April 24, 2010
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Hard Times #8
There seems to be an endless assortment of ways to make fun of modern office life. If you work in an office, these ways are either a helpful way to blow off steam or an unwelcome reminder of where you’re going to be stuck for the next 40+ years of your life. Or maybe you’re lucky enough to not work in an office at all and these representations of office life are a bit like looking through the glass at various zoo animals. Either way it’s an easy concept to screw up, but Ed seems to have a decent handle on the theme. This is the story of Jay, the (unmentioned) giant talking cat of the office. There were 7 issues before this one, but it’s no trouble picking up on the action, as the first 7 issues were either about different things or the office life described here is so constant that we don’t even need a recap. Jay is working his way up through the ranks, although he’s doing it without a raise and by working much longer hours. He’s also dealing with a boss who’s happy to fire everybody around him for any reason he can think of, coffee that tastes like washed feet, an overzealous security guard and the fact that Sunshine Coffee is putting up new stores everywhere. You know, flipping through this again it just occurred to me that this was probably done on either a daily or weekly basis, as every page seems to end with a joke. The art seems to have unerased pencil lines all over the place, and if that’s a mistake it’s something that grew on me by the end of the issue. It seemed to somehow flesh out the characters more, as without the smudges and shading this whole thing would look fairly flat. I have one more issue here to help me make a final verdict, but based on one issue I’d say this is worth a look, although possibly best to stay away from if you prefer to think that offices don’t actually exist. No price, so… $1?
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Posted by Kevin
April 24, 2010
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Decaff Blues #2
Right at the top of my list for things not to do with your mini comic would be to misspell the title. Granted, “decaf” is an abbreviation so I suppose you can mess it up a little bit, but it’s also commonly used and it’s hard not to know how to spell it. It just gets the comic off on the wrong foot and it’s so very easily avoided. Anyway, this is the story of the lead character trying to get into town for a job interview. He takes the bus and deals with what everybody deals with while trying to get anywhere on the bus: stopping to pick up a handicapped woman (and the invariable asshole who wonders why they have to stop to pick her up at all), being picked up late, offending other riders, trying to reason with a bus clerk, being hassled by people trying to sell you (obviously stolen) goods, and getting cheated at three card monty. All of this leads to our hero finally getting to his job interview very late, and I don’t think it’s spoiling anything to tell you that employer’s don’t care what your excuse is if you’re late to a job interview, they’re not going to hire you. It’s a fun story, but I have to point out again how obnoxious all the unerased pencil lines are. It makes everything look rushed, and the fact that the pages are poorly centered doesn’t help at all. At least he used staples this time, although that just has the effect of occasionally chopping off dialogue. See that crease at the bottom right of the cover scan? That wasn’t from my scanner. There are simple fixes to all of these problems, that’s why I continue to complain about them. I read it and enjoyed it, but I run a website about this stuff. Most people seeing this is a shop would probably glance at it and move onto something that looked more professional. Yes, I am aware of the fact that I’m looking for professionalism in mini comics. Not really, just a command of the basics and the ability to make a good story look good on the shelf. <angry old man rant over> $1
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Posted by Kevin
April 24, 2010
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Calloway June
What a sweet little story. Everybody as a kid probably wanted to be the kid without rules, without parents (at least for a little while), the one who made his/her own rules. This is the story of Calloway June, a young boy who lives in a treehouse by himself, as told from the perspective of another young boy who lived close by and could hear Calloway playing his banjo through the night. Calloway was able to fool to school principal for a while into letting him attend classes (he always said his parents were away on parent/teacher night), but eventually another young boy learns the truth. This young boy complained about this amazing life to his mother, who told somebody else, who told somebody else, and Calloway’s secret got out. The rest of the book is the mad dash of society to catch Calloway and put him in an orphanage and no, I’m not going to tell you how it ends. The art is all simple linework, with giant expressive eyeballs all over the place. It’s just a pretty thing to look at, no trouble at all to linger on panels here and there. Joey has the art and the concept of telling an engaging story down already, and this is the first thing I’ve seen from the guy. I think maybe he should make a habit out of this comics thing, if he hasn’t already. $3
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Posted by Kevin
April 24, 2010
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Art Tatum – Meeting the Kings
For those of you out there who don’t know your jazz masters as well as you should, this is an excellent introduction to Art Tatum. His name hasn’t survived as well as some (like Coltrane, Miles Davis and Thelonious Monk), but he was an acknowledged master at the time. This mini recounts the first time some legends of Harlem heard Art, and how they were able to recognize the prescence of greatness almost at once. Granted, some of this might be creative license, but it’s hard to imagine the greats hearing this guy and NOT thinking that they were hearing something completely different. Joey breaks down the specifics far better than I could, and does an excellent job of transforming music into images. If you’re at all curious about this kind of music Art Tatum wouldn’t be a bad place to start, and this comic wouldn’t be a bad intro to all of it. No price, so let’s say $2.
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Posted by Kevin
April 24, 2010
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Morgenmuffel #16
More tales from Isy as she tries in some way to slow down the destruction of the planet, and this time we even get to take a close look at protesters at the G8 summit. Harrassment by the cops, trying to feed over a thousand people at a time, dealing with the elements and trying to get a meaningful protest in anywhere, all good times. She also talks about a horticultural show (as Isy is apparently quite the cook, more on that later), Climate Camp 2007 (the Camp from the previous year was discussed in the last issue), pancakes, tv shows (the good ones at least), beech trees, and whisky. If you’re not terrified enough about the looming effects of global warming she also has a handy chart showing how it’s all going to go to crap over the next century or so. One of the highlights of this book was all the hate. Various people had lists of things they hated most in the world, and it was a diverse enough group of folks to make for a fun read. Oh, and in regards to the cooking thing, Isy has put out a huge (258 pages) vegan cookbook, and that’s even something a meat eater like me would be curious to see. Hey, healthy eating is healthy eating, and the only thing stopping me from eating more vegan dishes is the lousy tastes I invariably seem to run across. Here’s a website where you can pick that up, or probably just e-mail her at the link up at the top of the page for more details… $2
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Posted by Kevin
April 24, 2010
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Morgenmuffel #15 Now Available! $2
You know, for somebody as overtly socially conscious as Isy, it’s surprising how little preaching she has in her books about any chosen cause. Sure, she mentions corporate greed, oil and veganism, but she manages to pull it off in a very accessable way. This issue is more of the same, which is a good thing, in case that wasn’t clear. It mostly talks about her summer vacation of 2006, with her meandering to all sorts of places. Also included in here are a diary about a trip to the lake (illustrated, of course), a history of the Cowley Club, some zine recommendations, games to kill time on long road trips and various drinking games. My favorite, which I suppose isn’t a game really, deals with tequila shots. For you youngsters out there, generally I’ve seen it as licking salt (usually off your hand, but creativity is encouraged), drinking the shot, then biting down on a lemon. Apparently in Leeds they snort the salt, drink the shot and then squirt the lemon in their eye. As an American, I am shamed by our collective wussiness once again. The only “problem” I had with this issue is that her panel layout is occasionally impossible to follow, as arrows can’t always help tell you where to go next if whole panels are left out of the map. Still, the stories she tells are usually about various travels, where it’s not essential to get everything in a linear order anyway. Just wanted to throw a bit of negativity into an otherwise glowing review.
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Posted by Kevin
April 24, 2010
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Morgenmuffel #12
Here’s another solid bunch of stories. Lots of stuff for your buck too: it probably took me about an hour to read this whole thing. Text pieces, comics, reviews, hate lists… a diverse selection of stuff to keep you interested. Stories in here include passing the time, cycling, yeast infections, their club, drinking (and drunken stories), eczema, and working (or being unemployed). In other words, she doesn’t shy away from the goriest personal details, but she always keeps it entertaining. Good stuff all around. I said it in the last review and I’ll repeat myself here: I wish there were more comics out there like this. Seems like a bunch of them are just thrown together at the last minute to have something for the next convention, while stuff like this are done over a long period of time and are so obviously done with love of the medium. Contact info is up there and apparently there’ll soon be a collection of #2-11, which will probably take something like 8 days to read, but at least it’ll be worth it…
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Posted by Kevin
April 24, 2010
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Morgenmuffel #11
There aren’t enough comics like this around any more. It’s basically a collection of tales about things that happened to Isy. You know, autobiographical stuff. She’s an anarchist and draws stories about trying new things, trying yoga, a typical day in her life, trainspotting, testing video games, going to music festivals, and she even has a story about an activist who’s still in jail. One look at the cover should show you the sheer level of detail she puts in her art, and her writing is the same way. Everything is as casual as can be, it comes across like you’re listening in on some of the conversations she’s having with friends. There are also a couple of text pieces in here. One is about her trying to get a bar/bookstore opened up with some friends and another is a rant by someone named Adam about why he likes comics. Great art, engaging dialogue, and she leads enough of an interesting life to make autobio fun. Send her a few bucks (I’m guessing here, but if it’s too much maybe she’ll send you some other comics too) at: P.O. Box 74 Brighton BNI 42Q. Or just e-mail her…
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Posted by Kevin
April 24, 2010
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Vampire Free Style #2
OK, this time around things were a bit harder to follow. Chances are all will be revealed after the next issue (and the inside cover has a list of characters, something this issue sorely needed), but for now it’s all a bit muddled. I’m still not entirely clear on the story of this guy who can tell that the cat is really a girl (assuming that it is really a girl), and I’m not completely sure why the cat hates Auntie Margarhita. Anyway, minor things, as it’s still as eerie and mildly unnerving as the first issue. This time around Edward sees a vision of something trying to hurt the cat/girl, some stars come down to try and help the cat remember who it is, and the witches try their own spell to move things along. This is really one of those “in between” issues, so nothing was really resolved or identified. The next issue should convince me one way or the other, and I’m even more on the fence than usual right now. This could end up being a pile of style over substance, or it could all coalesce into a genuinely great gothic love story. Find out next time!? And what did I say last time, $5? Something like that, or check out that website above and see what you can see…
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Posted by Kevin
April 24, 2010
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Vampire Free Style #1
Who’s in the mood for a good gothic fairy tale? This is the story of a prince looking for his lost princess, a witch learning how to fly, a nosy aunt who dresses up cats, a young man who is curious about the same cat, and, of course, the cat, who seems to know a lot about what’s going on. It’s essentially good clean fun for all ages, with some nice creepy atmospheric art. Oh, and one bleeped out “fuck”, so maybe it’s not going to be for all ages for long, who knows? In this issue we see the cat meet up with the witch and the curious young man and get the barest glimpse of what’s to come, but luckily I got the next few issues along with this one in the mail so it won’t be a mystery for long. I’m a bit mystified about the price, but let’s say around $5 and leave it at that as that’s a gorgeous cover and it’s a pretty thick book. Of course, you could always just wander around that website listed above, maybe contact Jenika and find out for yourself…
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Posted by Kevin
April 24, 2010
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The Dreamer #3
For those of you who are interested in this sort of thing, that is the variant cover to this issue. Nothing against Lora’s cover, but come on, look at that thing. That’s fantastic. The story just keeps rolling along in this issue, with Beatrice learning a bit more about the situation in her “dream” world, finally goes on a date with her real-life dream guy, and learns a pretty important fact about her dream life. You know, I forgot to ask Lora at the last convention if this was a limited series. It seems like it would fit more easily in a set number of issues rather than just keeping it going, as the real angle to all this (whether or not her dreams are “real”) has to get wrapped up sooner or later. Either way, the end result of her date are almost certainly going to have consequences in her real life. Unless she ends up staying in her dream life. If it is, in fact, a dream. Ah, now I’ve gone and confused myself. The important thing is that Lora still has a great ear for dialogue, there’s some genuine suspense and mystery on both ends (maybe not as much with her life in modern day), and it’s still a kick to try and figure out what’s going to happen next. Sounds like a decent comic to me. $3.99
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Posted by Kevin
April 24, 2010
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The Dreamer #2
Well, I regretted not getting more issues of this series after SPACE, and now all I have to regret is that I chose to get two more issue of the series instead of just getting the graphic novel. Oh well, live and learn, and forget, and make the same mistake, and then maybe learn the next time I see her at a con. In this issue Beatrice tries explaining to her friends that she’s probably not going to go out with the guy she’s liked since 8th grade because she’s in love with a man in her dreams… and it goes about as well as you would expect. Her friends eventually convince her that she’s being ridiculous, and it all leads up to one of the more wonderfully awkward attempts at asking somebody out that I’ve ever seen, and this is coming from somebody who has been involved in more than his fair share of such things. Go ahead, guess which end of it I was on, I’ll never tell. Hint: I run a website about small press comics. Ahem. Anyway, Beatrice is still having her vivid dreams (one in class and one right before her big date in this issue), and as such we get to learn a lot more about the man she’s in love with in her dreams and their “history”. Lora is trying to get this into high schools, and I have no trouble seeing it fitting right in. It’s smart enough for an adult but it is a story about high school kids and, from my increasingly hazy memory of the time, it’s pretty accurate. This is one of those rare books you could actually share with your teenage child, assuming said teenage child is still speaking to you. $3.99
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Posted by Kevin
April 24, 2010
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The Dreamer #1
If there is any justice in the small press comics world, Lora will be a successful comic writer/artist in no time. I picked this up at SPACE 2009, and it was put out in October 2008. She had #1-5 available at her table and the graphic novel collecting all these books should be out soon. Granted, this isn’t a self-published mini. IDW is a fairly established publishing company at this point. Still, she clearly didn’t get the memo that small press folks are only supposed to put out 2-3 books a year. So fine, her production level is admirable, how about the quality of the actual comic? She mentioned something about going to a Disney-themed art school, but she seems to have mostly come away with a serious level of artistic skill without picking up the cutesy, obnoxious aspects of the Disney style. Granted, the males are often as pretty as the females, but a little bit of facial hair here and there should clean that up. This is the story of a young girl in high school who wakes up after a particularly vivid dream. She’s in a bit of a daze all day at school from this dream, even barely noticing when a guy she’s had a crush on for ages finally asks her out. We get to see a bit more of her dream world when she goes to bed that night, and it apparently deals with a remarkably consistent stretch of time during the Revolutionary War and her romance with a young soldier. Granted, this is all the first issue and things could fall apart from here, but it’s an intriguing setup, the dialogue is smart and funny, and as for the art, she’s clearly a pro. This is definitely worth keeping an eye on and one of what I’m sure will be many things that I wished I’d picked up more than one issue of at SPACE. $3.99
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Posted by Kevin
April 24, 2010
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Blink #4: Barefoot in America, Breakfast in the Park Now Available! $3
Hey, I’m the official online retailer for Blink Books! Sorry, I just noticed in the back of this issue and had no idea. Well, OK, some idea, as I am selling them… Oh this thing with selling comics, it’s like a constant revelation to me. Max says that with this issue he’s going to start focusing on the lives of the main characters Blink, Sam and Hank (you may or may not have known that that last one was a main character) by going to the full issue stories rather than the 4-8 page bits. I could and have argued both sides of that particular argument, but it looks like he’s going to occasionally put out shorter minis anyway, so it’s the best of both worlds. This issue is essentially a conversation in the park between Blink, Sam and Hank, as the two women run across him playing Supertramp by himself. The relative merits of their music is discussed, as well as Hank’s woefully inadequate knowledge of blue’s music. The conversation is all well and good, as Max has a great handle on dialogue, but the highlights to me were the quiet intro (animals running around) and the conclusion, with Hank running into a friend and telling the guy not to be a pig in describing Blink and Sam. It’s a great way to start this idea of telling the story of their lives, by not having everything begin and end with their conversations. All told it’s another solid issue, if you haven’t figured that out already… $3
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Posted by Kevin
April 24, 2010
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Blink #3: Space to Breathe Now Available! $2
This is the last of the available Blink’s (as of 8/6/07, anyway), and unfortunately, it’s a SPACE issue. That means (and this applies to other conventions as well) that it’s much shorter than the other issues, as it looks like Max wanted to have something new for SPACE of last year. Still, the other two issues are mini comics too, it’s not like he’s cheating a whole bunch here. There are only two short stories in this one, the first with Sam and Blink looking up at the stars and talking about the world and the second with Max telling a story from his parents about stopping to notice the good things in life. It’s a peaceful little shortie and another solid issue, I just get greedy when I find a series I’m enjoying and hope that all future issues will be about a hundred pages. $2
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Posted by Kevin
April 24, 2010
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Blink #2: Experiencing Creative Difficulties Now Available! $3
More from the world of Max Ink, and this time he tells us right off the bat what to expect in this issue: writer’s block. Or whatever it’s called when it’s more of a comic’s block in general than writer’s block. Anybody who’s gone through it knows how horrible it is, to have any spark of creativity that you had always assumed would be around just leave you completely, never knowing when or if it would be coming back. The first half of the book is dedicated to this, as Blink gets a chance to do a strip for a theater zine, but she finds that all her ideas are stupid and worthless. Sam tries to talk sense to her, pointing out previous successes and some good things she finds in Blink’s sketchbook, but it’s a hard sell to Blink. The other big story in here has the same theme, this time with Blink giving up on her productive afternoon and taking time off to play around in the snow.There are also some fairly illuminating sketchbook pages in the back, detailing where the first story came from and some other ideas that are floating around his head. More good stuff from Max, even if these so far leave me with the impression that while Blink is a decent series, he has something really special in him still to come, either through Blink or something completely different down the road. $3
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Posted by Kevin
April 24, 2010
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Blink #1: Up Leaves Fall Down Now Available! $3
The trouble with reviewing these things sequentially, the way I see it, is that it often short-changes the artist. Take this first issue of Blink, for example. By now (4/25/07), Max has this as (if I remember correctly, as his website is down and I can’t find the info online) a weekly online strip, so he’s spent some serious time on it. Even if it’s not a weekly strip, he’s done at least three more issues with these characters by now. However, in this issue, things are just getting started, with us getting to know the two main characters, Blink and Sam. They walk and talk or they sit and talk, about lost innocence and crosswords puzzles, with a few pages of sketchbook material and the most wonderfully honest advertisement I’ve seen in quite a while. It’s here as an introduction, and it does a fine job at that. Seems like I was going somewhere profound with this, but I had to take a break and away it went. I’ll leave this up as an illustration to anybody who thinks that I know what I’m doing, and if it comes back to me I’ll put it up in the review for the next issue, which should be in a couple of weeks if all goes as planned. Either way, a solid issue on its own…
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Posted by Kevin
April 24, 2010
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Blink: FYI, IDK
Max manages to reach in and tug directly at my heartstrings with this anti-technological issue. Well, maybe it’s not anti-technological, just more of a cautionary, “don’t forget that it’s OK to speak and type in complete sentences” kind of tale. In this issue (which is free, by the way, so if you ever see Max or order other comics from him, mention this one) Blink realizes that she’s run out of time to get her Aunt a handmade card, like she does every year, and decides to cheat a little bit by still drawing a card but sending a picture to her of it through her phone. Sam uses the occasion to go off on a wonderful rant about people putting every detail of their lives on their blogs and being a slave to Facebook and Myspace (or whichever thing you damned kids are obsessed with today). Just a very lovely, cathartic issue. If anything I thought the rant was reined in a bit, but it strikes pretty close to home, as somebody who has a (theoretically) daily “blog”. There’s a reason I don’t put many details of my personal life down here and there’s a reason why I don’t mess with most of the social networking sites that help you never actually talk to anybody in person. Sadly, though, I am familiar enough with the internets to know what that title stands for. How about you?
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Posted by Kevin
April 24, 2010
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A Strange Day (with Tatiana Gill)
Well, my scanner died right after I scanned the cover, so sorry about the lack of samples. Who out there was a Cure fan back in the day? If so, you’re going to get an awful lot out of this book. If not, well, you’re probably still going to get a lot out of this book, at least if you were ever a teenager you will. I’m not sure if I was ever that young, but there seems to be photographic evidence of some kind, so maybe it is true. The quote at the start of this shows the mood you need to be in to read it: “Open this book as the sixteen year old that fell in love at first sight and took themselves all too seriously”. This is the story of a young boy and a young girl who both, without having ever met each other before, skip school to get the new Cure album when it comes out and end up spending the day together. I have no idea how Damon pulled off dialogue this realistic, as I assume he isn’t 16 any more and this seems as natural as can be. Not that it’s impossible, but it seems like when some people try to write as teenagers would talk that it comes off, well, a bit silly. No problem with that here. Tatiana also does an incredible job showing the complete range of emotions that most teenagers go through in a couple of hours. Good stuff all around, it’s only $3.95 too so it’s well worth checking out.
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Posted by Kevin
April 24, 2010
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Temporary #1 (Damon with Rick Smith)
How appropriate that on the last day I use Microsoft Frontpage to update the site (if all goes well with the site update, that is) the damned thing crashes and eats my review for this comic. It was great too, the best review I’ve ever written, and now nobody gets to see it! Or it sucked and now I get the chance to make it up. Anyway, this is a comic by two people that I like a whole lot, and it’s about a subject (temping) that I’m very familiar with, having basically done that for many years now, although I have been hired at a place or two in that time. The story here is that a temp gets hired for some data entry and ends up at a place that has people with hollow computers, suicidal workers and people hanging out inside the fax machine. What’s going on? Who are those people? Does it matter as long she gets paid on time? It’s great to start a series with a whole bunch of mysteries, and this one is chock full of them. If you’ve enjoyed Rick’s Shuck series or any of Damon’s work, I can’t see how you wouldn’t like this book. Here’s the website and here’s hoping Frontpage doesn’t eat my review again…
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Posted by Kevin
