July 24, 2011
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From Hell
From Hell. Christ, talk about a nostalgia overload. I first saw From Hell in any form when I picked up a copy of Taboo #4, which I believe had the third chapter of the story. This was probably in 1993, so this along with the suggestions of Dave Sim led me to hunt down everything I could find from Eddie Campbell (I already knew all about Alan Moore, as Watchmen was one of the books that got me started down this independent comics path). Eventually I picked up a few more issues of Taboo before that publishing company went under, then over the years I successfully managed to get all of the individual issues when they came out for Tundra and Kitchen Sink Press, two more companies that are no longer active. The point of this extended introductory ramble, outside of letting you all in on what this book means to me, is to point that this is the first time I’ve read the book in its collected form. Sure, I read through the comics all in a row once, but that includes all of the letters pages and asides that come with individual issues. Reading this all in a chunk is a revelation. I remembered loving the book, obviously, but it’s only when you have it in a chunk that you can really see all of the tricks that Moore was trying to pull. For those of you who have never heard of small press comics but have somehow hit this review, From Hell is Moore & Campbell’s version of what happened with the Jack the Ripper murders. I say “Moore & Cambpell” because even though Moore is obviously the writer, this book would have been something else entirely under the hands of a different artist. Eddie’s depictions of the steady rains, foreboding shadows and the brutally graphic murder scenes is what I think of even today when somebody mentions Jack the Ripper. If you’re a history buff and think you have a good theory on who committed the murders, might I suggest reading the lengthy appendix with Moore’s notes? These things are meticulous and list his thoughts practically page to page, and they answered every question I had about why he went in certain directions. Most people are content to call it a day after 400+ pages, but Moore instead offers a peek into his writing process that feels like a necessary epilogue instead of a tacked-on filler piece. As for the execution of the story, again the word I would use is “flawless.” The idea that nobody in authority was able to figure out these murders was always a little hard to swallow, so Moore has come up with a more plausible explanation. He’s the first to admit every step of the way that this is all fiction, but he also clearly took the time to learn all of the fine points of the murders and the investigation. If you’re reading along and have noticed that I’m not going into any kind of chapter by chapter analysis, that’s for a reason: this is in my personal top 10 (probably top 5) and I’m thrilled that Top Shelf was nice enough to send along a review copy. Picking it apart piece by piece would take weeks and kill some of my enjoyment of the book, so why bother? It’s an entirely different experience from reading it issue to issue, and it’s also clear that they fixed up a few panels here and there. Oh, and just in case this giant book with a lengthy appendix isn’t enough content, they also included the rare “Dance of the Gull Catchers” story. If you’re a fan of this medium and don’t already have this book on your shelf, the only excuses I can think of are excessive poverty or ignorance. One is more easily rectified than the other, granted, but there are always local libraries that tend to have this on the shelf if all else fails. $35
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Posted by Kevin
July 21, 2011
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Lost Kisses #21
Here it is, the comic that started the Brian John Mitchell media empire. Or did he start a whole bunch of minis at the same time? I should really study my history of the guy for when he sets and then breaks the record for most mini comics produced in a year. Get Guinness on the phone! This is the comic that Brian draws himself, so that means stick figures, public domain images and pasted-on faces. Still, these comics are also all about the inner workings of his brain, and that shit is fascinating to me. In this issue Brian talks about his desire to find a safe method to travel through time, and how he thinks he’s done it a few times through seizures but it always ends up being his future self coming to him and not the other way around. He also discusses various physical aids for putting his brain on a different level. IÂ discovered while reading this one that if you just read the text boxes, then the message comes through clear as that proverbial bell. It just adds to the experience to read the pictures above it, but I liked the entirely new perspective on one of his comics. The comic as a whole is fantastic, as there’s also plenty of theories on how he can unlock the puzzle of his brain and detailed descriptions of his seizures. Yep, it’s another great Brian John Mitchell comic that you should probably read. Water still wet, sun still bright, etc, but hey, I’m still excited about pointing out great comics. Why else would I be writing about them? $1
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Posted by Kevin
July 19, 2011
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Two Days Away From Staring at Birds From a Park Bench
Would somebody send me a crappy mini comic? I’m getting tired of all these great minis. Well, not really, but variety is the life of spice and all that. From the title I was thinking that this was going to be a comic about aging, but no, it’s all about Kelly losing her job and trying to find another one. There’s her initial reaction to losing it (laughing out loud, as the man firing her was apparently a moron), sitting around at work during the transition period with nothing to do, and her entirely too honest spiel at a family reunion. Then the unemployment really kicks in and Kelly starts finding it hard to bother getting up in the morning. There’s also the reactions of friends and family, Kelly’s ongoing freakout about the lack of employment (that even she was surprised by), and the utter lack of a response from all her applications. More than anything this comic demonstrated how pretty much all of us are hanging on by a thread that could be taken away on a whim from somebody that we’ll never meet. Creepy, huh? Things do take a hopeful turn towards the end, more or less, but then she includes a block of text on the back cover talking about how unemployed people aren’t even counted in the statistics after they stop looking for work (like me!) and how long it’s going to take, even under ideal conditions, to get it all back to “normal.” It takes skills to make this funny and insightful instead of just depressing, but she managed it. No price that I can find, but I’m going with $2.
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Posted by Kevin
July 18, 2011
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Spaz! #4
Huzzah for Spaz! I should point out that the sample below is messed up, as apparently I forgot to crop it when I scanned it in the first place. As the scanner only works on my other PC, and as it would take a good half hour to get it going and then get back to this one (as that one is too virus-ridden to use for very long), I suggest that you go with the theory that you’re actually getting a bonus sample. Sure, it’s only half of an extra page, but that’s 1/2 more than you usually get! Yeah, even I’m not buying that as a bonus. Oh well. If somebody would like to send me a fully functional PC I won’t have to worry about this problem. So how about the comic? You all know that I’m biased to like this one by now, right? Good. After completely loving her last book that was an adaptation of one of the “List of Unusual Deaths” from Wikipedia, this comic has two of those stories and more comics to boot! These two stories involve the Boston Molasses Massacre (which was exactly what it sounds like,depending on what your particular brain pictures for that one) and a brilliant mathematician who was paranoid that people were out to poison him and would only eat meals prepared by his wife. When she got too ill to take care of him, well… Other stories include Emi’s horror story of trying to use a “toilet” in China (seriously, it’s 2011, troughs of shit should just be embarrassing for an industrialized nation), a righteous rant about how people have gone way overboard with the anti-bacterial lotions, and a detailed guide for how a teenager could sneak out of the house for a party and get back in undetected. But wait, there’s more! She also has a few single page strips dealing with things she worries about, things she probably should be worrying about but isn’t, and three places where she’d rather not see hot guys. It’s a damned solid comic yet again with no real weak spots and you guys should probably buy it. $3
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Posted by Kevin
July 14, 2011
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Rashy Rabbit #7: Droppin’ Anchor
I have to give Josh some serious credit. I really didn’t think that a series about a foul-mouthed rabbit (named “Rashy Rabbit” of all things) would be able to last. Or, if it did last, that Josh could keep it interesting. It seemed like your standard one note premise, something that would be fun for a few issues and then get old. Then a funny thing happened: character development. Oh sure, it was there to see from the beginning, but Josh is still clearly trying to make single issues accessible to new readers (which is my guess for why the numbers stopped appearing on the covers a few issues ago) and that’s a delicate balance to keep up. Well, he’s done it. This issue starts off with Rashy falling out with his girlfriend. She wants him to grow up, so he sets out to sea to become a man. Meanwhile, Benny tries to horn in on the situation, with the ex offering plenty of resistance. This wouldn’t be a Rashy Rabbit comic if crazy shit didn’t start happening at this point, so we get mermaids and a strange land where nobody ever ages. But Rashy, what with his improvements to becoming a man, isn’t content to spend eternity surrounded by half-naked mermaids who haven’t seen a man in years. No, he’s mostly concerned with getting back with his ex and setting things right. Still, Josh had plenty of chances to screw up the ending, and he navigated all of it to end up with a very satisfying and funny comic. With hints of more character development to come! I’m impressed with how this comic has matured over the years while still holding onto what made it great to begin with. If you’re a delicate flower and have been holding off on checking it out because of the title, well, I think it’s time to lighten up a bit. $4
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Posted by Kevin
July 12, 2011
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SF #1
What I wouldn’t give to have all the money in the world so I could finance comics like this. Seriously, as comics reading fans, we get cheated big time when all these artists have to have actual careers instead of being able to roll in dough from the brilliant works they produce. While I’m shooting for the moon I’d also like a time machine so that I could convince Frank Woodring not to give up on “Frank” for so many years because there was no money in it. And a pony! OK, irrelevant aside over. This one starts off with a couple of pages that satirize the old “Wolfenstein” game (kids, ask your parents). Suddenly this story vanishes and we’re on a street with a young alien trying to get home to his family. His house blows up, then someone tries to assassinate him in the hospital but the SF steps in. Actually, the title should probably be SFSFSF (Space Fleet Scientific Foundation Special Forces), but that’s noticeably more clunky. Anyway, our hero stops the assassination attempt and tries to get back to his team, but he gets ambushed along the way, leading to my favorite bit of science: “Every scientist knows that bodies explode with a ‘fssshhh’ and a ‘poof,’ not a ‘boom.'” The team finally gets assembled, and what a team it is! That’s an impressive cast of characters right there and I have high hopes for them getting more page time in future issues. There’s also a few character cards in the back, so at least you can learn about four members of this crew. From there a plan is made, motivations are explained a little bit, and the first part of the plan is hatched before the end of the issue. It’s hurting me not to tell you how that goes down, but it’s worth reading it for yourself. I will caution you about reading this in public places, as you’re certain to laugh out loud unless you have no sense of humor at all. So I clearly loved it, and Ryan even sent along a supplement for this issue a few weeks after I got this, which I am now dying to dig into. Oh, and the point at the start of this review? If Ryan was a rich man he could just focus on putting issues of this out. I’ve seen way too many #1’s that never make it to a #2 or #3, and I’ll be downright cranky if that happens with this series.
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Posted by Kevin
July 11, 2011
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Ultimate Lost Kisses #12
Damn, I was hoping for another issue illustrated by Dave Sim. No disrespect to Jeremy Johnson or anything, as he’s more than capable of illustrating this comic, it’s just that there’s still a Sim-shaped hole in my comics world. Sure, he’s doing Glamourpuss occasionally, but the issues of that that I’ve read all seem… ah, I don’t want to get into it. Reading lengthy stories about very old illustrations mixed with satirical fashion periods doesn’t do a thing for me, that’s all. Anyway, on to people who were actually involved in the making of this comic. This comic starts off with a 16 years old girl coming home from school and needing a nap. She doesn’t understand why she’s so tired all the time, so she sort of rhetorically asks her mother about it and is informed that she must be pregnant. Seems like there are gentler ways to convey that news, but the fact that the mother had her when she was very young (implied but never stated) makes that cruelty more than plausible. Anyway, the girl escapes her house and ends up going over to a friend’s, but sadly she could never think of dating him because he’s too dorky. Do girls still think this way? Eh, it’s probably a universal truth. Anyway, this is another solid comic with a damned good ending. To all of you comics types who can’t manage to do more than an issue a year, take not of Brian. Sure, he “only” writes the books, but wrangling all of these artists can’t be easy, and he still manages all that while putting these things out at a ridiculous pace. If you’re looking for a sample of his work you should probably start with a series like this, as the individual issues aren’t connected. $1
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Posted by Kevin
July 10, 2011
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Tortilla #2
I have a general question before I start the praising, and this may or may not be rhetorical: why is it that sometimes when a comics artist hasn’t put a book out in a year or two, the book that does eventually come out is filled with previously released material? I realize that making comics isn’t the highest priority when you’re also trying to make enough money to feed your family, and everything in this issue is new to me anyway, but I was just curious about that in general. Jaime says that this issue ended up being all personal stories about him and that it worked as a complete issue, and he’s completely right about that, so consider the previous questions to be about 90% Sunday afternoon ramblings. There are three big stories in here and a short piece about a “Love Bomb.” First up is Jaime’s old habit as a kid of hopping onto moving trains to spare himself some walking. He always managed to jump off before they started moving too quickly until, of course, he doesn’t. Hey, there would be no story otherwise, right? It was a great, tense story with some serious attention to detail, considering that all this happened many years ago. Next up is Jaime’s piece on stealing all kinds of stuff as a kid and temporarily being “the kid who could get booze.” He was too young to care about drinking it, but it was a nice way to make a few extra bucks. You could kind of see his downfall coming, but I loved how he portrayed the utter casualness he had for stealing after getting away with it so many times. Finally there’s the first chapter of a projected graphic novel called “Turk Street Serenade.” Apparently the bulk of this book was completed and on his hard drive when the damned thing crashed. “That sucks” is a massive understatement, as I’ve been thinking for years that it’ll probably take a big old graphic novel to really get his name out there. Sure, it already is among the smart people, but you know what I mean. Anyway, this chapter deals with Jaime taking over a night shift at a hotel, trying to stave off boredom before eventually getting way more action than he wanted. Ah, I remember the life of working nights at a hotel. The people that you’d see, I swear. Like Jaime said, the whole thing works really well as a complete comic, and if you haven’t read any of his stuff already, I’d suggest starting right here. No price listed here or at his website, I’m going to guess $4.
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Posted by Kevin
July 8, 2011
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The Patriot’s Daughter
Finally! We’ve reached the first utterly unreviewable comic. Well, I’m sure an art critic could take a stab at it, but this is way above my pay grade. What you have here are eight packed images in various states, until finally we’re left with a burning pile of regular wood. The initial images are all densely packed with images, although the cross is the only unifying factor (well, outside of Spider-Man showing up on the first few pages). As detritus from a fading culture, you could find all kinds of things in here to catch your eye. Then you could also write this review if you wanted, as I really have nothing to say about it. It’s a nice progression of destruction, but I’ve never been the biggest fan of these 100% symbolic comics. Looking at his website, this is clearly what his art is all about, and more power to him. I’d just rather have a story. What can I say, I’m a simple guy who likes strange mini comics from all over the world, and these pages strike me as something that should be hung on a wall and not in comic form. There’s no price anyway and the whole comic is up at his website, so it’s apparently a moot point. Anyway, good luck to the guy and I’d love to see a regular comic. You know, word bubbles and stuff like that.
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Posted by Kevin
July 7, 2011
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A different website
The Fifty Flip Experiment #3
Ah, a comic from back when this comic was funny. For those of you who are sarcasm-challenged, well, the comic is STILL funny (as of #14 anyway), but wow was the format different back when this issue came out. By the time Dan got to #14 the stories were getting longer and the art was getting better, but it’s hard to compare to an issue like this in terms of sheer content. This is mostly a series of comic strips, usually four to a page, along with some single page strips. As a result of all that content I’ll just briefly mention what you could find in the first half of the book: mistaken unicorn identity, screaming dad, some unfortunate third world care packages, the moral superiority of jogging, stupid Simba, the secret of Abraham Lincoln’s hat, medical experiments on slaves (in an odd change of pace for an otherwise jovial book), fucking crows, streamlining the mate selection process, “fake” wrestling, and a suicidal tackle box. And that’s just chunks of the first half! If you’ve never heard of Dan Hill and want to see what exactly he’s capable of, chances are that you’re going to want to start with one of his more recent work comics and work your way back. If you’re already a fan, or if you’re obsessed with getting value for your comics dollar, it’s hard to go wrong with this one. As for those websites, the first one is Dan’s official website (as far as I know), but it’s not working at the moment. The second one lists several of Dan’s old comics, including many of them from this issue, but that’s not working at the moment either. Too bad, but here’s hoping it’s just a temporary thing. If I remember correctly these were generally $2, although maybe the earlier ones were cheaper.
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Posted by Kevin
