Optical Sloth

New review for Cereal With a Fork #1 by Kyle Courcy. I figured that since I’m doing a fundraiser to try and get the $100 needed for the yearly website fees in roughly 20 days, I might as well do daily updates until it’s through. So that means yes, weekend updates. Now somebody order some damned comics so I don’t have to worry about whether or not I can pay these bills…

New review today for Star #1 by Brian John Mitchell & Kurt Dinse. Fundraisers of any sort rarely work for me, but it’s the time of year when I have to sign up for the domain name and all that jazz, which usually runs around $100 when it’s all said and done. This time around I may or may not have the money to keep this thing running, as things are exceptionally tight. If you good folks were to buy roughly that amount of comics, well, then I could keep the lights on for another year, no problem. If not I’m still going to do all that I can to keep things going, but food and rent does have to come first. So buy comics! Or, if you have more money than you know what to do with, send money to my paypal address at whitey@opticalsloth.com. I have right around 20 days before I have to start paying people…

New review for Indestructible Universe #7 by Morgan Pielli, in which I still try to puzzle out how the scanner works on this computer. I more or less failed.

New update today for Life is Good #6 by Steve Seck. Last week got away from me, so sorry about the missed updates again. As for yesterday, it was my birthday and I was breaking in a new computer, so I was too dazzled to do any actual work. Should be smooth sailing from here, as this computer should be good for years (provided that I don’t break it somehow) and the scanner even works on it. What could possibly go wrong?

New review today for The Bride of Hellatron by Bryan G. Brown.

New review for Werefore Teach Comics? by Rio Aubry Taylor. Hey Boston Red Sox, any chance of you guys not completely choking for the last two games of the season like you have for the rest of September? I would be ever so grateful.

New review for Jay’s Brain #1 by Jason Viola. Not to be missed for fans of funny things or orange comic covers!

New review today for The Lost Works of Georges Melies – Film 1: The Twins by Charles Ellis. If you hurry you may still be able to catch the last bits of the big Top Shelf Comix sale. It ends today!

New review for Some Stories #1 by Desmond Reed. Don’t forget the Top Shelf Comix cheap comics sale! You only have until tomorrow to stock up…

New review for Gaylord Phoenix #4 by Edie Fake, and I’ll try to make up the missed review from yesterday during the week. I did mention that this computer is on its last legs, right? Yeah, that’s screwing me up more than a little. Hey, buy some comics from Top Shelf Comix during the sale, will you? This is their big funding push for the year and they have a ton of great stuff available for very cheap until Friday. How about a copy of Alec: The Years Have Pants of your very own? It is impossible to be disappointed with that book.

New review today for The Black Project #1 by Gareth Brookes. That cheap Top Shelf sale is going on until Friday, and I’d happily post a link here if my computer didn’t have a horrible virus where most Google searches go to blind links. Google “Top Shelf Comix,” I think you can find it for yourself.

New review for Poit! #1 by Brian John Mitchell & Dave Sim. See, it wasn’t really that hard for me to get 5 reviews up. Remember when I was doing two a day and holding down a full time job? Madness. Also, good news for the weekend: Jeff Zwirek’s fundraiser for a collected edition of Burning Building Comix was a rousing success! I had my doubts when he was only halfway there with about a week to go, but it turns out that sometimes the good guys do win. Happy weekend!

New reviews today for Mongoloid Revenge by Josh Burggraf and Slither #7 by Kelly Froh. Hey, I promised five reviews this week and I had workers in here yesterday so I couldn’t get an update in. I’m trying over here…

New review today for My Life in Records by Grant Thomas. That’s one thing about having to use the backup computer: it’s also the only one that lets the scanner work, which makes it MUCH easier to scan new stuff. Everything else about it is a decided step down, but hey, silver linings and all that.

New review today for Monkey Squad One #7 by Doug Michel. Remember how I said that there would be regular updates unless the computer freaked out? Yeah. I’m on my backup computer at the moment (backup = hopelessly riddled with viruses), but I’ll keep doing reviews as long as this thing holds out. After that it’s off to shouting about comics from street corners, so Champaign Illinois residents could be in for a treat…

Sorry, but the week got away from me again. I got behind in my work and, as that’s the writing that pays the bills, it has to take precedence. 5 reviews next week at a bare minimum, that’s my pledge. Barring a full computer meltdown it should be possible. I also wanted to mention the current Top Shelf $3 sale. There isn’t a better deal in small press comics. The money from this sale pays for a lot of their yearly operating costs, and you get to have a whole pile of comics for cheap. There’s the cheaper versions of the collections and hardcovers (hardcover copies of the gigantic From Hell and Alec: The Years Have Pants for $25 each), $10 or $8 sales on much more expensive books (if you’ve missed any Jeffrey Brown comics, now’s your chance) and the $3 and even $1 books. You can get the two Hutch Owen collections by Tom Hart for $3 each along with even more Jeffrey Brown comics, and for $1 you can get all of the Happy comics by Josh Simmons, Hey Mister by Pete Sickman-Garner and a few Jennifer Daydreamer books among many other things. Check it out, buy comics and be happy.

New review today for Window #11 by Dave Lapp. Hey, I took that accidental week off, I should check in with Jeff Zwirek’s fundraiser for a collected edition of Burning Building Comix. Damn, it looks like he’s only about halfway to his goal with 8 days left. Seriously, there are only 41 people in the world willing to give this man some money? This is why us small press comics fans can’t have nice things. Give the man some cash already!

New review for Indestructible Universe #6 by Morgan Pielli. Sorry about that unintentional vacation, I got busy with work stuff last week and then decided to take the holiday weekend along with the rest of the country. Normal posting will resume at this time.

New review for Mortal Tedium by John Robbins. I sometimes ask you readers to buy comics, like now if you want to celebrate or otherwise mark the 10th anniversary of the website. Still, I never recommend comics for people who might be intimidated by the 450+ comics to choose from. So, in no particular order (as I’m not a fan of lists, which is why I don’t grade comics by a star or numbered scale), here are 10 comics that I didn’t know about when I started this site but now consider necessary reading for any fan of the genre.

Mine Tonight by Trevor Alixopulos

In Anticipation of Hugs by Neil Brideau

Old Man Winter and Other Sordid Tales by J.T. Yost

Christina & Charles by Austin English

Asthma by John Hankiewicz

Broken Lines Book One by Tom Pappalardo

The Horrifically Complete Non-Winner by Kelli Nelson

Bookhunter by Jason Shiga

Important Comics: A Collection of Unquestionable Merit by Dina Kelberman

The Airy Tales by Olga Volozova

Honorable mentions go to entire series where I don’t want to single out one issue, like Slither from Kelly Froh, Reich by Elijah Brubaker, And Then One Day by Ryan Claytor, Ruffians by Brian Canini (also a good bet for bargain hunters), True Travel Tales by Justin Hall, Tales to Demolish by Eric Haven, Shuteye by Sarah Becan, Legal Action Comics anthologies edited by Danny Hellman (and featuring everybody you’ve ever heard of in the comics business as of five years ago when they were released), Unlucky by Matthew Hawkins, Watching Days Become Years by Jeff LeVine, Tear Stained Makeup AND Carl by Marcos Perez, King Cat by John Porcellino (duh, but just on the off-chance that you aren’t already reading it), Unlovable by Esther Pearl Watson, Reporter by Dylan Williams, and Lackluster World by Eric Adams. If your comic wasn’t mentioned here and you’re annoyed, please keep in mind that I genuinely like a good 99% of the stuff in my store and that I was trying to make a finite list. Happy weekend everybody! Watch out for that hurricane…

New review today for Monthly #1 by Brian John Mitchell & Eric Shonborn.