April 26, 2010
Website
Pale Fire
Hey look, I finally got around to getting the collected version of this story. Scrollers should note that I had the first issue years ago and, thanks to Poopsheet, eventually got around to getting the collected edition. And it’s, well, a great story. This is about a young woman named Alison who’s getting together at a party with a young man who has a reputation as a firebug and a bit of a crazy person (Darren). Alison, of course, can see none of this, although she seems level-headed about everything else. More details can be found in my review of the first issue, I’ll just pick up when they finally do get to the party. Neither of them likes parties so they end up outside, where another boy from the party confronts the firebug and starts a typical drunken fight (typical because no punches are thrown). They leave the party because Darren has something to show her, and any more information than that would be telling. Alison’s slow realization of just who she’s dealing with is a revelation, and M.K. manages to pull it off while keeping everybody in the story fully human. No cartoon villains, no ditzy girls falling for the dangerous guy, no shortcuts at all. She earns that ending, and at the end of the day it’s just a great comic. I don’t see this available at her website, but there’s that Poopsheet place I mentioned before, and she does have other things there if you’re curious. No price, but it’s hefty… $8?
Comments Off on Reed, M.K. – Pale Fire | 
Reviews | Tagged: M.K. Reed, Pale Fire | 
Permalink
Posted by Kevin
April 26, 2010
Website
Pubo #2
Looks like I’ll be getting these every year or so, just in time to forget what I read in the previous issue. Luckily my old review is right up there. This one picks up where #1 left off, with Pubo on the run from his captors and an angry bear. All the animals in the forest are betting on his death, and it’s a good setup for the last issue, which will probably answer a few questions. This one shows a bit more of his captors and a tiny bit more of the mysterious man in the forest. Looks like everybody is out to get Pubo, so of course there’s more there than it seems. Yes, I should have gotten the last issue so I could have had a more informed review of this one, but I’m not made of money. It’s an interesting story, and my fear of him “just spouting catch phrases” was pretty far off the mark. Don’t know if Dark Horse is ever going to put this all out in one volume, but I think they’re all still available at Leland’s website. $3.50 seems a bit steep, but what are you going to do?
Comments Off on Purvis, Leland – Pubo #2 | Reviews | Tagged: Leland Purvis, Pubo | Permalink
Posted by Kevin
April 26, 2010
Website
Pubo #1
Here’s another one of those random buys of mine. I don’t get much from Dark Horse since Sin City stopped coming out and Paul Chadwick stopped doing anything of note with Concrete, so I usually only take a cursory glance through their page for pre-orders. I saw this sitting there and it looked interesting, and that’s more than enough chit-chat out of me about meaningless crap. I swear, maybe I should hire an editor or something… Anyway, Pubo. The first issue is apparently going to set up a larger story, as we are only given a few tidbits about the creature. We’re not even sure that he’s human yet, although he seems to be an altered man. The story starts with some people transporting Pubo back from Tokyo to the U.S. You can see on the cover that he escapes, so I’m not giving anything away. From there it gets even stranger, with Pubo talking to all kinds of forest creatures and a strange man who offers to help, but only in the cryptic, useless way that smart people always seem to offer in stories. It’s a good little story, although Pubo seems like the type to possibly degenerate into a character that does nothing but shout catch phrases, so here’s hoping it’s not headed that way. Worth a look, although you might be better off waiting for the whole thing to come out so you can read it all at once. Here’s his website, find out more about the guy, won’t you?
Comments Off on Purvis, Leland – Pubo #1 | Reviews | Tagged: Leland Purvis, Pubo | Permalink
Posted by Kevin
April 26, 2010
Website
Duppy
Hooray for a bunch of little stories instead of just one big story? Don’t get me wrong, I liked the last issue just fine, but the way I usually tell if I’m going to like somebody in the long term is if I can see a variety of their stories and make sure it’s not just because I’m hopelessly biased towards zombie stories. Well, in this particular case, anyway. In here you have a giant robot who only wants to please, a young woman trying to take the garbage out and being harassed by all kinds of woodland creatures (including Zombre), a crying hippie, a lonely Sasquatch befriending Zombre, a case of mistaken identity, a story about Rudeboys (so THAT’S what the song “Simmer Down” is all about), something about fending off a Duppy of your own and some nasty zombie vomit. Yep, it turns out that I like all his stuff. Most of the stories with the zombie were wordless so the book kind of flew by, but there’s something in each of these stories to recommend the book, and that’s just about all you can ask for. Contact info is up there, this one is $3 (or $4 with shipping).
Comments Off on Purins, Ansis – Duppy | Reviews | Tagged: Ansis Purins, Duppy | Permalink
Posted by Kevin
April 26, 2010
Website
Zombre Vs. Slappy: Megathunder Showdown
Well, it’s always good to have a great title to get things rolling, and that certainly fits the bill. I also couldn’t tell you which character was Zombre and which was Slappy, as this is mostly a wordless story, but I have a sneaking suspicion that the skinless, bloody mess is Slappy, just because of his general sense of whimsy. Hey, I have a 50/50 chance of getting it right. Zombre seems like a somber sort of guy, just wandering around and not wanting to hurt anybody, while Slappy wants to cause as much mayhem as possible. They quickly become friends, as they don’t really have anybody else who would want to be friends with them, but their differences quickly become apparent and the inevitable battle ensues. It’s a remarkably short battle, considering the title and all. I loved just about every bit of this, frankly, although I do have a soft spot for zombies. My only minor aesthetic problem is that the pages are a bit too dark a shade of gray, but that’s what they call a “minor quibble”. It’s $2 ($3 with shipping), send the man an e-mail why don’t you?
Comments Off on Purins, Ansis – Zombre Vs. Slappy: Megathunder Showdown | Reviews | Tagged: Ansis Purins, Megathunder Showdown, Zombre Vs. Slappy | Permalink
Posted by Kevin
April 26, 2010
Website (music-related)
Sof’ Boy and Friends #3
Holy crap! A new Sof’ Boy comic! If these individual artist pages could have dust on them, this one would be covered. Scroll up to see my general thoughts about Archer if you’re interested, but I’ll just go ahead and spoil it by saying that he’s one of my favorites, and I had honestly given up hope on his ever putting out another book. It’s been, what 5 years since the last issue? Longer? I just thought he went over completely to making music, so it’s great to see how wrong I was. This one is about Sof’ Boy, a cat, a dog and a big pile of money. The story has never been the important thing about these books, frankly, it’s more about the sheer grotesqueness of the people and the environment combined with the shining, overwhelming purity of Sof’ Boy. Great stuff, as always, and I hope this means that he’s going to be doing more comics now. How about a graphic novel? Click on the title for the website, $4.95.
Comments Off on Prewitt, Archer – Sof’ Boy and Friends #3 | Reviews | Tagged: Archer Prewitt, Sof' Boy and Friends | Permalink
Posted by Kevin
April 26, 2010
Website
Please Release
Top Shelf needs to put out crappier comics. It’s no fun when I can’t do anything but praise their books. There, you’ve just read the biggest complaint I have about this book, such as it is. This is a collection of 4 stories by Nate, and I can’t think of the last time 4 stories in a comic connected with me emotionally as much as these did. First up is The Phantom Form, which deals with constantly moving from place to
place, saying goodbyes and trying to remember the value of constantly being on the move rather than settling down. Next up is The Old Haunts, where Nate deals with coming down after seeing a horror movie while also being completely alone and unable to sleep. It’s a bit more introspective than all that, going into little things like how the height from the bed to the floor stays mostly the same from when you were a kid, but you get the idea. Work At It is the story that hit me the hardest, as it’s essentially a day in his life as an assistant to developmentally disabled adults, something I did in some form or another
for years. Nate goes over the extreme highs and lows of the jobs beautifully, as well as dealing with the perception that he’s not doing much real good when looking at the big picture but still feeling essential in their day to day life. Or maybe I’m projecting a bit.
Finally there’s Seriously, where Nate tries to reconcile the meaning of still being a punk at 27 with the option of just being another generic has-been. When is it time to give up on that lifestyle and “grow up”?
He had already mostly stopped going to concerts, but what about the rest of it? It also goes into Nate teaching a bunch of young kids (8-14ish) about comics and marveling at their constant, effortless creativity. This comic is brilliant, plain and simple. It’s one of those rare reads that sticks in your head, forcing you to pick over choices made in your own life and where things are headed. Buy it already. $5
Comments Off on Powell, Nate – Please Release | Reviews | Tagged: Nate Powell, Please Release | Permalink
Posted by Kevin
April 26, 2010
Website
It Disappears
You ever have one of those books where you really don’t have that much to say about it? Well, probably not, unless you’re a reviewer too, but there are certain things that should stand on their own. Of course, you could also say, correctly, that all comics should stand on their own. Mostly I’m just stalling to avoid showing my lack of insight into this. It’s a book about trying to reconcile past experiences with present reality, and trying to make that work with the potential for the future and the ability for action of inaction. Make sense? Well, if it doesn’t, you should probably read this, as he’s able to say it all a lot better than I can. It’s a constant question, as what the hell are we all here for anyway, and anything that adds to that discussion in a meaningful way is indispensable to me. I hadn’t seen anything since the comic up there from Nate, and that was a couple of years ago, and it’s gratifying to see that he took all that potential and has put together one singular reading experience. It’s $7.95, click on the title if you want to learn more about it, and read it, why don’t you?
Comments Off on Powell, Nate – It Disappears | Reviews | Tagged: It Disappears, Nate Powell | Permalink
Posted by Kevin
April 26, 2010
Website
Tales From the Flat #6
And to think I was getting worried about this series turning into one big slugfest. This issue puts things right back onto the solid ground of the first three issues: building up the characters and introducing a new one, Oliver’s brother Toby. There is a brief bit of trouble, as Toby has built up some debt to some shady characters, but the bulk of the issue involves the crew sitting around a bar, with Fred dealing with an obvious crush on Vicky and Toby telling the story of what’s been happening to him lately. 26 pages of this and no, it doesn’t get old. There’s a bit of a conflict at the end (because the world needs cliffhangers), but in all it’s a remarkably calm issue after #4 and 5. I think they’ve hit on a winning formula here, worrying about the characters most of the time and then blowing the shit out of everything every few issues. Of course, the only way I can be sure that they have the hang of this is to do at least another half dozen issues of this series. Hey, I’d pay to see it, and the quotes on the back are getting more and more hoity-toity (at least in comics world) all the time, so the right folks are obviously impressed. Worth a look, and this ties things back together that the whole series is definitely worth supporting.
Comments Off on Powell, Laurence & Lambden, Oliver – Tales From the Flat #6 | Reviews | Tagged: Laurence Powell, Oliver Lambden, Tales From the Flat | Permalink
Posted by Kevin
April 26, 2010
Website
Tales From the Flat #5
Hey, didn’t we just have a huge fight scene� Oh well, everybody who read the first few issues knew that something was coming with that giant robot. And one quick complaint before I start: guys, if a character, like say the female character, isn’t in the issue at all, don’t put her on the cover. A minor thing, I guess, but it always bugged me back in the day when Marvel or DC pulled that crap. Anyway, this is another solid issue, although there seems to be some danger of this falling away from the solid character work that they built up to start the series and have things instead devolve into a series of fights. That’s the pessimist’s view, anyway. The optimist in me says that these fights were both handled extremely well and had to be coming after the buildup, so why not blast away at the first opportunity� The neighbor, James, is annoyed when he hears a party happening to which he wasn’t invited. As his way of crashing it he decides to literally crash his giant robot through the wall, resulting in one serious fight scene and one hefty explosion. The pinups from various artists in the back is a nice touch as well, it seems they’re doing a good job of building up a little fan community. I suppose the next issue or so will say a lot about where the series is headed, but for now it’s still smartly written and drawn, not to mention a total blast, so what’s to complain about?
Comments Off on Powell, Laurence & Lambden, Oliver – Tales From the Flat #5 | Reviews | Tagged: Laurence Powell, Oliver Lambden, Tales From the Flat | Permalink
Posted by Kevin
April 26, 2010
Website
Life’s A Cakewalk Comics #2
It’s been a sketchbook-o-rama for the last couple of weeks here, and this one continues that trend. This is taken from more or less daily drawings from 3/1/05 to 4/2/05, with a couple of extra (and hilarious) pages thrown in at the end. Hilarious to me mostly because I can relate to having a cat that tears everything up and is still too crazy to relax comfortably. It’s typical sketchbook stuff, which is a good thing in my book, and the page I sampled about why she does comics and the long list of whiny bitches who have done comics over the years is a wonderful, wondeful thing. Introspection is a requirement for these things, she gets that fact and is still able to pull off an entertaining comic without coming across as too self-obsessed. It doesn’t hurt anything that she actually has interesting things to say, ranging from strips about childhood memories, copying the comic, neutering her cat, sitting in urine on the bus, rock shows, working, the actual logistics of being a woman (and the fact that parts of their appearance are inevitably based on lies), and crappy landlords, among other things.? It sounds like she’s not going to keep up the sketchbook stuff, opting instead to focus more on “regular” comics, which I’d love to see. I liked her piece in the Marvel parody book done by Ed Piskor quite a bit, anyway. Oh yeah, and it’s a hefty read for only $1.50.
Comments Off on Poullet, Paulette – Life’s a Cakewalk Comics #2 | Reviews | Tagged: Life's A Cakewalk, Paulette Poullet | Permalink
Posted by Kevin
April 26, 2010
Website
Life’s A Cakewalk Comics #1
Note to anyone who cares about these sorts of things: I reviewed #2 of this series many months ago and am just now getting to #1. So this is more or less a look back at Paulette working out the kinks in her sketchbook style, as I loved #2 and am only so-so on this one. Mostly because it looks like crap in more than a few places, one of the dangers of doing a daily strip, but something she seemed to have under control for the second issue. In this one she deals with sickness, annoying people on the bus, famous people she looks like, her soon-to-be neutered cat, Don Simpson (as he taught a class she was taking, and shame on you if you don’t know who Don Simpson is), an awful Cure video, dancing for the hell of it, and a page of mostly unfortunate attempts to draw Simpsons characters. Plenty of other stuff too, as this is a pretty hefty issue for $1.50, but there’s no sense in spoiling all the surprises. A decent effort, although the second one is better, there’s still more than enough funny in here to make it worth the cheap cover price.
Comments Off on Poullet, Paulette – Life’s a Cakewalk Comics #1 | Reviews | Tagged: Life's A Cakewalk, Paulette Poullet | Permalink
Posted by Kevin
April 26, 2010
Website
King Cat #69 Now Available! $3
This has to be the cheeriest King Cat I’ve seen in ages. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t mean that as an insult, but it’s hard not to feel like you know John a little bit from reading his comics (probably stupid to think that, but it’s still hard not to) and it seemed like a lot of things were going poorly for him. A return to cheeriness means, to my addled brain, that maybe he’s doing better in his real life, and that’s always good news. Stories in this issue deal with John telling an origin story of sorts of his taste in music, John and his wife getting two new cats (and many shorter pieces detailing their adventures, John’s trademark (is it trademarked yet? The man should look into it) ability to see the beauty in the quiet moments, and the piece that made me laugh out loud, Comb-Over. As always with this man, checking out his latest work shouldn’t take prodding, it should be a requirement for any thinking person who likes these funny books.
Comments Off on Porcellino, John – King Cat #69 | Reviews | Tagged: John Porcellino, King Cat | Permalink
Posted by Kevin
April 26, 2010
Website
King Cat #68 Now Available! $3
First off, my condolences to John after the death of his cat (which anybody who has read this book at all has seen countless times over the years), Maisie Kukoc. Speaking as somebody who has a cat on his lap at the moment, it’s hard to overstate just how awful it is to have a loved pet die, especially one as obviously thoroughly loved as Maisie was. The comic itself is all about being in a time of transition, as John moves back to Denver with his wife and cat. There are random observances from the road, stories of Diogenes, bits about the importance of an anthill and a quiet moment with his cat, along with the usual “top 40” and other text pieces. The possible highlight of the book (in a series where it’s almost impossible to pick out highlights) was the showdown between two squirrels on a power wire, something I won’t spoil for everybody who is obviously going to go out and pick this up and the first available opportunity anyway. And again, sorry about your loss, John. I’d like to tell you that things will get better, and they will, gradually, but with this coming on the heels of a general sense of giving up on this insane world, well… $3
Comments Off on Porcellino, John – King Cat #68 | Reviews | Tagged: John Porcellino, King Cat | Permalink
Posted by Kevin
April 26, 2010
Website
King Cat #67 Now Available! $3
How on earth did I miss a King Cat? For those of you who read these reviews sequentially (i.e. every person who clicks on John’s name, I imagine), I somehow didn’t read this one, even though it was actually sitting in a box, in my room with all the other comics available for sale, for a couple of years.  Seeing as how I almost certainly wouldn’t have this website and/or still be reading comics if it wasn’t for John, that’s baffling. But enough about me, how about the comic? Go ahead and scroll around the page if you want, there will probably be no shock here: I loved it. It’s odd reading these things out of order, as by #69 John seems to be in a much happier place, but things were much different in the dark days of #67. A few of the stories are just John lying in bed, obviously unable to sleep, worrying about various aspects of his life or life in general. He’s also clearly in some pain from what appears to be stomach surgery of some kind, but is unwilling to really complain about it. Ah, that good old “heartland” stoicism. Stories in here include sleeping in the car in L.A. with his cat (after the hotel wouldn’t allow pets), getting advice from teaboxes, Maisie’s eyes, a tale of courting his wife from back in the old days, and, as he couldn’t leave it on such a depressing note, the story of a walk that left him with a strong sense of hope. There’s also a fantastic text piece about Square-Head John, and you can guess what stories would come from such a name but I’m not going to spoil a thing. Highly recommended, as always, and only crazy people aren’t already reading this book religiously. Are you a crazy person? $3
Comments Off on Porcellino, John – King Cat #67 | Reviews | Tagged: John Porcellino, King Cat | Permalink
Posted by Kevin
April 26, 2010
Website
King Cat #66 Now Available! $3
The machine that is King Cat just keeps rolling along, as this one deals mostly with John’s time in Elgin a few years back. John spends a quiet afternoon raking the yard (or a quiet few minutes raking the yard, after that all the neighborhood kids come over to help out), then follows that up with a game of touch football, minus the Hollywood ending. The other big story in here is a mostly silent piece with John taking a long drive out to a mound of gravel, with the trademark King Cat appreciation of all the silent moments in life. Other than that, this seemed like an unusually quick read, and I figured out why that is: no top 40 list. It just feels wrong. There’s a heartbreaking letter about a neighborhood friend getting sick, but other than that it’s a remarkably quick read. It’s still King Cat so you’ll still love it though, so don’t fret too much… $3
Comments Off on Porcellino, John – King Cat #66 | Reviews | Tagged: John Porcellino, King Cat | Permalink
Posted by Kevin
April 26, 2010
Website
King Cat #65 Now Available! $3
Having a crappy day/week/life? Pick up an issue of this and just try and stay depressed. Not that it’s ever a collection of “rah rah” type life affirmation, but it’s impossible to stay sad with John’s quiet stories about wandering and searching for something in this world. This issue is a collection of places. Elgin (where John still feels at home), a band trip years ago to Iowa, DeKalb in the early 90’s, a trip to a state park in Kansas, and country roads in Denver. Also included, of course, is his “Top 40” list (it’s been a while since I’ve seen it actually at 40) and his text pieces, if possible, are even more beautiful than his drawn stories. Hey, if you read any other part of this page it shouldn’t come as a shock that I love his stuff. This is just another exceptionally great issue from the series that makes it impossible for me to give up hope in the potential of this medium. Not that I’m trying to put any pressure on the guy or anything…
Comments Off on Porcellino, John – King Cat #65 | Reviews | Tagged: John Porcellino, King Cat | Permalink
Posted by Kevin
April 26, 2010
Website
King Cat #64 Now Available! $3
This issue came out soon after John’s Dad died, so this is filled with memories of his father and comics about the days immediately after he died. Naturally, it’s somber as can be and it makes you realize that if you have any relatives at all that you like you should probably give them a call every now and then. John was incredibly close to his father and this whole thing reads like his heart has been crushed, which I guess it has. It’s not possible to do much of a review on something like this, so all I can say is that it’s still King Cat, and if you love the other issues you’ll love this one too, but it’ll also break your heart to read it. $3
Comments Off on Porcellino, John – King Cat #64 | Reviews | Tagged: John Porcellino, King Cat | Permalink
Posted by Kevin
April 26, 2010
Website
King Cat #63
I’m still not sure how I manage to miss new issues when they come out, but at least that way I have more than one to read when I finally do hear about them, right? I can’t tell if this is my favorite issue in years or if it’s just the fact that I haven’t read a new one in years, but I loved this. Stories in here are about his history of alcohol, haircuts, a freakish fly, another “top 40” list and plenty of his one or two page “zen poetry” style comics. If you’ve read them you know what I mean. Fantastic, damned near flawless, not like you’re going to get anything close to an objective review out of me on a King Cat, but that’s my opinion. $2.50
Comments Off on Porcellino, John – King Cat #63 | Reviews | Tagged: John Porcellino, King Cat | Permalink
Posted by Kevin
April 26, 2010
Website
King Cat #61
This comic sucks! Nah, not really, I just realized that there’s very little chance for there ever being a negative review on this page, so I thought I’d start off mean. King Cat #61 is brilliant, as always.It’s kind of like the Dan Clowes Eightball effect, where you get so used to reading really incredible books every time one comes out that you start to take it for granted. It’s good to see that John has found love and has his personal life in order. His comics, if possible, might get even more peaceful. This also comes with a collection of sketchbook drawings of his cat Maisie Kukoc, and anybody who is even remotely interested in cats is going to find this adorable. I honestly don’t know how anybody could come out of reading one of his comics in a bad mood. It would just take so much effort to stay grumpy that most people wouldn’t even bother. The actual comic has the usual assortment of walks, observances and anecdotes. My favorite part was the bit where he went shopping for a CD with his Mom, but it’s my policy to not give anything away from a King Cat issue. Either you know it and love it or you just somehow haven’t heard of it yet, meaning you have such an incredible discovery ahead of you that I don’t want to spoil even the tiniest thing. I’m mostly posting this review at all to let people know that there’s a new issue out, in case they missed it…
Comments Off on Porcellino, John – King Cat #61 | Reviews | Tagged: John Porcellino, King Cat | Permalink
Posted by Kevin
