we also see very little of that. Honestly, this is a tough comic to judge by itself. As part of the series, at this exact moment in time, it’s a disappointment. If another issue comes out pretty soon, and if it ties in with this (as it surely will down the road, or what’s the point of releasing the issue at all?), then this one will end up looking better. And this will make some fine bonus material in an eventual graphic novel. But you have to keep interest up to GET TO a collected edition, and while this doesn’t kill the momentum of the first two issues, it does slow it down a bit. $2.50
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Posted by Kevin
September 9, 2012
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Monkey Squad One #10
Layers, people! That’s what you need to make any long-running comic successful. And yes, in the small press world, ten issues (and an annual, don’t forget the annual) does indicate a long-running comic. The comics that have some sort of a master plan are the ones that are going to be successful. Granted, Doug does seem be winging a few things here and there (in my humble opinion, as it’s not like I’ve seen a series outline or anything), but he refers back to several older incidents in this issue, with the promise of more resolutions to come. Of course, this kind of long range planning is only really effective if there’s some sort of collected graphic novel of a large chunk of the series available, which is something that should really be corrected in the near future, he says in a “hint hint” fashion. Anyway! This issue marks the start of a new three part series, with the next part coming out in December. Doug is somebody who has (as far as I’ve been able to tell) kept to a pretty good schedule, so I’ll trust him on that. The man in charge learns that the squad went to a planet that was populated only by women a bit ago (referring back to older happenings; see what I mean?) and decides that he has to get there. Logan has been transformed into a Hulk, so he doesn’t go along (although we do see his troubles trying to get clothes that fit and fitting through doorways), but UNCLE Doug and the other two members head out to try and find that world again. Things don’t go as smoothly as all that, obviously, and things are left dangling with a big old battle on the way for the next issue (as this is part one of three, that’s the natural place to end it). Logan also gets into some trouble, as you can’t have a character who has been hulkified and NOT throw him into a battle somewhere, but that’s also something that’ll be dealt with in the next issue. My journey from being indifferent to this series to cautiously optimistic to absolutely thrilled to get a new issue in the mail has been bumpy, but it’s now complete. And, unless you have an unnaturally strong aversion to anything resembling a superhero comic, you should hop on this bandwagon right now. $2.50
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Posted by Kevin
September 6, 2012
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Chimps in Space #2
Yep, that’s what I was afraid of based on that cover: the chimps are no longer in space. Not that that’s a requirement, but when you name your comic “Chimps in Space” it is kind of implied. This issue starts off after the chimps crashed onto a planet (they were in space, and we do briefly see their crashed escape pod) and onto a wild west planet. You’ve got your mustachioed evil chimp, a chimp bragging in a saloon before getting scared off by the town good guy, horses, lassos, the whole deal. But, in a nice twist, the town good guy is actually Minnie (from the last issue) in disguise, and Marty was the fake bad guy in disguise. The whole set-up was just a way to get some bananas as a reward. After splitting their reward they happen across a coach with a dying man in it who knows the location of some buried treasure. Things go a little awkwardly, but they manage to find out the location of this treasure right around the time that an actual bad guy (you could tell by the moustache) steals their map from them. Gunfights a’plenty ensue, and your desire for chimp mayhem will surely be sated by the end of it. I should make it clear that more than a few parts of this were pretty damned funny, and it also manages to keep that whole “fun for the whole family but not dumbed down for the kids” vibe going nicely the entire time. I’d say that Donna has written herself into a corner here, but the third issue is already out so she clearly knows what she’s doing. Overall it’s a fun series with all kinds of chimps in it doing all kinds of non-chimpy things, mostly for the sake of bananas. Check it out! $3
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Posted by Kevin
September 3, 2012
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Colossal #2: Illumine
Oh, so THAT’S what that title of “Colossal” meant. It was difficult to get a handle on the scale of the creature/robot in the first issue, as it was in a forest and it only interacted with one tiny bird. This time around our hero is on the move and we see that he towers over at least some trees and is clearly much larger than a truck. I’m loving the pacing of these issues, as Jason lets us feel every heavy stomp of the robot’s feet. He also gave us plenty of room to get a sense of the panic that started to creep into the robot when his guide disappeared for a few pages, but I’m getting ahead of myself. This issue is basically the journey to another bird and the robot’s steps along the way. He meets a fox (and gets a much better sense of the way of the world after that conversation), meets the “wise” bird and takes steps to follow its advice. The comic ends with a damned intriguing panel that doesn’t seem to be related to much that came before, but I can say no more about that. I’m getting just the barest hint of a True Swamp vibe from this series. Talking animals will do that to me, granted, but there’s also the fact that these talking animals are laying out some serious truths about the natural order of things. And yes, being compared to probably the best series from Jon Lewis is meant as high praise. Oh, and I just saw on Jason’s website that he calls the robot “IT.” Make of that what you will, but at this point I’m happy to be firmly along for the ride. $4
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Posted by Kevin
September 2, 2012
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Important Comics Volume 2
What, “Important Comics Are Bad” doesn’t count as a volume? Bizarre numbering system aside, it’s always a good thing when another collection of Dina’s comics comes along. This one has a fairly compact 40 pages of comics for a fairly steep $12, but oh the colors, they are very pretty. If you’re not familiar with her work you should feel a brief moment of shame before going to her website where you can see many free samples to educate yourself. For the rest of us, yes, this comic is still full of the funny bits that we have come to demand, which is really a lot to ask of Dina or anybody else on a consistent basis, but she seems up to the task. Subjects this time around include shut up, the feeling of stupid, internet addiction, getting crud on you, the human oldening process, a possible awkward moment in the doctor’s office, gamelon, crying getting in the way of the fun, telling the brain to fuck off while listening to your guts, and breaking the news. As always, she manages to cram a few strips on most pages, so it’s not like you’re getting short-changed or anything. And have I mentioned the colors? I did? Well, I want to make sure that you understand how impressive they are this time around. Not that they were crappy before, but you know what I mean. Buy her comic and continue this inevitable process of making her rich and famous. Hey, the first volume is even available on this website, so you don’t even have to leave to buy it! Yes, that was a shameless plug. I’ll stop now. $12
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Posted by Kevin
September 1, 2012
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Jerry’s Journal
Have you been enjoying Neil’s comics over the years but always thought that maybe they should be just a hair sloppier? Then Jerry’s Journal is for you! Neil finally bought a sketchbook, you see, after being against them for years because he always thought he needed structure in his work. The end result is a pretty damned funny comic, with panel lines and the occasional character image (almost always Jerry, as it’s all about him) that are a shade less than as universally perfect as the rest of his books. The comic itself, as the title implies, is all about Jerry and his constant, apathetic quest to find some meaning and/or summarize the high points in his life. Subjects include the important things in his life, the inevitable (and at least partially welcome) end to it, being alone, thinking too much, ways to get away from life, thinking about giving the world another chance, the unfortunate biological imperative to stay alive, and reflecting back on his life. Those are from the first half of it anyway, the rest is yours to discover. These are all one page strips, and it’s always a good sign when I have a hard time picking a sample image from a comic like this because so many of them made me chuckle. Don’t get me wrong, a lot of these strips are fairly dark, but would you really be reading small press comics if you didn’t have at least a slightly dark sense of humor? That’s what I thought. Seeing as how Neil is already one of the most prolific artists in comics, if he really takes to this sketchbook stuff we should expect to see a few dozen new books by him every year, which sounds good to me (if possibly fatal for the artist himself). And really, a good chunk of the small press artists out there wish they could be as neat as Neil’s “sloppy” sketchbook stuff. $5
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Posted by Kevin
August 30, 2012
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DemonTears
I have exactly one complaint to make about this utterly riveting, depressing, uplifting, real-as-it-gets-while-being-largely-based-in-dreams comic: it’s too short to be a proper graphic novel. Which doesn’t mean a damned thing in and of itself, as it doesn’t feel too long or too short. It’s just that graphic novels stick around for longer than single comics, and this comic deserves as long of a shelf life as is humanly possible. This comic deals with Bernie’s (or fake Bernie, in case this isn’t somewhat autobiographical) long trip out from alcoholism, told partially through bits of his real life and partially through a dream world that he is rudely forced into every night via his nightly blackouts. It would take a few thousand words for me to even attempt to explain all the symbolism and happenings in those dream bits, and I would most likely get chunks of it very wrong, but the Center for Cartoon Studies should put this in their curriculum toot sweet. The true horror/sadness of this comes in the real life bits. We see his hands start to shake as he’s drawing, happy evenings that he spent partying with friends always ending the same way, waking up just to take aspirin in the middle of the night, and his brief time spent sober with his family for dinner. The eventual conclusion wasn’t even remotely tidy, and it wasn’t meant to be followed by a group hug. Without giving anything away, he earned every bit of the events at the end of this book, and he deserves all the credit in the world for refusing to shy away from just what it took to get there. Flipping through this book again it just seems wrong for me to gloss over the dream parts the way I did, but they build such a careful narrative piece by piece that I’d feel like a dick just plucking bits out of context. I will tell you that Bernie is represented in his dreams by a floating brain that’s trailing a spine, and that does eventually become relevant. This book is an absolute triumph, and he depicts the warning signs clearly enough that there are bound to be a few people reading this who are looking at their own hands, wondering if that slight bit of shaking is just a side effect of getting old or if it’s from all the years of just a little too much booze. Buy it, tell your friends to buy it, and, if you know anybody in AA, you might think about passing some of these out at a meeting. Most human beings could learn a lot from this. $6
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Posted by Kevin
August 27, 2012
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Colossal #1: Feather and Composite Armour
I’ll say one thing for Jason: the man knows how to set a scene. This is the first of three comics in this series, so naturally setting the scene is damned important. He can’t give too much away or risk ruining future surprises and he can’t give too little away or he’ll risk alienating those short attention span folks who can’t live without their phone being within reach at all times. Go on, admit it, you were checking a text during that last sentence. Anyway, this comic opens up with a wide shot of a field, and from there we slowly move into a forest. We see sharp angles, the hint of something huge, and finally a hand on the ground. A display area on the hand opens up, we get a clear indication of what’s happening (I don’t want to spell the whole thing out for you), and finally the title character is revealed, roughly halfway through the comic. The rest of the comic is a conversation between our hero (as far as I know; it may turn out to be the destroyer of all humanity before the series is done) and a bird that happens across it, as they try to determine just what sort of creature it is. It has amnesia, you see, which can be a lazy trope to explain that part of the story… unless it’s done well. And this thing is clearly at least part robot, so amnesia could just be a programming thing. I’m intrigued, which is all that’s required out of the first issue of a longer series. The panel structure was a bit clunky at times, as some bits of foliage stopped when the panel stopped and others kept going, making their conversation occasionally difficult to follow, but that’s a minor quibble. $2.50
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Posted by Kevin
August 25, 2012
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Goofy Funnies #3
I tried to make that cover a little smaller so as not to offend the delicate flowers in the audience, but the rest of you can just click on it to see boobs if you want. And who doesn’t want to see that? Most ladies, probably. And anybody at work who’s innocently coming to this website to learn more about small press comics, but you people should know that the small press stuff often has some nudity in it. Anyway, yes, this is going to be another review of a porn comic, or a for real “adult” comic instead of a comic that is listed as “adult” because it has the word “fuck” in it somewhere. And once again I’m going to dance around a few things, due to my generally shy nature and unwillingness to disclose too much about myself and my tastes. First off, I have to say that I find it hilarious that a title with this much sex in it (and on the cover, obviously) has as an innocuous of a title as “Goofy Funnies.” Granted, there is generally something funny in each story, but it’s mostly about the sexy time. Stories in this one include (just in case anybody is out there who wants to buy this for the stories and not for the fact that Dexter has some serious skills in his artistic depictions of lady parts) a young man whose time stuck in the nurse’s office becomes a lot more enjoyable when the student nurse takes over, a bear/man creature whose outdoor sex takes an interesting turn when a bee hive drops onto his head in the middle of coitus, an absolutely disgusting “do it yourself” Tiajuana bible guide involving Mary Worth characters, the surprisingly happy story of a woman with the perfect body and “a face like a can of smashed assholes,” a character from Popeye that you probably never wanted to see having sex, um, having sex, and a stop at an intergalactic garage that involves that perennial favorite of a woman who’s stuck bent over in compromising position but ends up loving the whole incident. Like I said, the man can draw one sexy (if maybe not so realistic in the real world, but this is a comic and not the real world) woman, which is probably what you’re looking for if you’re on the hunt for a naked adult comic. If not or if you’re offended by this whole concept, why did you read this far into the review if you could so clearly see those boobs on the cover? You need to take a long look at yourself in the mirror, dude. $4
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Posted by Kevin
August 23, 2012
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Chimps in Space #1
Is it a good sign or a bad sign that a cover like this is all it takes to get my full attention for reading a comic? I did get an ego boost of a guess about my age at work today, but the sad truth is that I should be too old to get excited about chimps/zombies/robots. Eh, screw the people who say it’s a bad thing, it’s not my fault that their ability to experience any bit of a child-like sense of wonder at monkeys has been burned out of them. Anyway, there is a comic here that I should mention, seeing as how those are the point of this website and all. Donna recently got her degree from the Center for Cartoon Studies, which continues to churn out some seriously talented artists. Their plan to comically take over the world is proceeding nicely. I’ve learned to expect books that are a little rough around the edges when I get a “#1” from students, but her skills already seem pretty damned polished in this one. The story details the adventures of a crew of four chimps and one tiny monkey (I thought those were the same thing, but the chimps can talk and the tiny monkey cannot) in a hilariously accurate monkey spaceship. Well, accurate in regards to the old space monkey ships with buttons that produced pellets when pressed. A murder is committed, everyone is suspicious of everyone else, and we spend the rest of the issue learning some strange secrets about the other monkeys. I mean chimps! This story seems to end in a fairly final spot, but I am curious to see where it goes from here. Future covers (and she did send along two more issues so I’ll find out for sure soon) indicate that events will take place on land, but she’d better be careful not to stray too far from that “in space” part of the title. $3
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Posted by Kevin
August 21, 2012
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Save the Ruined
One of these days I’m going to smarten up and do capsule reviews for tiny mini comics like some of the other review sites out there. This is an 8 page mini (although the cover is technically one page that folds over, making it a 7 page mini) dealing with a pile of ruins. Where did it come from? Who is it supposed to honor? And, most importantly, why aren’t people allowed to disturb a scattered pile of rubble? Is it going to become more disorganized and, if so, who would care? It’s an interesting batch of questions and a very thoughtful comic. The man can certainly draw rubble, and I’m happy to see something completely different from the last comic of his that I reviewed. Huzzah for being kept guessing! So I’d say that this is worth a look, but you should definitely get it in a pile of other comics unless you want your Marc Palm comic experience to be about 30 seconds long. Hey look, I basically did a capsule review anyway! $1
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Posted by Kevin
August 20, 2012
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Anhedonia #1
It’s been a couple of years since I’ve seen a comic from Nick (or is that one year? Ah, who can tell with linear time), and this one is full of all sorts of short pieces. But there’s a larger theme at work, so there’s that. I should point out early on that Nick included two recent rejection letters from publishers for his comic in this issue, and the man has been around for ages, so if you haven’t liked his past work there’s a good chance that you won’t care for this one. Granted, he’s done a wide range of stuff over the last 5 years, but this one is back to the basics: gore, violence, poop, fighting babies, those sorts of things. The story that runs through the smaller pieces is about a man who’s trying to sell “make the giggles,” which I can’t really explain adequately so I’m not even going to try. The salesman becomes increasingly desperate and sad as people fail to buy his product, until he is suddenly replaced by another informercial, which is the way of things these days. Other stories include a notably grim tale about a dog that’s trapped in the ice and an attempted rescue, a creepy albino after a football game, fighting babies (what, you thought I was kidding?), dog violence, how Kirk Cameron gets his kids to listen to him, being drunk and racist on a bus, being a racist duck (with a twist ending), a number of three panel strips all crammed into one page, and space boobs. I’ll admit that a few pieces seemed to just drift off without accomplishing all that much (the story about the space boobs and albino football player), but overall it was still a pile of mostly funny comics. Which were also incredibly offensive to most sentient humans, just in case you were offended by… oh, lots of different things. $3.50
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Posted by Kevin
