New review on Pat Aulisio Tuesday for Philly Alternative Comic Con 2010, which I’m going to go out on a limb and say was the program for the event, but all it has in it is comics.
Update for 9/28/10
September 28, 2010
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Posted by Kevin
Aulisio, Pat (editor) – Philly Alternative Comic Con 2010
September 28, 2010
Philly Alternative Comic Con 2010
Well, at least I think Pat was the editor. He put the book together, anyway, and that’s basically the same thing. Sadly, it’s one of those anthologies without a coherent table of contents (although I did like the look of the one Box Brown put together), so a lot of these stories are going to be reviewed through a bit of guesswork and process of elimination. Stories in here include a very colorful mess from Pat, Liz Baillie keeping the tradition of record collecting alive, Hawk Krall with some disgusting but hilarious pranks, Dina Kelberman’s inimitable comics (with a drunken disclaimer tacked onto the bottom), Mike Sgier with a futuristic tale of trying to cap an uncontrollably spewing well, Ian Harker’s love of flying, L. Nichols and going along to get along, and Sally Bloodbath & Matt Wiegle with a piece on the most horrible child alive and her fitting end. That leaves a few pieces without a noticeable creator, so in no particular order, the other stories in here dealt with making a friend (literally), trying to make art to please a critic, and two grotesque creatures sharing an apartment and their antics. Chris McDonnell probably did the first two pieces and Lance Hansen probably did the last story (which was actually a series of smaller stories), and I say “probably” because that’s where my coin flip landed, and when has that ever been wrong? Box Brown did the covers and has a lovely group of people at the end of their lives bemoaning their lack of buying quality comics in their lives, something you should all take to heart. As this was from a con I have no idea if it’s still readily available to the world, but as it’s all in color, gorgeous and full of talent, you should hunt it down if at all possible. Pat would probably know if it was around, why not check it with him? Or I can post a little update here if I hear anything, how about that? No price, but $5 sounds nice, if possibly too low.
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Posted by Kevin
Update for 9/27/10
September 27, 2010New review for Monkey Squad One #5 by Doug Michel…
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Posted by Kevin
Michel, Doug – Monkey Squad One #5
September 27, 2010
Monkey Squad One #5
Is Doug secretly Donovan Cater in disguise? Seriously, the similarity in the artwork is uncanny (go ahead and look around at some of the ancient (because he appears to have vanished from comics) Donovan Cater reviews and see if I’m wrong). Well, I’ll go with the theory that it’s a different person, as a close inspection does show that it probably isn’t Donovan. Doug does a smart thing right off the bat: he lets the reader know what happened in the last issue. As this is “#5” that is crucial, but you’d be surprised how many comics creators just don’t bother to keep readers up to date. Anyway, U.N.C.L.E. Doug (leader of Monkey Squad One) is on trial for losing the team, even though they’ve been lost in time and it apparently isn’t his fault. The trial goes badly, Doug has a ridiculously easy time escaping from this supposedly secure facility (he is aided by the fact that gravity apparently doesn’t apply to him), and meets up with some old foes to help him out. They, unsurprisingly, don’t help him out, but it’s a funny conversation that leads them to that conclusion. Things devolve a bit into Star Wars parody from there, and hasn’t the universe as a whole decided that the prequel movies were so awful that people were no longer allowed to parody Star Wars any more? Except for Robot Chicken and Family Guy, but they only get away with it because they’re rich and occasionally have scathing satire. Well, more Robot Chicken than Family Guy on that front, but I’m getting off topic here. The Rancor is played in this comic by Granmonster, who is able to fill that role as well as getting loose in the town and fulfilling the “giant monster on the loose” requirement. The comic as a whole is fairly amusing, even with me being at the point of Star Wars parodies just bugging me. Overall I’ll need another issue to really make up my mind, so it’s a good thing Doug was nice enough to send the next issue along as well. Even with the recap I don’t know if it’s a good idea to start at #5 of a series; if you’re looking to give it a shot maybe see if the guy has earlier issues available. $2.50
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Posted by Kevin
Update for 9/26/10
September 26, 2010New review for Bachelor Girl’s Mother Goose by Amy Martin, and this one is for all the ladies out there…
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Posted by Kevin
Martin, Amy – Bachelor Girl’s Mother Goose
September 26, 2010
Bachelor Girl’s Mother Goose
If you read an intro for a comic that states that it was conceived while the author was miles away from home, alone and suffering from swine flu, you would probably be right to assume that it would be a little… odd. There may be exceptions, but it seems like a pretty safe bet. This one definitely falls under that category, as Amy takes her Bachelor Girl characters and puts them in situations involving a series of nursery rhymes. I think at least a few of these were original works, but I’m not familiar enough with nursery rhymes to say that for sure; maybe she just plucked a few really obscure rhymes from the void. Anyway, the end result is that pretty much every nursery rhyme you can think of (go ahead, let your mind wander and allow a few to pop into your brain) show up on these pages. Wee Willie Winkle, Georgie Porgie, Humpty Dumpty, Little Miss Muffet, Little Bo Peep, Peter Piper, Jack Sprat, they’re all here. It’s funnier than you may think if you’re as cynical as I am, and Amy shows remarkable self-restraint at not turning even one of these vaguely pornographic sounding rhymes into anything all that risque. Suggestive, sure, but that just adds to the funny. As a single man somewhere in his 30’s, this isn’t exactly targeted at me, but whoever can’t enjoy a book like this has lost all their sense of fun. Check it out, why don’t you, or get a copy for your single friend or relative. Not your girlfriend/wife/mistress though, as it makes the single life look like way too much fun and they’ll probably dump your ass… $5
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Posted by Kevin
Update for 9/25/10
September 25, 2010New review for Memory Foam II by Toby Jones!
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Posted by Kevin
Jones, Toby – Memory Foam II
September 25, 2010
Memory Foam II
Huzzah for Roman numerals! Here’s hoping Toby sticks with it long enough to get to the Roman numerals that confuse people, as why not bring that back? A little bit of history never hurt anybody. That page I sampled below hit home with me, and probably with most of you if you stop to think about it: motorcycles. While all people who ride them are clearly not assholes, it does seem to attract some of the scum of the earth. For example, there’s some asshole who drives down my busy street every morning between 2:30 and 3:00 a.m., revving his damned engine at the stop light and most likely waking everybody up who doesn’t have some form of a white noise machine going. If I could string up piano wire across the road and be guaranteed to just take out him or her, I believe the world would instantly be a better place. Toby does me one better in his story by “inventing” a device that makes all motorcycles self-destruct once their noise output gets over a certain level. His comic self was gripped with remorse, but the headlines on the newspaper the next day were priceless: “Countless Jerks Dead:”, “World Better Place”, and “God: ‘Great Job Toby'””. As with many things, I thought South Park handled motorcycle riders best, and seeing as how they have every episode up at their website for free, you can see for yourself if you’re so inclined. If you’re going to defend the assholes that rev their motors at every stop light, I’m sorry, but you just don’t have a case. As for the rest of the comic, it was a pile of great stuff. There’s Toby wondering what’s going to happen to him in the long run, getting a job at a donut factory (and yes, it’s about as bad as it sounds), trying to make time for all his creative endeavours, standing on principle and not eating a piece of stuffed crust pizza (I agree with his crying girlfriend on that one), phrases he’d love to never hear again, dreaming all day, reading online reviews about himself, not saying “you too” when people say “have a nice day”, and how his younger self would view his older self. For what it’s worth the guy worries too much, as he clearly has a boatload of talent, seems to have a fantastic girlfriend and, despite being broke, has enough free time to work on things like this comic, and he’s only 22. The pessimist would say it’s all downhill from there, the optimist would say things are only going to get better, but screw it, enjoy what you have now. And that is my philosophical thought for the day, the first of a one-part series… $3
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Posted by Kevin
Update for 9/24/10
September 24, 2010New review for Spaz! #3 by Emi Gennis and, as I seem to be getting a ton of comics lately, I will be around this weekend doing reviews. I have an idea for that still-working-on-it comics rental project that would involve me doing it by myself. It wouldn’t be pretty, as I have no skills for this sort of thing, but it would be functional and waiting for web help is clearly getting me nowhere. Would anybody out there be overly offended if the rental service took a bare minimum of work on your end (like cutting and pasting a pile of titles of comics you’d like to receive instead of clicking and having them automatically added to a list) or would you prefer to wait until that mythical day when it’s all done perfectly by a gifted web designer? This isn’t rhetorical, I’m asking for opinions here…
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Posted by Kevin
Gennis, Emi – Spaz! #3
September 24, 2010
Spaz! #3
Leaky ceiling? That’s my guess. Oh hello, you have no idea what I’m talking about if you haven’t read this issue of Spaz. See, Emi woke up one morning with the top of the blanket wet but the underside dry. So peeing the bed was clearly out as an option. Still, she’s left utterly clueless as to what happened. As her reaction shot upon waking up appears to indicate heavy alcohol consumption, might I suggest something from the previous night as another possibility? Maybe a spilled drink while the blanket was pulled back, which would leave the underside dry when she drunkenly pulled the cover over her? Maybe a cat protest of some kind? If alcohol or a cat are not involved, I’m all out of ideas. And as for the guy who woke up to a locked safe being open, on its side and full of water, that is very clearly a prank by somebody else who knew the combination. How many other people could there be? Unless huge amounts of alcohol were involved there too… Sorry, I’m neglecting a proper review of the comic because this mystery has me fascinated. I think ghosts are utter horseshit, so there must be some logical explanation, but I don’t get it from the facts given. So what’s this comic like, other than that utterly engrossing story? There are a couple of bits called “Shit I Worry About” that is, um, shit she worries about, like various forms of cancer, falling down the stairs, having her cat run away, becoming a spinster, and axe murderers in the back seat. Then there are a couple of bits about unusual deaths taken off Wikipedia, although the second one is more hilarious than unusual. Throw in a couple of strips with her talking about sex and being late with Zygote and a demonstration of her holding out for making comics by hand (at least for a little while) and the mysterious story I loved and voila! It’s a comic! She has a deal right now where you can get all three issues for $5, which sounds like a steal to me, and you’d be guaranteed to get a pile of great comics. Assuming that’s your thing, and if it wasn’t why would you be looking around this site? If you already have the first two issues then I suppose you could get this one for $2.
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Posted by Kevin
Update for 9/23/10
September 23, 2010New review for Aloha by Desmond Reed, and it looks like I’ve had at least one person take me up on my offer to send a chunk of their comics along for weekly reviewing. I don’t want to do that every day, as I think at least some of the fun of this site comes in not knowing what’s going to be reviewed next (or at least I hope that’s fun for people who aren’t me), but hey, there are seven days in the week, I see no problem with 3 or 4 of them being weekly reviews of the same person. It’s not like they can produce infinite comics and keep this up for long anyway. Well, maybe Brian John Mitchell could…
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Posted by Kevin
Reed, Desmond – Aloha
September 23, 2010
Aloha
How exactly does a worm hold an axe? Sorry, my inner comic geek occasionally busts out, much as I would like to keep it down. This simply done comic, which should forever dispel the notion that people who can’t draw can make great comics, deals with three worms having a conversation. Oh, and just so it’s clear, I’m not saying that Desmond CAN’T draw, just that this comic consists of worms, piles of dirt, a flat ground and some darkness. Anyway, these worms are talking, two of them realize (after the third worm has left) that they really don’t like that guy at all and have no interest in meeting him for lunch tomorrow, and they devise a plan to get rid of the worm. With an axe. If you know your science and know what happens to worms when they are cut up the ending will not come as a shock to you, if you don’t know your worm science, well, prepare to be amazed while learning something! Also, if you’re keeping track, that’s two comics by the guy and both of them have been fantastic. Not the fancypants, “discover something new about yourself or the universe as a whole” kind of fantastic, just the “that’s some funny shit that I didn’t necessarily see coming and even if I did it was still pulled off extremely well” kind of fantastic. These things need definition, don’t you know. Desmond is selling his two comics (The Island is the other comic) as a pack for $2. I suppose you could maybe badger him into just getting one or the other, but why? Just buy them both and enjoy.
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Posted by Kevin
Update for 9/21/10
September 21, 2010New review for Bare Knuckle by Pat Aulisio, and because Pat sent me a bunch of comics recently I’ve decided to do Pat Aulisio Tuesdays for a bit. Hey, if you want the same treatment, just send me 4 or more different comics you’ve done that haven’t already been reviewed on the site. I’m a big fan of themes like that (and I will admit that “Tempo Lush Tuesday” rolled off the tongue a bit better), but rarely get enough comics by one person to pull it off…
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Posted by Kevin
Aulisio, Pat – Bare Knuckle
September 21, 2010
Bare Knuckle
I have very few rules on this site, but a big one is not spoiling the end of a comic. I have broken this rule utterly today, as the sampled image is the last page of this absolute blast of a comic. Why would I do such a thing? Just look at that image. If that isn’t the most awesome thing you’ve seen today, you must have had a shockingly awesome day already. There’s also the fact that practically every page of this short mini has something incredible in it, and you understand my feeling of justification here. This is, essentially, a video game told in comics form. The hero (who looks suspiciously like Ultimate Warrior from the old WWF days) starts off punching flunkies, moves on to a bigger boss, lands in a toxic sewer fighting frogmen and an alligator, before finally ending up fighting the boss of the whole thing. The tacos and turkeys laying around made the comic for me, as who hasn’t played a game with oddly placed food items sitting around to restore your health? Again, I hope giving away the ending isn’t too horrible of a thing to have done but, if you don’t use that line below the next time you see a fight, there is something seriously wrong with you. No idea of a price here, but as it’s all in color it’s probably in the $3-5 range…
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Posted by Kevin
Update for 9/20/10
September 20, 2010New review for Blaster Al Ackerman’s Tales of the Ling Master #3 by E.J. Barnes. Sure, the title is unwieldy, but the comic is delicious!
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Posted by Kevin
Barnes, E.J. – Blaster Al Ackerman’s Tales of the Ling Master #3
September 20, 2010
Blaster Al Ackerman’s Tales of the Ling Master #3
That “#3 of 3” on the cover worries me. This can’t be the end of the Blaster Al Ackerman tales, can it? There must be more of them out there, or new ones on the way? Frankly, this is a series that is just begging for treatment in an anthology, with a number of different comics writers and artists doing their own take on the character if nothing else. As for the comic, E.J. warned me that this one was a little more “out there” than most, which is a tall order in this series, but she wasn’t wrong. It’s often difficult to review these things without giving too much away, and these stories take that up a notch, but I’ll give it a shot. Stories include a fable about a little boy who teased apples and his eventual meeting with an apple golem, another fable about a canary, a headache and a cigar on a plane, a professional “geek” (the circus kind, not the Bill Gates kind) trying to find out the truth about squid people, and one called “The Blue Catfish.” I don’t want to say a single thing about that one, but due to reviewer obligations I will say that it involves head shrinking, the concept of soul transportation and one of those stores that appear out of nowhere and vanish after you leave. It’s difficult to detail the demented brilliance of these stories, but if you can’t get behind a guy wearing a stained pillowcase as a hood doling out advice at $5 a pop, often in parable form, and generally when there’s at least some veracity to the utterly bizarre questions being posed, I don’t know how to convince you. If you like your comics genuinely different, there are three of these readily available that you should pick up as soon as possible. I’m hoping we can turn it into a cultural phenomena and realize my (five minute old) dream of an anthology with various takes on this character and/or the author. Make it happen America! $3
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Posted by Kevin
Update for 9/17/10
September 17, 2010New review for The Curse of the Parsimonious Great Aunt by Gabrielle Nowicki, and have you noticed how I seem to be taking a roving day off during the week again? That wasn’t the plan, in case you were wondering, but I have my doubts that it will stop any time soon.
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Nowicki, Gabrielle – The Curse of the Parsimonious Great Aunt
September 17, 2010
The Curse of the Parsimonious Great Aunt
Who else misses the days when scary stories for kids could get a little gruesome? OK, maybe this isn’t strictly for kids, but it reads like it could be. The story here is that a couple of kids are staying with their Great Aunt and she has a plan to sell any candy they get at Halloween to buy potatoes. It’s never explained that this woman is raising these children, but that seems likely considering that they stay there for weeks and nobody seems to notice that they’re missing. These greedy kids wanted to keep the candy and they wanted to steal the candy from all the other kids, so they concocted a plan. They chopped the head off their Great Aunt and dragged her body along (on a sled) behind them to scare kids into dropping all their candy. The plan worked perfectly, but the kids didn’t consider the fact that people who are wrongly killed in stories like these rarely stay dead, even if they were jerks in real life and kind of deserved it. Anyway, it’s a cute and creepy book, and something that I would consider fun for all ages, unless of course the parents in question still somehow think that can shield their kids from all the awfulness of the world. Good luck with that! Anyway, the worst the kid has to see here is a removed head, and they probably have those things on the Disney channel at this point. Check it out, it’s never too early for a good Halloween story. No price listed, I’ll go with $3 at random.
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Posted by Kevin
Update for 9/15/10
September 15, 2010New review for Derek Hunter is a F**k by Derek Hunter. Shield your innocent young eyes, anyone out there who has managed to never see/hear profanity before just now!
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Posted by Kevin
Hunter, Derek – Derek Hunter is a F**k
September 15, 2010
Derek Hunter is a F**k
I’ve gotten fairly jaded from all the auto-bio comics I’ve read over the years. It takes something genuinely awful or revealing for me to sit up and take notice, which isn’t to say that something falling short of that level can’t still be a great comic. Still, Derek apparently generally sticks to more conventional fare, but he decided after attending a few small cons to try his hand with “A collection of short stories that make me look bad”. Well, he did it. I should get a few disclaimers out of the way before I get started. “Derek Hunter is a F**k” hurts me to type, as I’m all for saying “fuck” whenever possible, but that’s how the man put it on the cover and that’s how I’ll put it here. He is also saved (barely) by the fact that all the incidents in this book happened when he was late high school/early college age, and there are allowances for being a fuck at that time in your life. Finally, the guy lives in Utah. I’ll concede that he probably had to be a fuck at that point just to survive. Still…yeesh. Stories in here include Derek’s foisting off a girl he likes on a friend (then making out with her while the three of them are laying down in the same bed (seriously)), a prank with curdled milk that I understand completely, breaking up with a girlfriend while he was fucking her, insulting a girl he was making out with a party and then his reaction upon seeing her later, and some more or less understandable pranks he played on some tremendously obnoxious college roommates. Hey, the final tally isn’t all that bad: two are inexcusable, two are pranks (but it might be a stretch to call them “harmless”) and one that falls somewhere in the middle. He seems like a nice enough guy now, as he’s married with a kid on the way (depending on when this came out), and he’s as honest as humanly possible with this stuff. He treats making this as a catharsis towards growing up, so more power to him. If you’re one of those people who need a jolt from the auto-bio world or want to see how one of these is done when the author is really willing to let it all hang out, this is required reading. $3
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Posted by Kevin
