April 24, 2010
Website
Non-Winner #3 Now Available! $1
What do you like better out of a mini, one big story or a bunch of tiny, relatively random ones? Well, if it’s the latter, you’re in luck! And if it’s the former, well, expand your horizons a bit! This one is all over the place, and there are no handy little titles to let you know when the story is changing, so pay attention! In here she talks about her main memory of a dead Uncle, getting laid at least in part because of a dream involving Dragonball Z, her immediate reaction to the divorce of her parents, supporting the troops at Lowe’s, and still having regrets for tattling in the sixth grade. Oh, and more insecurity about having all of her good stories come from when she was in grade school and how her best years are behind her. I liked this one too, although probably not as much as the other two, if that means anything to you. Still very much worth a look, contact info is up there, this is $1 and it’s also available in the online store…
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Posted by Kevin
April 24, 2010
Website
Non-Winner #2 Now Available! $1
Has everybody out there read Happy #2 by Josh Simmons? If not, you may be a bit lost on this one. In it, Josh has an extended rant about the state of autobiographical comics, from the quality of the art to the depth of the stories, to everything about them, really. I’d say check it out for yourself, even if you don’t agree with it there’s still the rest of an issue by Josh Simmons to enjoy. Anyway, this is mostly Kelli’s response to that rant, with all of her insecurities and fears about her own self-worth taking over. After that is a short story about the best response that I’ve ever heard to those annoying singing wall fish that were so popular a few years back. Great stuff again, although a much quicker read than the last one, not like that’s a big deal in any way. Contact info is up there, it’s $1, you can also find this in my online store…
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Posted by Kevin
April 24, 2010
Website
Non-Winner #1 Now Available! $1
Blurb! That’s one problem I have with the fact that the online store shows a sentence or two, as now I’m apparently supposed to keep that in mind when I’m rambling and try to sum it all up in a brief soundbite, and I’m completely unable to do that. Sorry. I could just say “I loved this comic!”, which I did, by the way, and then go down from there, but that would indicate order of some kind, and I’m completely against that. Anyway, review, oh yeah. This is a dense collection of tales from Kelli’s life. The first half is about a summer vacation she took with her husband, then you have facts about her personal art history and going to art school, losing the Xeric Grant, being ugly (her words), and still being ashamed today of somethiing she said more than 12 years ago. Look, all I really want out of a mini that only costs a buck is that is be entertaining, and this has that, plus it takes a while to read (she uses a lot of text), PLUS it has a cover made out of what looks like coffee holder materials. Great stuff all around and cheap too, I only hope that the other issues of this are as good as the first one. Like I said, it’s $1, contact info is up there, or you can head on over to the store, where you can also buy it. You do get that I’d be saying all these nice things even if it wasn’t in the store, right? OK, good…
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Posted by Kevin
April 24, 2010
Website
Three Questions About Daddy Now Available! $4
This is one of those times where a comic is a tactile experience, or at least the cover is. I really wish there was some way for you guys to feel and smell this cover. Scientists, get on it! The cover is made out of leather (or fake leather, I’m no expert) and this will remind plenty of people immediately of childhood and the wallet that your Dad always carried around. Kelli made this comic from the responses of 16 people to 3 questions: How would you describe your father, how would you describe your relationship with your father, and what’s your most outstanding memory of your father. Responses range from relatively flip to gut-wrenchingly honest, both positive and negative. I’ll be the first to admit to being prone to hyperbole with my reviews, but this is a fantastic comic about life, really, that’s not to be missed. Unless, of course, you’re one of those mythical people who has never had a single problem with your father and have no interest in people who have. This is $4 and is in my online store, or you could just click on the contact info up there and head to her website, where you could check that out and all kinds of other things.
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Posted by Kevin
April 24, 2010
Website
Tomato Now Available! $1
Well, as you should be able to tell from that scan, this is a dream comic and, as such, might not make much sense in any kind of linear fashion. I think it would have been funnier if she had left out the fact that it’s a dream comic and let people try to figure it out for themselves, but I’m sadistic that way. This is about a young girl who goes to join a school for girls. Whether she’s a teacher or a student isn’t exactly clear, but we do know that she’s younger than the other girls. Anyway, she hears some scandalous stuff at lunch, then is mistakenly thought to have made a racist comment, and I’m on the verge of telling you the entire comic here so I’ll just stop there. Dream comics are always interesting to me because it’s a little peek into the subconscious of the author, however unintentional. It’s a shortie, sure, but it’s a good little book. Contact info is up there, or you could just buy this in the store, if you were so inclined…
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Posted by Kevin
April 24, 2010
Website
When I Was Brave
This is half of a split book with Robyn Chapman, just so it’s clear. It’s the story of Kelli from her first year of Junior High School, back when she was 12. It’s short, sure, but it’s incredibly dense for being such a tiny thing. It’s basically all about an old teacher of hers, an elderly (and possibly drunk) old black man who had no control of his class and was walked all over consistently. Kelli decides to tell him the truth when the class has him convinced that a test is supposed to be open book, and the rest of the book is about the consequences of her doing the right thing. I liked it. Liked the blocky art and I liked the dilemna of doing the right thing when nobody wanted her to and it might end up getting her punished. This is tiny, sure, but it’s worth checking out. Go to the website or send her an e-mail, I think this was $2. Sorry about the crappy scan…
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Posted by Kevin
April 24, 2010
Website
The Horrifically Complete Non-Winner Now Available! $13
Here it is, the perfect book for anybody who has ever enjoyed a good journal comic. Well, almost anybody, as I guess if you hated Kelli’s work for some reason this wouldn’t be for you, but what’s not to like here? This is the complete (as that cover may suggest) collection of her Non-Winner strip, done from 2001 through 2005. I’d never seen plenty of these, as she did most of these online, and it’s taken me weeks to get through the whole thing, as I’ve been picking it up and reading bits of it at a time. If you’ve ever read a journal comic and thought “what the hell were they thinking with this one?” or “this week’s strip looks like a complete waste of time”, well, Kelli is kind/neurotic enough provide commentary for every single one of these, going into details about her fractured family life and other personal details. At times the quality of the strips aren’t the best, as these were taken from her computer and some of these were designed with color or odd little tricks, but it’s only noticable on a very few of these. Topics in here include pretty much everything in Kelli’s life for those 5 years: family, married life, video games, comic conventions, dealing with publishers, hating (then eventually loving) Joss Whedon, and just about everything else you could think of. As for the commentary, I thought it would get on my nerves, but it ended up being completely fascinating. She adds all sorts of tidbits to everything, taking full responsibility when the strips sucked (mostly the “throwaway” type strips that she had to do while under deadline for something else) and adding relevant information to everything, including the awkward fact that her family did read her strip although she really, really wished they wouldn’t. For anybody who has ever wondered exactly what goes into making a journal strip, this is the perfect book for you. Hell, even if you aren’t even a little bit curious, you can still just ignore the commentary and enoy the strips. It’s a thoroughly enjoyable book, and it’s a damned shame that she decided to (temporarily?) give these up. $13
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Posted by Kevin
April 24, 2010
Website
Rummblestrips #2
Before anybody gets offended by the cover for some reason, I should point out that Joanne looks an awful lot like the woman in the center, except she’s been dressed a little more conservatively when I’ve seen her at conventions. This issue is a lot like the first, with a whole lot of dialogue and backstory for what looks a lot like a possible epic. Crash, who is very much not a robot, is on the run from somebody, and Rummble is trying to make a living through her writing while keeping a job where her boss walks all over her. Throw in some wacky cats, the editor for a porn magazine and a moron in the street and you have another solid issue. Things have to start happening eventually in the story, granted, but I’ll stick with my earlier claim that she has an incredible ear for dialogue and that’ll carry her far. It doesn’t hurt that the art’s incredible too. Check out the website, and if you’re incredibly cheap you can just wait a couple of years until the collected edition comes out, as I get the impression that she’s not going to give up on comics any time soon…
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Posted by Kevin
April 24, 2010
Website
Rummblestrips #1
Looks like I picked a good book to read first from the Mid-Ohio Con pile. I don’t really know what this book is about yet. Almost everything is left a mystery, with this book basically introducing the two main characters (I’m guessing here) with no real word of who they are, what they’re doing and what’s going on. And you know what? I loved it! The vast majority of the book was spent inside Rummble’s apartment with her talking with the other, um, “person” on the cover, Crash. I don’t know if she was kidding or not but she mentions on the back cover that she’s going to be doing this for #100 issues or so, and I’m fascinated so far. The dialogue is witty and real, the art is great, and I’m more than willing to take the long, slow journey to see what’s going on here. Although, honestly, I’d be happy just reading the characters talking. I read almost the entire thing thinking that there wasn’t any real background story and I was still happy. Visit her website, check out what there is to see.
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Posted by Kevin
April 24, 2010
Website
Fade From Blue #7
The thrill seems to be gone for me. Maybe it’s just that I wasn’t in the mood to read this, but I read it twice to make sure, and it just didn’t do much for me. Nothing much of note happened this issue, and Christa, for whatever reason, is starting to get on my nerves. Love the little advice columns that “Christa” writes in the back of the books though, so figure that out. In this issue Christa bitches about her life, Iya decides that she misses life as a doormat, Marit trains for The Big Moment, and Elisa is just kind of there. I know I’m being too hard on this, but I haven’t read any other issues of this for months and one issue doesn’t seem to hold up well. This’ll probably look stupid when the trade comes out and I give it a glowing review, but I have to work with what’s here. It’s still only $1.50 though, and at that price I don’t mind a so-so issue or two. Contact info is in the heavens!
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Posted by Kevin
April 24, 2010
Website
Fade From Blue #6
Was that me complaining about this story not developing quickly enough. Boy, is my face red. What you have in this issue is a whole bunch of things happening at once, some of which are still barely explained at all. The only problem with this issue is that it had too MUCH story at once and it took away from some of the wonderful dialogue we’ve been treated to in the first 5 issues. Looks like there’s no way I’m going to be happy with this series, huh? No, it’s just another example of how wishy-washy I am. I try to find something remotely negative to say about these guys because I feel like I’m being overly nice about them, then find something so minor that it later turns out that I didn’t care about it at all. Welcome to the world of my reviewing logic! Anyway, this is going to be a hit in a few years (assuming there are still comics in a few years), so check it out now while all the back issues are still cover price. Contact info is up there, of course…
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Posted by Kevin
April 24, 2010
Website
Fade From Blue #5
Maybe it’s a bit self-indulgent to review the next issue so soon after I reviewed the rest of the series, but I finally found this and was dying to read it, so self-indulgence wins again! My complaint about the story developing slowly was reinforced in this issue, but I’m starting to think that that’s not a bad thing. The art is gorgeous, the writing just feels real and it’s a witty, funny book. As long as they keep putting out an issue every three months or so they could keep dragging the story along until issue #100 or so and I’d still be along for the ride. The issue deals with the continuing problems of basically all of the women. Iya is practically suicidal, Marit is fighting the legal system and Christa has, uh, STD issues to deal with. If and when a big book of this is published, buy it and be amazed. If it’s not, seek out the back issues, as they’re all in print and all cheap at $1.50. Contact info is above, seek them out!
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Posted by Kevin
April 24, 2010
Website
Fade From Blue #4
What a great series! Sorry, that probably ruins the suspense of whether or not I liked the book. It's the story of 4 half-sisters, joined together when their 4 mothers all die under mysterious circumstances. I wouldn't even know this if I didn't read the synopsis at the start of the book, as it hasn't been mentioned much at all in the series yet. That's my only complaint about the book, coincidentally enough. I'm all for letting a story build up momentum slowly, but I read the first four issues all at once and it seemed like there's still a LONG way to go until a lot of major things are addressed. Hey, as long as they keep a consistent schedule (and it's looking bi-monthly to me right now), I'll have the patience to trust in their master plan. And did I mention how cheap these are? How many comics do you see with a color cover for $1.50? I'm not sure where a good starting point is... you might be better off waiting for the first collection to come out, whenever that is, and then pick up the issues from there. But what you have here are four distinctly different, vibrant personalities all trying to do their own thing, and the book is enthralling because of it. Check out the website, it's well worth the effort to spend a few books and get caught up with what's going on here.
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Posted by Kevin
April 24, 2010
Website
Catching the Moon
Say whatever you want about the price of these minis, but you’d be hard pressed to find more gorgeous books than this guy puts out. This one is about two people on a date, talking about catching the moon. Did I mention that this is a wordless mini? Well, it is. Anyway, they go over how they could possibly catch it, and have a whimsical imaginary journey before they realize… well, that would be telling. This is full color all the way though and is listed as $5 on his website, but it could be that I have an older copy of this, as he’s said that he redid it. Like my review for his other book, these are expensive books, but it’s obvious that a lot of love went into both of these.
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Posted by Kevin
April 24, 2010
Website
Why I Like Bugs
In a perfect world this would be passed out to grade schoolers. It’s a great, cute little book about bugs, just like it says, with a beautiful painted cover. The painted cover is, paradoxically, about the only reason not to get this book because it raises the price to $5 and it takes about a minute to read it. Still, like I said, it’s cute and quickly informative. Check out his website for ordering info and so you can read several comics that he has online. What, I have to have a long review for every comic?
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Posted by Kevin
April 24, 2010
Website
Froggy’s Problem Now Available! $.75
Depression with work and life and general seems to be the unofficial theme of the week here, or at least it is as of Tuesday. This is the story of Froggy, a depressed creature who doesn’t understand why he’s sad. He has a great life, a job he loves, and he even gets to dance, as he is a jaunty frog. So why so sad? This tiny mini mostly deals with the basics of Froggy’s day to day life, and ends up (spoiler alert!) leaving the question of his depression up the reader. I think it’s fairly obvious but, as I probably do a lot, it’s probably just projection. I should also point out that my scanner tends to make green things a little too yellow, as this one looks green to me, but not so much on the computer. Anyway, this is a solid mini, and cheap enough that it’s impossible to find anything to bitch about. $.75
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Posted by Kevin
April 24, 2010
Website
True Fiction #6 Now Available! $3
Comic strips! That idea can either terrify me or elate me, depending on who’s involved with it. Some of them are formulaic wastes of time (like everything in the paper except Boondocks, at least around here), and some of them at least try to expand the artform, challenging the readers here and there. Luckily this falls into the latter category. And the thing about strips like this is that sometimes the artist will try too hard, leaving a jumbled strip or two as a result, but as long as they keep pushing the boundaries and trying to come up with new things, it’s worth the trip for me. This is a book of strips of varying shapes and sizes, and I came out of it generally liking the whole thing. Individual strips might not have done it for me (like the silly Green Arrow strip), but overall this is worth a look. Topics include Hector on the Farm (which has more silly genital jokes on one page than I had previously thought possible, when I thought of it at all), backwards aliens, sneezing, dreaming, nudity, a butt on the loose, a devil dog, heaven and hell, an ethnically diverse buffet, quadriplegics, dumb food jokes, and the future. $3
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Posted by Kevin
April 24, 2010
Website
True Fiction #5 Now Available! $3
This was part of a neat idea for a 24 hour comic: 11 people got together in a comic store, sat down and started at the same time to finish 24 hour comics. Two of the people didn’t finish, everybody else came out of it with a comic. Tom’s was the story of a model for an art class, trying to remember poems that she needed to know for her poetry final the next day. Most of the book is just poems and her body floating around or going over the things that she’s thinking about, with brief bits of reality thrown in. It’s a bit too self-referential for my tastes, because if you know that he’s doing a 24 hour book he does all kinds of little inside jokes about it, but it’s not a bad little story overall. And he mentions in the afterward that the art gets stronger as he goes because he felt really rushed at the beginning, and it’s obvious in the final product. Not the best of his books and not the best of the 24 hour books that I’ve seen, but it’s far from awful and has a naked woman wandering around for most of the issue, so I suppose you could do a lot worse. $3, contact info is up there…
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Posted by Kevin
April 24, 2010
Website
True Fiction #3 Now Available! $1.50
Now this is what a tiny mini comic should be. You can quibble over the content, sure, but what you have here is a comic that’s full of a wide variety of stories that’s heavy on text, which, for me at least, is usually a sign of more bang for your buck. In here you have the life of a tiny mouse, a fable about a trusting cow, a trip to the moon, shape shifting around a naked woman, neglect beyond the grave, misery and dogshit. Yeah, that mostly sums it up. Tom was kind enough to send me a bunch of comics, so there will be a lot more of his books up here in the coming weeks, and so far that looks like a really good thing to me. Here’s an e-mail address just in case the one up there isn’t working, and at $1.50 this is well worth a look.
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Posted by Kevin
April 24, 2010
Website
True Fiction #2 Now Available! $1.50
With something this short you have time for a visceral reaction and that’s pretty much it, and I liked this one a lot. It’s the tale of a princess who’s shipwrecked on an island with a man who she completely ignores. Funny stuff, if a bit pricey at $2 (hey, it’s tiny), and definitely worth checking out. I just found the Squid Works website, and there are all kinds of comics there. Looks like Tom has done all kinds of comics, so I should be able to tell you a lot more about the guy if I ever get any money that doesn’t go right to rent or food again any time soon. I didn’t see this on the Squid Works page, but e-mail the guy and the see if he has any laying around.
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Posted by Kevin
