November 24, 2010
Website
Bantam #1
I’m assuming that Lupi has put out more than two books, but I’ve only seen two, and the difference between this and her last book on forced female genital mutilation is stark. “Duh” would be an appropriate response to that statement, and good for her that she has fun with comics as well as trying to inform the reader. This one is all about the bad puns, so be warned. Yes, it’s a Batman and Robin parody and no, the world probably doesn’t need too many more of those. Things start off with Bantam on the trail of the Jerker, who is trying to shake and bake innocent civilians. Bantam gets captured (and seems pretty ineffective throughout), Little Pecker (that’s his name, he’s the Robin character) gets smothered by Mother Hen, and we eventually get to the real villain. I’ve spared you the puns; if that’s your thing you should pick this up and you’ll get your fill. It does end up being funny at times, despite the best efforts of the puns to batter me into submission. That “#1” on the cover indicates more to come, but it sure seems like the story wraps itself up pretty neatly. It’s cute and occasionally funny, but your mileage may vary and the very concept will give you a solid idea if this is something you’d enjoy. Oh, and I JUST now noticed that my last review before Thanksgiving involved a comic with a turkey for the main villain. Huzzah for unintentionally picking a theme book! No idea how much this costs, so I’ll go with the random guess of $2.
Comments Off on Miguinti, Lupi – Bantam #1 | 
Reviews | Tagged: Bantam, Lupi Miguinti | 
Permalink
Posted by Kevin
November 23, 2010
Website
Superfuckers
I can’t even express how happy I am to finally have another James Kochalka book around that I love completely. I’ll admit it, all the all-ages stuff got me down. Not that it was awful, or at least not the parts that I read, it was just that there was so damned much of it, and so little of it was actively awesome. This comic right here, as if you couldn’t tell from that explosive cover and the title, is actively awesome. Oh, and I get to say “Superfuckers” without the asterisk because I’m an adult and I’ve earned it. Kids, please insert that asterisk in there in your brains so you don’t think adult thoughts accidentally. It’s a bit silly that I’m complaining about the childish nature of his recent books when this could be accurately described as a series of jokes featuring the words “gay”, “retarded”, “fart” or “homo”, but there’s a way that it all makes perfect sense. You see, the juxtaposition of wordplay with the intricate… hey, look over there, that house is on fire! As I was saying, this book is fantastic. All of the issues of the series are included, even the hysterically priced first issue ($7!), along with a bonus issue to reward you for buying the collected edition. It’s only #1, right? There’s more to come? One can only hope. The cast of characters features Superhero Dan, Plant Lad, Jack Krak, Princess Sunshine, Grotessa, Vortex, Orange Lightning, and Donkey Anus. OK, I made one of those up. Their powers are irrelevant, as it’s not like they spend any time fighting crime or anything. They mostly get high off the slime trail of Grotus, remain blissfully unaware of their nemesis (a lump of goo who hangs around outside their house, hoping to catch a glimpse of Princess Sunshine), and insult/try to kill each other. The highlights (among many) include Jack Krak becoming a Christian, superhero tryouts (in which the last one standing gets to be on the team), Tumor and Grotus gettin’ it on, the pocket universe, the murder of Orange Lightning (um, spoiler alert, but only kind of), and the choices Vortex makes when setting up the new universe. This is exactly the reason I was such a fan of the works of James Kochalka back in the day, and the reason why I’ve been “meh” on it for ages, not that I can begrudge the guy some cash for books for kids. James’ super power is making books like this one, which is why I wish he would focus his energies in this direction more often. Buy this to restore your love in comics and superheroes, or buy this to reaffirm your belief that superheroes are really, really stupid. It works for everything! $14.95
Comments Off on Kochalka, James – Superfuckers | Reviews | Tagged: James Kochalka, Superfuckers | Permalink
Posted by Kevin
November 22, 2010
Website
Borderland
Raise your hand if you think all slavery in the world went away in 1865. Now take a minute to feel just a little stupid, both for raising your hand and for actually believing that. Human trafficking is alive and well, and the people doing it are finding new ways around the law at every turn. One particularly assholish way of doing it is to kidnap people to work for months or even years, then give them a payment for their services of something like $20 so that the worker can’t say that they were never paid. Yes, apparently that is enough to trip up some courts. This comic tells the story of seven people who were involved in various forms of human trafficking, but at least they all eventually made it out alive. I believe the setup is that Dan draws the stories while Olga writes them, but most of these are based on testimonials told to other people, so it wouldn’t shock me a bit if Dan occasionally worked on the writing end of things as well. Anyway, the horror stories in here involve a woman who was cut and left for dead as a baby (and things didn’t get much better for a long, long time), a man who found himself trapped in a work camp with armed guards, a woman who was chained to a pole and forced to live with the animals (and allowed to “escape” when her foot become infected to avoid them having to pay her), a woman forced to work in a public bakery, a big tough guy trapped in a labor camp, toxic exposure to some nasty chemicals while being forced to work, and a woman forced into sex work. It’s a powerful and haunting group of stories, and it draws attention to something that is often either ignored or considered not to exist. My only quibble is on a purely thematic level, as some of the stories just trail off without any resolution. Granted, they all lived to tell their stories so some semblance of a happy ending is implied, but the story of the big tough guy in the camp in particular baffled me, as the intro seemed to be pointing out that ANYONE could find themselves in this situation, but left how he got out of it a mystery. Minor quibbles, like I said, but the content is heartbreaking, and it’s all too easy to see how desperate people (or even some that weren’t desperate) could find themselves stuck in this situation. $8
Comments Off on Archer, Dan & Trusova, Olga – Borderland | Reviews | Tagged: Borderland, Dan Archer, Olga Trusova | Permalink
Posted by Kevin
November 21, 2010
Website
Team Girl Comic #2
Go Team Girl go! Sorry to give away the ending of the review so quickly, but I’m all for increasing the role of women in comics, as there isn’t a thing wrong with getting some new perspectives on the genre. Not like there haven’t already been women in comics for ages, but you know what I mean. Or you don’t, and I don’t have the energy to explain it to you. Anyway, this issue has even more stories this time around, with a fairly persistent theme of zombie and how to identify them/protect yourself . The only problem is that while all pieces seem to have some indication of their creator, it’s often in the form of a signature, making it a pure guessing game as to who is responsible for what. Ah well, I’m starting to get convinced that chaos is a badge of honor in anthologies. Stories include Gill Hatcher getting distracted while on the verge of curing cancer, Emma McLuckie’s piece on a ghost who is easily frightened, somebody (see what I mean?) getting serious inspiration from the life of Harvey Pekar, Mhairi Hislep with the identifying characteristics of zombies, somebody else (aargh) with a brilliant piece about Jesus as a zombie, Mhairi again on how to dress fora zombie attack, and the differences of driving perspective right after getting a license and one year later. Seriously, why nobody else (that I know of) has connected the obvious fact that Jesus was probably a zombie after rising from the dead is beyond me. Plenty of other stories are in here too, as it’s really crammed with pieces, but half the fun of anthologies is going through all the little bits and pieces. And it’s only a measly $5, if I have the conversion rate even close to right…
Comments Off on Various Anthologies – Team Girl Comic #2 | Reviews | Tagged: Claire Yvette, Coleen Campbell, Emma McLuckie, GIll Hatcher, Heather Middleton, Jessica Hatcher, Jude Stoo, Karena Moore, Mhairi Bishop, Nondo, Penny Sharp, Rowan Smith, Team Girl | Permalink
Posted by Kevin
November 17, 2010
Website
Francis Sharp in the Grip of the Uncanny! Chapter 1
Just to make it clear, Brittney drew and co-wrote the book, with Anna being the other co-writer. As I usually put the writer first in the title, just wanted to make sure everybody understood that. So hey, Brittney is branching out into the world of graphic novels! I swear, if it wasn’t for the fine people at the Xeric Foundation, I shudder to think of the state of the small press comics world. Good thing that those TMNT guys have a genuine interest in promoting the medium. Anyway, this is the story of Francis Sharp, back in the days when a kid had to listen to the radio for his tales of mystery and intrigue. Francis is so caught up in the grips of these stories that he’s worrying his parents, and when he fails at watching the cattle it turns out to be the last straw and they have to sell the radio. A friend comes over to listen to the show, they end up playing outside because of the lack of a radio, and then chase a mysterious, half-seen creature through the forest. His friend gets caught on something, Francis forges ahead, and the next thing you know… well, look at the sample image. I love how this child who lives mostly in his own head, with a clear love for fantasy and odd creatures, turns into a shrieking machine when confronted with something that is actually fantastic. He spends the night hiding under a stoop until he is discovered in the morning by one of the inhabitants of this odd town, and it quickly becomes apparent that he’s not from around those parts. This first volume seems to be setting things up for future adventures, as we’re mostly dealing with Jack, the split between his rich fantasy life and his dreary home life, and the first early hints of what exactly the new town is all about. Oh, and the slight problem that there doesn’t seem to be a way for Francis to get home. I love the idea of setting it in a time where wonder was still an option, before technology could be used as the answer to a number of mysteries. I hope the two of them have big plans for this, and I hope that they can scrounge up the money to keep putting the chapters out in such gorgeous packages, as I was thoroughly taken in by this story. Francis freaking out at all the “monsters” was a perfect touch, as he may have a vivid imagination, but a child being exposed to that sort of thing probably would freak out a bit. I think this qualifies as “all ages” too, if you happen to have a small child who appreciates good adventure stories, but there’s also plenty here to keep an adult interested. $10
Comments Off on Sabo, Brittney & Bratton, Anna – Francis Sharp in the Grip of the Uncanny! Chapter 1 | Reviews | Tagged: Anna Bratton, Brittney Sabo, Francis Sharp, Francis Sharp in the Grip of the Uncanny | Permalink
Posted by Kevin
November 16, 2010
Website
The Troll King
The linked website is in Swedish, so you may want to use the Google translator feature, some other translator or perhaps just learn Swedish. This book is ridiculously gorgeous while being occasionally grotesque. No, I have no idea how he pulls it off either. If ever a comic screamed out for the full color treatment it’s this one, and Top Shelf was kind enough to make that happen. This is a collection of stories, occasionally barely hanging together by a thread only to be yanked back into a coherent narrative, dealing with various mystical beings of the forest. Things start off with the two Kings of the Forest working out, then disguising themselves to be able to head to town and stock up on carbs. They don’t disguise themselves to protect us, they do it because humans aren’t worthy of their presence. The two Kings continue on in their loving relationship until another character performs a ceremony that results in the birth of their two children. How do two guys give birth? About how you would expect, but if you honestly have no idea I wouldn’t want to ruin the surprise. From here we transition to the story of a dwarf who has fallen into a river and ended up as the happy steed for another group of beings, then onto a sentient carrot being that got wet, the rejuvenation of a killed troll, the wild west, and finally the growing pains of those two children. Yes, I am being vague, and yes, I am doing it on purpose. It’s hyperbolic to say that every page was a revelation, so I’ll tone it down a bit and say that every other page was a revelation. While those two hairy guys in the beginning may be Troll Kings, the hierarchy of the forest is never explained and they seem to rule by everyone knowing exactly what they want in life and thus avoiding any problems. The dwarf getting turned into a steed had all the potential to be a creepy mess, especially with the method of his transformation, but the guy was so happy with the result that the story managed to succeed on every level. If the fact that you still read comics has anything to do with a love of great visuals, this book deserves a place on your shelf. If you stick around for the stories, yes, it also passes that test with flying colors. If you still read comics to see what happens with your favorite characters from month to month, OK, you’re allowed to skip this, but you should really work on broadening those horizons. This guy is relatively new in the comics world, so put me down for somebody who cant’ wait to see what he comes up with next. $14.95
Comments Off on Karlsson, Kolbeinn – The Troll King | Reviews | Tagged: Kolbeinn Karlsson, The Troll King | Permalink
Posted by Kevin
November 15, 2010
Website
Retail Duncan #1
Here’s a simple way to keep “your” and “you’re” straight: if you are saying “you’re”, would it work if you switched it out with “you are”? Same thing with “your”: if “you are” fits in that spot, don’t use “your”. Sorry to start off with a rant, but if there’s one thing that’s fingernails-on-a-chalkboard annoying to me, that’s it. Well, that and the difference between “their, they’re and there”, but only rant per review is the legal limit around these parts. I mention it mostly because it’s the only thing that bugged me in an otherwise funny and occasionally insightful comic. Our hero, Duncan, needs to find a bathroom in the mall. OK, not the most promising of starts. He finds one, happens to sit next to an old friend, and ends up applying for a job. From there he’s given a series of tasks, including 18 hours of filling out a form, killing the Rancor monster, cleaning up after Lone Wolf & Cub and fighting off Chunk. If you don’t know who that is, kids, ask your parents. It’s a pretty funny comic, with a larger point or two thrown in about the whole retail experience. Maybe you should buy a copy and see for yourself? $2
Comments Off on Castro, Edgar – Retail Duncan #1 | Reviews | Tagged: Edgar Castro, Retail Duncan | Permalink
Posted by Kevin
November 14, 2010
Website
Crass Sophisticate #25
In this issue of Crass Sophisticate we learn the meaning of life, the love of family and how true love always wins out. Did I have any of you going for a second there? All those things may have been touched on, and some of them were, but this is supposed to be a fun comic, and it has managed to succeed in that task every time I’ve read an issue. This gets off to a great start with a Tom Waits quote (and ladies, if any of you like Tom Waits you’ll be the first woman I’ve heard of who does, also I would like to propose to you sight unseen), then heads off to the coffee shop where Justin strikes up a conversation with the attractive female worker. Ah, we’ve all been there. Things go passably well, then later Justin has the terrible idea to mention this coffee shop lady to his cousin Josh, who decides to see her and mention that his cousin “wishes to court her.” Oh, and he also offers her a gift of rat jerky that looks suspiciously like a turd. Justin mourns the loss of any shot with this girl and his upcoming birthday, Josh goes back and invites her to join them for the celebration, and somewhere in the middle of all this is that goofy looking lady on the cover. It’s funny, mildly creepy and informative all at once, in other words it’s a success! OK fine, a few unerased pencil lines slip through here and there, but with this much dialogue and this many pages that’s bound to happen, right? Especially with the two of them being so prolific. Buy it and enjoy if you’re not easily offended and like things that are funny, if you are easily offended maybe you should buy it anyway just to loosen yourself up a bit, you could probably use it… $2
P.S. I just noticed that I already have a review up for issue #25 of this series, even though there are two distinct cover, each with “#25” prominently featured on them. This one definitely comes after the other #25, making this #26? Or this #25 and the other one #24? Damned if I know.
Comments Off on Reinwald, Josh & Rosenberg, Justin – Crass Sophisticate #25 | Reviews | Tagged: Crass Sophisticate, Josh Reinwald, Justin Rosenberg | Permalink
Posted by Kevin
November 12, 2010
E-mail
Walking Man Comics #71
I don’t care if the guy does make comics based around different stamps he’s managed to find, getting to #71 in the small press comics world is still a big deal. This one is a bit more defined than some of his past issues that I’ve seen, as there’s a distinct story happening and more than a few stamps that he’s working with. It’s all about, as you can see from that cover, a super hero frog. He mostly flies around, being all super hero like, and we get to see his origin story: playing with chemicals while being struck by lightning. Kids, that is a sure-fire way to get super powers. I’m also not entirely sure why a frog would need a fiery steed, but it sounds good to me. It almost seems like there’s a page missing between 6 and 7, as I’m not entirely sure what the little guy was upset about. Other than that it’s an entertaining story, if a bit sloppy here and there (or maybe his super power on page 5 involved his having a tinier pair of legs dangling behind his regular legs), but a fun read. I think you should dig up any old stampers you have laying around and e-mail the guy to see if he could use them, as I’m all for increasing the variety of his stamper collection. $1
Comments Off on Levin, Matt – Walking Man Comics #71 | Reviews | Tagged: Matt Levin, Walking Man Comics | Permalink
Posted by Kevin
November 11, 2010
Website
Pork Belly #4
Technically this is part of Dan Taylor’s Pork Belly series, but as he doesn’t seem to have anything to do with this (other than publishing it), I won’t put his name in the subject line. Probably not even worth mentioning that, but I wanted to work Dan’s name in here somewhere. This is, as the cover indicates, an “All Brinkmann issue,” featuring eight images of varying levels of “what the hell?” I mean that in the best possible way. I generally think calling art “psychedelic” is a lazy way to describe it, but I’m at a loss as to how else I should describe this. The issue contains an image of a trippy clown face from 1970, a melting face, flying body parts and the sampled image. Everything else is up to you to figure out, as I have no idea, but I do know that it is invariably interesting as can be. If you like your comics to be a visual blast, step right up ladies and gents! If you like a thoughtful story that builds up to a satisfying conclusion, I’d say you have plenty of other options around this site… $1
Comments Off on Brinkmann, Tom – Pork Belly #4 | Reviews | Tagged: Dan W. Taylor, Pork Belly, Tom Brinkmann | Permalink
Posted by Kevin
November 9, 2010
Website
Fingerprints
I have a list of people making mini comics who should really have been published by now (well, not a literal list, but I could rattle some names off the top of my head pretty easily), and Will Dinski has long been one of those names. His “Habitual Entertainment” series, “An Endorsement of Smoking” and some other shorties have long had me wondering why none of the “big” small press publishers have gobbled him up yet. Well, the wait is over, as Top Shelf turns out to be the smart ones of the group. In this gorgeous graphic novel Will tells the story of a plastic surgeon, a female actor that he has basically completely remade (and she’s almost JUST RIGHT), the surgeon’s assistant and a closeted gay male movie star. Oh, and the aging wife of the surgeon, can’t forget her. We get to see these mostly soulless people in all their glory, and our “hero” the surgeon has the world by the tail before his assistant starts her own practice with a revolutionary new invention: a helmet you can put on to change your features into one of the two previously mentioned stars. The order of the plastic surgery universe is turned on its head, but gosh, that invention sure did come about awfully quick, and who knows what the side effects will be? Anybody who has seen Will’s work knows that it’s damned near flawless, and this time you get that quality alongside a full color package. He says plenty about the culture’s obsession of youth and beauty over common sense, but it never gets to a the preachy obnoxiousness which would have been so very justified. He even manages to be funny! I often say that books are worth a look, but your buying this one will probably help convince Top Shelf that he deserves more graphic novels as well, which will lead to more wonderful books like this one about any number of topics that are undoubtedly floating around Will’s brain. Think of a purchase of this book as a step towards the artistic development of one of the more gifted artists around and do your small press civic duty! $14.95 Oh, and “duty” probably comes across too strong, as that implies it’s more a chore than anything else. Not so! But if you wonder why there aren’t more quality comic options available, supporting a book like this will only increase those choices in the future. I’m having trouble thinking of a single thing wrong with that…
Comments Off on Dinski,Will – Fingerprints | Reviews | Tagged: Fingerprints, Will Dinski | Permalink
Posted by Kevin
November 8, 2010
E-mail
Simpler Times
Huzzah, an e-mail address! It’s still not a website but at least it’s a quick way of contacting the guy, as if you check my review for his last comic you’ll see that he only listed a postal address. One quick complaint before I launch into the praise: more fat people please! I don’t mean obese, but every character in this book is full of bulging muscles with 0% body fat. Granted, we learn in this issue that these people have exceptionally long lives and 20 years of solid training would make you pretty buff, but at least some fans of small press books have a natural aversion to their character being too muscley. This book is way too funny for people to not even give it a chance because everybody looks ripped. Now that I have that thoroughly ridiculous complaint out of the way, this is one great comic. Well, maybe parts of the story seem a bit rushed, but a little bit of funny goes a long way, and this book has a lot of funny. The one-liners are fast and furious and the vast majority of them hit the mark; I even laughed out loud a few times, which remains a rare occurrence while reading comics. Crap, I should get to the plot. This comes after the events in “Dark Dreams” (which was apparently also known as Floid #4, with this one being Floid #5), which I learned thanks to the handy comic listing in the back. No recap this time around though, although the comic did a decent job of that on its own. So Guedo is still stuck in time, fighting whatever looks like a good fight, and as he dozes we get to see his origin story. He trained for decades with his sister, their teacher was coerced into graduating them before he thought they were ready, they meet up with Floid, and I don’t want to spoil any more, sorry. The story wasn’t always the most complicated thing in the world, but the constant humor propelled it past any weak spots. It’s well worth a look if you’re not scared off by too many muscles. I’d be interested in seeing the early issues just to check if he honed his art or his humor over the years, or if it’s possible that he was this polished when he started. No price again but it’s another hefty offering, so $5?
Comments Off on Jakes, Adam – Simpler Times | Reviews | Tagged: Adam Jakes, Simlper Times | Permalink
Posted by Kevin
November 6, 2010
Website
Zombre #2: The Magic Forest
I have one problem with Ansis, and one problem only: he doesn’t make enough comics. Yep, if you’re looking for the final verdict on this one, you can probably figure it out from there. Getting a new Zombre comic is like a ray of sunshine being belched into my face by a unicorn. And even if the man does take some time to put out individual issues (making him right in line with every single other small press guy on the planet not named “Brian John Mitchell”), he really delivers when the issue does come out. This is a behemoth with a large cast of characters and it’s absolutely gorgeous. My scanner couldn’t handle the sheer orange of that bird and had to tone it down a bit. This time around we’re introduced to a hippy park ranger and the forest in general before finally getting around to Zombre. He eats a butterfly, gets his eyes seared by the sun and terrorizes some campers before using his mildly defective problem solving skills to throw a tire through the ranger’s car window. A daughter and her overprotective father enter the picture, Zombre eventually meets them, and I used one of the very few menacing pages for a sample. Hey, he’s not a bad guy! I will say no more, as each bit of this should be read and savored, but I will say that I noticed the “to be continued” after that fantastically ridiculous ending. It’s huge, it’s only $4, and it’s Zombre. There’s still time to get in on the ground floor (more or less) of this soon-to-be global phenomenon. Hey, “The Walking Dead” did huge numbers, just think of how a zombie with a heart of gold would go over with the public…
Comments Off on Purins, Ansis – Zombre #2: The Magic Forest | Reviews | Tagged: Ansis Purins, The Magic Forest, Zombre | Permalink
Posted by Kevin
November 4, 2010
Website
Unleashed
I had to use the back cover of this comic as a sample because all the inside pieces had nudity that offended my delicate sensibilities. Well, not mine, but it might offend a reader or two, and we can’t have that. There’s also the fact that I liked the back cover image, so make of that what you will. It’s all Dan this time around and it’s all for mature audiences, as he deals with the Kardashians (using an image that reminds me of a similar piece in National Lampoon from the 70′, and no I’m not quite that old but I did manage to find a pile of them from back when that magazine was funny), curse words and their shock value, a tapeworm joke, a clever pun on a Lady Gaga song, and a ribald song from his youth. Kids, if you’re looking for a secret way to look at boobs that your parents might not suspect, there are plenty of more revealing images on this very internet or on network tv. Adults, if you like a bit of funny that assumes that everybody reading it is a “mature” adult, I believe you will find at least a few stories in here that you will find amusing. All for a measly buck!
Comments Off on Taylor, Dan W. – Unleashed | Reviews | Tagged: Dan W. Taylor, Unleashed | Permalink
Posted by Kevin
November 2, 2010
Website
Undeleted Scenes
I wasn’t expecting much of a “theme” out of this. After all, it is “undeleted scenes,” meaning mostly odds and ends from anthologies, notebooks, and whatnot. Still, by the end of it I had more of an impression of his overall life than I’ve gotten from any one of this graphic novels, and that’s saying something. The material ranges from his early days to his having a baby (well, not him, but you get the idea), to the actual raising of the child. Granted, it often came in more of a “drive-by” format, as there wasn’t space to delve into everything in minute detail, but it painted an impressively revealing whole. For all you fans of his work out there (and why else would you be reading this?) , if you own the following comics you already possess the bulk of this collection: “Be a Man,” “Feeble Attempts,” and” Minisulk.” If you just buy the graphic novels and don’t get the individual comics there will be plenty of new material in here for you, although I guess “MiniSulk” was more of a “graphic novel lite,” what with the size and all. Even if you have all of that, you’re still looking at roughly 100 pages of material that’s new to you, and there is some fantastic stuff in here. “Be A Man,” for those of you who don’t know, was Jeffrey’s answer to criticism that he was too wimpy in “Clumsy.” It is a thing of sheer beauty to see him turn all faux-macho for 30+ pages, so that’s worth the price of admission right there. His story about being unable to eat ramen noodles should resonate with anybody who was ever a poor college student, or possibly is still poor now (hey, I bought some just last month!) Then you have his grandma’s reaction to the nudity in his comics (always wondered about that), a lengthy story about bum avoidance and conversations, another weird pseudo-relationship, him almost getting into a drunken brawl (well, the other guy was drunk anyway), fun with medical insurance, and listening too literally to the word of god. And that’s just the stuff that is pretty much guaranteed to be new to you! “Feeble Attempts” was just a regular old comic, so maybe you missed it, but there’s plenty of good stuff in there that now has a home here. Really, at the end of the day your only questions should be “Is this good enough for me to buy” and “Is there enough new material to make it worth my while”? The answer to both of those is an emphatic “yes.” If you’ve never heard of Jeffrey Brown, welcome to the land of the living and maybe check out “Clumsy,” “Funny Misshapen Body” or “Bighead.” You’ll come back to this soon enough, although I guess it may be just a little confusing for new readers (the “Be A Man” stuff in particular would make people think Jeffrey is an a-hole if they weren’t in on the joke), but for everybody else, yeah, I’d say this is required reading. And it is over 350 pages for $15, so it’s a bargain too…
Comments Off on Brown, Jeffrey – Undeleted Scenes | Reviews | Tagged: Jeffrey Brown, Undeleted Scenes | Permalink
Posted by Kevin
November 1, 2010
Website
Chickenbot’s Odd Jobs #2
Eric made the decision to keep his comics self-contained after putting out the first half of the first “Odd Jobs,” and can I just reiterate that it was an excellent idea. This issue features out hero going back out to find another job and, as always, his options are rather limited. He goes with “paranormal investigator” over “gnome wrangler”and “dragon slayer” and ends up trying to figure out the truth about a UFO sighting. He heads out to the farm (and alien sightings are always on or near a farm), pokes around a bit and finds prairie dogs with hats firmly attached to their heads and the head farmer spontaneously combusts. Chickenbot seemingly has no fear, as he finds out the truth about the aliens and hitches a ride up to their ship. I won’t ruin any more of it, but I will say that he could have picked “dragon slayer” right off the bat and saved himself a few steps. Sure, putting these comics out as self-contained stories means there’s going to be more time between issues, but every one of these so far has been a treat. “Funny and smart” is a big part of what I look for in comics, and this one has both qualities in large lumps. The only trouble is with Eric’s website as, even though it has the entire comic available for free, there’s no link to any place to actually buy a copy. Wait, did I just say that getting to read his comic for free was a bad thing? I’ve been doing this too long. Clearly it’s a good thing for us comic readers, but if Eric is going to be nice enough to post the entire thing he maybe should have a link for people who like to own physical copies of comics. And some indication of the price. It’s a hefty thing, so I’m going to say $5 randomly, but I couldn’t tell you where to get a copy.
Comments Off on H., Eric – Chickenbot’s Odd Jobs #2 | Reviews | Tagged: Chckenbot's Odd Jobs, Chickenbot, Eric H., Odd Jobs | Permalink
Posted by Kevin
October 31, 2010
Website
Silent V #2
There’s a fine line between playing fast and loose with your storyline to enhance it and make it wonderful and just throwing a bunch of shit against the wall and hoping something sticks. I wish I could tell you exactly where that line was, as it would save a lot of creative types some trouble, but I have no idea. Wherever that line is, Kyle has found it and is currently dancing a happy jig all over it. I have very little idea what’s going on in the grand scheme of things in “Silent V,” and I really couldn’t care less. This is a whole pile of inspired brilliance, so much so that I had to sample two images from the book. Well, nobody made me sample two pages, but I would have sampled the whole thing if I thought that was fair. OK, let me try to sum up the story just a bit (this ought to be good.) A baby is dropped off to be a new recruit of some kind (but the “dropping off” was maybe a bit too literal), Doug fights off some goblins in the clock tower, we travel 700 years back in time for no discernible reason, Burrd Flappy gets what’s coming to him, and that “to be continued” page was a thing of sheer awesomeness. Generally with this type of book I hold a hope of eventually going back and re-reading the series to make some sense out of it, but this time around I’m frankly rooting for chaos to win out. Read it, love it, scratch your head out of sheer delighted confusion. $2 (?)
Comments Off on Baddeley, Kyle – Silent V #2 | Reviews | Tagged: Kyle Baddeley, Silent V | Permalink
Posted by Kevin
October 28, 2010
Website
Symphony in Ink #4
Dan has finally put his comics fancy pants on, as that there is a full color cover. Kudos! As is the case with a good chunk of Dan’s books, this one is an anthology, all loaded up with talent and goodness. Dan has a funny if mildly disturbing strip about a guy in a pool; Andy Nukes has a series of images that I’ll let speak for themselves (because they’re better experienced than described, and I realize that that accounts for a lot of what I do here, but if I think too hard about it I’ll vanish in a puff of smoke and logic); Kelsey Donald has a piece about a determined fish, a artistic baby genius and an assholish ice cream shop customer; Steve Steiner (if it’s based on a true story) has a girlfriend with some questionable sanitation habits; Josh Blair shows the true meaning of a hybrid car and Jarod Rosello has an epic about trying to find adventure but not being entirely sure how to spot it. Whew! Having a little bit of space has done wonders for this comic, as people were able to tell a lengthier story when they needed to while other could still stick to the shorties. Here’s hoping Dan has this full-size mini comics (just typing that almost caused my brain to short out) thing in his blood now, because I’m very much liking the new format. Oh sure, it’s a little pricier at $3, but you guys are still going to buy it, right?
Comments Off on Taylor, Dan W. (editor) – Symphony in Ink #4 | Reviews | Tagged: Andy Nukes, Dan Taylor, Jarod Rosello, Jeff Plotkin, Josh Blair, Kelsey Donald, Steve Steiner | Permalink
Posted by Kevin
October 27, 2010
Website
Life is Good #4
Steve apparently decided to skip all that character development stuff this time around and went with an issue that was all about drinking and hanging out with an asshole. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, this still being a free country for at least another week and all, but it was a little jarring. Brownie is on top of the world and heads off to a bar that is celebrating happy hour all day. Apparently he found a job? That should warrant at least a mention. Anyway, he meets Charles at the bar, but Sewer Gator is with him, and the two of them start a drinking contest. Brownie finally convinces Charles to ditch the loser, but he is drunk so his definition of “ditching” involves telling the guy where they are going to escape his company. A literal pissing contest ensues and, without giving too much more away, I do very much approve of the depiction of cops as literal fuzz. It ends up being a pretty funny comic, but I was just starting to get a wee bit invested in the characters and only fleeting references to their lives are included in this issue. Ah well, can’t have everything, and a good comic is still a good comic even if it’s not exactly what I was looking for. It’s smaller than the other ones, so it’s a measly $2 this time around if you’re just looking to give the series a try.
Comments Off on Seck, Steve – Life is Good #4 | Reviews | Tagged: Life is Good, Steve Seck | Permalink
Posted by Kevin
October 26, 2010
Website
Dirty #1
At least I’m pretty sure Pat is the editor for this issue, with all that artistic expression going on around that guy it’s hard to tell sometimes. This is another anthology by what appear to be locals around Philadelphia, as they include a class schedule for people interested in signing up… back in September. Just a note to anybody who sends me time sensitive comics: send me an e-mail mentioning this fact, as if it comes on a note with the comic those two things often get separated. I try to do new releases first and then go back to the older stuff, but what with the whole “Pat Aulisio Tuesdays” theme I’ve just been grabbing whichever book of his is handy. Wasn’t there a comic here somewhere? Ah yes. This is short but tall and vibrantly colorful. There’s Ian Harker with a piece about… yeah, not going to touch that one. Beth Heinly has the sampled piece, as I have an elderly grandmother’s resistance to cat-related strips. Box Brown, Pat Aulisio and James T. Arnold share a page of strips about fantasy, the distant future and animal funnies respectively. Bradford Haubrich then has the bulk of the comic with different pieces using layered techniques to make a better whole. Or something, I’m not so good with the technical descriptions of art, in case that wasn’t blindingly obvious by now. Steven Streisguth brings up the rear with a couple of gorgeous black and white pieces. Pterodactyl is the group putting this together, and their motto is in part: “To revive the enjoyment and practice of creating art for personal fulfillment, to create exhibitions and experiences that resonate with diverse audiences, and to bring people together through the arts.” Sounds good to me and, especially if you know and love the people involved, this is definitely worth checking out. How you get a copy is another question, but I’ll pass it along here if I find anything out…
Comments Off on Aulisio, Pat (editor) – Dirty #1 | Reviews | Tagged: Beth Heinly, Box Brown, Bradford Haubrich, Dirty, Ian Harker, James T. Arnold, Pat Aulisio, Steven Streisguth | Permalink
Posted by Kevin
