April 23, 2010
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The Wee Days
So what’s the best way to judge something that proclaims proudly on the cover that it’s supposed to be funny? Does that mean that everything has to make me chuckle, or just smile contemplatively? Anyway, think about it, because I have no earthly idea. Only one of these strips made me laugh out loud, so it’s the one I sampled below. As for the other ones, Jai deals with sarcasm, punching, pot, beer, and disemboweling. There’s also a five page story in the middle here that takes WAY too long to set up a completely unfunny joke that’s only saved (slightly) by it being a visual gag instead of just told at a bar. His dream strips were probably the highlight to me, just because they were all over the place and genuinely fascinating. Oh, and of course the squirrel strip I sampled here, which was only mildly amusing until the punchline. As for what I thought, I may have to punt on this one until I see more strips. It’s a cop-out, granted, but I really liked some things (sarcasm, squirrel and dream strips), really didn’t like some other things (five pager, or at least most of it) and was somewhere between on the rest of it. Oh, and $4 is way too much for something this small. Why, back in my day blah blah blah you know the drill. Give me more so I can get off this fence!
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Posted by Kevin
April 23, 2010
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The Wee Days #2
You know, the good thing about the long wait between issues of most small press comics is that at least the artists involved take their time and get future issues right instead of just rushing them out. It’s either that or that people like Jai are so insanely talented that they can just crank out an issue in a few weeks after not doing anything with it for a few years, but that possibility hurts my heart so I’m discounting it immediately. This is another collection of short pieces with one long story, and the short pieces hold the whole thing together nicely. There’s the fantastically awkward The Transaction, dealing with a highly loaded deal for extra pudding. Then there’s the short pieces about the Russian sandwich shop/mafia front, an angry man with a moustache, taking the genitals out in the nice weather, teaching yourself poker, fitting the most G.I. Joe figures in your armpit, destroying weed for the good of the country, neutrality and amnesia as the result of severe head trauma. I’ll leave the dream comics alone as they’re better experienced than gabbed about by me, which leaves only the bulk of the comic, a story dealing with a crappy summer job spent excavating a stinky basement and inventing the filthiest phrases possible to keep said job sane. It’s a long way to go for an excellent punchline, but there are more than enough funnies thrown in to keep it amusing. It’s well worth checking out, probably around $5.
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Posted by Kevin
April 23, 2010
Website
The Wee Days #1 Now Available! $3
Well, I wanted more from this guy to make up my mind, and here it is! Conclusion: I really like his stuff. This is a mountain of a comic (at least in height), full of various one page strips and others that are slightly longer about all sorts of things. His dream strips are still great, dealing with watching a movie in the side of a theater and Star Wars: The Play. Many, many other strips in here (maybe he has a weekly strip that I haven’t seen?), including some fallout from Brokeback Mountain, a strip about his father, the sad story of Forest Whitaker, sarcasm (maybe the same one that was in the mini, I can’t remember), what word he is trying to think of, and getting locked out, among others. The longest strip in the bunch is Lara The Boring, going into minute detail about a girl getting stoned and hopping onto an instant messenger. This whole comic was either funny or insightful in some way, so I think that means you should buy it and check it out. Of course, I have no idea how much it costs, but I’d guess $5. How can you beat that cover? And you haven’t even seen the back cover yet…
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Posted by Kevin
April 23, 2010
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The Ciderview Project #3
Hey look, the lettering is better! It’s a minor thing, sure, but it always bugs me when it’s messed up. This issue starts with the funeral of a major character, nothing unexpected if you’ve been paying attention to the series thus far. Also in here is the hijinx of the bi-polar girl and the autistic guy, as they make quite the wacky couple. One minor thing: it seems like everybody in here has something very wrong with them. It makes for an interesting story, sure, but a few normal folk here and there wouldn’t hurt. Other than that, it’s chapter 3 of a large story, and I’ll have no idea how well a lot of this was done until I see the end result. It’s engaging and fascinating to me though, so I’m in until the end (assuming that Michael is kind enough to keep sending them to me, or I can find a comic store that sells it). This probably won’t be in graphic novel format until it’s done, but I’d recommend picking up a few of these at a time, as the story will make a whole lot more sense that way. $2.95.
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Posted by Kevin
April 23, 2010
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The Ciderview Project #1
Is a 12 issue, independent, full size mini series ever a bad thing? Well, yeah, but this one actually has quite a bit of potential. A minor quibble first: the lettering was kind of messy in places. I’ve never understood how somebody could spend days or longer on a page and then rush through the lettering, but it happens all the time. It’s not that bad, don’t get me wrong, but with a little care it could be a lot better, and it would add a lot to the book. There’s quite a bit of a story here. It starts off with a young woman (we learn in the intro to #2 that she’s a lesbian, although I don’t think that is ever so much as implied anywhere) waking up in a hospital after trying to kill herself, and it goes all over the place from there. There’s a man who’s dying from a brain tumor, a woman who used to date him, another couple that’s having problems, an old ex that comes back at the worst possible time… all kinds of stuff to keep track of but, from what I can tell from the first two issues, it’s worth the effort. The writing seems real, although a bit heavy at times. That’s to be expected from the subject matter though. The art’s good too, although there’s a bit of trouble with perspective once in a great while. All in all an intriguing series, I’m interested in seeing how all of these characters tie together. Check out the website, two issues are out so far…
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Posted by Kevin
April 23, 2010
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Pig’s Missing Poo Now Available! $3
Hey look, it’s one of those Robot Publishing guys! Always good to see more work from them, or at least the stuff I’ve seen so far. This is a collection of short stories, all what you’d call funny, and it’s hard to complain too much about that. Most of them are on his website too if you’re feeling cheap. They’re not all there though, so you will be missing out a bit. There’s one about a monkey and a crocodile, one about the seeds of grass, and one about two people who were destined to come together. Oh, crappy jokes, and you won’t be able to groan properly until you read the comic. It’s a bit steep at $3, but there’s some funny stuff in here. Not sure what the deal is with the guy with the bugs flying around his head, but it feels like there’s more to all the stories told here. It’s always good when the author makes you think that you’ve read more than you actually have. Does that make sense to anybody? Oh well. Check out the website, see if this is something you’ll like, you guys know the drill…
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Posted by Kevin
April 23, 2010
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Binibus Barnabus Now Available! $2
Man, these Robot Publishing books are quick reads. I don’t think any of them have taken me any longer than two minutes to get through. Not that that’s necessarily a bad thing, mind you. This one is about Binibus Barnabus (obviously) and how he falls in love with a creature he sees in the water. Odd and more like a fable than a traditional mini, but not bad. This seems kind of suppressed somehow, like he had a lot more to say but felt obligated to put it all in this small book. I’m getting that mostly through the casual asides that he throws out to flesh out the main character that never go anywhere. Strange how I’ve read two of these today and they’re both about a man falling in love with an aquatic creature. I got this one through Top Shelf too, and you could do a lot worse.
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Posted by Kevin
April 23, 2010
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Too Negative #12
Ah, love. It’s all over this comic. Well, that or lust, or reasons for or against love/lust. The bulk of the comic deals with Killbaby trying to have sex with somebody, first Akie (a fallen angel with mysterious genitalia) then Aaron Amoeba, as Aaron has the ability to change between male and female. The trouble is that Aaron is a chubby chaser, which leads Killbaby to some rushed, inadvisable lifestyle choices to fill that role. Then there’s one of the better titles you’ll see for a story: You’re Ugly and You’ll Die Alone. It’s only a couple of pages but it’s packed with absolutely useless advice for how to get and then keep a boyfriend. Hint: if they’re not stalking you, they don’t like you. This still leaves the short pieces, which I can’t into much without ruining them, but they deal with a Mormon vampire (willing to bite but not have sex until marriage), a Pac-Man diet plan, $1.25 per baby and the benefits of cutting your heart out. As someone who hates happy endings I always look forward to this series. I can always count on some hilarious despair and disastrously bad advice being followed. $1
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Posted by Kevin
April 23, 2010
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Too Negative #9 Now Available! $1
Ah, what’s more fun than making fun of backwoods hicks? Not a whole lot. The bulk of this issue is taken up with the story of Aaron Amoeba, who decides to climb a mountain in an effort to get out of his rut and actually have something interesting to talk about in his autobio comics. Aaron meets a horny hick housewife, and hilarity ensues. Also in this issue is Dahlia trying to break all seven deadly sins over a 24 hour period, and if you think there’s nothing funny to be found in that, you obviously haven’t been paying attention to this series. And if that’s the case, why not? $1 an issue too much for you, you cheap bastards? Ahem. Anyway, the last shortie in here is about a couple who both need to use their imagination to get ready for sex, with their fantasy images being much more similar than either of them realize. No troubles with the copy machine or anything here, and as such there’s not a thing for me to complain about. $1
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Posted by Kevin
April 23, 2010
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Too Negative #8 Now Available! $1
More fun from Jenny, even if this one seemed sloppier than the other ones. Or maybe I’m just projecting because she says in the intro that she’s rushing through it to get it out for a con, so who knows? In here she deals with side effects from antidepressants, being called an indy snob, the most ladylike part of her body, letters to the editor, bums, coke and a used and abused easter basket. The highlight of the book though (as with #7) has to be the biggest piece, in which “Won’t somebody please think of the children?” comes to a logical conclusion, as the government takes over and decides to take Springer off the air, thereby depriving a housewife of her most crucial programming of the day. Naturally, Jenny is called in to fight an amputee midget in a homemade version of Springer, and all is rightish with the world. One minor complaint: this is probably an issue more with the copy machine she uses than her drawing, but occasionally the text pieces were so faint that they were barely legible, which becomes an issue when the ensuing piece was a reaction to that text piece. So, um, fix all copy machines before using them! Somehow. $1
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Posted by Kevin
April 23, 2010
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Too Negative #7 Now Available! $1
Everybody here remembers the breast (singular) that destroyed America, right? Janet Jackson had a boob pop out at the Superbowl a few years ago for a second or two, and the entire country went crazy for a few weeks. Now that that national nightmare is over and the world will never again have to see a breast, Jenny was able to make a wonderful comic about how tits can, in fact, cause serious injury. While that’s the definite highlight of this issue, there are plenty of other goodies in here to enjoy. There’s the awkward concept of talking to children about a teabagging strip in the paper, taking a market research survey about a giant dancing tongue, biting the heads off of barbie dolls, babies as the most precious thing in the universe, proving heterosexuality by strenuous gay sex, hippies living off their parents, and an attention-starved lamp. So, once again, you have a mini that is packed to the proverbial gills with comics and even assorted goodies in the margins, all for a measly buck.
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Posted by Kevin
April 23, 2010
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My Word! (with John Porcellino) Now Available! $2
Missy and John teamed up on a fairly unique mini comic here. They each came up with 5 words for the other person and that person had to draw five comics. I don’t think I’m giving away a thing by telling you the words: postage, camel, decision, honey, sidewalk, sick, bedtime, violets, catsup, and fly. Who gets which word? What do they write about? Those questions can only be answered by reading this, as it’s fairly silly to give something like this a regular review. Even if your black, black heart prevents you from loving Missy’s work because you think it’s too cute or something, I can’t imagine needing to go to a lot of effort to convince anybody to read anything that John P. has ever done. It’s a fun and occasionally melancholy book, what more can you ask for? $2
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Posted by Kevin
April 23, 2010
Website
Cloud Picnic Now Available! $2
Yes, in case you were wondering, this book is exactly as adorable as it appears from the cover. This is the silent tale of a couple of sock monkeys, floating along a river on a a flat smiley face, meeting another couple of… things. Mostly featureless dolls, vaguely shaped like humans. Then they all run across their friend, a solo teddy bear, who decides to climb to the top of a circular slide. This circular slide leads the bear to land on a cloud which, in turn, leads to the cloud picnic. This was apparently also made on Super 8 film (possibly on that website), which I’m curious to see. As for you and this comic, do cute things frighten or alarm you? If so, this should probably be avoided. If you have a healthy capacity for “Awww”, then you won’t regret checking this out.
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Posted by Kevin
April 23, 2010
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Too Negative #3
Hey, here’s a perfect test to see if my new scanner makes any difference. #2 was scanned with the old scanner, #3 was scanned with the new one. See any difference? Here’s another good one from Jenny. I love how she adds all kinds of tiny things all over the margins of the page. It makes you examine everything, which always leads to a more complete experience, although that does look stupid now that I’ve typed it. Oh well. This one has Bin Laden too, and Dahlia attacking him with a model of the World Trade Center. Oh, and Eminem was involved. Add the page I sampled and some birds attacking a giant hot dog and you have another pretty good comic, although this one seemed shorter for some reason. Maybe the one long story? Whatever the case, it’s still only a buck, so what do you care? Contact info is up there, you know what to do…
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Posted by Kevin
April 23, 2010
Website
Fancy Froglin’s Sexy Forest
If you’ve ever wanted to see James Kochalka naked, buy this book! Seriously, I’m not going to scan the picture because I’m pretty sure it’s only for paying customers, but he’s totally nude, dude. As for this book, maybe I’m just looking for more mature stuff from James after his incredible work with his sketchbook diaries, but this whole thing is as childish and silly as it could be. You know, maybe you should try getting drunk before reading. I think that would help the humor a bunch. People who have bothered to read the rest of this page know that I’m a huge James Kochalka fan, so I’m not going to say that I hated this book. I’m simply going to to say that I didn’t like it as much as his other stuff. OK? If you’re looking for a story synopsis, I’ll do the best I can. Fancy Froglin wanders around a lot, either with a boner or trying to get his boner back, while talking to Some Bunny, Uncle Funky and Butterfly Guy. It’s $12.95, which is a pretty hefty price for a book that’s so quickly read, but you know what you’re doing when you buy a Kochalka book by now. It’s worth getting just to see the incredible coloring job that was done to this, but as far as content goes, I think he’s done better work. Contact info is scattered all over this page, you know what to do.
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Posted by Kevin
April 23, 2010
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Too Negative #2
Who doesn’t love mayhem in a comic? If the answer is you, maybe you shouldn’t bother with this one, although you’d be missing out. For the rest of us, this is a welcome and extremely intelligent kick in the pants. It’s mostly about a girl called Devil Dahlia. This isn’t just a collection of wacky adventures though, or I probably wouldn’t have liked it this much. There’s a story about Dahlia trying to convince her friend Killbaby that he’s gay, one about her new roommate, one about Bert from Sesame Street riding a bus with Bin Laden, a relative epic about stabbing herself and ESP, a day in the life of Killbaby, a piece about exorcisms and some doodles on the back cover. Good stuff all around. This is only #2, but it sure looks like she’s been doing comics for a while, if the art here is any indication. It’s only $1, check out her website or just send her an e-mail.
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Posted by Kevin
April 23, 2010
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Spudd 64 #4 Now Available! $3.50
I’m going to give you both of my opinions about this issue, just to confuse everybody. That’s right, I said both of my opinions, as I can’t decide if I should go deeply pessimistic here or totally optimistic. The pessimist in me thinks it’s a terrible sign that, on the fourth issue of a series, Matt has already called in friends to help him out with an issue, for art and for some stories. The optimist in me can also see this as a great sign, as the sheer number of people involved (Steve Black, Leighton Connor, Coly Kegley, Tim McClurg, Sean McGurr, Dara Naraghi, Kyle Wallace and Tom Williams) indicates that Spudd is taking off big time and all sorts of folks want to put their interpretation in before it turns into a huge behemoth of a series, loved by all small children and furry animals. The truth of the whole thing probably lies somewhere in the middle of all that, as usual. What about the actual comic? There are all sorts of full page spreads, mostly by Matt (but not all, by any means), but the main story in here is written by Leighton Connor and drawn by Matt, about Hafez first leaving his people and his brother starting a long search to find him. He also goes into greater detail later about some of the deities involved in the Spudd storyline, which is what’s making me lean towards my optimistic view that he has this whole huge story planned out already and this “jam” issue is a blip on his path to fame and fortune. Don’t get me wrong, it’s still a fun issue and will serve as a good reference point in the future when this stuff gets (more) confusing, but, speaking purely for myself here, I’ll be happy to see a regular sized issue of Spudd 64 done totally by Matt to keep things humming along at their proper pace. If, two issues from now, we get a “best of Spudd” issue, I’ll know that the pessimist was right all along, but I have genuinely high hopes for this series…
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Posted by Kevin
April 23, 2010
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Concepcion
This book beautifully addresses a question I had over the past summer: how many religious people have actually read the whole Bible? I managed it, thanks to taking some time off of work this summer, and merciful Minerva what a mess that was. This is the story of a woman who is getting older and is losing all the people around her so, in an attempt to comfort herself, reads the Bible. She sees that God, as portrayed in the good book, is more than a little bit of a prick. As such she starts to question all of her assumptions about death and the afterlife, and this comic tracks her as she takes a shower and tries to sort it all out. I thought it was fantastic, as I always love seeing religion as a whole intelligently discussed like this. And really, whatever your beliefs are, that’s fine, it’s your life. But if anybody could tell me how the story of Job as it’s written isn’t God being a vindictive jerk just to impress Satan, of all “people”, well… $2
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Posted by Kevin
April 23, 2010
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Victims At The End Of The World: Free Preview
God bless the free previews, I wish more people did these things. All Rickey had at SPACE this year was a graphic novel (if I’m remembering correctly, which I’m probably not) and this, so all of us poor people can still check out his stuff without having to spend a bunch. Actually, looking at his website I can see that the graphic novel is only $6, so apparently I have no excuse at all. So how about that comic? It’s the story of a bunch of dolls who have been thrown away and come back in their own world, similar to ours but not exactly the same. This short preview deals with Algernon, a suicidal furry doll who helps his friends at the expense of his own well being. In other words, he’s a pushover. A friend, Bartleby, comes into Algernon’s house right as he is about to kill himself and asks for help with a project. Most of the story is in the head of Algernon and there are no word bubbles to be seen, which is a welcome change. It’s almost impossible to criticize a comic for being momentarily pretentious when the publishing company is called Pretentious Comics, so I’ll leave that alone. It’s an intriguing peek into what may be a great graphic novel, or what may be a whiny, long-winded piece of crap, although that second option would really surprise me from what I saw here. My only problem here is with the art, which is simplistic to a fault, as the characters seem to live against a flat gray background. It’s the kind of thing that may grow on you or not, and as always a trip around that website would probably clear a lot of things up for anybody who is curious.
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Posted by Kevin
April 23, 2010
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Dirtbag #7
Do I have to write a review? Look, I think this guy is incredible. The page I sampled here is just about dead-on, at least in my experience. Granted, he didn’t say it, but he had the wit to draw it and put it in his comic. If you’re a male and you’ve ever been confused about females, his comics are bound to help at least a little, if for no other reason than you can find out some things that you shouldn’t do in certain situations. It’s supposed to be the same color as the cover but I wanted to make sure you could read it and that it wouldn’t be a giant-size file, so here you go.
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Posted by Kevin
