April 24, 2010
Website
Great! #1
Well, this book is fairly stupid. I was warned ahead of time, and I think Gary has improved tremendously since this book came out (it’s early work, and that’s usually not the greatest), but this is easily skipped. The first part is a superhero parody about Mr. Great and his quest to get his own action figure randomly from inside of a cereal box. Hilarity (in theory) ensues. Then there’s a bizarre, and more than a little bit twisted, story about two drunks running over a guy and then playing video games. Maybe I gave too much away there, but it doesn’t take away from any of the dialogue of the piece, which is the highlight. Some funny stuff in here, I have to say. The last piece is an oddly sad tale about an abused drunk and the paranoid thoughts in his head that eventually bubble to the surface. Actually, this isn’t that bad, but it’s not that great either. Geez, what a crappy pun. Contact info is the same as above, this is either 2 or 3 bucks, although there probably aren’t too many copies left…
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Posted by Kevin
April 24, 2010
Website
Stupidmonster #4
Ah, the random comics that I get. This one is from London and it’s great. Cute, smart and downright depressing at the end. The other comics I got from this guy were funny and looked like they were done in about ten minutes flat, this one is color and looks great. Don’t get me wrong, the ones that looked kind of rushed were still funny and full of charm. It doesn’t have to look like you spent all day on a page for it to be good, you know. Anyway, this one is about a monster who goes to sleep and enjoys his dreams, like the title suggests. Whimsical, that’s what you’d call these books. This one is $4.50 and is done before you know it, which is about the only negative thing that I can say about it. The other ones are: #1, 2 $2.25; #3 $1.50 and a cute little box of comics with three totally different things in it is $2.25. Get the box as a sampler or go ahead and get #1, as it’s probably my favorite of the bunch. E-mail the guy or send him money at: 6 Foxberry Court Foxberry Road Brockley London SE4 2SQ England. By the way, the black and white sample doesn’t look as bad as my scanner makes it appear… Hey, he has a website now too!
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Posted by Kevin
April 24, 2010
Website
Shpilkes Volume 3 #1
The great thing about reading more than one issue by any given creator is that it gives me the chance to base my opinion on more than one thing. Should go without saying, sure, but I sometimes give bad reviews that are purely based on what I think the person is likely to do in their comics career, and it’s silly to base that on one issue, but I’m rambling here. My point is that I liked this issue. The contents here are pretty diverse, but it all works. There’s an asshole at a coffee shop, a stupid man trying to describe a long-term relationship, and some really tasteless (so, naturally, pretty funny) jokes here and there. But the bulk of this book, and the best thing about it, is the convoluted epic about Otto VonHoule, a possibly retarded descendent of royalty. It’s set in the hickest of hick towns and involves licking feet, intolerance, a skank and an angry mob. I never had a problem with Fredo’s art and it’s never looked better than is does here. He gets a bit lazy with the backgrounds here and there (as in there are is no background here and there), but that’s a very minor complaint in what was a pretty damned good comic. Check out his website or send him an e-mail. Maybe he can tell you why this is another #1 instead of a #2…
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Posted by Kevin
April 24, 2010
Website
Big Questions #7
Holy crap, now this is published by Drawn & Quarterly! I don’t know if that makes a difference these days in terms of visibility for a book, but I’m sure it can’t hurt. Kudos to them for once again realizing one of the best series out there when they see it. This issue reads sort of like a break from some of the more intense goings-on, which you might have been able to guess from that title. The retarded man eats some bark and takes a nap; meanwhile Algernon has a talk with a snake and a big cat is wandering around the general area. All of which is a surface description only, as the closest thing I can compare reading this issue to is the calmest, most serene Spring day you can think of. Seriously. I’d like a time machine just so I can go ahead a few years and see how amazing this story is when it’s all put out in graphic novel format. $5 and it’s money very well spent…
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Posted by Kevin
April 24, 2010
Website
Big Questions #6
Man, what was I thinking with that last review? Seriously, that’s just silly. This is another fantastic edition of a fantastically wonderful series, even though there’s less to it than the size might indicate, in terms of the actual story. You have a plane crash, a retarded guy eating grass, birds clustered around the new human, and one of the better uses of a three page spread that I’ve seen. And this is all going to be put in one big book… when exactly? The man is simply depriving the percentage of the already tiny comic reading population who doesn’t read stuff unless it’s a “graphic novel”. Nuts to them in general, granted, but I’d love to see this all in one place with whatever “historical revisions” are necessary to make the thing flow as a whole. No idea what you’re waiting for if you know this exists and don’t already own it, this is mostly just a reminder that it’s out there. $5
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Posted by Kevin
April 24, 2010
Website
Big Questions #5
Ever read one of those series where the payoff was nothing compared to the buildup? For the three issues of this series that I’ve read (barring the crazy trippy parts of #2 that still might make sense eventually, I guess), I would tell anybody who asked me that Anders was one of the better small press cartoonists around. I’d still say that, but for whatever reason, this issue left me kind of cold. It was just a lot more interesting somehow before I knew exactly what everything was and what everything stood for. I almost felt that he explained too much here, that not enough was left to the imagination. Haven’t read any other reviews of this, but I wouldn’t be a bit surprised to find that I’m the only one with this opinion. The art keeps improving (it was great to begin with), his storytelling skills are obviously getting exponentially better with each passing issue, and I’m sure that there are plenty of people out there who will love this. It’s not like I hate it. I like it just fine. It’s just that every other issue was such a dramatic step above the one before it, and this one feels like more of a straightforward story than anything else. I might read this all together one day and completely change my mind about this, but for now I’d have to say that while it’s still better than almost everything else out there, it didn’t improve as much as I thought it could. And yes, I’m well aware that that’s way too much pressure to put on anybody. This is $3.95 and it looks beautiful, there’s a new website too, check it out!
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Posted by Kevin
April 24, 2010
Website
Big Questions #4: Asomatognosia
If you’re looking around a comics store three or four years from now and are wondering what this incredible new book is and where this guy came from, well, it’s right here. I don’t know if he’s planning on collecting this story, or if he really even intended for it to be an ongoing story, but here it is. I honestly think he’ll be mentioned in the same breath as Dan Clowes and Chris Ware in a few years if he keeps this up. Not to put any pressure on him or anything… Anyway, this book, and #3, takes all the good parts of #2, amplifies them, and adds even more good parts. The birds are still there, but it’s starting to look more like a society and less like random birds getting philosophical. Throw in a mysterious story about a (retarded?) man and an elderly woman, some irate squirrels and a bomb, and you have Big Questions. There’s a ton of stuff on this page. I think I’m up to 275 creators or so as of this writing. Out of all of them, I think you should check this out first. Maybe it’s neck and neck with the last two issues (13 & 14) of Supermonster from Kevin Huizenga, but this is honestly something that would enrich your life if you took the time to check it out. And no, he’s not paying me anything. This one is $4, get #3 too and send him money at: P.O. Box 1627 Chicago, IL 60690. E-mail him to see if he has anything new but only if you’re willing to tell me the second that he does…
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Posted by Kevin
April 24, 2010
Website
Big Questions #2
I love reading all the currently available stuff from an author and then going back to read the early stuff. The birds in this one (I’m going to assume that you already know the basic gist of this book, or why would you be reading a review for #2?) are actually reading the comic along with us, commenting on the stories. It’s cute as hell and funny, especially when it’s one of a number of stories that are completely open to interpretation, much like everything in here. Looks like I have to get #3 and complete my collection, huh? Contact info is down there, but it doesn’t tell you to go to the best site in the world to order this stuff.
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Posted by Kevin
April 24, 2010
Website
Big Questions #1
What do you say about a mini if 3/4 of it is laugh out loud funny and the other quarter is so bland that it leaves no impression at all? That pretty much sums up my experience with Big Questions. About half of it is spent with birds talking, which is the part that had me chuckling while I was sitting here. The book is basically three parts, spread out over the comic. The first part has birds talking about various things and that’s the part that works the best. Like the Hollywood print ads say, it was “laugh out loud funny”. Then there’s a large story in the middle of the comic called Looking for Something which is about, appropriately enough, a man who’s looking for something. It works on a different level than the birds stuff, but it certainly works. Then there’s the part of the book in between some of the stories that is just a giant cube disintegrating into smaller cubes and a giant cube, apparently filled with something, that has all the liquid drained from it. If you think that sounds dull, you’re right. I don’t know if it was just filler or what, but it registered no impression on me at all, and why bother to put something in a mini if it isn’t going to make some kind of impression on the reader? Still, this book was either $1 or $2 and it’s well worth your money. Some cultural things can pervade my brain to the point where every time I hear a certain word or phrase, I’m reminded of that movie or TV scene. It’s kind of the way sometimes when I hear “fuck”, but you’ll have to read the mini to find out why.
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Posted by Kevin
April 24, 2010
Website (or not, unless he went crazy. It’s all non-comic mad ramblings over there)
Colonia: Islands and Anomalies
I wanted to like this book, I really, really did. I’d recommend Through the Habitrails to anybody and he really hasn’t done much since then that I’ve liked, so I was completely ready to unreservedly recommend this to people. The bad news is that I can’t, the good news is that it’s possible that I just can’t yet. What he’s done here is create a fantastic world where he’s only scratched the surface, obviously, and this was far from being a bad book. It’s just that there’s nothing to make you want to come back for more. Don’t get me wrong, there are several things in this that intrigue me. The fish-man, the mermaids, Neptune, the ghost fleet, where exactly they are. I have no problem with that part of the book. The thing is that there isn’t enough of it. The vast majority of the time is spent with characters that are almost completely forgettable. Cinnabar, the pirate leader, is pretty much your generic pirate. The two female pirates are more intriguing, if horribly underdeveloped so far. The main character, Jack, is just plain dull. It seems like there are mysteries there, but for now, bleh. His two uncles are worse, if only because I read this last night and I couldn’t tell you their names or what distinguished one from another. Oh yeah, I think one of them was fat. More development is needed on all levels. All that being said, I’m going to continue buying this series. Slow as it is, I’ve always liked his art and it’s improved quite a bit with this series. If you don’t already know his work, I’d say wait a few years until you have a couple more volumes to read before you dig in, otherwise chances are you’ll lose interest before it really gets started. Go visit his website, it’s a pretty good page and it’ll tell you a lot more about the series than I did.
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Posted by Kevin
April 24, 2010
Website (or not, unless he went crazy. It’s all non-comic mad ramblings over there)
Through the Habitrails
Anybody out there remember Taboo from Spiderbaby Graphix? I didn’t think so. This was done mostly in that series, and I guess a lot of people never saw it. This is the same guy who did Ultra Klutz, does anybody remember that? Anyway, I haven’t seen anything he’s done since that has been very good (Father and Son was godawful), but this book is still an amazing piece of work. The story of a man trapped in a shitty job and the adventures he tries to have to make things more bearable. If you’re ever had a corporate job where you feel trapped and that you’re rewarded for mediocre to crappy work, this is the book for you.
Reading this over again for the review, I noticed how disjointed the whole thing is. This is the first edition from ’94, so maybe he polished it up for later editions or something. I hope so, because that’s my only significant problem with this. Too many “that’s a story for another time” without going back to the actual story that he’s talking about. Do you feel drained at work? The people at this mythical corporation are literally tapped of their creative juices through the day. A sense of utter hopelessness and inevitability pervade this book and reaffirms my belief that getting a job that sucks me dry just isn’t the way to go. Whether or not I can make a living off of something like this page is another story (as he said several times in his book, but only time will tell if this’ll work out), but I’m damned sure going to give it a try talking about something I love rather than killing myself 9-5. And you don’t kill yourself physically, which was another of his points, you just take every ounce of desire and hope out of your body and give it to the weekend, which is a losing proposition from the start.
The art in this book fits the mood perfectly too. Most people don’t have any faces, and that leads to everyone being basically expressionless. Add that to the glasses that a lot of people have (and a glassy-eyed effect in general) and it increases the despair of the whole thing noticeably. I wish he had done more of note besides this series. He has a series out now (I can’t think of the name. Anyone?) that I haven’t seen yet, Ultra Klutz was OK (but I only read a couple of issues, so it could have gotten much worse or much better), and Father and Son was a piece of shit. He still has the potential to be a major talent, and I have high hopes that he will one of these days. Until then, this is by far his best work to date.
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Posted by Kevin
April 24, 2010
Website
Jumbly Junkery #8
There are few people making comics that put this amount of work into their product. Most people throw a few stories of varying lengths together and call it a comic. L. always has a whole pile of stories in her comics, I have yet to see a weak piece and the whole package is always amazing. I don’t know if those covers translate well through my scanner, but they’re always impressive.  She mixes a few larger pieces in this issue along with the usual short pieces, and subjects include fireflies, a schoolboy who’s obsessed with numbers, theories on how she cracked her tooth, the many stores closing and opening in her neighborhood, her fears of never making anything that lives up to her standards (utterly unfounded, but it’s often impossible to convince genuinely talented people of that fact), trying to enforce discipline on herself, contemplating the meaning of everything while having a mundane conversation with her parents, Katrina (her dad was living there when the storm hit, and I’, guessing that was her home for a long time), ennui, being unafraid to show real emotions, her amazing ability to always catch guys being assholes to women, and the heroic tale of a cat taken away against its will. Her Katrina story was particularly awful because she was stuck at school for months and had no idea what to expect when she got back, she just knew the effect that it was having on her family. And really, I’m a guy and I haven’t heard guys being total assholes to women nearly as often as she has. It’s another impressive collection of stories, and as this is up to #8 I’m sure you guys already know all about this series so I won’t belabor the point. $5 (?)
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Posted by Kevin
April 24, 2010
Website
Jumbly Junkery #5
L. adds a few longer pieces this time around, and I think she may be onto something. Granted, I already thought #4 was fantastic, but it’s always nice to see something completely different from an artist and still have it be fantastic. Shows range, don’t you know. There are still one page stories in here, about things like being gassy, public urination, the guard cat, and the daily grind of working. New to this issue are brief snippets about L.’s new love interest (or at least her character in the comic), adorable as they’re only about this new person sleeping. The longer pieces are what shines in here though, especially the biggest one in the bunch, about what to do when a person (in this case, a Muslim) overhears a stranger (in this case, an asshole) making racist comments to you. Do you go go out of your way to tell the asshole off? Do you, alternately, go out of your way to tell the Muslim that you don’t agree with the asshole? Other longer stories deal with the dangers of watching tv, where women are at today, feminism in theory versus reality, a quiet piece of observation, and the persistence of some men who yell at attractive women as they walk by. Oh, and in case anybody is wondering, it’s just a coincidence that both of the sample pages are entitled “The Sad Truth”, it’s not like that’s a constant theme of her comics or anything. just felt compelled to point that out. Great stuff again, if the last issue was $5 I’d say this one is the same.
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Posted by Kevin
April 24, 2010
Website
Jumbly Junkery #4
Are there people reading this site who aren’t cat lovers? It’s one of the things that boggles my mind, like the idea that there are Republicans out there reading this (not that there’s anything wrong with that… oh who am I kidding, I think they’re all nuts at this point). Anyway, if that’s the case with you, while there are still delightful chunks of this book that you would enjoy, the obvious cat love may turn you off. As for me, with a hungry cat meowing at me as we speak, I loved it. This is mostly a bundle of one page stories, about such subjects as the Hello Kitty idol, Sisyphus (actually L.) in action doing various hopelessly repetitive tasks, the good and bad sides of Spring, reconciling her profession with the macho jerks she inevitably runs into, making a conscious effort to get rid of her Southern accent, her mutual disappointment in her parents and their disappointment with her, and even a very brief origin story. Oh, and there are also the tales of Guard Cat, the valiant protector of the house who keeps it safe from evil, something every cat owner can relate to. I should also mention that L. is portrayed as a sort of sexless doll with buttons for eyes, not because of any lack of artistic ability, as the book is gorgeous, it’s just one of those things that reviewers are compelled to mention. Just checked the website for price info and it turns out that this is issue #4 and it’s $5, for the curious, but #2 is mysteriously missing from the site…
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Posted by Kevin
April 24, 2010
Website
Cyril in the False Lands
It always makes me happy to discover someone who has a ready-made graphic novel just sitting out there, unpublished. Of course, if also makes me happy when I found out about somebody when they do their very first comic and it’s amazing. I guess I’m trying to say that I like comics, which is obvious by my running my website, which makes this whole intro pointless. That, as they say, is why they pay me the big bucks. The point is that Jason has a whole pile of minis of the adventures of Cyril and, judging from the quality of this issue, should think about putting them all together and putting them out there, if financially possible. This is the continuing story of Cyril, who is a dead young boy wandering around the afterlife, trying to figure out what is happening to him and what is going on. That’s the impression I get anyway; it’s clear that a lot has gone on before this issue. Here’s the recap of the previous issue, you can know as much as I do: “Cyril came across a group of sperm ghosts that refused to believe that he wasn’t one of them. After being chased by the sperm, the Ghost King came to Cyril’s rescue and gives Cyril vague hints about his hidden destiny.” He does kind of look like a sperm ghost, doesn’t he? Anyway, in this issue Cyril comes across the memories of a man with a dead family (or are they his memories?), almost gets eaten by a creature with an enticing diamond antennae, and is eventually arrested for “impersonating the dark master”. While in prison he meets a professor who specializes in all the life forms that come to that land, and begins to learn a bit more about himself before he’s taken away to meet the dark master. I won’t ruin the ending confrontation just in case you are able to find a copy of this (it came out in 2003 and I don’t see this specifically on his website), but it, along with the rest of the comic, did make me want to see what happens next. And before this issue, which makes this a success. I love how there are no panels, just full page spreads, as it really contributes to the feeling that he’s lost in an overwhelming world. The art seems simple enough, but there’s a wide range of odd characters floating around, most seemingly with their own tasks and motivations. It’s worth checking out if you can find it, if not there are other chapters in this story on his website. No price, but due to the thickness I’ll guess $3. Yes, I’m guessing the price of a mini based on heft…
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Posted by Kevin
April 24, 2010
Website
The 80’s #1
Full disclosure time: I got this through the recent Poopsheet sale for a couple of bucks. The fact that this was listed at $8 is astounding to me, and wouldn’t be something that I would ever pick up for that reason alone. It does have something like 80 pages (no, I’m not going to count), so it gets points for size, but $8 for a black and white mini with a color cover? Why, back in my day comics only cost $.02 and the world was a better place etc. And from here on out I ignore that cover price and focus on the comic. Are you old enough to remember the 80’s? I mean really old enough to remember them, like if you were born in the mid 70’s, not just someone who has watched all the nostalgia specials on VH1? Then you’re bound to find several things to amuse you in this issue. There are three stories, all done by different artists, all written by Jason. First up is Disappearances (art by Erik Arreaga), which makes a whole lot less sense when you read the rest of the comic. A young man with a gun and undefined powers heads down to the sewer to check into some pizza boy disappearances. He’s attacked by a group of grotesque monsters, and this is the only story in the mini that didn’t heavily feature characters from the 80’s, unless I’m just not aware of the connection… unless they’re C.H.U.D.’s, as that idea just came to me and I never did see that movie. Next up is The Spirit (art by Michael Mena), as our hero with the mysterious powers (even to him) runs across Michael Jackson in 1983 and finds out that he is, in fact, a zombie. Part-time, at least. And also a werewolf, at least briefly. It was a little confusing, but it did have a great ending and a cameo appearance by the A-Team. Finally there’s The Summer of ’85 (art by Dave Hudson), which makes up the bulk of the comic. It’s a sprawling saga involving the Doc from Back to the Future (teaching our hero about his mysterious powers), the Misfits Of Science (if I’m remembering my 80’s correctly, as it’s not like there’s a glossary or anything), Teen Wolf, the giant dog thing from the Never-Ending Story, and even an army of Gremlins. The angry kind, not the adorable mogwai variety. All kinds of mayhem in this one, and it’s quite possible that I should have at least left one of those groups out to add to the surprise. Oh well, there were still a couple of things I couldn’t identify, maybe you’ll have better luck. I liked how the stories all took place in different years (the powers of this man are to last only until the end of the 80’s) and how they all referenced older events, as it’s an excellent way to build up a story like this. He’ll have to reduce the price for future issues a bit, but there’s a lot to like about this one, although possibly less if you weren’t cognizant for the 80’s. Still worth a look though, along with his other series on this page. $8
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Posted by Kevin
April 24, 2010
Website
A Few Perfect Hours
In the introduction to this book Sari (Josh’s partner for the past ten years and the person who went on these travels with him) says that the threat of 9/11 and terrorism in general make these stories look like “a letter from the past”, as they all take place in the 90’s. That’s true. I know people are still traveling the world and living out of their backpacks, but I can’t imagine that many of them are doing it as innocently as Josh and Sari did. Still, my problem with a lot of auto-bio (even some of the stuff that I like) is that some of these people just don’t have much to talk about. Yes, it’s important to examine their lives, but it adds a whole bunch to have stories from people who have traveled all over the world and did as much as they could to escape the beaten path at every opportunity. They start of in Bangkok, where they visit a Buddhist temple and Josh lets his hair down a bit (metaphysically speaking), while Sari deals internally with some of the local cuisine. Then it’s on to The Cave of Fear, an underground cave with tiny crawlspaces that are necessary to traverse the length of the tunnel. Next they travel to Nakhon Phanom, a city in Thailand, where they have to stay with some American fundamentalists so that they can stay in town to see a local festival. They also work at an organic farm in the hopes of meeting some locals, get cameos in a Singapore soap opera, drink with The Serbian Bear, talk with a traveling Ice Cream Man, and deal with the death of Josh’s grandmother, which brings back memories of a cremation in Bali. There are also travel tips for people who might be leaving the country, and pretty much everything there was essential reading. While I’m glad that the Xerix Foundation gave Josh money to print this, I find it a little hard to believe that the independent publishers weren’t fighting over this one. It’s a fantastic, gripping group of stories that really does feel like it’s from the past, and it’s important to read them in the context of today. Even in these countries, which are mostly not currently at war with us, would it be safe to wander around as they did and basically hope for the best at times? Regardless, there’s plenty to be learned here and there’s not a boring story in the bunch. A few of these were from some other sources, like a SPX anthology or Skeleton Key, but I hadn’t seen the vast majority of everything in here. It’s only $12.95, there’s a website up there in case the link to Amazon doesn’t work…
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Posted by Kevin
April 24, 2010
Website
Keyhole #2
It’s funny how some series can fly right by me while they’re going on. I don’t remember ever seeing this as it was being published (this issue is from 1996 but is still available here, along with a few of the other issues of this six issue series) but it’s exactly the sort of thing that I would have bought whenever I saw it. It’s a hodge-podge of the works of Dean Haspiel and Josh Neufeld. Sometimes they write and draw their own stories, sometimes one writes while the other draws, and sometimes guest writers are used. Anyway, this is a great issue and it makes me wonder why, if there were six issues of this series, this hasn’t been collected into a graphic novel of some kind. I guess a lot of the Dean Haspiel stuff has already been collected into Billy Dogma books or something, but Josh deserves a little bit of love too. All kinds of stories in here, including Josh and his wife (or girlfriend) traveling through Southeast Asia, Billy Dogma vs. The Human Bar Code, and a story of Dean’s from when he was a child listening to his parents fighting. Throw in a few one or two page strips scattered throughout and you have a solid comic. The more I see of Dean the more I wonder how I could have missed him for all these years, and Josh looks pretty great too. I know I’ve seen his artwork here and there, maybe in anthologies or those Big Books, but his autobio stuff is well worth reading. Check out a few issues of this series or go fill in the holes in your collection if you already have a few. Unless the other issues got a whole lot worse it looks like those of us who missed these really missed out. I just checked his website and he has all kinds of comics out there. That’s it, I have to quit all future jobs just so I can keep up with the artists who are worth following out there…
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Posted by Kevin
April 24, 2010
Website
Michael Neno’s Dream
Damn you Michael Neno, do more comics! I like everything I’ve seen from you so far and I’m perfectly willing to spend more money at your table when I see you at conventions, so why won’t you let me? Anyway, this is another solid comic, if tiny, but hey, it’s only a dream. It starts with Michael in a taxi with F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald, and the conversation goes to all sorts of things, including how they’re disappointed in Kurt Cobain for killing himself when F. Scott died of a heart attack. Tiny but good, contact info is above, and somebody please give him a grant of some kind and chain him to the drawing board!
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Posted by Kevin
April 24, 2010
Website
Quacky Pig and Friends
Three cheers for a real coloring book! Well, sure, maybe it’s not something that the whole comics world has been clamoring for, but I’m thinking about going out and getting some crayons for this baby. There’s a little bit of a story in here, mostly about Quacky and her friends getting into all sorts of mischief. It’s sort of like a children’s book that no child should ever read. It’s brutally funny at times and also absolutely silly at others, but it works for what it’s supposed to be (a coloring book, please keep that in mind at all times). What more can you really ask for than that? Contact info is above, I’m much too sleepy to actually link everything again…
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Posted by Kevin
