Optical Sloth

New review today for Pelican Bastards by Michael Aushenker. He wasn’t supposed to be at Cartoon Crossroads this year, but next week I should have more reviews for people who were, if you were wondering why I ditched the theme after one review.

If you thought I missed last week because I was buried under a mound of comics from Cartoon Crossroads, well, funny story. Turns out that there was no in-person comic artists because of covid. Which was fine, but I didn’t see a thing spelling that out on the website. Ah well, I got to spend some time a local museum while hunting for comics, so that was fun. Anyway, Brian Canini is one of the people I would have seen at the show, so here’s a review for his Glimpses of Life #7.

New review today for Brick By Brick from David Craig. Cartoon Crossroads this weekend, anybody who is anywhere near Columbus Ohio! If you see a blond weirdo wearing a Tortilla Comix shirt wandering around on Saturday, come over and say hi! You will freak me all the way out by doing so.

New review today for 10 Sim Lane by Essi Nieminen, which is unfortunately the last of the mini kus pile. But that’s OK! Clearly, as this is issue #102 of their series, it’s just a matter of time until new ones are released into the wild.

It’s accidental (almost) silent comics week! Yep, it’s a peek behind the curtain: these days I often write the reviews over the weekend and set them to post during the week. That way you scofflaws can read reviews during the work week and I don’t have to scramble for time. This week I grabbed three comics that either have very few words or none at all and this one (Nugget #1 by Tony DiPasquale) is completely wordless. Hm, maybe I should try to come up with a way to write a wordless review to go with these comics. There has to be a way…

Lots going on around here, so you get just the one review this week on top of none at all last week. I know, life sucks! The good news is that Cartoon Crossroads is happening in Columbus next weekend, so if you’re anywhere near Ohio (and if past years are any indication) I’d say it’s a good idea to get your travel plans in order. New review today for Survival Mode by Dileydi Florez, another from the mini kus pile.

New review today for Heel on the Shovel #2 by Michael Kamison and Steven Arnold. Y’all are vaccinated, right? I just like to assume that I don’t have any dummies in my audience. Dare to dream, probably, but it’s a good dream…

New review today for Long Live the Witches by Valentine Gallardo, which also just so happens to be mini kus #100! They chose to go low key for the milestone issue, even though by comic book law they were legally able to include a crossover with Green Goblin or Venom. Their loss!

New review today for Super Magic Forest by Ansis Purins. See if you can spot the Zombre!

New review today for Flowers Intertwined by Ema Gaspar, which just so happens to be the 99th issue of mini kus. Collect them all!

New review today for Meeting Comics #1 by Andrew Neal, for all the employed and trapped in an office environment readers out there. Like me!

Busy busy week, so you’re only getting one review: World Ceramic Fair by Jooyoung Kim. That’s right, it’s more mini kus! Don’t worry, I have a few books here that need reviewing, and I’ll get to them soon. I just need a few more hours in the day…

New review today for another mini kus book, BLINK by Martin Lopez Lam. If you like my reviews where I ramble and dissemble to try to cover up the fact that I didn’t really get a particular book, you’ll love this one!

So for this anniversary review week (during which, sadly, I’m pretty busy in my regular life) I decided to also include a couple of mini kus reviews. Hey, why not? New review today for Bridge by Matt Madden.

Happy 20th anniversary for Optical Sloth! I’m not sure of the exact date, but I know that it started in August 2001, so I figure this is close enough for a celebration, especially considering the fact that there isn’t a real celebration happening. If you’d told me 20 years ago that I’d still be doing this, and I’d still be making roughly zero dollars at it (there’s still the “once in a blue moon” comics orders, but it’s exceedingly rare at this point), I’d have said you were cuckoo bananas. But hey, I still like comics, so why not. I have a few ideas on where I’d like the site to go from here, but considering my lack of follow-through on several other ideas, I’ll just leave that to your imagination for now. And, as always, if any millionaires are reading this, send cash and I’ll turn it into more comics. Or send me a huge pile of cash and you can have your own in-house reviewer! As for the review, I debated picking somebody like John Porcellino who I’ve been reviewing the whole time, or maybe mini kus #100, as it is in my apartment. But in the end, a cute little mini came in last week from a guy I haven’t seen before, and what’s more in the spirit of the website than making that the 20th anniversary review? New review today for Sludgy #3 by Robb Mirsky!

It’s mini kus time again! New review today for Before the Pandemic There Was a Touch Football Tourney by David Collier. #95 in the mini kus books, and they sent me a double batch for reviewing, which goes up to #100 and beyond. So yes, you’ll be seeing some mini kus reviews over the next couple of months, that’s for sure…

New review today for Plastic People #8 by Brian Canini, meaning that I’m now over halfway done with the series. Man, that guy can put out the comics, that’s for sure.

New review today for Reluctant Oracle #1 by William Cardini, who has been making comics for quite a few years now. You know, what with the 20th anniversary of the website coming up next month, I was thinking about trying to find out what the first people I reviewed were up to today. Then I remembered that I somehow was motivated enough to launch the website with 100 reviews already written (which absolutely boggles my mind today), and I’ve mostly lost the original review dates for the first few years anyway, so I guess that’s out. I’m sure one of them was John Porcellino, and King Cat is still chugging along, so that’s something…

New review today for Addicted by J.T. Davidson, from a mystery pile of mini comics whose origins have been lost to time. Intrigued?

New review for Heel on the Shovel #1 by Michael Kamison and Steven Arnold. Anybody have any good advice for raising a giant cat? Because one of these new kittens is looking like it might end up in the 20 pound range, and that’s way outside of my cat experience. Unrelated to comics, I guess, and I do apologize for wandering off topic for the very first time in the history of this website.