Optical Sloth

New review today for Midville High #12 by Matt Blair. Yes, I usually try to wait until somebody scrolls off the front page here before reviewing another one of their comics, but the pickings are slim here and Matt is prolific.

New review today for Love and Other Crack-ups Part 1 by Jenny Zervakis! No more links to the fundraiser from me, and thanks again to everybody who donated. One thing that I didn’t factor in regarding buying that dollar amount worth of comics by people who were at the con? My usual “strategy” for cons is to walk down the first aisle, make eye contact too many times, and end up spending 3/4 of the money I had planned before I knew what hit me. Now I have time to research, go to websites, try to determine the most well-received book of somebody who catches my eye, etc. This might take me a few days! Oh, and if you did go to the con, have been reviewed here before and wonder if you should send me your new book? Yes please! I’m hoping to buy from people who are entirely new to me. Gotta start the next 25 years of the website with some new names, y’know?

New review today for Heaven by Katie Skelly, because I absolutely had to close this 25th anniversary period with somebody whose comics I’ve been reviewing for the bulk of that time. Sadly, the fundraiser didn’t reach the level to get me physically to SPX this year, which means that I’ll be buying comics from people who had tables there after the fact and reviewing them later. Thanks to everybody who contributed, thanks to everybody who reads this website regularly, and thanks to the people who forget this website exists for years at a time but always seem happy to see that it’s still around. I’m keeping the fundraiser going through the weekend in the hopes of being able to buy more comics, happy weekend everybody!

I was hoping to have more comics from people who I’ve been reviewing since the beginning of this website, 25 good lord years ago, and lucky for me David Robertson was nice enough to send his new comic This Year. He definitely sent me comics in the early days, and while getting random comics from other countries isn’t THE reason I’ve kept the site going this long, it’s definitely A reason. Fundraiser below, there’s still a chance to help me get to SPX this year! Or, if not, to help me buy a few more comics from people who are going to be there online. The choice is your! Well, if you’re rich enough to fund the whole thing, I guess. Otherwise, the choice is fractionally yours!

New review today for Lauren Ipsum #41 by Charles Brubaker. That’s right, #41! My apologies for making everybody suddenly feel unproductive. And oh hey, the 25th anniversary of the website/attempt to get me to SPX is entering its final week. Right now it’s sure looking like I’m going to be buying new SPX comics from a half dozen or so people online and not making the physical trip, but there’s still a bit of time left. If you appreciate this site being around for this long and for remaining just a basic little old website (and if you have the money to spare, don’t go crazy with this if you can’t afford it) then toss in a few bucks!

New review today for Plastic People #22 and 23 by Brian Canini! Also the 25th anniversary fundraiser/attempt to get me to SPX this year is still ongoing, but after a nice start there have been a couple of weeks of a tumbleweed blowing across my screen. Are the stats of the number of unique daily visitors site incorrect? Are people just broke and/or only supporting fundraisers that are actively keeping people alive? Kind of difficult to be mad about that one, if true. But to the shy billionaire that enjoys my ramblings, stop being so miserly! Don’t you want me to do a whole lot of driving over a weekend to come back with a pile of comics? Anyway, give me a few bucks if you can, it’ll get transformed directly into comics. Work is starting to get crazy again so I’m not sure about reviews for the rest of the week, but if I can’t manage anything, take a wander through the archives! 25 years is a whole lot of reviews to scroll through.

New review today for Santos Sisters Fun Special #1 by Greg & Fake Petre along with Bob Burden. Yes, that Bob Burden! Also their second hardcover volume of Santos Sisters will be out soon from Fantagraphics, so stay on the lookout for that. Also yes, I’m still doing the fundraiser for the website’s 25th anniversary/attempt to get me to SPX this year, so just scroll down a bit to find it. I’d put it here, but it’s too full of Santos Sisters plugs!

Hey look everybody, it’s a new issue of Womp Womp (#4) by Brandon Lehmann! Yes, of course I reviewed it. Also I’m still doing the fundraiser to maybe get me to SPX this year for the 25th anniversary of Optical Sloth, and after a promising start things seem to have stalled. I get that everybody is broke, so no hard feelings (I can always buy a clump of mini comics online instead), but if you appreciate my rambling about comics every week for that long and have any money to spare, go for it!

New review today for Dog Love by Lily Herring, one from the CXC pile last year that drifted out of the review pile. Hey, speaking of conventions and buying comics, I’m running a fundraiser for the 25th anniversary of this website and so that I can buy a hefty pile of comics to review at SPX this year. Look, here’s a link to throw a few dollars my way if you want to and/or can afford it!

New review today for Midville High #10 by Matt Blair. And hey, scroll down a bit if you’d like to contribute to the 25th anniversary fundraiser I’m running. No, not for something practical like the costs of keeping the website running, it’s just so I can buy more comics at SPX this year.

New review today for Cruisin Along Route 66 by Turtle House Comics (or possibly Danny Ferbert). Also thanks to the people who donated to the GoFundMe I’m throwing for the 25th anniversary of this website and/or getting me to SPX this year with as much money to buy comics as possible. If you have a few bucks to spare (seriously, even $5 gets me a mini comic or two), here’s the link again:

New review today for Night Shift by Various Artists (mostly from Washington, edited by Kelly Froh). Am I going to mention the ongoing 25th anniversary celebration/fundraiser for me getting to SPX after all of the reviews this month? Sadly, the answer is “probably.” So scroll down a bit to donate, if you’re so inclined and financially able!

New review today for Eyeland #12 by Nick Forker! Also my 25th anniversary “celebration” is going on all month, so if you’re at all interested in helping me celebrate by making it possible for me to buy more comics at SPX this year, scroll down a bit and hit that fundraiser.

So way, WAY back in the day, at roughly the start of August in 2001, I started Optical Sloth. I even wrote 100 reviews before I posted the website online just so it would never look like a blank mess, and look at it now! It’s more of a… severely cluttered mess. Anyway, I had various thoughts for how to celebrate this milestone, but at the end of the day I’ll stay with the general feel of the website and keep it simple: I’d like to go to SPX on September 12 and 13th next month, but I always end up having to pass up a whole lot of comics because I can’t afford everything. But hey, what if I COULD practically afford everything this year? That’s right, I’m starting a fundraiser. If it ends up getting little or no money, well hey, people are broke all over, no hard feelings, and I’ll just buy a bunch of stuff from Spit and a Half or another online comics shop. But if it actually makes it into the several hundreds of dollars? Well, all of those dollars will be spent on comics at SPX. If you’ve been a regular over the years thanks for reading, and if you pop in every half a decade or so just to say “wow, you’re STILL writing comics reviews?” then thank you too. Here’s the link to the fundraiser!

New review today for Everybody Dies! by Kelly Froh. You know, it’s a big anniversary for this website, and I’ve been thinking about what to do about it. By the end of the week (or maybe next week, let’s be honest) I’ll be announcing something or other. Vague teaser!

New review today for Pixie Lice by Amanda Vahamaki. Who also did a mini kus comic that I enjoyed thoroughly over a decade ago, which is not something I remembered until I searched my own website for her name. The process of this website replacing my own brain is almost complete…

New review today for How I Leave You by Sydney Heifler. Sorry about the week off, but I’m in anther one of those constant states of having very few comics on hand to review. I’ll buy more soon, or if you have a new comic, this is also another one of those cases where there will be very little wait for a review of a comic that makes it to my mailbox…

New review today for Ukestadli by Cole Pauls, and if I’d ever figured out how to use umlauts and that various symbols that can go over letters that title would look much different.

New review today for Random Short Stories by a Future Bestseller by Brian Canini, and could it be? Am I actually caught up with his comics? I’m just going to assume that he’s fallen behind in posting new books in his online store…

New review today for Woodrow Comics #2 by Chris Auman, in which things take a turn and I try to discover the workings of my own brain. Also there’s a comic review in there somewhere.