April 23, 2010
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Preacher Book 7: Salvation
How the hell can you have a Preacher book without Cassidy or Tulip? Good question. This is a good story, no doubt about that, but with the exception with the issue right before the end, you could pretty much skip this entirely and go on to the next book. Let me sum it up for you: Jesse is basically a shell of a man, operating without a purpose, since he saw Cassidy and Tulip together. He wanders into his hometown, becomes the sheriff and has to take on the corrupt local rich man. Has a few adventures along the way, makes a few new friends and sees somebody that he never thought he’d see again. He finally gets his shit together and leaves to continue his quest. Get all that? Then you can skip most of this book. If your main concern is the main storyline, that is. That goes nowhere in this book. If you’re just a fan of the Ennis/Dillon team and can’t get enough of them, then I won’t have to convince you to get this.
The issue before the last one in the book finally tells just what happened to Jesse when he fell out of that plane. I don’t want to say too much about it now because maybe this point got cleared up before the end of the series and I missed it, but why… OK, listen. I’m going to have a section on this page called “Spoilers“. In that section I’m going to talk about all the series that I’m going to be reading, and I’m going to say everything that happens in them. I’ll talk all about my problem with that issue in that part, along with everything else I’m reluctant to give away here. Needless to say, I didn’t buy it, and that’s a problem with something as important as that. A damned good issue though, and enough happens there to make this essential to your Preacher experience. Or go out and find #49 and ignore this if you’re too poor to get them all right now. The last part of the book is with Spaceman, the friend of Jesse’s Dad from Vietnam, telling another story of his past. I guess it shows what Jesse is trying to live up to, but it could have just as easily been a special or something and certainly wasn’t essential reading. I’m reading this stuff critically for the first time now. I jumped on this series at #49, so I was too wrapped up in what was happening to be too critical of it. Now that I’m looking at the whole damned thing under a microscope, I’m wondering how my opinion is going to change. I’ll keep you posted…
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Posted by Kevin
April 23, 2010
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Preacher Book 6: War in the Sun
Well, here it is. The only good Preacher Special that Steve Dillon didn’t draw. Finally, some backstory on one of the most pitiable villains ever, Starr. Maybe that’s not the impression that you’re supposed to get from the guy, but with all the shit that he goes through in this series, how can you not? The first story shows his rise through the ranks as a member of The Grail and how he got those scars on his face. Maybe not essential reading, but every little bit helps with this guy. Why did he rebel against The Grail and what made him who he was?
The majority of the book is from the “War in the Sun” story. Jesse had the bright idea that he was going to go out into the desert, take some peyote and get in touch with Genesis. Starr had heard him talking about this before, so he was well aware of it when Jesse finally hit an Indian reservation. He called in a few favors and had the army there to help him just in case the Saint of Killers showed up again, and almost everybody was on hand for this one. I think they should have left the last issue of this volume out and saved it for the next book, the reasons for which should be obvious if you read it. If you’re just buying these things in the future and the book ends an issue earlier, well, you’re going to rush right out to get the next one. With the way this one ends, well, you… once again, not giving anything away.
How is this one? It’s the one I was most looking forward to (except for the very last one), and I can’t remember why that was. The actual battle was huge, of course, but it was over pretty quickly. Cassidy continues his slide into complete and total worthlessness. The key scenes with this one were the bit on the plane after the battle and Jesse’s reaction after his “reunion” with Cassidy and Tulip. The bit with Arseface at the end seemed almost totally useless to me, as it was just randomly thrown in the story to fill space and didn’t go anywhere. All in all though, it was a good book. Definitely a high point before the series takes a bit of a breather with the next book, so enjoy the plot progressing while you can.
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Posted by Kevin
April 23, 2010
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Preacher Book 5: Dixie Fried
When I was looking ahead at reading series again, this was another one of those books that I wasn’t all that excited about. Why? Honestly, it’s because I know what’s coming next, and it’s just pure action candy. With all the stuff I read these days, you’d think I’d be able to look forward to a whole hell of a lot of character development too, and I have to say that this might be the best book in the series. It has the Cassidy: Blood and Whiskey special (which is by far the best of the specials, and I liked the Saint of Killers one more than a little bit) and also is chock full of hints about what Cassidy really is. You don’t get to see those bits in the first few books. Oh sure, his friend in the first book is a… I’m not supposed to be giving anything away, right? Anyway, it’s obvious that his friends aren’t much, but this is the first chance we get to see that some of them actively loath him. Why? What has he done that’s so bad? We still don’t see, but we do get a whole lot of hints.
The book itself is mostly about Jesse and his quest to try to get in touch with Genesis and what method he’s going to use to do it. We get some great lines on shrinks and psychology in general and he ends up deciding to use voodoo. The goth gang from the Cassidy special comes back to find him, and hilarity ensues. Or maybe bloodshed, I get those two mixed up. Have I raved about Steve Dillon yet? Man, I take that guy for granted until I see somebody else try to draw this story. I don’t know a thing about what he draws in the backgrounds, I’m sure it’s just fine. The thing that always stops me is his expressiveness with the faces of all these people. Cassidy when Tulip is telling him what she really thinks of him, Jesse when Cassidy overprotects him at a bar… Hell, nobody else in the world can draw Arseface. Glenn Fabry comes close with the covers, but he doesn’t quite get it right. Even if I think that this might be the best book in the series (and I have a few more left), don’t buy this one first. You need to see Cassidy as he can be before you see him as he really is…
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Posted by Kevin
April 23, 2010
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Preacher Book 4: Ancient History
I wasn’t sure what I was going to think of this one coming in. I liked it at the time, but I was severely annoyed that it disrupted the narrative as much as it did. As I’m reading these about three per day for these reviews, the narrative isn’t disrupted much, leaving the book to stand or fall on its own. And… eh. It’s OK. The Saint of Killers four part story is good. Pure western all the way, and I don’t want to spoil a single part of his trip to hell because it’s pure genius. The story is stopped from being great by the sudden and inexplicable change in artists for the third issue. DC seems to have problems like this from time to time. They knew that they had a successful series, and they knew that these books would probably have a long shelf life. And yet instead of taking their time and getting everything done right, they had to rush this series out, so we’re left with a story that is a lot more of a mess visually than it needs to be. Honestly, I thought Steve Pugh was doing a pretty good job until I saw how much better Carlos Ezquerra did. Part 4 of the story looked rushed as hell too. If they had any sense they’d release another version of this that had solid art from the same person all the way through, since these books are going to be around for the forseeable future.
As for the other two stories, I could take them or leave them. The Story of You-Know-Who (apparently they couldn’t say “Arseface” on the cover of the book, or maybe they didn’t want to) was mediocre to bad up until the last page, but I just loved the ending. Not that I’m going to give anything away, of course. The story tells about how shitty his life was, and why he tried to kill himself. A touchy subject to make fun of, and it just wasn’t all that well done. Good Old Boys (a story of Jody and T.C. from before they were killed) was meant to be over the top and goofy, but instead fell kind of flat in my mind. It had its moments, as all of his books do, but overall it was just a pointless book meant to capitalize on the Preacher craze. The Saint of Killers told an origin that needed telling, Arseface had a story that kind of needed to be told, and that other one should have just been left in the idea bin. Do you need to buy this book? If only for the Saint of Killers story, yes. I thought originally that you could wait until you read the whole series and then go back to this one. I’ll let you know when I finish the whole thing again, but I think it might help to know throughout the whole thing about his trip to hell. If I can find a better, quieter place in the storyline where this might have fit, I’ll let you know.
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Posted by Kevin
April 23, 2010
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Preacher Book 3: Proud Americans
Ah, now here’s a fucking book. It starts off with a tale about Jesse’s father, and I guess you could call it “filler”. Maybe they missed a deadline or something, but it’s still head and shoulders above most of the crap that’s in other comics regularly. Then there’s the bulk of the book, which involves Jesse storming the headquarters of The Grail to get his friend Cassidy back, and pretty much everybody is in this one: Saint of Killers, Starr, the father of Genesis, the Messiah, even God. More questions are asked than answered, obviously, as this is still pretty early on in the series. Oh, and it ends with the tale, finally, of how Cassidy became a vampire and some of what he’s done with his life. Told through his rather rose-colored memory, as we learn later in the series, but I digress. If you’ve still got your doubts about this series and you read this book and somehow don’t like it, then stop right now. It gets better, but this is a fine example of what this series can be like at its best. It sounds silly when you put it next to all the violence done in this book, but this series is really all about commitment and friendship. And pride in a lot of ways, but the main point of this series is not the violence. It might be a tough argument to make with a pile of bodies ten high in front of the Saint of Killers, but I’m standing by it.
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Posted by Kevin
April 23, 2010
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Preacher Book 2: Until the End of the World
Maybe I’m just not cut out for the reviewing business, because more than anything else I want to do this so I can get to Book 3. OK, what was this one about. We finally get the whole story on Jesse and how he became the man that he is, and why he “ran out” on Tulip years ago. We get at least part of the backstory on Tulip, or at least why she was a hired killer when we saw her at the start of the book. And we get to see Starr, who went through more horrible shit in this series than anybody else by far. This seemed to be kind of a haphazardly thrown together collection. Sure, it was a series of issues in a row and it was linear. But the story ended rather abruptly, as opposed to the usual smooth ending that is in most of these books. Still, the first half of the book was fucking incredible. Getting to meet Granma, Jody and T.C. (and getting to see the shit Jesse had to put up with as he was growing up) was more than worth the price of admission, even if the whole thing was kind of a mess.
If I had to criticize anything about Garth Ennis, it would be his tendency to write characters into his stories just so there will be all kinds of crazy shit going on. Or maybe he was using it to let Jesse go on about buzzwords and PC bullshit, I don’t know. But it seems to me that he often throws in characters like Jesus De Sade because he wants to throw in titillating (and completely useless to the story) scenes. Turns out that the story did have a point, but that was mostly because Starr and his crew wandered onto their trail while looking for… someone who did something bad to Starr. Listen, I’m still torn about this reviewing thing, so I’m going to need some feedback on this: should I review everything about these books, thereby ruining at least a few surprises for the people who haven’t read this yet, or should I continue on with my half-assed “summaries” of these stories? Anyway, why second-guess the writer? I would have done things differently I guess, but I didn’t write the story and I don’t work for DC. If he thought that he needed Jesus De Sade in the book, then more power to him. He seems to know what he’s doing most of the time. If you already bought the first book, I won’t need to say anything to convince you to get this one. If you haven’t bought it yet, what are you waiting for? Unless you really hate all things from the big companies with an unreasoning fire, then this book is a fucking blast.
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Posted by Kevin
April 23, 2010
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Preacher Book 1: Gone to Texas
It should say something about how much I love this series when you stop to think that I could have reread any series first for review purposes, and I chose this one. Cerebus, Sandman, Love and Rockets, the Big Books, Concrete, Hate, Sin City… I’m looking forward to rereading each and every one of them (some more than others… Cerebus, for example, I haven’t read since I reread the whole thing when it hit 200. That was five years ago), but this one is just the most fun that you can get out of a comic series. I said in my first half-assed review for the second book that you should start with that one, going back to this one when you get into the series. Let me take this opportunity to say that I was completely wrong. True, he wasn’t completely on his game yet. The series starts, for example, with the three main characters (Jesse Custer (Preacher), Tulip and Cassidy) sitting in a diner, talking about how they got there. They go to flashbacks for a little while, then I guess the story just took on a life of its own because he abandoned the “flashback” idea completely. This books introduces Saint of Killers, Arseface, and mention pretty much everybody you need to know for the rest of the series… except Starr.
What’s this book about? Well, Jesse is preaching to an unusually full church (the reason for that is funny enough that you should read it for yourself) when the entity known as Genesis enters the church and his body, and the resulting explosion kills everybody else there. The rest of the book is spent establishing who everyone is, with plenty of secrets being left out. It’s established right away that he’s looking for God, and not in the spiritual sense. It’s great to read this whole thing already knowing what happens too. I’m not going to ruin a damned thing, don’t worry, but even the things that didn’t seem to make a whole lot of sense in the end really do. The characters were leading down that path every step of the way. Joe R. Lansdale says in his introduction that the book is intelligent without being intellectual, and that can be taken in a good or a bad way. It’s accessible to everybody, and I believe it was one of the better selling Vertigo books when it was out. It’s hard to believe and it rarely ever happens, but a book can sell really well and still be fantastic. I think a lot of people bought this book for the shock value, and there is a little bit of that. There’s usually at least a panel or two per issue that some dorks probably look for to point at as being the coolest thing about it. They’re missing the point, but their money probably means that Garth Ennis has his pick of projects from now on, so it wasn’t all bad.
The rest of the book is tough to review, because I remember how great it was for me to discover all this stuff. OK, how about this. A secret is discovered about Cassidy that you can actually read on the back of the book (which is one of the main reasons I try not to read the back of any book), not that the secret is all that surprising. Tulip was a hired killer at the start of the book, but we still don’t know why. Why was Jesse a Preacher at all, and why did he leave Tulip 5 years ago? Who is his Granma, and why is he so scared of her? How was it that he saw his Dad killed in front of him when he was a child? What role is Arseface going to play in this, if any? And can Jesse hope to find God when Saint of Killers has been sent to kill him? If any of this intrigues you, read the series. It really is one of the best things I’ve ever read. Not the most intellectual, and I’m sure I’m not going to be able to walk into a coffee shop and talk about this in the same way that I would talk about, say, Jimmy Corrigan, and that’s fine, because the books shouldn’t be compared. They’re both seminal works in their own right. I’m just afraid that people are going to try to copy this series in the same way that they tried to copy Watchmen and The Dark Knight Returns, and they’re going to miss the point completely just like they did back then.
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Posted by Kevin
April 23, 2010
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The Tenth Frame #9
I don’t know of anybody else who could have pulled off this concept, but Austin managed it. This comic comes with a CD with “In Walked Bud” on it, a Thelonious Monk song. You’re supposed to play it and read along in the comic, and there are boxes with the corresponding time of the song to keep you on the right track. There’s a tremendous amount of work put into this (as you can probably tell by the cover), and every issue is hand-colored, so they’re not cheap at $5. Still, this is a unique comic experience, blending music and pictures almost seamlessly, and I think he did a fantastic job. Oh, and he also made little figures of the band, and he included pegs so you can stand them up while you’re reading the book and listening to the CD. Contact info is above, if you order this you might have to wait a week to let him color an issue, but it’s worth the wait. Seriously. If you’re looking for something new in comics, check this out.
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Posted by Kevin
April 23, 2010
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The Tenth Frame #8
This man is redefining minimalism in comics. I’m sure there are people out there who’d disagree with me, and I’m not saying he’s the best thing going out there or anything, I’m just saying that he does more with less than a whole lot of people doing comics today. This book is probably more than 50 pages and you can read it in about 4 minutes, and it only takes that long because you stop to think about things that he’s said along the way. He has a few stories in here. The first is about how he was born, a meandering and vague tale that seems perfect for the subject once you’re done with it. Then there’s one about Charlie Parker, although the music is more implied than shown in this one. You also have kind of a remake of a story from the last issue, “The Story of Adele H”, as well as musings about work, his personal life and more music. There doesn’t seem to be much here at first glance, it takes a few minutes for everything in here to sink in. It’s well worth seeking out and taking a look at, and it’s pretty cheap at $2. Contact info is up there…
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Posted by Kevin
April 23, 2010
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The Tenth Frame #7
Oh crap, not another thoughtful, introspective book! For those of you who may be confused, well, obviously I’m joking. Even the worst of the books like this are still about people honestly examining their feelings and their surroundings, and there’s just not enough of that going around in the world. This book absolutely defies scanning, as you can see from the sample I have down there. There are a couple of wordless comics in here. One is about a list of everyday things, with a sad disembodied head floating through the motions of a day. I liked it; it rang true for me. Then there’s another bit about a jazz player and he Austin has a great way of communicating music through comics. Then of course there’s poetry and observations here and there, mostly in the middle of the book, with various pictures, hence “comics”. I liked it. His art has a casual, doodly charm that’s hard to resist. It’s $2 if you’re interested, (plus $1 for shipping, which I haven’t been mentioning on too many pages, but most people would appreciate it, and you already know that, so I’ll stop now). Send money to: 2892 Cesar Chavez San Francisco, CA 94110. Or e-mail him for info, as I think he’s moving soon…
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Posted by Kevin
April 23, 2010
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Windy Corner Magazine #3 edited by Austin English Now available! $10
It’s good to be reminded on a regular basis of just how wrong I can be. I’ve been bitching lately about the lack of readable contents pages for anthologies and how I just want to know who did which strip. This issue starts with a remarkable series of images by Lille Carre and goes seamlessly into a table of contents drawn by Molly Colleen O’Connell. There are no page numbers, the actual information is strewn about the page… and I went away from the pages knowing exactly who did what and where. Kudos. Granted, once you get past those first few pages there are fewer contributors this time around to keep track of, but it’s nice work all the same. Austin gets most of the, um, page time in this issue, as well he should. First up is part 3 of the Francis story (and I am going to go back and review the first issue soon), which deals this time only with Francis’ mother and her life. After this Austin has a couple of short pieces dealing with Austin’s formative years drawing and a trip to the museum between a father and his daughter (mostly dealing with their relationship). Sakura Maku is up next with a series of vibrant pieces about a brassiere museum, dying and being turned into a tree and a guy who was briefly married to Janet Jackson. In other words, you’ll need to read it for yourself. Jason T. Miles then draws a letter to the magazine from Jesse McManus, which is mildly odd because Jesse could certainly draw it himself, but Jason has a unique way of interpreting it. Finally there are the text pieces, as Austin talks about Garth Williams (an illustrator who influenced him greatly growing up), Frank Santoro has a review of Garage Band by Gipi (reminding me once again that what I do here is a poor substitute for actual, in-depth reviews), and Vanessa Davis interviews Carol Tyler. I’d probably pick up #2 before #3 if I just had $10 to spend, but there’s plenty in both of these issues for all comics fans. Unless you just hate Austin English for some reason, but I don’t see how that would be possible. $10
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Posted by Kevin
April 23, 2010
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Windy Corner Magazine #2 edited by Austin English Now Available! $10
Why on earth would you put out a magazine like this (as it contains brilliant and vibrant colors throughout) and give it a black and white cover? Sorry, I just felt the urge to get my one tiny complaint about this issue out of the way early. This is more of an anthology than a traditional magazine, if that makes any difference to any of you. There are two pieces here that are full of text, one of which is Austin discussing the art of Lois Lenski at length and the other is an interview between Onsmith (interviewer) and John Hankiewicz (interviewee). This interview is absolutely priceless, as who in the comics world would you want to see interviewed more than John? OK, it’s possible that there are people you’d rather read about, but John’s work contains so much in every panel and every issue that it was greatly informative to see him break down what he’s doing (or trying to do, in some cases), how he manages to put that level of detail and crosshatching into every panel and how his creative process has evolved through the years. Then, of course, there’s the comics. This begins on the inside front cover with two short pieces by Mollie Goldstrom (contemplative pieces on the outdoors) and quickly moved to three stories by Austin. There’s a trip to the Planetarium as a child and his innocent and wide-eyed reactions, the second part of a series called Francis (and I really should have read the first issue before this), and the memory of a trip to the movies with his parents as a child. For anybody who complains about the price of these magazines, and they are a bit steep in these times, the fact that Austin’s work is able to be produced in color because of it is worth the price of admission. That still leaves two comics: a piece by Fiona Logusch about the entanglements of relationships and how hard it is to get free and an autobiographical piece by Dylan Williams about his mail relationship with Alex Toth, what he learned from him and Dylan’s own progression as an artist through the years. As a whole it’s damned near flawless, assuming you’re a fan of the people mentioned above, and why on earth wouldn’t you be? Even if you’re not, picking this up and reading this will make you a fan. Don’t take my word for it; a glance around this website will show you work from everybody in this issue, then you can make up your own mind. $10
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Posted by Kevin
April 23, 2010
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Windy Corner Magazine #1 edited by Austin English Now Available! $10
For the curious: in this series I reviewed #2, then #3, and now finally #1. I plan on reviewing future issues out of order as well (if I get more than one of them at a time) just for the hell of it. Sure it’s a stupid way to go about it, especially as this issue details exactly what Austin hopes to get out of the artist interviews (he wants artists to interview artists about, um, artsy thing, which makes it especially impressive that all three of them have all been equally accessible to somebody like me, who is decidedly not an artist), and also has the beginning of the story of Francis. Austin was also against using punctuation in most of these strips, which has the disquieting effect of making everything seem like a deeply relevant run-on sentence. Anyway, stories in here include Francis parts 1-4 (involving losing the money for dinner, Francis finding a suspicious letter in his dad’s coat pocket (and showing it to his mother), buying toys and eking out a living, and Francis selling some of his art), Austin showing us a few of his earliest memories, some painting by Paula Salemme, Austin interviewing Andrice Arp (if the name doesn’t sound familiar, trust me, if you read small press comics you’ll recognize the art), a story of actually learning something in art school by Steve Lafler, and a wordless piece by Richard Hahn, who should really finish the next issue of Lumakick already. Unless he’s just working on other stuff that I’ve missed, which is entirely possible. I still think #2 is the best of the bunch, but that’s probably just because I’m so biased towards that Onsmith/John Hankiewicz interview. Still, there’s not a bad issue here, I just hope the price tag doesn’t scare people off. $10
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Posted by Kevin
April 23, 2010
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Christina & Charles Now Available! $10
I love a good story that throws you off of any preconceived notions you might have. I mean, obviously this is a story about two people named Christina & Charles, right? And if they’re not together instantly, you know that sooner or later they will be. Well, not so much. Ordinarily this would be a spoiler but Austin sums everything up beautifully on the back page, talking about how even though these two people never met they were really quite similar and could have benefited from knowing each other. The book is broken up more or less into halves, the first half dealing with Christina. It’s like a quiet conversation she’s having almost with herself, talking about a moment with her Mom, trying to fit in with her richer friends in high school, falling in love, and her jealousy of the careless ease with which a group of thirteen year old kids dealt with each other. The second half is about Charlie, told from the perspective of his brother, dealing with their rich fantasy life, watching how their cousin Tim dealt with being completely in love with a faithless woman, and how every girl wanted to be near Charlie in high school. I’ve thought highly of Austin’s stuff for years, and this still blows everything else he has done out of the water. He captures the quiet moments here in ways that would make even the most perceptive comic artists jealous, tells a variety of simple truths that I hadn’t even considered and puts such obvious love into each panel that it’s impossible not to be charmed. He says in the afterward that this is the first book of many and it damned well better be, because it’s people like him that, despite occasional boredom with comics, keep me coming back for more and excited to see new books. And if you’re thinking this isn’t for you because the art turns you off, or isn’t your style… no. It’s absolutely perfect for what he does. This is for anybody who needs a shot in the arm to re-instill their love of comics or just wants a reminder of why they started reading these funny books in the first place. $10
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Posted by Kevin
April 23, 2010
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Set of all three minis from the online store
III: About Yr Future Now Available! $1
OK fine, I can’t stall any more, I have to read the last of the comics from these giants of men (and women, although I meant “men” in the “mankind” sense, although some people take offense to that, so…). I’m not seeing anything new at their website either, other than some anthologies, which is a damned shame. Everybody who has read this site and/or these comics (and really, why would you read this site without giving at least one of these books a chance?) knows the general format of these books, so I’ll skip over that. Topics include the general awesomeness of Star Trek fans, the maid from the Jetsons, Mad Max vs. Power Rangers, Alphabot, and the single creepiest panel I may have ever seen in comics. OK, probably not ever, as I’m sure there are plenty I’m blocking out for the sake of my sanity, but a woman baby-talking to her cat about how she’s going to turn her paws into earrings when the cat dies had me almost snort the water I was drinking, vaudeville style. Kudos to the both of them for that. No more comics from these two, which means everybody reading this should buy all their books (from them as well as me) to convince them to make a whole bunch of comics again. Think of it as your civic duty to keep the quality books coming. $1
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Posted by Kevin
April 23, 2010
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Set of all three minis from the online store
II: No Time Like the Present Now Available! $1
I’m going to assume that everybody out there is up to date about these wonderful people (or wonderfully creative people anyway, for all I know they’re both assholes (but I doubt it)) and their thoroughly unique take on comics and leave it at that. If you’re not, scroll around the page, that’s why I keep all these rambles up at all times, even when I read them years later and am horribly embarrassed by some remarkably stupid thing that I’ve said. This is the second part of their series for poor people, a sort of drug dealerish effort to get people hooked in with a cheap taste of their take on various stupid and ridiculous people taken in a snapshot piece of text describing that moment in their lives. Topics this time include crippled royalty, a Hitler moustache, a pickup gimmick, kids liking cake, awesomeness, office humor, pagans, and a musical interlude. Look, if you can look around at all these samples and not find anything funny, feel free to avoid these books. If you’re like most other people with a sense of humor, pick these up already, they’ve been up on this page for years now. $1
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Posted by Kevin
April 23, 2010
Website
Icecreamlandia #3 Now Available! $3.50
Boo-hoo, this is my last issue of Icecreamlandia to review! Can you tell that I like this comic yet? This one has fewer isolated panels, which would be a bad thing, but they make up for that with more extended dialogue with swimmers and wrestlers, so the universe is at balance once again. Isolated panels include debating whether or not animals have souls, an adorable little girl, working at Family Video (or maybe I’m just projecting past experience here), the janitor, family vacation, 99 red bananas, ice skating, our one lord and savior, the artistic merits of Chumbawamba, and Geronimo. After taking an issue or so to get in the swing of things with this series, I have to say that I love what they’re doing and think that everybody reading this should sell all their belongings to buy their comics and make them as rich as is humanly possible. Come on, cough it up! Contact info is up there, these are $3.50 each…
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Posted by Kevin
April 23, 2010
Website
Icecreamlandia #2 Now Available! $3.50
Here’s another of my lame attempts to define this series, as if attempting to define a comic was in any way a worthwhile pursuit: it’s kind of like flipping the channels late at night and not resting on anything for longer than a few seconds. Really, this is one of those cases where the only way this is going to make any sense to you would be to check it out for yourselves. I’ve probably said that more than a few times over the last three years, but I don’t think it’s ever been more true than with this. Snippets in this issue include forced dialogue from a game show, a chemistry joke, a wicked mullet, being totally freaked, a pregnant doll, Jesus, puking, having no gag reflex, and a Predator. See, I tried to tell you that it wouldn’t make any sense. This is one of the more innovative series that I’ve seen, and a trip to their website might just help to convince you of that fact. $3.50
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Posted by Kevin
April 23, 2010
Website
Icecreamlandia #1 Now Available! $3.50
Here you have a comic with no obvious plot, no recurring characters to tie anything together, and no obvious reason for being. I, for one, couldn’t be happier. What you have is a collection of one page testimonials from various people who are either living, dead or imaginary, loosely tied together by some sort of a newscast. I say “tied together” only because the newscast is the only thing in the book that happens more than once. Other than that you get to see a resigned old woman, a man in a rat suit, a small child, and Wonder Woman, among many others. There’s not a single thing I can compare this with, with possible exception of certain panels from Duplex Planet, but that’s a tenuous connection at best. The website tells you all you need to know, this is $3.50 and this is a comic you’re not likely to easily forget. Also, there’s a naked picture of the creators in the back…
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Posted by Kevin
April 23, 2010
Website
Cruel World #6
MUCH better with the art this time around, so three cheers for that. Oh, I’m sorry, I’m just guessing that you already read the review up there. This one is from 1999, so that still leaves a bit of a gap from here to modern day. You also have a story about teenage zombies (with no actual zombies present), a hoity-toity sperm, a brown mose (believe me, regardless of what that cover says, you don’t want to know what it is), a vanishing penis, the birth of the mullet, and a few one page gag strips. As they’re all funny, there’s not a thing in the world wrong with that. No complaints at all this time around, I thought this was quite a leap in quality from #1. Granted, #6 vs #1 should be a huge leap in quality, but not everybody manages to pull that off, so kudos to Anton. $3.50
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Posted by Kevin
