April 22, 2010
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The Complete Ouija Interviews
Huzzah for the existence of a complete Ouija Interviews! In case you have any doubts about my lack of objectivity, there you go: I have none at all. The odd thing is that I think Ouija as a whole is one of the bigger absurdities of life, and have seen it debunked in enough ways and by enough people not to place any stock in at at all as a real thing. Still, these stories are a blast, and I’m never going to let a difference of opinion (or, well, fact) get in the way of my enjoyment of a good story. I’m going to go ahead and assume that everybody reading this has already read the four issues of Ouija Interviews (listed below, and they’re also for sale individually) and am instead going to answer the questions of everybody else reading this. Why, if I’ve already read the four issues, would I want to get a collection? Well, for one thing it’s gorgeous. That’s always a plus. There’s an introduction by her brother, going into a bit more detail of how these stories came into being. But the main thing is what all comics readers are after: more comics. If this was a DVD set this would be the special edition, as each of the four stories (reprinted here in full) has a shorter, unrelated piece after it. More ouija interviews, but these are short stories, sometimes focusing on a message that the “ghost” wanted to impart, sometimes sticking more with facts about the messenger. There’s also the fact that this is a measly $10, which is cheaper than getting the issues individually, so if you are one of the people who was waiting for an affordable collection before checking this out, now’s your chance. This was all made possible by a grant from the Xeric people, proving once again that they have a very good sense on who should be getting their money. Now if I could only convince them to pass some around for websites about small press comics… $10
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Posted by Kevin
April 22, 2010
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Brainfag #6
Part of the problem of reading so many comics (right, like that’s anything to complain about) is that I have a really hard time remembering who did what sometimes. I knew Nathan Beaty’s name was familiar, but I didn’t realize that it was the same guy who did that incredible comic about relationships (look up there for the other review). That being said, it’s a good thing I didn’t remember that when I read this two-part issue, as I would have been expecting something totally different. I’m not sure what to make of this, which is a cop-out from a reviewer, I know, but there it is. Both parts of this story are wordless, and they’re basically moods (as Nathan says on the back) more than stories. The first part is just pictures of a town, with a man on a bike going about his day. The second is about underwater love, with kissing and mermaids and such. It was over and gone before I knew it, but the fact that the underwater bit was in my dream last night must mean something, right? An interesting concept, but I liked #5 better. Contact info is up there, it’s probably a buck or two…
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Posted by Kevin
April 22, 2010
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Brainfag #5
You know, what I really needed because of my forced absence from SPX was one really great comic. Lo and behold, here it is. This is the story of a relationship with warts and all. Beginning, middle, end, false restarts, and final end (?), this feels more real than most of these types of tales that I’ve read. Maybe it’s because my girlfriend just moved five hours away and I’m hyper-sensitive to the question of “What do we do now?”, who knows? All I know is that there’s a lot of truth in this fantastic little book and, if that’s not enough to convince you, his website has pretty much every issue of his comic and some other stuff he’s done online, so you can read it all for yourself and make your own opinion. It was therapy for me, plain and simple, and a wonderfully honest tale of how relationships don’t ever seem to end neatly. I liked the constant zipatone once I got used to it too. He also draws a mean cat, if anybody but me is fascinated by the cats of different artists. This one was $5 and actually distributed by Top Shelf, so it’s good to see that the rest of the comics world is getting wind of him too. Don’t worry, his other issues are cheaper and you can read them all for free if you want to anyway…
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Posted by Kevin
April 22, 2010
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As Eavesdropped #2
Why is it that I only seem to be able to find Suzanne’s comics at SPACE? I get to the good Chicago stores once or twice a year, there’s a decent shop (Laughing Ogre) literally right down the street from me here in Columbus, and yet there seems to be only one place to get these books. Get on that, world! This one, obviously, is in the same vein as #1, again being a tiny little things of funny observed conversations. Plenty of things in here to highlight, I had to go with just the one sample or it would have ruined the whole book but other topics in here include an awkward conversation at a movie theater ticket office, office talk on the phone, a “cute” baby story and a particularly disturbing chat at the end of a comic convention. Good stuff as always, her website has a listing of all these things and a few bucks spent there would go a long way… $.50
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Posted by Kevin
April 22, 2010
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As Eavesdropped #1
What a fantastic idea for a comic. Apparently Suzanne just wandered around and wrote down interesting conversations she heard. I don’t know if she sketched them out where she heard them or not, but it doesn’t really matter. When the only negative thing I have to say about a comic is that it was too short (and at $.50 and 8 pages, it really was too short), then you’re doing something right. I could read stuff like this for hours, unless these were just the best ones she had available and it’s so tiny to maintain the funny. Anyway, I like her loopy, whimsical style a lot and there are all sorts of comics on her website for you to sample her work, if you are so inclined.
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Posted by Kevin
April 22, 2010
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Damned Bunnies
Sorry about the cover scan. This one and Eli Bishop’s just got all psychodelic, which looks kind of neat, but it’s not how the cover really looks. It’s just plain yellow with these cool stains that look like blood all over it. Great job with the presentation, but how was the comic? Well, it’s the story of a woman who leaves her small town job at a newspaper to become an art critic in the big city. She doesn’t exactly get what she wants and I’ll leave the rest up to you. I didn’t think this was going much of anywhere for most of the issue, but the explanation from the artist was funny and well done. Solid artwork, good story, great ending (if a bit confusing in the continuity. So this happened after the reporter left town?), I’d say it’s what you’d call a good comic. The only problem is that this is from ’95 and I didn’t see anything from her since ’96. Here’s hoping that she’s still around trying new stuff. This is $3.50, e-mail her to see if she has anything else or send her money at: P.O. Box 12096 Hamtramck, MI 48212.
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Posted by Kevin
April 22, 2010
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Fridge-Mag: The Early Years Now Available! $10
A whole pile of early minis from Suzanne.
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Posted by Kevin
April 22, 2010
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Planet Peezo
So two aliens walk into a bar… The premise for this tiny, tiny (and free) mini is simple: two aliens are overheard in a bar, offering a toast to the planet Peezo. The waitress, confused (but oddly unfazed by serving aliens), asks if that’s their home world, but it turns out to be their name for Earth. A brief discussion follows on exactly why they’re drinking away from their planet, and if I tell you any more I’m going to spoil the whole tiny comic. Brief, free and with a decent punchline, what’s not to love? One more thing about Suzanne in general, in case you ever run into her at a con: she seems to be at SPACE every year, and every year she reliably seems to have at least a few new minis. This may not seem like such a big deal, but trust me, as somebody who’s gone to it every year for ages now, that plenty of people show up with the exact same comics they had the year before. Suzanne always takes the time to at least put something new out, and even if you get to her table at the point of the con where you’re completely broke (as has happened to me a few times), she invariably has a few free minis like this one lying around. So maybe some of you should think about rewarding good behavior by sending her a few bucks and asking for some comics? Or I do still have that Fridge-Mag collection of a whole bunch of her minis lying around…
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Posted by Kevin
April 22, 2010
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The Moldy Bagels
You know, I don’t think Suzanne is capable of making a mini comic that isn’t at least mildly amusing.  This is from 1998, proving that she keeps herself in some sort of cryogenic stasis when not attending cons, as she looks exactly the same as the first time I bought a few of her minis. This time around the story is about a young woman who wakes up and prepares to make a bagel. Sadly all of the bagels are moldy, she has a breakfast of cream cheese and runs off to the park to feed the bagels to the birds. The birds end up getting more than a little excited by the feast and end up inadvertently helping the woman out. This is almost a silent comic, with the few words coming (appropriately enough) like they were done in the old silent movies, with blocks of letters describing the action after every half dozen panels or so. It’s a really engaging way of telling the story and made me wonder why more people haven’t tried doing their silent comic like this. It’s worth checking out, although as always you’d probably be better off just sending her $5 and asking for a pile of minis. $1
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Posted by Kevin
April 22, 2010
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Cleopatra’s Hats
Seriously, just how many tiny minis does Suzanne have? It’s more every time I see her at a convention and she’s been cranking these things out for at least the last ten years. This is another good one, and all she has time for this time around is an extended setup for a pretty decent joke. A young woman is trying out hats with a male friend, who can’t think of a non-offensive way to say that the hats are awful. They finally decide to ask the opinion of the cashier, and no, I’m not going to ruin the big joke of the book. In the meantime Suzanne manages to draw all kinds of hats, and she’s one of those wonderful artists who seem to spend more time on the backgrounds than some people do on their whole comics. Worth checking out, as most of these are, and I do still have that pile o’ minis available from her in the online store, you know. Just one set though, so if you snooze you will, in fact, lose. $.50
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Posted by Kevin
April 22, 2010
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Turtleneck Boy #3 (edited by Suzanne)
It’s probably not fair for me to keep reviewing Suzanne’s older comics, as she’s done better stuff since, but hey, these are still almost universally good. That makes it OK, right? This time around Suzanne gathered up some friends, fellow artists and people she passed in the street and asked them to illustrate a conversation in their head, either using Turtleneck Boy as a conversational companion or inventing somebody of their own. The only one of these people I’ve heard of is Mike Carroll (who can be found elsewhere on this site), who does a short but amusing piece about one of his Kernals being crammed into a turtleneck. Other than that there’s Carol Pond asking why people bother demonstrating against causes when it won’t change anything, Yul Tolbert talks about a privately financed mission to Mars, Gary Freeman messes with the concept and Paully Moonbeam (if that is his real name) discusses the origins of life while drawing a primitive but strangely enchanting pair of pants. Then there’s Suzanne, stealing the show with her bits, as she talks about the shape of clouds, tells an Oprah joke that flew right over my head (maybe it made sense in 2000) and has one other page that was so wonderful that it was automatically the sample. See for yourself! This is a measly $.50, and all I can do is hope that you people send her dollars every now and then for comics.
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Posted by Kevin
April 22, 2010
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Serious Workout
Here’s a tiny wordless mini from Suzanne, and for once I remembered to get more than a couple of her minis at SPACE so there should be a decent pile of her comics up here soon. As she’s a mini comics making machine, I’m not sure which ones of the pile are new and which ones have been around awhile (this one has a 2002 date on the back cover) but hey, if it’s new to me it must be new, right? This deals with a woman who has decided to start a workout video. The video, as most of them are, is hilarious, and she starts uncontrollably laughing and rolling on the floor. Her husband notices this, sees what she’s watching, and joins in on the fun. The baby wanders in as well, and the whole family is having a rollicking good time… except for the cat. As an aside, my favorite workout video moment: the instructor (OK, it was Tony Horton) commented on the triceps of one of his workout buddies as being “diamonds of gold”. Seriously, let that roll around in your brain for a while. Anyway, it’s another great mini from Suzanne, and for those of you who don’t necessarily scroll around these pages, scroll down a bit and check out the pile o’ minis she has for sale here. All kinds of minis hidden in that brown wrapper! $1
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Posted by Kevin
April 22, 2010
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Backseat Drivers #2
Well, it’s official: this series is a blast. I played it cautious at SPACE this year and only got this this issue, and am now kicking myself for not getting the rest of the series. I did pick up the first issue of the character that absolutely dominates this series, the Cosmic Norseman. All the other characters don’t stand a chance against that moustache, that oar, and the fact that he has The Brotherhood of Celestial Foxez haplessly trying to kill him over the centuries. We get to learn more about damned near everybody else in this issue, which is essentially the group riding around in a cab, setting up camp in an alley and eventually, briefly, getting to meet the mad scientist who has everybody so worked up. We learn that Ruffian doesn’t know much of anything about anything, Doyle Lee at least partially raised Dr. Herman, and Rhodes and Molehill are still pretty much a mystery. Which is fine, as this is the point in a four issue series where Clint is still trying to hook people in, serve up a little intrigue, so you certainly can’t fault the guy for an excellent sense of timing. It might be awhile until I get to learn what happens in the next two issues (maybe as long as SPACE 2009, although I’m hoping I can get them before then) but the good news is that I did manage to pick up the first issue of his next series, dedicated solely to the Cosmic Norseman, which makes me very happy indeed.
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Posted by Kevin
April 22, 2010
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Backseat Drivers #1
It’s a rare comic that, when I finish reading it, I immediately go back and read it again. That can be a good or a bad thing, of course. It could happen because the comic is so amazing that it has to be read again to be fully appreciated, or it could be (as was the case with this one) that there was so much happening so fast that the whole thing needed to be slowed down to make any sense. A group of heroes, or possibly villains, decide to confront a local mad scientist, Dr. Herman, each for their own reasons. Most of these reasons aren’t spelled out here, but that’s OK, as this is the first part of a four part series. There’s Doyle Lee, an old lady with many, many guns who seems to be after Dr. Herman to shave his moustache. Molehill is only interested in worshipping the guy. Ruffian, after escaping from some cops, seems to be along for the ride. Rhodes doesn’t say much of anything, but she does seem to be looking for the guy too. And finally there’s Cosmic Norseman, who spends most of the issue fighting with a random villain who uses old laundry to attack and Doyle Lee, who covers him in hot apple pie. Why is this all happening, who are these people? Damned if I know. It’s almost too busy, which is a strange thing to complain about. Most of the characters seem to have gotten where they are by accident, so I suppose it’s all a cosmic coincidence that they all end up finding what they’re looking for. Clint does get some serious style points for all the sound effects (my favorite is “crubble”), but a book with an editor AND an assistant editor shouldn’t have any misspellings. All together, taken as the first issue of a series, it’s a blast. It may fall apart completely from here, as all these characters and motivations are going to have to start making sense at some point, but for now it’s worth a look. $2.50
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Posted by Kevin
April 22, 2010
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The Cosmic Norseman #1
Once again, I’m torn about a comic. I know it’s a shocker, but bear with me. I thoroughly enjoyed the Backseat Drivers series that involved the Cosmic Norseman and other assorted heroes, mostly because of its ridiculous plot and nonsensical hilarity. That and it had an air of mystery, as all these heroes (and were they all really heroes?) were working towards something. The first issue of this series is mostly about probably the most interesting character of the bunch getting into a series of unconnected cosmic battles. Granted, the sight of the Norseman defeating a Voltron-like convergence of space brains with a cosmic sloshmo (causing brain freeze) was hilarious, but it seems like there’s more potential to this character than a series of random fights. How about a longer story? Randomness has a place in longer stories too, you know, and there’s also time there to get to know some characters. All that said, clearly this isn’t a bad book, and there’s more than enough here to recommend it on its own. It’s just that I occasionally get called out for not putting enough specific criticisms in these rambling reviews (which I’m sure comes as a shock to anyone reading this), so I’m asking for a coherent storyline, with something like this issue coming along every so often to serve as a break. The fight scenes in here include the Norseman fighting the Martian Were-Moose, Spacesquatch, and Peanut Butter Squid, with a large chunk in the middle dealing with his hero team (the Backseat Drivers, as you can clearly see if you scroll down the page) fighting some robotic chickens. Is this last one taken right from the pages of the other series or is it new material? I haven’t read the whole series so I don’t know if it was, but if so… for shame, tsk tsk and all that. So I’d say check out the other series first and then come back here if you’re craving more Cosmic Norseman. $3.50
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Posted by Kevin
April 22, 2010
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I’d Sure Like Some Fucking Pancakes
If there were prizes just for titles, this thing would win a very hefty trophy from me. Or from some official comics organization, if there was any justice in the world. Well fine, it has a great title, what about the comic? Good news on that front too. This is a nice pile of short pieces, and I hate to have to point this out, but I should reward the people who get this right as much as the one’s who can’t manage it: no spelling errors or production problems! Kudos. This issue starts off with one of the more convincing “please read this” that I’ve ever seen, as she acknowledges right off the bat that anybody she sent this to is basically obligated to look at it. Hey, with a title like that, I would have looked at it anyway. Stories in here include a list of things she worries about (I particularly enjoyed the sampled page for her unwillingness to draw any of the things that really terrify her), a bird losing its feathers and its life without them, a list of likes and her “the grass is always greener” syndrome, a creepy dream where a dog turns into a fat kid, a short piece about how pancakes and grilled cheese are always better if somebody else makes them due to the hassle involved, and a lovely tale about her killing a unicorn. I feel obligated to point out that science has found a way around the pancake problem, as there are now little containers where all you have to do is put some water in it, shake it up and voila! Batter. It also turns into a very odd goo if you leave it in your refrigerator long enough. Anyway, this is a pretty great comic, one that manages the difficult task of living up to that title. Check it out, why don’t you? $2
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Posted by Kevin
April 22, 2010
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A Story About Fish
Is it possible to break the category of mini comics down into even minier comics? If that’s the case this would fall into the latter category, as it’s only 8 pages long with one image per page. It’s still a fun story, and probably one of those ones you can relate to if you’ve ever won goldfish at a carnival. After all, you suddenly have a pet and a responsibility to keep them alive, even if fish are pretty low maintenance. Lauren and another person (judging by her use of the word “we”) won a couple of fish at a carnival. The story ends tragically, if you’re hyperbolic enough to think that the death of goldfish represents a tragedy, but if I get much more into it the whole tiny comic will be ruined. I’ll just say that I loved her imagined last “screw you” from the fish as they were flushed into oblivion and leave it at that. Maybe you should pick this up with her other book about pancakes, as it would make a nice bookmark for the other comic. $1
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Posted by Kevin
April 22, 2010
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Was That Supposed To Be Funny?
As should be obvious to any regular readers around here, I am occasionally easily impressed. One of those things that easily impresses me is a knack for great titles, and, though it might be a stretch to declare such a thing after three minis, I think Lauren has that knack. This mini is split up into random stories and adaptations from her old diary, covering random times from when she was 9-13. Stories in here include Broccoli proving to Asparagus that he/she (Broccoli, and I’ve never asked the gender of vegetables) isn’t a bad dancer, the ups and downs of daily life in Brooklyn, how it’s a shame that you can no longer go to your room and slam your door as an adult, her cats plan of attack against bags of all kinds, talking herself into going out more often (but failing to follow through), another day in the life of her cat, worrying about her teeth, searching for a decent apartment, her theory on the flavor of milk duds, and an excellent thrift store find. Old diary bits include watching Jaws, catching the 1992 debates, seriously not being jealous at a classmate getting an award that she didn’t, playing office (and living it today), getting hit in the face with a baseball, and a big crush. That’s a huge pile of stories, not even counting the excellent into and outro pieces. The only trouble I have (in theory, as us high-falutin’ reviewer types often get these things free) is that it’s $5.50, which makes some sense for a fancy color cover, but it’s still kind of steep. It’s worth the price, I’m just sayin’…
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Posted by Kevin
April 22, 2010
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Birds of the Baltic
Color! Sorry, it always amazes me when people are able to get the money together to put out a color book, especially one as gorgeous as this one. It’s a travelogue, basically, with an emphasis towards keeping an eye out for birds of the region. E.J. and her husband (?) Brian went to Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia more or less on a whim and this was what came from their travels. It’s gorgeous, like I said, and tells of a bunch of little stops and people along the way, not just the birds in case you were thinking it might end up being dull. Which, if you hate birds, I suppose it still might be, but why on earth would you hate birds? Weirdo. $3.95
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Posted by Kevin
April 22, 2010
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Arithmetic on the Frontier
And now for something completely different from EJ, as she adapts a poem from Rudyard Kipling about war. It’s a shortie, granted, but the fact that there are two full pages dedicated to historical asides and information about the author (and EJ) makes this informative and entertaining, as my personal knowledge of Rudyard Kipling is limited, to say the least. Good stuff again, and this one a much more somber book than her humor books, obviously. Contact info is up there, I’d say this is $1.
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Posted by Kevin
