Monthly Archives: December 2013
Update for 12/3/13
New review for Brain Food #18 by Mike Toft. Hey, I’ve already mentioned here that nobody in the Columbus area should rent from Arbors of Watermark, right? Just checking. They’re awful. That pretentious name should have tipped me off, but I went with them anyway.
Toft, Mike – Brain Food #18
Brain Food #18
The NSA is coming for you! There, that should get me on any government watch lists that I’ve managed to avoid up until this point. Unless you think the threat/intrusion from the NSA has been ridiculously overblown, which would probably mean that you don’t follow the news too closely, but hey, willful ignorance is your right as an American. I’m veering towards preaching already, which is just how I get on those rare occasions when a comic deals with current events. Anyway! This is the story of a creepy clown (is there any other kind?) that comes to a cheap hotel to stay for a local clown convention. This clown balks at giving his address out to the hotel after they inform him that they only ask for that information in case the police call to ask who is staying at that hotel. The clown wisely points out that he already gave up his name, phone number and credit card number to get into the hotel, so he’s not going to give them his address too. Things escalate from there, as the NSA is called in to check on this disruptive citizen, a protest group is called in to take the side of the clown (although there seemed to be a crossed wire about the sexuality of the clown somewhere along the line), and various branches of the government fight with each other to get credit for this arrest. I loved the bit where the protest group posted a picture of the clown being arrested to Facebook, and the clown is rightly annoyed that his picture is now on Facebook without his consent. His comment that being on Facebook is the same as just giving your information right to the government is dead on, which is one of many reasons why I have a dusty, unused Facebook page, but that fight has already been lost, culturally speaking. Anyway, lots of interesting tidbits about intrusive government overreach, along with probably a few exaggerations on his part, but he’s nice enough to list a bunch of links on the back of the comic so you can check all this for yourself. Worth checking out, unless your preferred reaction to news of the NSA is to stick your fingers in your ears and chant “la la la la” until it’s over. $1
Update for 12/2/13
New review today for Big Brute by Brian Leonard, and I’ll try one more time to put up a full week’s worth a reviews. I’m also going to start a project I’ve been dreading: going through my store inventory. The hard drive on my old computer crashed about a year ago, and of course it had all that information on it, so it’ll be interesting putting all that information back together again. But hey, at least when you order comics after the next month or so you can be sure that the item will be in stock, unlike the crapshoot ordering has turned into recently…
Leonard, Brian – Big Brute
Big Brute
You know, I’ve had my problems with poems in comics in the past, because I have a cold heartless core that doesn’t appreciate lyricism. Or maybe it’s more to do with the quality of the poetry involved. Who knows? All I can say for sure is that Brian has found a way around that: make the poem about a giant monster on a rampage through a city. This is a very short mini with that very simple story, and the poem is from the perspective of the monster. The poem itself isn’t the greatest thing in the world, but it’s not terrible either, and while you’re reading it you get to see this giant beast destroy a town and fight an army. So really, it’s your call as to whether or not that would be of interest to you. Hate poetry but love mayhem? Then you have a real decision on your hands here. $1
