April 24, 2010
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Battles of Paradise #2
I’m going to cheat a little bit on this one: if you haven’t read the review for #1, start there. I ramble more than a little bit, but there are some possibly useful pieces of advice and criticism. Sadly, not much has improved with this issue, as there are still spelling errors all over the place and the basic construction of the comic is awful (you can see a good chunk of the comic on the right side of the cover). What’s the point on dwelling on what’s wrong with it? Granted, most things are wrong with it, but he does introduce a new character in this issue and it seems like the female lead has more than a few mysteries to reveal. The trouble is that most people aren’t going to have the patience to find those promising nuggets amidst all the crappy parts. I said before that I was hoping to see how things improved, now I have a much tougher request: I want to see a comic that is properly put together (no words or characters disappearing off the edges) and with no spelling errors (yes, that includes knowing the difference between “you’re” and “your”). It’s not too much to ask, and at least then I could get a good handle on the story and figure out exactly what’s going on here. I’m so distracted by the nonsense that I could barely even tell what was going on. Still no price, still probably a couple of bucks, and I’d still hold off until he gets his act together. I do think it’s possible, otherwise I wouldn’t be going on like this…
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Posted by Kevin
April 24, 2010
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Battles of Paradise #1
I’ll freely confess to a bit of a double standard in my reviewing policy. If somebody sends me a comic that looks terrible, has misspelled words all over the place and no discernible story, AND they’ve sent much better stuff in the past, I’ll probably tear it apart. If, however, somebody is sending me their first comic, and it has more than a few flaws, I tend to try a different approach: offering some (here’s hoping) practical advice. Jerell is 18, this appears to be his first comic, and he has a few basics to learn. I’m a big fan of everybody doing comics, and it’s clear that he has a decent imagination, so this should in no way be taken as discouragement from doing more comics. That being said, much needs to be improved here. Full disclosure: this is an anime-style comic, something I probably wouldn’t have liked anyway, just to throw that out there. The story, which would be a little difficult to tell if it wasn’t for the synopsis he thoughtfully included, is that demons are hunting after a princess for her land, and a young boy keeps popping up in time to save her. She develops an instant crush and eventually gives him some of her power so he can become a demon slayer. The trouble is that I was never able to really get into the story because of the number of basic errors contained. The sample page should give you a clue, but here are my suggestions, and this may well go for some of you people who think you have this comics thing down pat as well. First, use a spell check. I know, they don’t come installed on the comics page. If you’re not a particularly good speller, go to a place like dictionary.com and type in every word that’s more than two syllables. It sounds ridiculous, I know, but you’d be amazed at how many errors this can fix, and the more times you do it, the more you’re likely to learn. For example, “couragous” looks right if you don’t know any better, but they crammed an “e” in there towards the end. Next, keep your letters in the word bubbles/boxes. Maybe once or twice in a comic you can creep outside the lines a bit, or maybe if that’s an aesthetic choice for your comic. If it happens multiple times on every page, you need to plan your dialogue a bit better. If all else fails, write the words in first and then box them in.  You also need to know when to use “to” or “too”, “their” or “they’re”, etc. It drives me batty, and I know I’m not alone on that. You also shouldn’t need to write what’s happening in the panels, as Jerell will often use [runs] or [fall].  You have to trust in your ability to be able to show that action in the panel, as in most of the cases where he used brackets I could already see what was happening. In general, don’t be afraid to use bigger panels. There were a few battle scenes in here where everything was crammed into little panels and the brackets really were necessary. Solution: give more room for the action. I hope this doesn’t come across like I’m picking on the guy, but when you’re 18 a knowledge of the basics will take you a long way. Here’s hoping I get to see Battles of Paradise #2 to see what leaps the man has taken forward, but I’d chalk #1 up, except to the most diehard of anime fans, as a learning experience. No price listed, I’m guessing a couple of bucks.
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Posted by Kevin
April 24, 2010
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A Really True Story
If it says so right in the title, who am I to suggest that isn’t a really true story? Lisa says in her intro that “all the identifying facts have been changed to protect me”. Which is odd, considering that there is no female character in a leading role here, but I’ll let it slide. This is the theoretically the story of two cops and how circumstances helped them catch a potential car thief. I say “theoretically” because it’s really all just an excuse to get to the punch line, but it’s not kosher to give such things away in reviews, so I’ll stick to telling you about the rest of it. Bob and Jake (the two cops) finish up a day of work and head home. Bob realizes that he forgot to tell Jake that they need to come in early the next day but, as is required by the laws of the universe, he only remembers this when he is almost home. He pulls in the driveway, makes a pledge not to leave the car until he talks to Jake, and suddenly hears someone approaching his car. He ducks down, ready for whatever is coming, and he hears the kid talking trash about the other car in the driveway before getting to him. Bob kicks the door open, shocking the kid, who runs into a nearby house. The rest of the comic is a (shorter than you’d think) chase and the previously mentioned punchline, which was set up wonderfully earlier in the comic but it flew right by me. Lisa seems to have this 6 page comic thing down pat, as she managed to pack funny, tense and humiliating all in one pamphlet. It’s worth a look if you have an extra buck or two lying around.
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Posted by Kevin
April 24, 2010
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Tick Tick Boom
I should probably put a little disclaimer here: if you have ever had any serious issues with ticks being attached to any part of your body and you’d care to forget all about it, it might be best to avoid this comic. That’s OK, there are two good ones right below this to choose from. As someone who has had to deal with a tick before, seeing the bloated creature in this comic was more effective than any horror movie. This is the (if there is any justice in this world fictional) story of a gigantic tick, how it is discovered and how it meets its maker. There is a man who had a traumatic experience with a tick as a young boy, and he nurtures that hatred until he is able to get a job as a tick inspector. Upon arriving in the park he sees a queen tick (again, I can only hope there is no such thing in real life), and it has sucked the life right out of a small, hairless dog. This tick inspector manages to capture it and puts it in a box to the Guinness record committee, but he uses some unfortunate word choices on the box, and well, that title is an appropriate description for more than just ticks. This also has a handy chart of the tick life cycle, and some subtle (if pointed) commentary on tv news anchors. Like I said, as long as you’re not scarred for life from some childhood tick trauma, this is a pretty great story and you should probably check it out.
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Posted by Kevin
April 24, 2010
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Strange Science Fiction #7
Clones! Had to get there sooner or later. It looks like this is the second to last issue of this series, which is a shame because it’s been a blast, but really, Matthew has probably taken it about as far as he can and he has a new series to work on. Still, he’s not done yet. In this issue Mark decides to make 4 clones to do various chores while he goes out to the movies with Julia. Just friends, of course, as Mark has his head firmly wedged up a nether region in that regard. The clones decide that they need more help, make another clone of their own, and things go downhill from there. For the characters, that is. The comic was a lot of fun. Well worth a look, especially considering that I believe these are all still only $.50 each, and how else are you going to understand the dramatic conclusion unless you read the early issues?
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Posted by Kevin
April 24, 2010
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Strange Science Fiction #5
Here’s a tip to anybody who is making a comic and trying, in whatever fashion, to get it noticed: keep making them on a regular basis and keep sending them to people like me who are willing to yammer on about them. I suppose that’s two tips, but you get the idea. Matthew has been cranking these minis out consistently (about one a month, maybe even a little more than that) and has been sending them to me just as often. Not that this little site is going to make or break anybody, but it doesn’t hurt a thing to have your book talked about on a regular basis. So how about this particular issue� Well, as you can see from the cover, it’s about time travel, a rich subject that could go on for issues and issues if he wanted. In this one Julie falls out along the way, and Mark has no idea where or when she might have landed. She ends up meeting a real man in prehistoric times, and most of the issue is spent with her adjusting to life in a new environment. These are never anything less than an interesting read and this one is no exception, and as always more than worth a look for that measly $.50 price tag…
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Posted by Kevin
April 24, 2010
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Strange Science Fiction #4
Here’s another solid issue by Matthew, as Mark discovers a new dimension. Naturally, this means that he has to explore it, and something like that is never going to go off without a hitch. Matthew also looks like he’s putting more work into his backgrounds, something that never fails to improve the overall look of a book. Well, I suppose it could fail if the artist had no skill whatsoever, but that isn’t an issue here. Also, without going into spoiler territory, we get the best punchline of the series. That sexual tension between these two isn’t going anywhere for the time being, even if I do occasionally get the impression that they have roughly the same anatomy as Barbie and Ken… $.50
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Posted by Kevin
April 24, 2010
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Strange Science Fiction #3
Finally, some giant fighting robots. I was wondering how long it would take Matthew to get to them. This comic is the best of the bunch, and not just because of the robots. The bland main characters finally take some baby steps towards personalities, and we get to see a rival, a young man who perpetually finishes second to Mark in all things related to science. In this issue the rival (Zedediah) sees that Mark has completed his giant robot, which naturally leads him to unleash his giant robot so the world can see which one is better. Mark also cluelessly misses his friend Julie hitting on him, which sets up hilarity for future issues. Good stuff this time around, even the art looked a little crisper. $.50
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Posted by Kevin
April 24, 2010
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Strange Science Fiction #2
Note to anybody who sends me stuff, or really to anybody who puts out comics: please take a minute to read your comic after it’s produced so you can make sure that the pages are in the correct order. I was rolling along, reading a perfectly enjoyable tale about an extraterrestial blob that fell from the sky and seemed to want to kill a lot of people, when suddenly the main characters went from being trapped on a school staircase to falling off of a cliff. Oops! If you don’t mind that sort of thing this is still a fun book, and it’s still only a measly $.50, but as far as mistakes go that’s a pretty big one, and something that’s easy to fix if you’re careful while copying pages. Not that he’s the only artist ever to screw up like that, but it’s�a good chance to remind all you youngsters out there, assuming any youngsters read this, and assuming that any youngsters are still making comics by hand and not just on their computers. You damned kids, get off my lawn! $.50
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Posted by Kevin
April 24, 2010
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Strange Science Fiction #1
Who doesn’t love a good story about a shrinking man? If that’s you, um, please move along, as you should be able to tell by that cover that you’ll hate this one. As for the rest of us, it’s mostly a blast. A young girl named Julie (I’m guessing they’re both in high school) stops by to pick up her friend Mark for school. Mark is experimenting on a shrink ray, and of course he manages to accidentally shrink himself. In the confusion Julie turns herself into a giant, and hijinx ensue. My only problem here is that the perspective shifts were sometimes awkward, as Mark was hidden from the world while in the palm of Julie’s hand… yet he was about halfway up to her knee when she set him down. Still, it’s a tricky thing to keep completely consistent, and it can be overlooked for a good old fashioned fun comic, which is a measly $.50 to boot. There’s two more of these still to come (he sent me the first three), and he’s managed to put them all out this year, which is an impressively consistent streak to start things off. That website up there is possibly the barest I’ve ever seen (not counting the ones that are eternally “under construction”) but there are still links to buy stuff, if you’re of a mind to check it out…
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Posted by Kevin
April 24, 2010
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And Who is My… Neighbor?
I’ve been hoping that Matthew would branch out a bit more in his comics, and this is certainly a step in that direction, but the whole thing left me a bit cold. It’s essentially a modern retelling of the Good Samaritan story from the Bible. A young man gets beat up and left for dead, and a white middle class Republican, an evangelical conservative preacher, and a black liberal democrat libertarian (yes, this is how they’re all described and no, that’s not the start of a joke) all walk by him, with one of them stopping to help the poor guy. Which one stops to help tells you a bit about Matthew’s politics but that’s about it, and there haven’t been any changes or additions to the story to improve things. Why improve a classic, I suppose, but it’s a scant 6 pages (of three full page spreads, I cut one in half for the sample instead of giving too much of the story away), and it’s hard to avoid feeling slightly preached to. As for side annoyances, they’re here too, with the see-through cover image with the title, while a good idea in theory, really hard to read in practice. Then there’s the fact that there’s no identifying information of any kind in here, so it’s lucky this was still in the envelope because of my recent medical issues. Not much here to recommend this, frankly, although I did like the layout of the pages, but paradoxically I still think it’s a step in the right direction for the guy, at least in creative terms. No price, nothing on his website, but I’d guess $2.
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Posted by Kevin
April 24, 2010
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77 #1
Well, this certainly gets top billing on the page, as it’s the first issue of a projected 32 issue series. That’s a serious commitment, and something Matthew, with his prolific pace in putting out Strange Science Fiction, might actually be able to complete. The first issue is all about the lonely life of a young teenager named Jonny. Jonny has a crush on a girl at school, and things take a turn for the worse when he sees this girl with his friend Jimmy at the movies. I liked the silence of this issue, the way Matthew lingered over some of the more awkward moments in high school and didn’t bog the reader down with endless explanations and exposition. As for the story, obviously it’s the first piece of a very large puzzle, so all I can really say for now is that it worked and has me looking forward to the next issue. I do have a couple of complaints, because what kind of reviewer would I be if I didn’t? Matthew could really use something to differentiate his characters. There’s a scene at the start of the book where Jonny is walking in a scholl hallway and is being made fun of by a group of boys, all of whom look pretty much the same at a casual glance. Maybe some different hair colors would help, but I can see this being an issue between Jonny and Jimmy down the road, as they look pretty much the same too. More distinctive names would have helped tell them apart too. Still, it’s early in this story and I still have very little idea where it’s going in the long run. It’s worth a look anyway, that’s for sure. As for the price… $2 maybe?
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Posted by Kevin
April 24, 2010
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XXX Live Nude Girls #2: Pretty Like A Princess
Somebody should have told me that this is absolutely not the thing to be reading if you’re depressed. This is probably a book full of fascinating, insightful tales about relationships, and commonality, and screwing people to avoid telling them how you feel, and escaping from your life before it’s too late. To someone going through relationship turmoil, it looks like the whole idea of having a happy, healthy relationship is ridiculous and that we’re all going to end up alone and depressed. Like I said, probably not what it’s really about, but that’s how I’m reading it today. This one is good. If it hurts it’s good for you, right? more expensive than the last one, but it also looks nicer and has a color story in the middle. If you don’t like poetry at all maybe you should avoid this, and if you don’t like thinking about how empty that relationship you’re in might be you should probably stay away too. If you’re not afraid to explore all the possibilities of your world and the people around you, give this book a look. Contact info is above, as always…
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Posted by Kevin
April 24, 2010
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Neruda
Like the review yesterday, if something is a reprint that you’ve never seen before, it’s as good as new, right? This reprints the Neruda story from Non #1, so if you were one of the lucky few who got a copy of that one, this might seem a bit familiar. Still, Ted says that the art has been punched up a bit and there’s a new pinup on the inside covers by Jeff Wilson and Dan Zettwoch respectively. And that cover! Between what you can see there and the image on the back, that’s worth the price of admission alone. The story here is a bit convoluted, but who cares? It’s not like Ted has a ton of comics available (although I do see a brand new one on his website), so it’s to savor these when they do make it to print. It’s the story of Neruda, a statue who comes alive in a hippie commune. These hippies are trying to kick various drugs but at their own pace, so no pressure man. Various other people are quickly added to the mix in the fight over Neruda, including punks, hillbillies and government agents, and things get delightfully chaotic in a hurry. Much like It Lives #1 (and I still think it was cruel to put a “#1” on that, giving comic readers hope that another issue was coming), this is an essential piece to one of those scattered, disorganized piles of comics you have in your home/apartment/mom’s basement. $3
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Posted by Kevin
April 24, 2010
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It Lives #1 Now Available! $3
It amazes me to see that Ted isn’t already on this page. I own every single anthology he’s been in (according to the ones he lists in the back of this issue, anyway), so it just made sense that he would already be here. That being said, I only thought he was OK before I saw a clump of his stories all in one place. Now I think he might just be the new Jesus. Too much hype, I guess, but damn is this guy funny. There’s a story called Toilet Battle that is the single funniest fight scene I’ve seen in years. I offer no details! Help Me Understand Your World (while being one of the best names for a story ever) was incredible, as was the one involving pants. Monster Mask wasn’t absolutely perfect, but I still liked it. Go to his website, give him piles of money so maybe he’ll do another one…
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Posted by Kevin
April 24, 2010
Joe’s Myspace page
Peepshow #14
Holy Christ, Joe Matt has a new comic out! I dug up the last few issues of this series before reading this, as it’s the last issue of his current storyline, and #13 came out in February of 2002. That’s right, it took the man 4 and a half years to put this book out. For anybody who has any complaints about him personally or his work in general, he answers them all here, including going into excruciating detail about why he’s so unproductive and how his obsession with porn has left him a neurotic mess. Yes, even more of a neurotic mess than he was when he started the series. Individually, these issues felt closed in and suffocating, as a good chunk of the “action” takes place in his tiny apartment. Taken as a whole, this ranks up with the best of his stuff, even if took him over 8 years to finish it. It’s a great case study of someone who has access to all the porn in the world and two VCR’s to make his own “best of” tapes. If you think it’s all doom and gloom, well OK, this one mostly is. Things seem to be looking up for Joe though, as he moved to Los Angeles recently and apparently has all sorts of new adventures to tell us. Of course, we won’t get to actually read these stories for another year at least, as this issue just came out a few weeks ago and I just don’t buy the idea that he’ll have the next illustrated chapter of his life done any time soon. Still and all, even with my bitching, Joe Matt is one of the reasons I started reading independent comics in the first place and it’s comics like this that remind me why I stick around. $4.95
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Posted by Kevin
April 24, 2010
Joe’s Myspace page
Peepshow 13
Another thing that isn’t on the D & Q website, but just e-mail them, I’m sure they haven’t gotten around to updating the site yet. A lot of people give Joe Matt a lot of shit about putting out one book every two years or so, but what a lot of people forget is how good his book is when he does put it out. Look, I can think of exactly one person that can make me read their entire run of books again with each new issue, and that’s Joe Matt. This one is all Joe, Chester Brown and Seth sitting around a table talking and it’s still one of the best things I’ve read this year. Kudos to the guy. I still think it’s a damned shame that the world can’t see more from this incredible talent, but maybe the books wouldn’t be as good if he was putting out three a year or so. He should just take his time and make sure that they’re all as good as this one. Oh yeah, and he has a fantastic response to all the people who call him lazy:
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Posted by Kevin
April 24, 2010
Joe’s Myspace page
The Poor Bastard
I can’t imagine a better title for a collection of his work. This collects the first 6 issues of Peepshow, and these were the really good ones. A lot of people didn’t like his later work (when he retold a childhood story), thinking that he was ripping off Chester Brown, but I thought it was OK. It hasn’t been collected though, so maybe he thinks it’s bad too. Whatever the case, the “story” here involves Joe and his longtime girlfriend Trish. Anybody who has read the first book should be familiar with her. Anyway, after she reads the first issue (about Joe having a crush on a friend of hers), she breaks up with him, and the rest of the book is mostly about his emotional torment of going through the whole ordeal. Not as dense as the first one, but after you read this you’ll wonder why he didn’t keep going with this. Actually, you might not wonder because it might be obvious that him bitching for entire issues could only be entertaining for so long. Whatever the case, I wasn’t sick of it when he essentially stopped.
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Posted by Kevin
April 24, 2010
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Laterborn #7
OK fine, so technically Jason hasn’t completely abandoned the idea of the high school story, even though these mostly deal with college and its aftermath. As long as he still has this much insight into the whole ordeal of friendship and maturing, he can keep it up forever as far as I’m concerned. First up is a short story which is about friends a young man meets in college (it is fiction, not Jason, as far as I can tell), their time as housemates and how they eventually move onto bigger and better things while the young man just keeps living in the same house, finding new roommates through internet listings. It’s a fantastic story; he should look into having it published. I don’t usually say things like that, as I’m one of those dopes who think that being published in your own mini is achievement enough, but there’s a deep core of resentment at the hallowed memory of the time as housemates being made fun of by one of the old members and a full realization that those times are never coming back which make for a damned wistful story. The comics following this keep up that wistful theme, as further stories deal with quitting a temp job for no apparent reason, being the only person who was decent to the only woman at another temp job, having too many people to pray for and the story I sampled below, which I can relate to all too well. Finally there’s the piece that made me say he’s still (sort of) doing high school stories, as it’s all about a friend of his from 2nd grade on, how they eventually (but amicably, it seems) drifted apart, and how he later found out that this close friend had gotten married, had a kid and then gotten divorced because his wife was cheating on him with another friend from back in the day. Clearly these comics are striking a serious chord with me, like I needed more nostalgic tendencies when I’m going home to visit this weekend. This comic has been a real find (if I’m allowed to consider something that was sent to me in the mail a “find”), and I really can’t recommend it highly enough. $2
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Posted by Kevin
April 24, 2010
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Laterborn #6
OK, to the chronologically curious, here’s the order in which I reviewed these comics: #5, #4 (after about a year and a half) and finally #6 (after about a month). If you just read one of these reviews and think it might seem a bit more muddled than usual, you’re probably right. Anyway, after being mildly impressed by #5 and significantly more impressed by #4, this one blew me away. Jason describes it in his intro as an attempt to wrap up a lot of topics, as he was heading towards 30 and thought he should probably get away from sad high school and college tales. This means that he crammed all kinds of stories into this one, so for those of you who are looking for the most bang for your buck, here you go. Stories in here include the healing power of playing Nintendo with friends after being ignored by the girl you like (and making a new friend in college to begin with), a brief piece about aquarium soaps, an awesome video store clerk in Berkeley, and a dream he had years ago about crashing at the home of a very nervous family, which inspired a follow-up dream years later when he stumbled across a written description of said dream. The heart of this comic, however, is contained in two longer sections. First up is Jason’s tale of going on tour with his band in 2007, with all sorts of stories about the generosity of others on the road (including bands giving up their door money to help out the struggling traveling bands) and the various people and places he saw. Then there’s the subject he’s trying to kill: high school memories. There’s a piece about his Pavlovian response to the public address system at his school ending each class with the first note from “Today” by Smashing Pumpkins, how he just assumed that Kurt Cobain was an asshole until learning more about him after he died (and how much Cobain hated knowing that he had fans who were assholes), the story of Pearl Jam buying up 4 hours of radio time in 1995 to promote little bands that they liked and promoting new projects from friends, how the way he acquires music has changed dramatically over the years, and a piece about a candle and falling asleep to music that honestly flew right over my head. Still, my not really getting one story (and it’s not like I hated it or anything) in a comic this hefty was impressive. It’s going to be a shame to have Jason put some of these topics behind him (even though I’m intensely curious to see what he comes up with next), as few people have been able to convey the quiet moments that really make up friendships at that age. The realization that you’ve started talking like your friends, the tiny things you do to amuse yourselves and how much they can help you out when you’re down. OK, that veered towards sappiness, but you get the idea. As you get older your friends have, you know, adult responsibilities and can’t always be there when you need them. In high school and college, generally speaking, they were occasionally as miserable as you were and got exactly where you were coming from. It looks like he’s putting together a collection of the best of his stuff, which should be something to see. In the meantime, I’d start with this one, his best yet, and work your way backwards. $3
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Posted by Kevin
