Sammis, John – Pisser!

January 28, 2021

Website (Instagram, anyway)

Email

Pisser!

What, has everybody stopped putting out proper websites and gone to purely Instagram/emails? What’s that you say? Everybody stopped making websites several years ago, and I’m probably shouting into the void on my review website? Ok, that’s grim. Fair, but grim. This is a collection of mostly short strips, and more than a few of them can be found on John’s Instagram page. Or at least parts of them can, if you’re good with just a taste. You can’t order his comics through that page, but I did include his email address up there, so just use that. He didn’t include a price, so I’ll take a guess. Hm, nice heft to the book. Taller than the usual mini, maybe a little thicker too. I’m guessing… $6! If anybody orders a book from the man, get back to me and tell me how close I was. How about that comic? As is always the case with a collection of strips, some were funnier than others, and some of these were more than a little disturbing. So if you’re looking for Garfield level yuks, his comic probably isn’t the place to go. But neither is literally anything else I’ve ever reviewed over almost 20 years, so you’re really in the wrong place. This is always a dicey way to describe strips, but subjects include a ghost hunter who gets a response, a brief encounter with a laughing priest, whether or not it’s all worth it, an explorer who took a real risk, Eric, quality masonry, the services provided by a young priest, the creation of a younger brother, the academic life of Columbus, and traffic control. There’s also a longer strip about an abduction/robbery that goes wrong, but I’m not going to talk about that one. I liked the vast majority of the strips in this one, so yes, I think that means that it’s worth checking out.


Cherry, Ben – Faceless Nameless

January 26, 2021

Website (where you can buy his comic)

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Faceless Nameless

Sometimes I see these wordless minis where I could sum it up in a sentence (or even less occasionally), and sometimes there’s a whole lot more to be said about them. On those occasions, it also feels like saying all of those things would replace the need to read the comic, and I’d just be telling you everything in it. This here comic is an example of the second case, where I have a lot to say but desperately don’t want to give too much away. So here I go, walking out onto that tightrope! If you just want my quick opinion, yes, I thoroughly enjoyed it, so get yourself a copy. If you need more, what can you determine from that cover? There’s a man in a smiling mask, surrounded by people who are smiling without masks, and that man isn’t smiling at all. But the people who are “genuinely” smiling… well, don’t they look more than a little terrified? This is the story of a man who grows up surrounded by these forced smiles and tries to make his way in the world. Will he ever fit in? Will he ever find anyone else like him? That’s all you’re going to get out of me, so read it yourself to find out. $5


Update for 1/26/21

January 24, 2021

New review today for Faceless Nameless by Ben Cherry. And I’ve finally figured out how to determine exactly what I owe people who originally sent me their comics over a decade ago, but it’s going to take a few weeks to nail it all down, so if you’re been stalling on placing an order, you just got a brief reprieve. Current stock should stay steady until maybe mid-February, after that the comics will start disappearing…


Update for 1/20/21

January 20, 2021

New review today for Weird Beard by Andrew Goldfarb! Speaking of the store closing here, I do have a few of his comics left, if anybody is interested…


Goldfarb, Andrew – Weird Beard

January 20, 2021

Website

Weird Beard

To anybody who’s been reading this website for several years: look, it’s Andrew Goldfarb! I got this mini in the mail along with several other unaffiliated minis, and it took some digging to find out where anybody could get a copy. It’s bundled with a zine (that was not included) by D. Blake Werts that also includes an interview with Andrew. If you’re wondering (like I was) what the man is up to, well, he’s doing great! Illustrator at Mad Magazine, musician, still making comics. I do wonder how many of those 1,000 Sorrows (from his Ogner Stump books) he ended up illustrating, but the internet is not helpful on that front. Am I supposed to be talking about this comic? Well, it’s a real shortie. The hero of the story is a sentient beard who is looking for a home. He flies around, eventually finds one, and causes a few problems for the newly bearded unfortunate soul. It’s funny, it’s weird, it’s delightfully Goldfarbian. Looks like it’s time to check out what he’s been up to recently. No price listed, but a few bucks (sent to the person in the title link, or maybe Andrew through his website) should do it.


Update for 1/18/21

January 18, 2021

New review today for Plastic People #6 by Brian Canini. If you’re still looking to order comics, you may notice that the store is about page smaller than it used to be. And it’ll keep getting smaller, so do your thing and be quick about it! Have I mentioned Book Hunter by Jason Shiga for all the librarians out there? I’ve always been amazed that that didn’t become a cult classic…


Canini, Brian – Plastic People #6

January 18, 2021

Website

Plastic People #6

Would it be cheating if I started reviewing these issues two at a time. It feels like cheating. But what would I be cheating, exactly? Ah, the deep questions that go on in the mind of a reviewer who’s several issues behind of a series that comes out faster than I can review. In this issue we see a few folks waiting outside to get into a club, and while they’re waiting we get a few more bits of insight into what’s going on in this beauty-obsessed world. It’s all so that they can have a fun night out dancing, while a few interpersonal dramas play out along the way. We get a definite sense of the importance of plastic surgeons in this world and, as you can see by the sample image, nudists. That seems like that something that’ll pop up again in the future, but we just get a few hints this time around. It’s another solid issue, and there are relatively cheap ways for you to get caught up on Brian’s website if you’re so inclined. Meanwhile, I might check in with the comics elders to see about that double reviewing thing… $2


Update for 1/13/21

January 13, 2021

New review today for Fights: One Boy’s Triumph Over Violence by Joel Christian Gill. I’m already starting to get in touch with a few artists who have books in the store, so get your orders in now before they disappear! Oh, and in case I haven’t been clear, you’ll need to put whatever you’d like to buy into an email to me. The store is very busted, which is a big reason why I’m shutting it down…


Gill, Joel Christian – Fights: One Boy’s Triumph Over Violence

January 13, 2021

Website

Fights: One Boy’s Triumph Over Violence

Hey, he put a huge spoiler right in the title! I kid, mostly because this book gets pretty grim at times and thought I should try to get something a little lighthearted into this review. If you’re triggered by bullying, physical and/or sexual abuse or just awful human beings, consider yourself warned. This is his story, and the man is graphically open about everything that happened to him growing up. Things start off with him driving his son home from school, when a realization hits him: he has never had to fight and might not even know how to defend himself. This brings him back to his own awful time growing up, and it starts off with that most implacable type of bully: somebody who just wants to hit you because they’re bigger than you. There’s no reasoning with them, and you can usually only put off the beating for so long. And he was SO young when all this started! From there we see more of his home life (and the way he depicts the sexual abuse, how inevitable it seemed to him at the time, is utterly heartbreaking), and then move on to his second set of bullies. Or his second notable set of bullies; they do seem to be a constant problem. Oh, and let’s not forget the racial slurs. This set of bullies is when he learned to start fighting back, but that was immediately derailed by the news of the death of his father. This naturally upends his life, and leads into a problem that he only really understood in hindsight: his own transformation into a bully. I don’t want to get into the rest of the book, because it’s an incredible story that you should really read for yourselves, but he does gradually realize the pit he’s fallen into with the bullying, and the journey back is far from easy. There’s sabotage along the way, but there are also friends, and he even falls in love. If this is coming across as cheesy, that’s purely due to my failures trying to describe it. It’s riveting, and it’s impossible not to root for him the whole time, even when it’s only hoping for him to come through. There are lots of blurbs from some amazing artists on this book, and for good reason. Check it out! $20


Update for 1/7/21

January 7, 2021

New review for The Sleep Gas/Dull Buzz by Chris Cilla. Or is it the other way around? The slow dismantling of my online store begins this weekend, so get your orders in relatively fast! Who knows, either I’ll get motivated and do this quickly or I’ll be saying the same thing this time next year…


Cilla, Chris – Dull Buzz/The Sleep Gas

January 7, 2021

Website

Dull Buzz/The Sleep Gas

You’ve heard about flip comics, but how about a whole flip graphic novel? Yeah, don’t panic, the only time you have to think about it is in the very middle. Where two stories combine and make the whole thing seem even more surreal than it already had at that point, which was quite a feat. This is a collection of comics that have mostly (but not entirely) been collected in other things, but it was also another case where you’d have a difficult to impossible time to get all of those books, so just enjoy the new stuff, alright? Chris’s comics are damned near indescribable in any kind of linear sense and you’d have to be a dummy to try. Oh hi, here I am, about to do that! Stories in here tend to wander off, or end with explosive vomiting, so I’ll just stick to some of my personal highlights, and you can quietly disagree from the comfort of your home/coffee shop/car at a stoplight. The wordless tale of the murderous toothpaste golem was terrifying and somehow bittersweet, the released killer who accidentally killed his own kid left me with a few questions (that I almost certainly wouldn’t want answered), the inventor of the sleep gas probably got what was coming to him, and the diner conversation that led to the overlapping story was surrealiest thing to ever surreal. Yes, I mean that in a good way. Other than that the madness is best discovered for yourself, without any preconceived notions to push you one way or the other. $20


Update for 1/5/21

January 5, 2021

New review today for My Life in Records #6 by Grant Thomas. How long until I screw up and put “2020” up there for one of these updates?


Thomas, Grant – My Life in Records #6

January 5, 2021

Website

My Life in Records #6

Warning: as of 1/3/21, I’m getting a “dangerous website” warning about Grant’s website. It worked before, so I’m hoping it’s only temporary and he’ll get it sorted out. Which is a shame, as this is probably his best issue of My Life in Records, but I might be biased because my own experiences reflect his journey into music quite a bit. I was maybe a few years ahead of him, and didn’t have the constant Christian radio station as my only other musical knowledge, but I also had the Theodore sampler CD and can still picture the cover in my head. Just checked the Googles to verify and yep, that’s the one! But enough about me, even though music and lyrics trigger memories, which means that Grant did his job here very well indeed. This one starts off with his gradual sampling of the local alternative station, eventually leading to it being the only thing he listened to. Public Enemy was his first foray into actual rap and was a transformative experience and, as you can probably guess from the cover, he also found his way to Nirvana. Seeing that music transform him was a joyful experience; even a flu going through his camp wasn’t enough to dull his enthusiasm. The book looks amazing (huzzah for full color), and although I’m biased because of my musical overlap, I’d guess it would be a fascinating journey for anybody who loves music. $7.50 (whenever he gets his website working again)


Update for 1/1/21

January 1, 2021

Hey, that terrible year somehow ended! New review today for Why Art? by Eleanor Davis, because I wanted to start off on a high note. I’m taking the weekend off, then after that I’ll start dismantling the online store bit by bit. So last chance for getting everything that’s still listed! After that it’ll all depend on your timing. And if anybody has any ideas on what I should do with any profits from comics made by people who have since passed away, please let me know. I’m leaning towards a lump donation to the CBLDF, because the idea of hunting down next of kin so I can give them $4 in proceeds, dredging up awful memories in the process, seems less than ideal…


Davis, Eleanor – Why Art?

January 1, 2021

Website

Why Art?

See, I had this idea in my head of what this book would be like. Eleanor would list various types of art, how it made different people feel, whether any variation had any more inherent value than another, etc. And it did start off that way, sort of! But at the end of the day she was, as always, far too clever and creative for me to guess what was coming. This is one of those cases where you’re better off knowing little or nothing before reading this, so if you’re familiar with some of her other work and are just here wondering if this one is good too, well, yes. It’s very good, in fact. So, safe in that knowledge, please wander off and buy a copy to see for yourself. If you’re somehow unfamiliar with her work or need a little more convincing, or maybe think that title is too pretentious to give a shot, you’re reading this all wrong. This does start off more or less how I guessed, with her showing a few different types of art, why people utilize them, how they make them feel, etc. That’s simplifying things in a big way, but still: my guess was in the ballpark. As it goes on we meet different artists and their different styles, and eventually see their plans for a show they’re putting on together. Disaster strikes, as a huge storm threatens to destroy the gallery and take the artists out with it, and from here I can’t say much of anything without giving it all away. I’ll just say that the ending completely blew me away, while still being one of those “in hindsight I should have seen this coming” endings. The thing about that type of ending: more often than not, it just means that artist knows exactly what they’re doing and had every aspect of the story so nailed down that there’s no other way things could have gone. I find myself tempted towards nostalgia more and more these days, so maybe I’ll dig up some of her older comics. Or maybe they’re things she prefers stay buried? Eh, I’ll think about it. Either way, this is Eleanor at the top of her game and everybody who has ever asked themselves that title question should give this a shot. $15


Update for 12/28/20

December 28, 2020

New review today for To Know You’re Alive by Dakota McFadzean! Just one more gentle reminder: after the first of the year I’m going to start contacting people who have books in my online store and sending their unsold comics back to them. I’d love to be able to tell them that they sold more books (and give them more money), because I’m going to feel like a real heel with a few people whose books never sold, so buy some comics now! It’s not their fault, the store has always been a disaster, but you know what I mean. Once we hit 2021 I’ll still be taking orders for a bit, but that store will steadily be getting smaller and smaller until it’s gone.


McFadzean, Dakota – To Know You’re Alive

December 28, 2020

Website

To Know You’re Alive

What an absolute roller coaster of a book, and I mean that in the best possible way. This is a collection of Dakota’s stories, a few of which I’ve reviewed here from other books (although I either got an important detail wrong in the Danny story or he changed it slightly for this book). So if you’ve read everything he’s ever done, I guess you might have already seen more than a few of these stories, but believe you me, seeing them all put together, contrasting them all against each other, is worth the price of admission. There are about a dozen stories here in all, and although I’ll try to hit some of the high points, please be aware that I won’t be able to do most of them justice in a review. Which is the way it often is, but you know, sometimes I feel like saying it anyway. His first story accurately captures the easy an uncomplicated magic of childhood, how flying and creating life are the easiest things in the world if you don’t actually try to do them. Then there’s the piece about Danny, which I reviewed before (but I’d swear he’s updated it for this book). He’s new in school, had to leave his previous school and finds it impossible to make friends. Mostly because he’s not trying and is, to all outside appearances, a terrible kid. It’s a testament to Dakota’s skills that it’s impossible not to feel sympathy for him when it’s all said and done. There’s the casual, almost unnoticed horror of Good Find, the escalating dares of The Truck, the terrifying coming to terms of Ghostie, the bragging time travelers of Posthumans, the switch from mundane to deeply unsettling in Debug Mode, and what it might actually be like to be the first person to discover an alien. But wait, there’s more! The two page spread of faux newspaper comic strips has so much goodness that I’m not even going to describe anything about it; once you get this book you’ll be glad to be unspoiled. And somehow, after all this joy, madness, terror and hope, he manages to finish up with a raw and and honest look at parenting his small child, the balancing act of trying to stay a good person while doing so and somehow finding a moment or two for his own life in the midst of it all. Well, A child, anyway. I have no idea if it’s meant to be autobiographical. This is a thoroughly impressive book, and I honestly can’t recommend it highly enough. $20


Update for 12/18/20

December 18, 2020

New review today for Coin-Op Carnival #1 by Ryan Claytor & Nick Baldridge, which is not to be missed if you have any interest in pinball machines, old or new.


Claytor, Ryan & Baldridge, Nick – Coin-Op Carnival #1

December 18, 2020

Website

Coin-Op Carnival #1

Quick, a show of hands: who remembers Ryan from the days of his mini comics with the fuzzy covers? You’d have to be a very long time reader to get that reference, but I was reviewing his comics a decade (longer?) ago, but he hasn’t had many comics out for awhile, what with life and all. So imagine my surprise when I got word about this one! OK, technically, it’s not a comic, more of an interview/review/historical… book? Zine with the highest production values I’ve ever seen? Eh, I’ve never been good with these labels. This is clearly a labor of love from Ryan and Nick, and it’s all about pinball games and old-timey coin-op games. You already know what that means if you’ve ever seen one; generally speaking they were games of skill with intricately designed exteriors. Yes, that’s vague, but try a Google image search and you’ll see what I’m talking about. This one starts off with Ryan and Nick talking about their plans for the book (in one of the two straight up comics), then quickly transitions into their interview with Wayne Neyens. Who’s that? Only a 99 year old man who’s still sharp as the proverbial tack, and one of the most prolific pinball inventors in the world. It’s a wide-ranging interview that covers a lot more than pinball; I’m glad they let the interview wander, because the man has had a fascinating life. From there they have some extensive reviews of Mystic Marvel and Space Pilot, two of those old-timey games I mentioned earlier. Also included is an explanation for the inner workings of these types of games, which was riveting to a dummy like me who has no idea about that kind of thing, and a review for a DVD tour of the Cliff House, which is an extensive museum of these artifacts. The place has an in-house blacksmith to replace broken parts! The only negative thing I have to say is that I wish they explained a few more of the terms, but generally speaking they did a good job with that, and this is clearly geared more towards a person who already has a working knowledge of this stuff and not a tourist like me. If that’s you, you will absolutely love this book, and they plan on putting another one out every two years. If you’re a casual fan like me, I was glued to the page all the way through, which is about as positive a review as I can give. Try it out, why don’t you! $15


Update for 12/16/20

December 16, 2020

New review today for Trolls: 1 Trip 2 Many by Michael Aushenker, which is the second comic this week to involve an ill-advised trip to space. Note: no space travel was involved in my next review.