April 22, 2010
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Kekionga Mini Works #24
Sorry, but I’m way too lazy to type out that whole title. I’m sticking with her hidden (on the back cover, anyway) numerical system for these things. This is, as the title would suggest, a collection of pretty crappy werewolf jokes. Hey, she comes right out and admits it on the cover, and after reading this I can’t put up much of an argument. Check out that sample, they’re all pretty much like that, with the slight exception that I didn’t even recognize some of them as jokes. Those are probably the ones that’ll come to me in a few minutes or hours (or days, or years…) and make me groan. I’m not going to go over these one by one, as if you’re the type who likes pun I wouldn’t want to ruin anything. I don’t mean this to sound like I’m trashing Pam, as the art is gorgeous as always and I have nothing but respect and admiration for all she’s done for small press comics.  It’s just that this is one awful, awful pile of jokes. To see her at her best pick up, oh, ANY other mini comic she has lying around, or do yourself a favor and get that collection listed at the top, as that is a wonderful thing. This one is only for fans of the pun and/or masochists. No price, so… $2?
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Posted by Kevin
April 22, 2010
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Kekionga Bug Book
I’m honestly surprised that there is only one review up on this page. I know I have more of her older minis, it’s possible that I read them before I even started this page, otherwise there’s no reason I haven’t reviewed more than one of her pile o’ comics available. Either way I haven’t been keeping up with her stuff lately, so it was a surprise to me that she had decided to make her own world and have it more or less continue through a series of minis (this one is labeled as #19). Hey, it’s better than a string of completely random minis… unless they’re intended only for comedy (like Sean Bieri with Jape). Bugs are the theme for this one, as you may have guessed, and it’s split up into two parts. First up is “Soup” Swann getting a new work truck. The design is based loosely on a grasshopper, you see. Next up is a mysterious man in black who (through an interpreter) demands a caddis worm, and needs the local werewolf librarian to get it. As a stand-alone issue this didn’t do much for me, frankly, but it’s hardly fair to say that about something that’s at #19 when this is the first one I’ve seen. There’s all kinds of room here for interesting back stories for these characters, and I’ll bet plenty of that information has already been established in back issues. Like what exactly is that thing on the cover? A werewolf librarian? And who was that man in black? Possibly all things that have already been dealt with, but they remain mysteries to me. Unless there’s a collection available the casual reader might be a little lost here, but I’m willing to give her the benefit of the doubt from her last graphic novel that anybody who digs into this world will be rewarded. $2
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Posted by Kevin
April 22, 2010
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Death, Cold As Steel #1 (with Jamie Chase)
First, three cheers for an excellent title, which only gets better when you know that it was set in more appropriate, noir-y times (1946 to be exact) and the story inside deals with the murder of an indestructible man known as the Steel Soldier. It also looks like they followed my suggestion from the last review (although I’m not nearly egotistical enough to claim a direct cause and effect relationship there) to build more on the history of the group in general. This is the first of a three part mini series, and the story is simple enough: who killed the indestructible man? A detective/agent named Mr. Morris is called, and the rest of the story is a basic introduction to the other super powered agents left and the general set-up of the agency. If they’re planning on building their own world here, and it looks like that’s the general idea, they’re going about it exactly the right way. Keep this up for a few years and there should be plenty to work with here, and it’s already, at a minimum, damned intriguing. $2.99
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Posted by Kevin
April 22, 2010
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Coelacanth and Friends (Kekionga Mini Works #16)
In case you can’t read that blurb on the cover, this is a 25 hour mini comic. I’m not sure how that’s much different than a 24 hour mini comic (other than the obvious), but in this case I can say that the extra hour helped immensely with the artwork. 24 hour books often look at least a little bit rushed, this one is gorgeous. The time constraints didn’t slow her down a bit. Pam started this off from a “story seed”, using a disembodied brain, an ugly fish trophy and a plane about to crash. Things start off with the plane, well, crashing, but as we pull back we see that it’s a toy plane with an apparently sentient doll at the helm. A group of entirely too adorable children were playing with the plane, and they take it to a salvage yard in an attempt to fix it up. In this shop we meet the ugly fish trophy (the coelacanth, obviously) and the disembodied brain, two beings who would much rather be in the main part of the store instead of shoved in a storeroom, as they imagine the view would be better. There’s a hefty cast of characters for a fairly simple story: 6 children, the shop owner, his dog and a stockboy. I previously thought (after reading #19 of this series) that these minis all used the same cast of characters, after reading this I have to confess that I have no idea if that’s true. Here’s hoping I was smart enough to get more than one mini from Pam at this SPACE. Anyway, this was a pretty good mini. Decent story, odd cast of characters, and artwork that was way too impressive for the time allowed. Worth a look, and maybe one of these years I’ll just buy a whole pile of these. $1
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Posted by Kevin
April 22, 2010
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P. O. Box 106
Danville, OH 43014
An Unfortunate Mouse in Our House
Anybody who has ever lived with a “hunter cat” has a story like this. Waking up in the wee hours of the morning, hearing loud noises, only to find (if you’re lucky) your cat playing with a still-wriggling creature. If you’re not lucky, you find parts of said creature. This is all about Christoph getting up early to get some quality writing done before the day starts only to find a mouse being toyed with by two of his cats. It’s not a pretty story, granted, but it’s funny because it’s true. This is part of a larger projected book, but this stands alone just fine, so don’t worry about this being a “snippet”. Even though he apologizes for his art (he says that he’s really a writer who draws things every now and then) I think it looks better here than I’ve seen it yet. A neat little story overall, I’d say it’s a couple of bucks…
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Posted by Kevin
April 22, 2010
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Dog & Pony Show
I was perfectly ready not to like this book, really I was. I put off reading it because it looked cute as hell, and that kind of thing rarely sits well with me. Finally I had a couple of free hours and I figured I had to read this sooner or later, and it completely won me over. Let me make one thing clear: this book is really cute. Really. And it’s still one of the better things that I’ve seen this year. It’s a huge book, almost 170 pages of all kinds of random stories. Time travel, Sasquatch, autobiography, Radiation Man, song adaptations… There was even an alphabet done by a dog named Sparky and I still liked it. Sometimes you have to be in the right mood to read a certain type of comic, and sometimes the comic is good enough to put you in just that right type of mood. I was grinning from ear to ear after reading this and now I want more. Probably my favorite thing in the book was the adaptation of “Froggie Went A’ Courtin”, which you probably know as “Crambone” from some old Tom and Jerry cartoon. Who knew that there were that many words in it? Fantastic stuff, all the way through, and I really can’t say enough good things about this. All ages fun. That’s rare enough, but when it’s a genuine treat for the adults and not just tolerable, well, you have yourself a keeper. Visit her website, all kinds of stuff there.
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Posted by Kevin
April 22, 2010
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XO #3 (art by Melissa Spence Gardner)
Here’s another tiny mini by Brian, as it looks like he enjoys sticking with that matchbox format. This is a fictional (I hope) tale about a young man’s first murder, as he sees another man with his girlfriend and snaps. Smashing a head in is generally a sure way to kill somebody, and the man spends the rest of the tiny issue methodically dealing with the body and the consequences, slight as they are. It’s a thoroughly creepy book and Melissa does a great job with very little space to convey a complex range of emotions on these characters. This is probably $1 like the other issue and you could still get all of these comics for a pittance, not to mention the ridiculously tiny envelope they could all fit in…
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Posted by Kevin
April 22, 2010
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Midville High #4
Raise your hands: who was in the band in high school? OK, put your hands down, I can’t see you and you probably feel ridiculous enough if you actually raised your hands. This comic is all about being in a high school band, so I automatically can’t relate much. I can, however, recognize a good story when I see it. This one is all about Kyle, as things start with his section of the band being given extra practice time every day (we learn later that it’s only because Kyle sucks) and Kyle, instead of taking the opportunity to actually learn the bass clarinet, decides to forge his mother’s signature on his practice sheets. His fellow band mates see right through him, and so does the band leader, a man with a hook AND an eye patch. On the rare occasions that a character has both of these deficiencies, I automatically assume that it’s because they’ve jabbed out an eye with their hook. Utterly irrelevant to the story, that’s just where my mind wanders. Anyway, a tutor is enlisted, much practice occurs and if I say much more I’ll ruin the whole comic. As you can read the whole thing for free on his website I’m probably not giving too much away, but I have my own code on these things. So you have a funny and unexpected ending to go along with the good chunks in the middle. It probably would have been better if I’d been in a band in high school, but I’m sure plenty of you can relate and it was a good story all by itself. It’s $1 and there are samples a’plenty at his website.
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Posted by Kevin
April 22, 2010
Website
Midville High #3
Maybe I should invent some kind of a code that lets the reader know if a particular comic is available for free on the author’s website. In this case: yes, it is, along with a whole pile of other comics from the man. Makes all this rambling I do a bit irrelevant, but that’s never stopped me before! Matt makes it clear in the letter he sent along with the comic that this mini might not be for everyone, as he describes it as “clean, innocent and unassuming”. Cynical as I may have become in my elder years (although, to be honest, I’ve been cynical since puberty hit), even I can’t think of that as automatically a bad thing. Indeed, it’s refreshing. Very few people doing comics seem to see the world as anything other than a bleak, hopeless hellhole, and it can get more than a little bit old when I’m reading at least one of these things every day. This is the story of a group of high school friends: Kyle, June & Barry. They’ve just taken the career aptitude tests, and Kyle gets “farm hand”. I’m not sure what type of a guy Kyle was before this issue, but it sure seems like this is shocking news to him. Meanwhile Barry has some fun mocking his science teacher and June mostly helps Kyle deal with his transformation into a farm hand. It is remarkably wholesome, granted, but he does manage to get some funny lines in there, and it’s not that special brand of obnoxious wholesome. There are, for example, no “awwww” moments in here, nothing that forces you to wallow in cuteness. For the true cynics in the crowd, and I’m sure there are plenty, Matt might be right about this not being for you. Still, it’s easy enough to find that out, what with so much of his work being available for free at his website. As for me, I liked it and, as usual, sampled my favorite page from the comic. Read it and discover your own reaction! $1
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Posted by Kevin
April 22, 2010
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Es Brillig War Now Available! $1.00
Have you recently been asking yourself the question, “Why aren’t there more mini comics entirely in German?” If so, you’re in luck. This is an unreviewable comic from Tom, with a bit of text by Robert Scott (after Lewis Carroll, and no, I’m not entirely sure what that means either) made into a comic. As all the text is in another language, I can’t help at all on that aspect of the story. I can still see the art though, so why don’t I make something up to make it seem like I understood what was going on? Let’s see, there are creepy worms, a flower, a big old tyrant, a fantastical device, an armed struggle, and… aw, I can’t go on. I have no idea what was happening here. If you like your comics baffling, I can’t recommend this one highly enough. If you prefer being able to read your comics, might I suggest something else from this page? $1
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Posted by Kevin
April 22, 2010
Website
Candy or Medicine #5
#5? Hasn’t Josh heard of the law requiring me to monitor the progress of all mini comics, great and small, and ramble about them on this website? Of course, it is possible that that law exists only in my brain. Regardless, this is another solid issue, and I think Josh has the cadence of an excellent anthology comic just about down. Cayetano Valenzuela has an adorable piece about his daughter, Shannon Smith confesses to killing rock and roll, Maggie Morrill gets the sampled piece so I don’t have to explain it, Ed Moorman has an adapted Craigslist “Missed connection” (and I’ll have to take his word for it that such a thing exists), Rob Moses has a silent piece about a spider luring people into its web using candy canes (that I’m probably misinterpreting horribly), Sarah Orchard retells an awkwardly honest conversation, Andrew Goldfarb lets us see a few more of the thousand sorrows that are still to come, Daniel Olson has a ten minute comic about the heartbreak of balloons (and it looks like he was serious about that ten minute thing) and Steve Rack has a maze on the back cover for the kids. Seriously, a buck for a range of talent like this is all you can ask for out of an anthology. Contact info is above, I’d be willing to bet that Josh is still looking for contributors, especially as he seems to be sticking to a schedule here and it must be tough to get a dozen or so people to get their stuff in on time for each issue…
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Posted by Kevin
April 22, 2010
Website
Candy or Medicine #2
Well, Josh was looking to put together a good mix of people for the second issue of his anthology, and there’s no doubt that he pulled it off. You can see it on the cover: 10 creators from 6 states and 3 countries is not bad at all for a second issue. Generally speaking, it’s a pretty decent pile of work. Rob Moses is the sampled page, as the octopus strip made me laugh out loud, so why not? Domen Finzgar has a piece of airplane art, Katie Haegele has a wonderfully absurdist piece about a mime and another about taking a request for local news too seriously, Erin Griffin has a helpful tip for how to make that favorite toothbrush last, Matt Feazell (yes, THAT Matt Feazell) has a few sketches, Richard Cabeza has some relatively awful puns, Josh Blair has a quiet piece about the moon, and Liza Miller has a silent conversation/dance/extravaganza. The only piece I didn’t enjoy was Ricky Glore’s piece about George W. Bush because really, after 7+ years of living with that asshole, there are significantly funnier jokes to be made. Oh, and Emily Puccia and Yves Albrechts did the front and back covers respectively. Keep sending the man contributions everybody, this one could be going places if Josh keeps it up. $1
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Posted by Kevin
April 22, 2010
Website
Candy or Medicine #1
Right off the bat, everybody should know that Josh plans on making this a quarterly anthology and he’s looking for contributors, so anybody who’s interested in taking part should click up top on that website or just send the man an e-mail. How about the actual comic, as that is theoretically what I’m supposed to be rambling about? The art is a little rough in places (still trying to puzzle out some of the images used in word balloons), but overall it’s an amusing book. The bulk of it is taken up with an artist’s interpretation of conversations with old people, and he uses different images for their favorite topics: health, weather, neighbors and gas prices. I think that one picture is of dentures but it’s hard to be sure… Also in here is the world’s worst “wanted” poster, a piece on the back cover where he pretends like he’s Donatello, and the page I sampled below, which was referenced mostly for the mullet. Josh still has some work to do, namely less use of the same images over and over and at least an attempt at a background somewhere, but far be it from me to discourage somebody who wants to put together a quarterly anthology. Check his page out, all you unmotivated artists out there! $1.50
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Posted by Kevin
April 22, 2010
Website
A.K.A. #1
I knew it would happen sooner or later where I would read something from somebody who I already had on the website and not know it yet. I should say that I don’t know for sure that this is the same Steve Black as mentioned in the other comic on this page, but what are the odds of there being two Steve Blacks out of Columbus OH doing small press comics. He’s joined in this one by Dara Naraghi, the writer/letterer. As for the book, honestly, it didn’t do much for me. You’ll know what my problem was with the art as soon as you see the sample, and the story was OK, just nothing special. It’s hard to say that yet, as this is only part one out of three, but these “super sleuths” seem pretty clueless about most things. Again, that may be the gimmick, but I don’t know that getting this book cold and there’s nothing in here that grabs me enough to warrant a return visit. Still, go to the website if you’re curious. Plenty of samples are around, from this and other projects that might be more to your liking.
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Posted by Kevin
April 22, 2010
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Four Play #1
OK, Steve says right on the front cover that this is an experiment in progress, basically, so I don’t feel too bad about giving him some advice. Not that that’s ever stopped me before… First off, learn spelling, grammar and punctuation. That shouldn’t be something that I have to point out to a lot of people, but it seems like most people don’t know the basic rules. There are plenty of people who will put down your mini in the middle of it if they think that you only have a tenuous grasp of the language. Second… well, OK, I guess that was my main problem. There are four stories in here. The one with the bathtub toys was kind of cute, the racing story was interesting even if it made very little sense, the song with Mr. Lipschitz seemed like an excuse to say “Lipschitz”, and the story with the birds lost me completely. Hey, it’s an experiment, he’s learning what not to do. I can respect that. This book is a couple of years old though, so here’s hoping that he didn’t give up after his first book. Send him a dollar if you’re curious at: 518 E. Town St. Apt. 311 Columbus, OH 43215.
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Posted by Kevin
April 22, 2010
Website
Black Book
Sketchbook alert! One of these days I’m going to figure out what respectable reviewers do when confronted with the dilemma of a sketchbook. There’s some gorgeous stuff in here, as Steve catches all sorts of people in some genuinely wonderful poses, and I don’t think I’ve ever seen a sketchbook look better, at least in terms of production values. That tissue paper wrapping around the inside covers is nothing but class, baby. When it comes to sketchbooks, as always, it’s going to come down to the individual buyer. If this is somebody you already like and appreciate (and good luck getting through the Panel anthologies without liking Steve Black at least a little bit), then pick it up, you’ll love it. If you’ve never heard of the guy, well, pick up some of his actual comics first and then decide.
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Posted by Kevin
April 22, 2010
Website
Extricate #9
If there’s one reason that I’m most likely going to be doing this website (or some version of it in the far distant, unimaginable future) for as long as I’m able to type and convey mildly coherent thoughts about comics, it’s the fact that I get random comics in the mail. No way that would ever happen if I was just some guy who liked comics. This one comes from Manchester in the UK (and if the date of 1/28/09 on the letter was correct, kudos to the postal service for getting it here so quickly), and it’s in color with two stories. Well fine, when I say “color” I mean “one color per story”. First up is “This Is Another Good One For An Acid Freakout”, the loopy and disconnected tale of a man trying to remember the perfect thing to say to cause anybody taking acid to freak out. From some of the profoundly psychedelic imagery in here I’d say David and the guy he was talking to were on some serious drugs, or possibly that’s just the mood David was trying to convey and I’m interpreting things too literally. Wouldn’t be the first time. The second story is “The Oracle At Delphi”, the tale of David and his girlfriend (?) hitchhiking away from Delhpi and the people they meet on the ride. The art is a looping, whorling mess of confusion, which is odd given how mundane most of the events in here are, but fitting when you think about trying to portray the faces of people you knew only briefly. The fact that this is #9 of a series is instantly encouraging, as David has stories to tell. Also, as far as websites go I generally just post the link above the comic and trust people to find it on their own, but in this case you should make a special trip and be sure to check it out. David essentially has a resume up there if you’re curious about him personally, and he lists an impressive body of work. It could stand a few more samples though, as I have to at least say one negative thing here. Not sure on the price, but I’d guess around $5.
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Posted by Kevin
April 22, 2010
Website
Tegne #2 (anthology)
Just a note right off the bat: I’m not entirely sure that David is the editor of this book, but I do know that his publishing group seems to be the one putting this out, and he seems to be the one in charge of it. That’s a lot of assumptions to make, but if it’s wrong it’ll get its own page, OK? As I’m still making up how to review anthologies as I go, here’s a list of contributors: Helen Brealey, David Birchall, Afsoon Hayley, Malcy Duff, Reni Fahima, Zeke Clough, Nick Birchall, Mara Duchemer, Honeypears, Tim Gaze, Crippa Almqvist, Jethre Brice, Dr. Nightfield & Laima Jaunnema. Apologies to anybody whose name I got wrong, but man that type was a bear to read. Flipping through this book, it’s exactly what an anthology should be: a wide variety of visual styles. Once you dig into it in a bit more detail, while there are some excellent stories, plenty of it didn’t do a thing for me. The simple black images, the simpler black smudges: just not my thing. There are times, as well, where legible text is sacrficed for the sake of the art. That might be a better idea for the picture, but it doesn’t do me a lot of good if I can’t get across the point of the story. Still, it’s silly to disregard this whole thing just because I can’t get behind some of the stories. The strange mirror world of Malcy Duff was creepily engaging, I loved the three strips by Mara Duchomer (about work, a man who could pour coffee directly into his head, and mice getting back at a cat), and I think Nick Birchall’s Mr. Wiggins strip may have given me a seizure (I mean that in a good way). Like any anthology you have to take the good with the bad, and there’s just enough good in here to make it all worth it. Again, the price is a guess… $6!
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Posted by Kevin
April 22, 2010
Website
Blues-O-Rama (written by RR Schuler)
Who loves old blues music? I’m talking about the old scratchy recordings or people from the 20’s and 30’s here. This is a comic about two of those people. The first story, done entirely by RR Schuler, is about Robert Johnson. Robert had a tragically brief career, as he made too many enemies going from town to town and sleeping with various girlfriends and wives of other men and ended up dying in agony days after being poisoned. The second story is about Lightnin’ Smith and the tale of the night another young man came in and tried to upstage the old timer. I hadn’t heard of Lightnin’, but any information about Robert Johnson is a wonderful thing as he left such a small amount of music behind and so little is known about the guy. A great comic if you know of either one of these people, or if you’re just curious about where blues as a genre really came from.
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Posted by Kevin
April 22, 2010
Website
Free The Angola 3 (written by John Schuler)
If you’re not remotely a political person, I guess you can skip this one. How you can avoid politics altogether in this day and age is amazing, but whatever floats your boat, I guess. Anyway, this is the story of three prisoners, how they were framed and/or convicted based on suspect testimony and little to no physical evidence, and where they are today. One of them made it out, after years spent in solitary confinement, and he’s now working to free the other two. I don’t claim to have any idea of all the facts in this story (although you could go to http://www.angola3.org/ if you’re curious), but what they have compiled here is pretty damning stuff. Also the last few pages of the comic are given over to phone numbers, addresses and other contact info to everybody who could be contacted in this, from the prison warden all the way up to John Ashcroft (this was put out a few years ago). It even has the addresses of the guys in jail, if you wanted to contact them. I’m not going to make any judgements on guilt or innocence, as this was obviously done in the hopes of freeing these men, so any contrary evidence wouldn’t be presented. Either way, it’s a fascinating story and they do a pretty good job of laying it all out in the comic.
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Posted by Kevin
