April 24, 2010
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The Mighty Offenders #2 (co-written by Tod Parkhill and art by Joey Mason)
I forgot to add those other creative folks in the last review. Sorry about that, I usually try to make all of that stuff clear. Anyway, onwards to #2! I said that this series could turn out to be one of the great parodies, and I still stand by that possibility, but this issue didn’t do too much to push that along. Our heroes have been captured by aliens in regards to that stolen jet pack, and most of this issue is pure mayhem and explosions. Which is fine, but… who are these people again? Please with some sort of synopsis of the previous issues before #3, it would be ever so helpful. Also, I have a tendency to bitch when people are lazy on the backgrounds, but this comic looks like it will never have that problem. Just check out the sample if you don’t believe me. EVERY panel is packed, sometimes to the point where you really have to examine it just to make sure you’re catching everything. All in all a good issue that looked fantastic. And it’s not like most parodies have the most well-rounded characters in the world anyway, so it’s entirely possible that I’m looking for something that will never come. Still, if I didn’t have that one minor complaint about a lack of character development (or even trying to remember who the characters were) then this would be a completely positive and gushy review, and who wants that? $2
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Posted by Kevin
April 24, 2010
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The Mighty Offenders #1
I suppose there are already plenty of superhero parodies out there, and a whole bunch of them are bad. That’s fine, those things tend to go away on their own after a few issues anyway. This one (and I’m well aware of the fact that this is only one issue and it could go downhill fast from here) has the potential to be one of the best. The team is eclectic enough, as one of the members found an alien jetpack and watch in the mail, another can “think” at animals, anther one looks like the average strongman in the group, and the rest of them don’t get much time to develop. Why not? Well, because about half of the book is this frantic, completely insane car chase that involves a flying deer. The art looks vaguely like the best whorly animators on Nickelodeon or other animated shows, which fits the frantic storyline perfectly. Oh yeah, the story. The man with the jetpack has just gotten it in the mail from aliens and doesn’t know how to work any of this technology, so he’s trying to join this superhero group. One of them pulls the cord on the jetpack, he flies off and the chase scene ensues. It’s $2, you can find it here, and it’s well worth a look. Seriously!
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Posted by Kevin
April 24, 2010
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Mini Ring King (with Tim McClurg & Steve Black)
Yeah, this should probably be on one of the Various pages, but those things are too huge already and Sean was kind enough to send it to me, so he gets the honors. Just in case you were ever interested in that sort of “inside Optical Sloth” logic, and shame on you if you were. There are a few stories in here, as well as some lovely pinups of some old wrestlers by Tim McClurg. First up is a story about a soon-to-be-dead boxer, appropriately called Specter. Next is a silly story called Vowel Boxer about, well, boxers who shout vowels as they punch, which didn’t do a thing for me until the punchline, then I loved it. Finally there The Wrestler of Wyagoth, about the quest of man in general to overcome a Lovecraftian cast of monsters. Good stuff overall, worth it just for the pinups if you were a fan of wrestling back in the day, and the stories aren’t too shabby either, although the whole thing goes by in a blur. Hey, how much plot can you have with wrestling being the theme, right? $2
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Posted by Kevin
April 24, 2010
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Class of 2006 #1
Hm, is something still considered a comic if there is no actual art, just quotes from students accompanied by unassociated pictures of random students? Oh well, I’ll leave that for the philosophers to figure out. Sean works as a grader for the standardized tests that students are forced to take to avoid being “left behind”, and he decided to put together a few books with some of the dumber quotes from students. It’s a fairly depressing compilation, if you think these people are the future of the country, or kind of funny if you’re a hopeless cynic like me. It’s mostly simple errors like misspellings or grammatical mistakes (look around this site for two minutes and you’re sure to find plenty of those), with some real whoppers about mistaken history. It’s a fun little peek into the brains of the youth of today. $1
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Posted by Kevin
April 24, 2010
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Jury Rigged Comics: Leftovers
That’s usually an instant warning sign, when somebody puts out a book of stories that weren’t good enough to put in the regular series. Luckily in this case they really are still good stories, so don’t worry your pretty little heads about it. First you have the first attempt by the Chinese to travel to the stars way back in the early 16th century (drawn by Adam Walmsley). The art is downright gorgeous and I’d never heard this story before. Then you have the near-war over bridges in Cleveland and Ohio City in 1837 (drawn by David Beyer Jr.). Fascinating stuff again, as how many of us know any of the history at all of our state and/or town? In other words, don’t be fooled into thinking this is a throwaway issue, nothing to see here and please move on. There are stories worth reading in this comic, and that’s all any of us can ask for. $2
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Posted by Kevin
April 24, 2010
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Jury Rigged Comics #1
Here’s another first effort from somebody out of Columbus, Ohio. Must be something in the water out here. Anyway, this is a collection of stories with a variety of different artists. The first one, Snow Tires (with Leon Briones), is about someone selling his car but trying to keep the snow tires when he sells it. I know, it sounds boring as can be, but it’s not a bad story. The second is As Seen on TV (with Rich Molinelli), and it tells the story of a young paramedic who gains some unwanted fame by having a rescue on the television show Rescue 911. The last full story is Mentor: What’s in a Name (also with Leon Briones), which is the story of a young superhero trying to come up with a name and learn the ropes of the business. Then there’s a tiny, tiny preview of Zero Point (I say tiny because there’s one page of art and one shrunken page of script) and an essay about his personal history with comics. For a first effort, it’s not bad. It’s good, when writing, to use “it’s” instead of “it is”, at least every once in a while, just to make it sound like people are really talking, but that’s a minor quibble. There’s nothing here to set the world on fire, but there are three solid, interesting stories, so you could do a lot worse. It’s $2, send Sean an e-mail if you’re interested.
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Posted by Kevin
April 24, 2010
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Battles of Paradise #2
I’m going to cheat a little bit on this one: if you haven’t read the review for #1, start there. I ramble more than a little bit, but there are some possibly useful pieces of advice and criticism. Sadly, not much has improved with this issue, as there are still spelling errors all over the place and the basic construction of the comic is awful (you can see a good chunk of the comic on the right side of the cover). What’s the point on dwelling on what’s wrong with it? Granted, most things are wrong with it, but he does introduce a new character in this issue and it seems like the female lead has more than a few mysteries to reveal. The trouble is that most people aren’t going to have the patience to find those promising nuggets amidst all the crappy parts. I said before that I was hoping to see how things improved, now I have a much tougher request: I want to see a comic that is properly put together (no words or characters disappearing off the edges) and with no spelling errors (yes, that includes knowing the difference between “you’re” and “your”). It’s not too much to ask, and at least then I could get a good handle on the story and figure out exactly what’s going on here. I’m so distracted by the nonsense that I could barely even tell what was going on. Still no price, still probably a couple of bucks, and I’d still hold off until he gets his act together. I do think it’s possible, otherwise I wouldn’t be going on like this…
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Posted by Kevin
April 24, 2010
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Battles of Paradise #1
I’ll freely confess to a bit of a double standard in my reviewing policy. If somebody sends me a comic that looks terrible, has misspelled words all over the place and no discernible story, AND they’ve sent much better stuff in the past, I’ll probably tear it apart. If, however, somebody is sending me their first comic, and it has more than a few flaws, I tend to try a different approach: offering some (here’s hoping) practical advice. Jerell is 18, this appears to be his first comic, and he has a few basics to learn. I’m a big fan of everybody doing comics, and it’s clear that he has a decent imagination, so this should in no way be taken as discouragement from doing more comics. That being said, much needs to be improved here. Full disclosure: this is an anime-style comic, something I probably wouldn’t have liked anyway, just to throw that out there. The story, which would be a little difficult to tell if it wasn’t for the synopsis he thoughtfully included, is that demons are hunting after a princess for her land, and a young boy keeps popping up in time to save her. She develops an instant crush and eventually gives him some of her power so he can become a demon slayer. The trouble is that I was never able to really get into the story because of the number of basic errors contained. The sample page should give you a clue, but here are my suggestions, and this may well go for some of you people who think you have this comics thing down pat as well. First, use a spell check. I know, they don’t come installed on the comics page. If you’re not a particularly good speller, go to a place like dictionary.com and type in every word that’s more than two syllables. It sounds ridiculous, I know, but you’d be amazed at how many errors this can fix, and the more times you do it, the more you’re likely to learn. For example, “couragous” looks right if you don’t know any better, but they crammed an “e” in there towards the end. Next, keep your letters in the word bubbles/boxes. Maybe once or twice in a comic you can creep outside the lines a bit, or maybe if that’s an aesthetic choice for your comic. If it happens multiple times on every page, you need to plan your dialogue a bit better. If all else fails, write the words in first and then box them in.  You also need to know when to use “to” or “too”, “their” or “they’re”, etc. It drives me batty, and I know I’m not alone on that. You also shouldn’t need to write what’s happening in the panels, as Jerell will often use [runs] or [fall].  You have to trust in your ability to be able to show that action in the panel, as in most of the cases where he used brackets I could already see what was happening. In general, don’t be afraid to use bigger panels. There were a few battle scenes in here where everything was crammed into little panels and the brackets really were necessary. Solution: give more room for the action. I hope this doesn’t come across like I’m picking on the guy, but when you’re 18 a knowledge of the basics will take you a long way. Here’s hoping I get to see Battles of Paradise #2 to see what leaps the man has taken forward, but I’d chalk #1 up, except to the most diehard of anime fans, as a learning experience. No price listed, I’m guessing a couple of bucks.
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Posted by Kevin
April 24, 2010
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A Really True Story
If it says so right in the title, who am I to suggest that isn’t a really true story? Lisa says in her intro that “all the identifying facts have been changed to protect me”. Which is odd, considering that there is no female character in a leading role here, but I’ll let it slide. This is the theoretically the story of two cops and how circumstances helped them catch a potential car thief. I say “theoretically” because it’s really all just an excuse to get to the punch line, but it’s not kosher to give such things away in reviews, so I’ll stick to telling you about the rest of it. Bob and Jake (the two cops) finish up a day of work and head home. Bob realizes that he forgot to tell Jake that they need to come in early the next day but, as is required by the laws of the universe, he only remembers this when he is almost home. He pulls in the driveway, makes a pledge not to leave the car until he talks to Jake, and suddenly hears someone approaching his car. He ducks down, ready for whatever is coming, and he hears the kid talking trash about the other car in the driveway before getting to him. Bob kicks the door open, shocking the kid, who runs into a nearby house. The rest of the comic is a (shorter than you’d think) chase and the previously mentioned punchline, which was set up wonderfully earlier in the comic but it flew right by me. Lisa seems to have this 6 page comic thing down pat, as she managed to pack funny, tense and humiliating all in one pamphlet. It’s worth a look if you have an extra buck or two lying around.
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Posted by Kevin
April 24, 2010
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Tick Tick Boom
I should probably put a little disclaimer here: if you have ever had any serious issues with ticks being attached to any part of your body and you’d care to forget all about it, it might be best to avoid this comic. That’s OK, there are two good ones right below this to choose from. As someone who has had to deal with a tick before, seeing the bloated creature in this comic was more effective than any horror movie. This is the (if there is any justice in this world fictional) story of a gigantic tick, how it is discovered and how it meets its maker. There is a man who had a traumatic experience with a tick as a young boy, and he nurtures that hatred until he is able to get a job as a tick inspector. Upon arriving in the park he sees a queen tick (again, I can only hope there is no such thing in real life), and it has sucked the life right out of a small, hairless dog. This tick inspector manages to capture it and puts it in a box to the Guinness record committee, but he uses some unfortunate word choices on the box, and well, that title is an appropriate description for more than just ticks. This also has a handy chart of the tick life cycle, and some subtle (if pointed) commentary on tv news anchors. Like I said, as long as you’re not scarred for life from some childhood tick trauma, this is a pretty great story and you should probably check it out.
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Posted by Kevin
April 24, 2010
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Strange Science Fiction #7
Clones! Had to get there sooner or later. It looks like this is the second to last issue of this series, which is a shame because it’s been a blast, but really, Matthew has probably taken it about as far as he can and he has a new series to work on. Still, he’s not done yet. In this issue Mark decides to make 4 clones to do various chores while he goes out to the movies with Julia. Just friends, of course, as Mark has his head firmly wedged up a nether region in that regard. The clones decide that they need more help, make another clone of their own, and things go downhill from there. For the characters, that is. The comic was a lot of fun. Well worth a look, especially considering that I believe these are all still only $.50 each, and how else are you going to understand the dramatic conclusion unless you read the early issues?
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Posted by Kevin
April 24, 2010
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Strange Science Fiction #5
Here’s a tip to anybody who is making a comic and trying, in whatever fashion, to get it noticed: keep making them on a regular basis and keep sending them to people like me who are willing to yammer on about them. I suppose that’s two tips, but you get the idea. Matthew has been cranking these minis out consistently (about one a month, maybe even a little more than that) and has been sending them to me just as often. Not that this little site is going to make or break anybody, but it doesn’t hurt a thing to have your book talked about on a regular basis. So how about this particular issue� Well, as you can see from the cover, it’s about time travel, a rich subject that could go on for issues and issues if he wanted. In this one Julie falls out along the way, and Mark has no idea where or when she might have landed. She ends up meeting a real man in prehistoric times, and most of the issue is spent with her adjusting to life in a new environment. These are never anything less than an interesting read and this one is no exception, and as always more than worth a look for that measly $.50 price tag…
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Posted by Kevin
April 24, 2010
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Strange Science Fiction #4
Here’s another solid issue by Matthew, as Mark discovers a new dimension. Naturally, this means that he has to explore it, and something like that is never going to go off without a hitch. Matthew also looks like he’s putting more work into his backgrounds, something that never fails to improve the overall look of a book. Well, I suppose it could fail if the artist had no skill whatsoever, but that isn’t an issue here. Also, without going into spoiler territory, we get the best punchline of the series. That sexual tension between these two isn’t going anywhere for the time being, even if I do occasionally get the impression that they have roughly the same anatomy as Barbie and Ken… $.50
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Posted by Kevin
April 24, 2010
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Strange Science Fiction #3
Finally, some giant fighting robots. I was wondering how long it would take Matthew to get to them. This comic is the best of the bunch, and not just because of the robots. The bland main characters finally take some baby steps towards personalities, and we get to see a rival, a young man who perpetually finishes second to Mark in all things related to science. In this issue the rival (Zedediah) sees that Mark has completed his giant robot, which naturally leads him to unleash his giant robot so the world can see which one is better. Mark also cluelessly misses his friend Julie hitting on him, which sets up hilarity for future issues. Good stuff this time around, even the art looked a little crisper. $.50
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Posted by Kevin
April 24, 2010
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Strange Science Fiction #2
Note to anybody who sends me stuff, or really to anybody who puts out comics: please take a minute to read your comic after it’s produced so you can make sure that the pages are in the correct order. I was rolling along, reading a perfectly enjoyable tale about an extraterrestial blob that fell from the sky and seemed to want to kill a lot of people, when suddenly the main characters went from being trapped on a school staircase to falling off of a cliff. Oops! If you don’t mind that sort of thing this is still a fun book, and it’s still only a measly $.50, but as far as mistakes go that’s a pretty big one, and something that’s easy to fix if you’re careful while copying pages. Not that he’s the only artist ever to screw up like that, but it’s�a good chance to remind all you youngsters out there, assuming any youngsters read this, and assuming that any youngsters are still making comics by hand and not just on their computers. You damned kids, get off my lawn! $.50
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Posted by Kevin
April 24, 2010
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Strange Science Fiction #1
Who doesn’t love a good story about a shrinking man? If that’s you, um, please move along, as you should be able to tell by that cover that you’ll hate this one. As for the rest of us, it’s mostly a blast. A young girl named Julie (I’m guessing they’re both in high school) stops by to pick up her friend Mark for school. Mark is experimenting on a shrink ray, and of course he manages to accidentally shrink himself. In the confusion Julie turns herself into a giant, and hijinx ensue. My only problem here is that the perspective shifts were sometimes awkward, as Mark was hidden from the world while in the palm of Julie’s hand… yet he was about halfway up to her knee when she set him down. Still, it’s a tricky thing to keep completely consistent, and it can be overlooked for a good old fashioned fun comic, which is a measly $.50 to boot. There’s two more of these still to come (he sent me the first three), and he’s managed to put them all out this year, which is an impressively consistent streak to start things off. That website up there is possibly the barest I’ve ever seen (not counting the ones that are eternally “under construction”) but there are still links to buy stuff, if you’re of a mind to check it out…
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Posted by Kevin
April 24, 2010
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And Who is My… Neighbor?
I’ve been hoping that Matthew would branch out a bit more in his comics, and this is certainly a step in that direction, but the whole thing left me a bit cold. It’s essentially a modern retelling of the Good Samaritan story from the Bible. A young man gets beat up and left for dead, and a white middle class Republican, an evangelical conservative preacher, and a black liberal democrat libertarian (yes, this is how they’re all described and no, that’s not the start of a joke) all walk by him, with one of them stopping to help the poor guy. Which one stops to help tells you a bit about Matthew’s politics but that’s about it, and there haven’t been any changes or additions to the story to improve things. Why improve a classic, I suppose, but it’s a scant 6 pages (of three full page spreads, I cut one in half for the sample instead of giving too much of the story away), and it’s hard to avoid feeling slightly preached to. As for side annoyances, they’re here too, with the see-through cover image with the title, while a good idea in theory, really hard to read in practice. Then there’s the fact that there’s no identifying information of any kind in here, so it’s lucky this was still in the envelope because of my recent medical issues. Not much here to recommend this, frankly, although I did like the layout of the pages, but paradoxically I still think it’s a step in the right direction for the guy, at least in creative terms. No price, nothing on his website, but I’d guess $2.
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Posted by Kevin
April 24, 2010
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77 #1
Well, this certainly gets top billing on the page, as it’s the first issue of a projected 32 issue series. That’s a serious commitment, and something Matthew, with his prolific pace in putting out Strange Science Fiction, might actually be able to complete. The first issue is all about the lonely life of a young teenager named Jonny. Jonny has a crush on a girl at school, and things take a turn for the worse when he sees this girl with his friend Jimmy at the movies. I liked the silence of this issue, the way Matthew lingered over some of the more awkward moments in high school and didn’t bog the reader down with endless explanations and exposition. As for the story, obviously it’s the first piece of a very large puzzle, so all I can really say for now is that it worked and has me looking forward to the next issue. I do have a couple of complaints, because what kind of reviewer would I be if I didn’t? Matthew could really use something to differentiate his characters. There’s a scene at the start of the book where Jonny is walking in a scholl hallway and is being made fun of by a group of boys, all of whom look pretty much the same at a casual glance. Maybe some different hair colors would help, but I can see this being an issue between Jonny and Jimmy down the road, as they look pretty much the same too. More distinctive names would have helped tell them apart too. Still, it’s early in this story and I still have very little idea where it’s going in the long run. It’s worth a look anyway, that’s for sure. As for the price… $2 maybe?
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Posted by Kevin
April 24, 2010
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XXX Live Nude Girls #2: Pretty Like A Princess
Somebody should have told me that this is absolutely not the thing to be reading if you’re depressed. This is probably a book full of fascinating, insightful tales about relationships, and commonality, and screwing people to avoid telling them how you feel, and escaping from your life before it’s too late. To someone going through relationship turmoil, it looks like the whole idea of having a happy, healthy relationship is ridiculous and that we’re all going to end up alone and depressed. Like I said, probably not what it’s really about, but that’s how I’m reading it today. This one is good. If it hurts it’s good for you, right? more expensive than the last one, but it also looks nicer and has a color story in the middle. If you don’t like poetry at all maybe you should avoid this, and if you don’t like thinking about how empty that relationship you’re in might be you should probably stay away too. If you’re not afraid to explore all the possibilities of your world and the people around you, give this book a look. Contact info is above, as always…
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Posted by Kevin
April 24, 2010
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Neruda
Like the review yesterday, if something is a reprint that you’ve never seen before, it’s as good as new, right? This reprints the Neruda story from Non #1, so if you were one of the lucky few who got a copy of that one, this might seem a bit familiar. Still, Ted says that the art has been punched up a bit and there’s a new pinup on the inside covers by Jeff Wilson and Dan Zettwoch respectively. And that cover! Between what you can see there and the image on the back, that’s worth the price of admission alone. The story here is a bit convoluted, but who cares? It’s not like Ted has a ton of comics available (although I do see a brand new one on his website), so it’s to savor these when they do make it to print. It’s the story of Neruda, a statue who comes alive in a hippie commune. These hippies are trying to kick various drugs but at their own pace, so no pressure man. Various other people are quickly added to the mix in the fight over Neruda, including punks, hillbillies and government agents, and things get delightfully chaotic in a hurry. Much like It Lives #1 (and I still think it was cruel to put a “#1” on that, giving comic readers hope that another issue was coming), this is an essential piece to one of those scattered, disorganized piles of comics you have in your home/apartment/mom’s basement. $3
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Posted by Kevin
