April 24, 2010
Website
The Love Song of Kermit the Frog
Just so it’s clear: that cover folds out so that it’s a full page thing with the entire title on it. I scanned it that way because, well, that’s what it looks like when you open it up, and I didn’t want to give the impression that this was magazine-sized. That useless aside being said, this is definitely one of those comics where you know from the cover whether or not it’s something you’d enjoy. Either you’re one of those people for whom the Muppet’s have been an endless source of amusement and inspiration over the years (or at least until Disney got their soulless mitts on them) or you’re a sad, sad human being who can get no enjoyment out of anything. Yes, in this case it really is that simple. These are all Muppet’s comics, starting with a brief history of the life and death of Jim Henson, with all of the breakthroughs in between. There are the origins of various inspirations, some hard moments in Jim’s life, the start of Sesame Street and his various other film and tv projects (anybody else remember the old tv show The Storyteller? I sure don’t). I could have done with a few dozen more pages, but then this would hardly be a mini comic, and I can see the tough choices Ed had to make to cut the life of this remarkable man down. Short pieces make up the rest of the book: a young girl describing Kermit as her first crush, the early years of Dr. Bunson Honeydew, and an extended poem to Kermit before he wrote Being Green, which is something I could have done without, but I have no soul and don’t think much of most poetry. Like I said, this is either for you or it isn’t, but if this is something you’d be interested in I can almost guarantee you that you’ll learn something new about the life of Jim Henson. And, if you’re like me and want more, Ed was nice enough to recommend a few books on the subject. $2
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Posted by Kevin
April 24, 2010
Website
Ghost Comics (edited by Ed Choy Moorman)
Sometimes I make these reviews overly complicated, and I probably will with this one too, so I wanted to sum it up simply: this is a collection of different takes on ghost stories from some of the best small press cartoonists around. Ta-da! What more do you need to know? There are all kinds of highlights to choose from, and somehow there’s not a stinker in the bunch. That’s a rare thing with anthologies, but Ed has put together quite a cast here. Things start off strong with Hob’s tale of a dinosaur ghost witnessing everything that follows its death and the eventual destruction of the earth. From there Jeffrey Brown talks about making a fool of himself to a member of a band he likes, Corinne Mucha implies that the “ghosts” in her dorm were really just an excuse to get people to sleep together for protection, Maris Wicks goes into detail about the creepy and non-creepy aspects of living with a ghost as a kid, Madleine Queripel relates the reality of trying to scatter ashes, Toby Jones (professional boyfriend) goes into how useless he is when confronted with death, Lucy Knisley visits an old school she attended briefly and is shocked by the sheer number of ghosts still around, Allison Cole finds a practical way to rid herself of ghosts, Evan Palmer tells the tale of a knight misguidedly trying to win love, and Jessica McLeod warns of the dangers of ghost tomatoes. Then there’s my favorite (among many “favorite”) story: Kevin Cannon’s tale of all the major landmarks of the world joining together into a Voltron-like creation to fight evil, how one member of that band is destroyed and, as a ghost, sees a plot to destroy the world. Any more detail than that would ruin it, but trust me, it’s a purely awesome thing. If that still hasn’t convinced you, here’s everybody else involved: Ed Choy Moorman (duh), Aidan Koch, Mike Lowery, Sean Lynch, Sarah Morean, Jillian Schroeder, Zak Sally, Abby Mullen, Eileen Shaughnessy, Tuesday Bassen, Sarah Louise Wahrhaftig, Jenny Tondera, John Hankiewicz, Will Dinski, Mark Scott, Monica Anderson, Warren Craghead III and John Porcellino. Topping off that pile of talent is the fact that this is a benefit anthology, with proceeds going to the RS Eden, which started off as a chemical dependency center and evolved into helping community members at need in all sorts of areas. So it’s for a good cause, it’s packed with talent and it’s only $10. Sounds like a no-brainer to me. $10
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Posted by Kevin
April 24, 2010
Alan Moore fansite
Supreme: The Return
You wouldn’t believe how long I’ve been trying to get my hands on this story. I heard about it after it came out, as I paid no attention to Rob Liefeld’s comics at all, and by then it was out of print and uncollected. Sometimes I swear that these Checker people are reading my mind with the collections they’re putting out. This is the second collection of what I’m guessing to be at least three. I haven’t seen the first one, apparently it sold out quickly but they’re putting out another printing. Surprisingly, it really didn’t affect my understanding of the story. Sure, it might have helped here or there if I knew exactly what led up to certain things, but the main strength of this series was its vast history. As this character is at most ten years old, that probably needs a bit of explanation. This character is Alan’s take on Superman, pure and simple. I thought that was the point of Tom Strong and maybe it was; I still haven’t read it. There is a world for Supreme that houses the Revisions, which are all the failed versions of Supreme that were discontinued after a few months or a few years, going back decades. Read some of the OLD collections of Batman or Superman if you’re not aware of how many revisions they’ve had over the years. It’s a perfect story device for this because there’s an automatic history for the series, no matter what point you start reading it. Rick Veitch does some flawless work when flashbacks are needed for the sake of reminding readers of “old” characters, and he does a perfect tribute to Jack Kirby as well. Sure, at times it seems like a silly superhero comic, if you’re not reading between the lines, but that’s kind of the point. The actual story here (Supreme fighting villains who’ve escaped his prison, Radar (the Supreme dog) having thousands of puppies, Supreme revealing his secret identity) is good, but it’s secondary to the dissection of Superman that is on display and the incredible ability Moore has to make the silliest things believable and interesting. This is an amazing chunk of work for fans of Moore or just for fans of the medium in general. He’ll be known as the best comics writer ever when he’s gone (I know that he already is, but people don’t truly appreciate the greats while they’re still producing), and this, surprisingly for me at least, is some of his best work. It’s $24.95 but it’s huge, in case you were wondering…
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Posted by Kevin
April 24, 2010
Alan Moore fansite
Top 10 Book Two
This is the last of the books I was able to buy with my “I still have a steady job, why not get this book?” money, and I don’t think I could have picked a better one. I didn’t follow this book as it was coming out, but there’s no way that it could have come out on a monthly basis. Every panel is packed with in-jokes and references to other comics and characters, from “Vacation on Infinite Earths” to a Hawkwoman feeding little baby hawks in a nest to Kang the Caterer. It’s been said before in other reviews, but this is pretty much Hill Street Blues with superheroes. There might have been three fight scenes in this whole book. It’s all about the characters and the human side of all these fantastic figures. After all, super powers kind of stops being a conversation topic when everybody in town has some. And always, always check out the backgrounds of these panels. There’s always superheroes flying around and doing something, more often than not you’ll probably recognize them. That brings me to my only problem with the book. If you haven’t grown up on comics, you’re going to miss a lot of stuff in here. I think the average person would still get a lot out of it, but this is for the comic book fans, plain and simple. It’s $14.95 and you don’t really have to read these two books in order, although I guess it might help for certain parts. It’s some of his best work in years, definitely the best of the “America’s Best Comics” line that I’ve seen.
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Posted by Kevin
April 24, 2010
Website
XO #5 (art by Melissa Spence Gardner)
You know what I love most about this particular series ? It’s the fact that the murders have all been, on some level or another, justifiable. Granted, it’s been just barely justifiable in some cases (#3, for example, and this one) but there’s a case to be made for the fact that murderer was mostly trying to do the right thing. In this issue a young drug dealer is confronted by the brother of a man to whom he’s dealing drugs. He mentions this problem to his partner, who mentions it to the supplier, and is offered $5000 to take care of the problem along with assistance in getting rid of the body, but any action to be taken is purely up to the dealer. The dealer confronts the brother, meaning only to talk, but he confronts him while the guy is working on his car and he ends up getting accidentally killed in a manner that’s familiar to anybody who has ever worked under a car hood who has an active imagination. The comic ends a little abruptly, as we’re left to wonder exactly how this dealer is going to get rid of the body, but I still love all the ambiguity. Brian is doing an excellent job of giving all of his series a distinct voice, and the contribution of Melissa with the art has to be at least mentioned. That death shot was a particularly gruesome panel and she manages to make all of these deaths seem like they could be happening to somebody you know, no small feat. $1
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Posted by Kevin
April 24, 2010
Website
XO #4 (art by Melissa Spence Gardner)
Another issue of XO, another fun murder. Actually, I suppose you could call this an “almost murder”, followed quickly by the steps necessary to make it an actual murder. OK, I’m getting way ahead of the story. Once again, everything is presented like it’s a true story, which only makes the whole thing creepier. Brian comes home from grocery shopping to find his neighbor outside arguing with her boyfriend. He decides to step in, asking her if she’d like the guy to leave, and things escalate to the point where the girl just walks away and the guy takes a swing at Brian, which leads to him getting punched in the face. Trouble is that the punch was maybe a little too hard, as the guy doesn’t seem to be moving, and something has to be done about that body lying in the parking lot. I’m really starting to love these tiny things (in case you haven’t read the other reviews, that cover sample is just about actual size), as they’re imaginative and creepy and (while Melissa is drawing anyway) artistically swell. Not that the other ones are ugly, it’s just that Brian is more of a stick figure kind of guy. This is probably right around $1, and every one of these I’ve seen so far has been worth checking out.
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Posted by Kevin
April 24, 2010
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Ultimate Lost Kisses #11 (with art by Dave Sim (!))
No, I don’t know if this is a continuation of the Lost Kisses series (what with the addition of “Ultimate” to the title), but as this is listed as #11 and the last issue with Lost Kisses in the title was #10, I’m going to assume that it is. I’ll get to the comic in a minute, but Dave Sim? I guess he has some free time these days, but kudos to Brian for getting him to illustrate a book of his. I’m actually finishing up the Cerebus series this week, as all the unrelated text pieces killed it for me the first time around and, while I have my problems with various theories by Dave (and his sucking all the joy out of his book for the last 50 issues or so), I doubt that I’d even still be reading comics if it wasn’t for his influence. I don’t know what his legacy is going to end up being, but I’d put the first 220 issues or so of Cerebus up there as one of the great achievements in the field. Isn’t there a comic somewhere I’m supposed to be reviewing? This issue changes the format of the previous Lost Kisses, as this is a fictional story (or at least I hope it is). A young woman gets a letter from her son, 18 years after she’d given him up for adoption and practically forgotten his existence. He’s on death row for killing a man and wants to meet her, but there’s nothing accusatory in his letter. She informs her husband (who she met ten years after her son was born) about his existence, tells him of her plans to visit her son, and she sets off. Brian is a master of taking the images given and expanding or shrinking them, using the images as a director would use a camera lens, and he does wonders with what he’s given here. It’s a powerful story, and I hope this gets Dave back into comics, assuming he even wants to after 300 issues of Cerebus… $1
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Posted by Kevin
April 24, 2010
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Lost Kisses #10
Brian, with this issue, asks an important question: when it is OK to tell someone that you love them? On top of that, what exactly is love, and is anyone ever capable of really loving someone else? Those happy thoughts form the basis for this mini, so if you’re one of those people who is deliriously happy and in love, this one probably won’t do a whole lot for you.   It starts with Brian noticing that a lot more people are telling him that they love him recently, and he has a point: it’s used way too much. Then again, as he points out, he is a stoic guy from a stoic family, so maybe he’s just taking the whole thing too seriously.  He also concedes that maybe if he had a wife and kids (a lot of his friends are married with children) that saying “I love you” would probably be second nature. He concludes by saying that maybe he should give it a chance, or maybe he’ll end up lonely and bitter and won’t have to worry about people telling them that they love him because he’ll have lost all his friends. Once again it’s an interesting comic, and he really has no right being this productive AND thought-provoking. Just pick one or the other and save the rest for the other mini comics folk. I think everybody knows where I stand on these things by now, that they’re very much worth checking out. He does mention that he’s running out of ideas, but I’ll believe it when I see it… $1
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Posted by Kevin
April 24, 2010
Website
Lost Kisses #9
It’s getting to the point where I should give Brian a separate page for each of his titles to prevent this page from getting completely ridiculous. He just sent 5 more comics along, one starting an entirely new series, and this page is bulky enough as it is. Damn his productivity! Lost Kisses is definitely the most personal of his mini minis, as this time around he talks about how he much he values creativity and artistic expression over economic stability and how this inevitably gets him in trouble with the significant others of his friends. After all, when he encourages them to do more art, the reason against it is usually because of a job. The conversation then turns to how much they hate that job, which turns to questioning why they still work at a place they loathe, which is not a direction that most significant others would like the conversation to go. He goes on to talk about how he can’t seem to talk to these boyfriends/girlfriends like real people, as he always sees them as transitory, which is also how he sees life in general. Cats, on the other hand, are creatures that he wants to like him. He also mentions how much more he likes sleeping than sex, and once again generally shows that he is willing to talk about pretty much any personal detail, as he comes to terms with being stuck as a jackass for the rest of his life because changing would be too hard. It’s brilliant stuff and seems to be getting better as he goes along which, with this level of productivity, means he’ll be Dan Clowes in no time. These are all a buck each and I just noticed that he sells chunks of ten for $8, for those of you who like a bargain.
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Posted by Kevin
April 24, 2010
Website
Lost Kisses #8
I finally found something to complain about with Brian’s comics: they’re so tiny that they can get lost in the general chaos of my desk. This comic came in months ago, and just now it fell out of a larger stack of comics when I reached for something to review. As complaints go it’s pretty weak, granted, but I figured some negativity was due on this page, especially as I thoroughly enjoyed this issue. This is the story of Brian’s ex getting robbed and beaten and ending up in a coma. He pulls no punches at all in describing his feelings towards her, even going so far as to wish (almost) that he had done it. If you wanted to complain about the stick figure artwork I guess you could do that, but nobody could fault Brian for a lack of openness. Honestly, pretty much everybody who’s ever had a horrible breakup (which is probably everybody who has ever dated) has at least thought about killing their ex, but few people are willing to go into this much detail about it. Brian doesn’t let himself off the hook either, going into some things he did wrong in the relationship and bemoaning his inability to completely move on from this relationship. As always, this is another solid mini, and people with more organizational skills than me should have no trouble reading these tiny things all in a clump and not losing them around their room…
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Posted by Kevin
April 24, 2010
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Lost Kisses #7
In case you can’t read the caption, it says “Keys, Phones and Barcodes: What do these things have to do with each other?” It takes a while to get there, but he pulls it all together in the end. This is the story of Brian finding some house keys from an old girlfriend, and it happens to be the old girlfriend who he actually bought a house with years ago. She still owes him $5000, he has no interest in ever seeing her again and spends the issue trying to figure out what to do with them. The trouble is that the first half of the book is all over the place and I didn’t start piecing this story together until the start of the second half. He goes from a ringing phone right to a panel about the odd names of grocery stores in other states to questions about how the store located him in the first place. Reading it over again, I got what he was going for: the grocery store called him because of the bar code on the keyring, but it was awkwardly put together. He saves things in a big way with the second half though, because what do you do in that situation? He goes through all the pros and cons and eventually comes to a decision. Without ruining anything, it turns out he’s a nicer guy than I am. Brian sent a small pile of minis again this time around, so more tiny fun will be had in the near future. As for this one, I recommend it to anyone who has ever fantasized about revenge of an ex. Which is probably everybody…
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Posted by Kevin
April 24, 2010
Website
Lost Kisses #6
The king of very tiny comics is back! OK, maybe I’m not allowed to call him the king of tiny comics. Many people are making mini comics, and many of them are pretty damned tiny, but very few people I know are this prolific while keeping their books this tiny… and still managing to pack engaging stories in the little things. This issue is a flip book (both by Brian), with one half detailing the reasons he should stay with his girlfriend and the other detailing the reasons he should leave. He makes a point in the beginning of the mini to say that this isn’t about any specific girl in his life, and I suppose that’s true of the comic as a whole, but a number of panels here just have to be about one person. Still, it’s not like he’s going to get sued or anything, as these minimalistic images make lawsuits pretty unlikely.  On the negative side, yes, he goes into things that are true of a lot of women, and no, I don’t think it’s misogynistic to say so. His negatives are lying, a lack of willingness to deal with past emotional scarring, spider veins, her being over her ideal body weight, appearance being more important than reality, having no taste in art, and rogue nipple hairs. On the plus side, his positives for a girlfriend are intelligence, a sense of humor, better self-esteem, the peace he feels while holding her, good hair, musical skill, and the simple fact that he loves her. Granted, some of the negatives are pretty petty, and some of the positives are generalities that you see in every dating ad to ever exist, but this is still a fascinating book. Leave this on the coffee table (if anybody even sees it amidst the clutter) and sit back and wait for all the awkward conversations that are sure to follow. Like everything else I’ve seen from this guy, it’s well worth a look, that’s for sure.
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Posted by Kevin
April 24, 2010
Website
Lost Kisses #5
Yep, that’s about actual size for this comic. It was actually shrunk from a smaller size a few years back and is now right around the size of a pack of matches, but somehow Brian manages to pack all sorts of goodness into this tiny package. This is a short version of the story of Brian’s life, his struggles to keep friends, to distinguish himself from humanity as a whole (although I would submit that a continuing interest in this medium is a good start), and his surprising lack of interest in many self-perceived failings. Turns out (spoiler alert!) that he has something called Asperger’s, so maybe this odd disconnectedness he’s feeling is simply a matter of faulty brain wiring. Honestly, when I see a comic this tiny, the best I’m hoping for is maybe a good joke or two, something mildly amusing because of the novelty format. The fact that he was able to put together an emotionally moving story while still being oddly disaffecting is impressive as hell to me. You can order all five issues at his website for $3.50, or maybe, what, $1 apiece? This is well worth seeking out for anybody who has ever felt listless and directionless, which I’m guessing is just about everybody reading this at one time or another…
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Posted by Kevin
April 24, 2010
Website
Worms #5Â (with art by Kimberlee Traub)
There are probably a few of you out there who have been reading this series thinking “Sure, this is an odd comic on a number of levels, but I haven’t been creeped out enough by it”. Well, your prayers have been answered! The escape from this institution (if that is in fact what it is) continues in this issue, as our heroine listens to the voice of her dead father (who is helping her to escape), makes her way out and then has to deal with the same people who shot at her last time. This time around she seems to have come to terms a bit more with the worms in her system, and it’s all I can do not to give anything else away. Let’s just say that Brian seems to have a gift for taking stories that seem to be going full steam ahead and veering wildly in a completely unexpected direction. Anyway, I’m along for the ride, as clueless about where this is heading as anybody else. That’s assuming you’re already reading this, and why wouldn’t you be? All these tiny comics for that tiny amount of money? Plus the (as close as you can come in the comics world) guarantee that this guy is committed to the comics and will keep cranking these things out, so you won’t get dumped in the middle of a story? Seems obvious to me. $1
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Posted by Kevin
April 24, 2010
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Worms #4 (with art by Kimberlee Traub)
Bits and pieces coming to light, that’s what this series is all about. This time around our heroine has a dream in which her dead father tells her that it’s time to wake up, while she still can. Upon waking she sees that instead of a ceiling above her bed there are storm clouds and silent lightning. One bolt of this lightning hits her IV, which has the odd effect of making her fine with the worms that are coming through it and into her body. It also gives her the energy to try to escape again, which is when her nurse comes in to check up on her. There’s no sense of my telling you much more than that, as there are few things worse than a suspense comic with no surprises, but we do get to see a bit more about the people holding her captive and, perhaps, why that security guard from a couple of issues ago seemed to be bloodless. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: send the man a pile of money so he’ll send you a pile of tiny comics. It’s so simple! $1
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Posted by Kevin
April 24, 2010
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Worms #3 (with art by Kimberlee Traub)
With a suspense comic it’s best to leave the specifics alone for as long as possible, as that generally ratchets up the suspense, and Brian does an excellent job of that here. We do learn in this issue why the title of the series is “Worms” (at least a little bit), but as for everything else… who knows? Our heroine from the last issue wakes up strapped to a bed, hooked up to an IV. She quickly sees that this IV has worms swimming in the liquid, then she sees that one of the creatures is swimming through the tube to her arm. Things get even more disgusting from there, believe it or not, and we’re left to wait until the next issue (if then) to get some idea of where exactly she’s being held and why. It didn’t take me long to get hooked on these tiny comics, but they’re like minuscule bundles of comic crack. You get a little tiny taste each time of what sure feels like a master plan, unless of course he’s making it up as he goes and has me completely fooled. Worth checking out either way. $1
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Posted by Kevin
April 24, 2010
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Worms #2 (with art by Kimberlee Traub)
This is damned near the perfect tiny suspense comic. Things happened in the first issue of which we’re quickly and efficiently informed in a succinct one page synopsis, then it’s off to the story. A woman wakes up with someone trying to get a gun away from her and quickly finds herself captive in a hospital. Or, at least, she thinks it’s a hospital, although a bit of exploring on her part makes her question that assumption, or at least question that it’s as easy as all that. Kimberlee’s deceptively simple artwork somehow manages to ratchet up the suspense, Brian more than holds up his end with the words (and throws in an excellent cliffhanger to boot), and I’m liking this format of tiny books with one panel per page more and more. What’s this, five of his books reviewed now? I can safely say that anybody who sends this guy $5 or so for a small pile of comics won’t come away disappointed. $1
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Posted by Kevin
April 24, 2010
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Just A Man #3 (with art by Andrew White)
What the hell? Sorry, us “professional” reviewers need to give you readers more to work with but… what the hell? Brian has expertly flipped the motive behind our hero completely around with this issue, and he caught me completely by surprise. In this issue our hero takes off towards the whorehouse, at the request of a man in town who says that his daughter is working there and he wants to get her back. He makes his way to the whorehouse, finds the girl in question, and manages to grab her and head her towards the door… when his wife calls his name. She’s at the whorehouse too, and she has a gun on him. His reaction to this is, well, a little odd. It’s my personal (and constantly changing) rule that everything after the midway point of a book is a spoiler, so I can’t say too much, but this naturally sets our hero to wondering about everything that has happened in the last couple of issues. He has McTeague’s men after him (looking for revenge), men from the whorehouse after him (looking for the woman he basically kidnapped), and then he’s confronted with another moral dilemma when the woman he’s taken says that she is not the daughter of that man after all, just somebody he wants as his own personal whore. This is by far the best issue of the series, and the other two were pretty damned good already. It takes some talent to make a straightforward western revenge story into something else entirely, and Brian did it flawlessly. Check it out, it’s a tough competition but this may end up being his best series of all. $1
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Posted by Kevin
April 24, 2010
Website
Just A Man #2 (with art by Andrew White)
Hey look, it is a series after all! If you’re confused go back and read the review for the last issue, where I kvetched endlessly about the merits of this as a one-shot versus as a series. Judging from the most recent pile of books sent my way this isn’t his only new series. If the man keeps up this ridiculous pace he might want to put together some sort of index so we can all keep up. This time around our hero has finished off the people who killed his wife and child and is left with an understandable emptiness. Adrift, he goes to sleep on the back of his horse and lets it take him to his next destination, wherever that may be. He’s also on the lookout for some of McTeague’s men who may be out looking for revenge, although he’s at a bit of a loss to explain why he should go on living. He eventually has a reason to live drop into his lap, or at least a way to have a meaningful death, which we’ll learn more about the next time around. Feels like I may have spoiled too much with this one, but the pacing of these makes it a bit too easy to summarize. That’s right, it’s somehow Brian’s fault. Sure, I’ll stick with that. Anyway, my opinion of this series went up considerably now that I know it IS a series, as who doesn’t like a good western about a man on the run? It’s officially worth a look as far as I’m concerned. $1
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Posted by Kevin
April 24, 2010
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Just A Man #1 (with art by Andrew White)
If there’s one thing that Brian needs, it’s clearly another series. As sarcasm doesn’t come across well on the internets, let me just make clear how very sarcastic that was. The man is already a machine, it seems ridiculous to start up another series. More power to him if he wants to keep four series going at once, although it’s hard to tell if this one is going to be more than one issue. This is the story of a simple man who works the land to feed his family until he comes home to find his house on fire. His infant son is dead, his wife is missing, and he has a pretty good idea who’s responsible. I may have my westerns mixed up, but isn’t that the plot from Unforgiven? Except that the Clint Eastwood character at least had a history as a gunslinger. Anyway, a confrontation occurs (sort of), things end, and I’d think this was a one-shot if it wasn’t for the gaping bit of story that remains unresolved.  All told the story didn’t do a lot for me, as it seemed like something I’d seen before, and even the dialogue got cliched every once in a while. Granted, that’s probably hard to avoid with a western, so he doesn’t lose any points for that. Still, that gaping plot hole (I’m trying to avoid spoilers), the lack of resolution with what should be a central character, is annoying. If this is a series, fine. If not, it ruins this as a one-shot. Time will tell, but start with his other series and work your way over to this one. Oh, I should mention that the art perfectly suited the mood of this book, to end on a positive note if nothing else. $1
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Posted by Kevin
