Sorry about the lack of reviews. Sure, I’m settled in (new address on the right, send me some comics so I can be sure the new mailbox works), but this new job is a lot, and I’m still trying to settle into some kind of routine. Bear with me, I do have a 23 year track record of reviewing, so chances are good that I’m not just going to vanish from the internet. Oh yeah, new review for Into the Thicket by Mark Antonius Puhkan!
Puhkan, Mark Antonius
September 12, 2024
Well, it’s inevitable with the mini kus books. I always run into one where I either don’t fully understand what the creator was going for or just don’t comprehend it. Sometimes both! As always, assume the fault is mine, but to help out, I’m going to do that thing where I quote the entirety of the synopsis on the back of the comic. It’s at least more coherent than I’ll be! “Toni ventures into the thicket, intending to perform a magical ritual to connect with his springtime spirit. As he delves deeper into the wilderness, he is forced to confront his innermost fears.” This is a wordless comic, meaning almost fully open to interpretation. It’s also gorgeous; Mark conveys quite a range of emotions from a character who is only showing his eyes for the entire comic. The fears that he confronts in the thicket grow increasingly terrifying, and they’re almost entirely in the second half of the comic, which is the part I rarely review anyway because hey, shut up reviewer! Don’t give the whole thing away. Is what I say when I’m reading a review, so I do my best to follow my own advice. Toni is clearly working through some PTSD and one gets the impression that he’s seen some terrible things, but this does seem to be a journey of renewal. Does it help him? Read it to find out! Like I said, it’s a gorgeous book, so don’t take my lack of understanding as a negative. If you’ve read more than a few mini kus books in your life, you know it’s pretty safe to trust these folks. And hey, if you’re worried, just buy the bundle of 4! I always recommend it for their comics anyway. $7.95 (or $22 for the sequence of 4)
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Posted by Kevin
Update for 9/4/24
September 4, 2024Hey, I made it to Champaign! I’ve had a working internet for a whole day now and boy howdy, that just never works right on the first try, does it? I went out with a mini kus, so I’m coming back to Illinois with a mini kus: new review today for Comicum by Majenye!
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Posted by Kevin
Majenye – Comicum
September 4, 2024
Gosh, what a wholesome and innocent cover! I sure hope that I don’t open this up and find out that oh dear. Well, with a title like that you should already know to keep the kids away, if not it will be fine if they learn all about “a cast of polyamorous characters who live in someone’s rectum (from the synopsis on the back cover).” And really, that’s only a fraction of the story. Things start off with a beautifully colorful page of various animals, dinosaurs and sea creatures frolicking with each other. If you take a minute to really examine the image you’ll see that some of them are doing more than frolicking, but never mind that. Then we meet our hero from the sample image, but we only follow him for about half of the comic. And oh, what a half! He dresses up for the convention named in the title, where we meet a spectacular array of characters talking about doing a spectacular array of things. It’s all mostly implied up until this point, but then somebody at the con makes the mistake of laughing about violence, which completely enrages Mr. Octopus, who murders several convention goers, and then the scene switches to someone who is, um, thoroughly enjoying the snuff film of the event, until he’s interrupted by somebody with his own agenda. I’d better stop there, as there’s plenty more for you to discover; and really, even me describing a few things doesn’t lessen the effect of you seeing it depicted here. It’s a cornucopia of sexual mayhem, and you’ll learn a lot reading it. One way or the other, but if you’re a prude, come on, live a little! $7.95 (or buy the bundle of four different comics for $22)
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Posted by Kevin
“Update” for 8/20/24
August 20, 2024So it turns out that moving from Ohio to Illinois (with as much stuff I have) is an incredibly time consuming process! I’d hoped to get another review or two in before I left, but here I am, leaving tomorrow, and most likely without an internet connection for the week after that. The new address is 306 E. California Ave Urbana IL 61801, in case you had comics you wanted me to review. I’ll be there Thursday, assuming all goes well, and why did I have to say that. Ah well. Back before the end of the month, in the meantime why not click on some random names in the “reviews by author” tab? Who knows, maybe you’ll find a new favorite artist.
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Posted by Kevin
Update for 8/8/24
August 8, 2024Oh, mini kus. You got here just in time to give me a few comics to review while I’m in the chaos of moving and already having most of my comics packed. New review today for Undertow by Sara Boica.
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Posted by Kevin
Boica, Sara – Undertow
August 8, 2024
Oh, mini kus. It’s always a delight to get a new stack of comics from these fine folks, and I’m always excited to see just what selection of four or more artists and stories I’m going to be reading this time around. Then I grab the first one out of the stack, and it’s a devastatingly emotional tale of trauma and loss and how impossible it can be to pick up the pieces, and suddenly my mood is changed completely. It’s an amazing comic, don’t get me wrong, but here’s a trigger warning for anybody who’s gone through physical trauma like this and maybe don’t want to be reminded of it. It’s a story told in a word or two per page, sometimes less, and you can almost feel the pain on the page with the many black smudges from Sara’s fingerprints. It feels like a story that had to come out, that hurt to come out, and the reader is left with the uncomfortable question of whether or not it’s any better for her now that it has. Never assume autobiography, is a lesson I’ve learned (and forgotten) many times while writing these reviews, so I can only hope that this is fiction. I doubt it, but this much pain on the page still has me hoping that that’s the case. $7.95 (or here’s a link to this and the next three issues of mini kus)
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Posted by Kevin
Update for 8/1/24
August 1, 2024New review today for Plastic People #13-15 by Brian Canini, and in case you didn’t see my last update, I’m moving in a few weeks, so please hold off on sending any review comics until you see an address with “Illinois” in it on the sidebar. Thanks!
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Posted by Kevin
Canini, Brian – Plastic People #13-15
August 1, 2024
I accidentally read through #15-17 first, so I’m going to do my level best not to let loose with any spoilers for those last two issues in this review. Let’s watch how this old clunker of a brain does with that task together, OK? I actually thought that #15-17 worked seamlessly as a chunk of the overall story (same characters, same focus), but that’s not what I’m talking about here. #13 is mostly a dinner conversation with Gabe (one of the cops) and his friends, sharing theories about the killer and just generally chatting. A fairly casual issue, until you get to the very end of it. This is where my “no spoilers” policy on individual issues kind of falls apart, because #14 starts off with a jogger discovering the body from the end of the last issue, and this victim was also at Gabe’s dinner from the previous issue. Most of this issue is spent with the cops going through some theories and trying to knock down obvious dead ends, and then Gabe is called to the scene. In a rage, he decides to make a statement to the killer through the assembled media, which goes about as well as you’d expect, considering the fact that he just found his friend murdered. #15 is all about the consequences of that press statement, further theories about the victims and how they may or may not be connected… and a mysterious phone call. Too many spoilers? Eh, these multiple issue reviews are tough. The overall point is that this storyline is humming right along, which is a thing that definitely continues for the next two issues as well. It feels like one of those stories where the clues of who the killer might be are all here and it’ll end up being an “oh, of course” moment when he or she is revealed, but who knows? I’m still invested in the mystery, which I’d call solid work out of Brian after 15 issues. Check it out, although I’m obviously recommend an earlier compendium to start out, what with how numbering systems work and all. $4.99 (or $1.99 per issue)
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Posted by Kevin
Update for 7/30/24
July 30, 2024NEWS ALERT! I’m moving back to Illinois next month. Long story, I’ll get into it later, but it involves a better job than I have now (if not, I’m making a huge mistake). So if you were planning on mailing me review comics, maybe hold off for a few weeks, OK? I’ll post my new address up here as soon as I know it. Speaking of which, if you know anybody who’s renting a house (or nice apartment) in the Champaign/Urbana area, maybe send me an email? New review today for Eyeland #3 by Nick Forker!
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Posted by Kevin
Forker, Nick – Eyeland #3
July 30, 2024
You know what? Now that I’ve already written a half dozen or so reviews for random issues… I’m thinking that I’m going to go back and review everything that is left in order. What, were you trying to make sense of my thought process here? A hopeless task. But it’s clear that several of these characters do show up again later, meaning that there is a linear story going on here, even if it isn’t in every issue. So what’s going on this time around? We start off with a brief interlude of our hero showing how to forgive ourselves for past mistakes, then get into the story proper, which sure looks like a hero’s quest of some sort. He meets a wizard, who gives him a fairly standard choice at the start of his journey: would he choose a sword, a book or a pen? He chooses a book, its meaning is still ambiguous, and then we shift perspective to the porcupine, who has just that moment gained self-awareness. It’s alarmed, and hey, wouldn’t you be? The wizard then gives some final advice to our hero before vanishing, and we even get a character sheet for our hero for the nerds. Or anybody who’s curious about how exactly that dude’s qualities break down, I suppose. Then our hero and the porcupine both start their journey in the labyrinth, but I’ve maybe already said too much. Do they ever meet? What the heck are those two glowing points in the distance, could they be eyeballs? And who on earth is that dude on the last page? Questions to be answered in the next issue, I reckon, which I will be reviewing next, and not some random issue of the series. Probably. Assuming I remember this new plan. $5
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Posted by Kevin
Update for 7/24/24
July 24, 2024New review today for Adorable Murderers by John Reynolds, as it turns out that this is “let’s review stuff from 2021” week here at the old Sloth.
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Posted by Kevin
Reynolds, John – Adorable Murderers
July 24, 2024
I keep forgetting to link to Patreon pages for people, but please give me a virtual pat on the back for remembering to do it at least once. Maybe one of these days I’ll go back and update the contact information for 23 years worth of reviews and good lord just typing that made me break out into a cold sweat. Anyway! This is a collection of a year’s worth of John’s “A Fistful of Babies” web comic. It’s rude, it’s crude, it’s probably going to offend you in some way or another… and it’s mostly hilarious. As always, when I’m reviewing a collection full of short strips, I’d strongly advise anybody curious to just check out his website, as it’s chock full of free strips. If you like his humor, you’ll know it fairly quickly. For everybody else who can’t be bothered to click a link, I shall now go on to describe comics that are meant to be funny, meaning that I’ll say what they’re about, but those descriptions will be missing the bits that actually make them funny. Don’t say I didn’t warn you! Subjects include realizing when you’re free from work, the horror inside of a melted snowman, a pretty solid nonfunctional internet joke but for life support, a punk mermaid, an embarrassed wizard, a formerly intimidating robot, a cleverly disguised principal, the grim reaper standing in the wrong place at the wrong time, a cat’s attitude to phone notifications, what the sun looks like from behind, a flasher bear, super fetus, a game of hide and seek that went too far, giving the sun a hug, an amoeba party, an alien losing a contact, and Garfield as a girl. That’s maybe a quarter of the strips, so don’t fret about me spoiling too much. I don’t know if any of these got a straight up guffaw out of me, but plenty of them got chuckles. What does that mean for a rating scale? Hell if I know, as I’ve never used one. Let’s call it a 73 and move on. $10
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Posted by Kevin
Update for 7/22/24
July 22, 2024New review today for Sportsbar NY Part III by Martin Pohl, and if you know where to get further copies of this, please contact me. If not, everybody who’s interested can consider locating a copy to be part of a scavenger hunt. Fun!
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Posted by Kevin
Pohl, Martin – Sportsbar Part III
July 22, 2024
Sportsbar, NY Part III
Well, here’s a flaw in my plan to go back and review some of the older comics that were sent my way and then misplaced: some of those artists may just disappear from the internet. Granted, Martin (as far as I know) never even posted Part II of this series on his website as available for sale, and the same is true for Part III. The website he listed in the comic has expired, and all but one of the comics he has listed is sold out. But hey, there is a contact tab on it, so I live in hope that he can still be found. Meanwhile, I’m going to be all optimistic and review this one anyway. This one starts off with a warning that the story comes directly from the first two parts, for the new readers. Is it inaccessible to everybody else? Nah. Things start off with a hilarious (accidental?) duck murder that’s unrelated to anything else, and then we’re back into the story. To be clear, I read the last issue a few years ago, so most of the specifics have flown out of my head, except for the bits I just reread via my old reviews. Thanks again, past me! Although sometimes I wish you were more specific. Things start off with our heroes the snails having a conversation, which devolves into an argument, which further devolves into a drunken car crash. And it somehow even gets worse from there! Next up is back to our other heroes the bunnies, with maybe the calmest conversation in the book. Graded on a curve, of course. One of the two morbid pigeons is back next, being interviewed about his new movie and what happened to the other pigeon, followed up by catching up with what’s left of said other pigeon. The scene then seamlessly transitions to the two characters on a “wanted” poster (seriously, that was a Mr. Show level transition, which is the highest compliment I can give), who have a time machine, and boy howdy does that ever lead to some adventures. There’s lots more, of course, but I’ve probably already said too much, and the fun of this sucker is in the ride. I also have to add that his written note towards the end explaining what happened to the original last five pages of the comic was brilliant, and made what otherwise would have been some lackluster final pages into something hilarious. I hope Martin hasn’t stopped making comics, but if he has I wish you luck in tracking these three issues down. They’re worth it! $5 (probably, or $10, or who even knows if this comic still exists)
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Posted by Kevin
Update for 7/18/24
July 18, 2024New review today for Scumburbia: Mega-Sized Mall Issue by Sam Grinberg. How’s that new website design grabbing you? Good? Bad? Indifferent? If it’s provoking a strong reaction, let me know! Or if you want to design/upgrade my website in return for comics because of the fact that I’m still somehow unable to do anything past the most basic website design, also let me know.
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Posted by Kevin
Grinberg, Sam – Scumburbia: Mega-Sized Mall Issue
July 18, 2024
Scumburbia: Mega-Sized Mall Issue
This right here is one behemoth of a comic book. If you’ve seen past issues of this series, Sam has a helpful intro to start things off detailing that he now has a full plan for the series, meaning the first issue is basically not “canon” (and it clearly hurt him to use that word in all seriousness, which I have to respect). Also the issues are self-contained, so if this is your introduction, don’t worry too much about it, OK? One thing I’d suggest for Sam in future issues: if you keep this up, you’re going to need more than those few headshots on the cover to keep people updated on this gigantic cast of characters. This one is set mostly in a mall (with some time in high school and traveling thrown in), so if you break into a cold sweat whenever you see a mall setting, look out! He does mention that this is the most personal comic that he’s ever made, so clearly chunks of this are taken from (or at least inspired by) his past. Malls are just about extinct as far as I can tell, but in this comic, they are exactly as they always were back in the day on a Friday night: overrun with teenagers who are just a step away from being completely out of control at all times. So hey, what’s actually happening in this book? Things start off Claire and Zoey being reluctant participants in a gym class game of volleyball, and we spend a bit of time getting to know them. I thought the comic might be all about them (as they’re also prominently displayed on the cover), but then we take a detour into private conversation with a couple of other characters, and during both of these sections we learn more about a few more people. If you don’t have a good head for names and/or faces, stick with it; I feel like I got to know most of them pretty well by the time it was all said and done. Next up we get an extended story about Spike and Spunk trying to get tickets to an Acquiring Satellites show (which is also the main motivation for Claire and Zoey throughout the book, and you’d better believe that this all comes together with everybody involved), and the lengths they go to to even have a chance to get tickets. We then finally get to the mall, and I just have to point out that every single image in that mall is absolutely alive with detail. You can see about a dozen unique happenings going on with various people that we don’t even meet. Sam says that this book took him three years to complete, and clearly he spent a large chunk of that time on backgrounds. Neither of the two pairs in the lead stories are able to get tickets easily, and they both have to come up with some creative methods to get their tickets. Along the way there’s all kinds of drama, bullying, more character introductions, a break-up, observed and implied cheating, whether or not to tell the other affected party about the cheating, running from the law (or at least the mall law), and those spectacularly creepy twins. You can see the care and attention to detail throughout this thing, so if you’re looking for a new book to try out, why not try one where the creator has just settled on a master plan for the whole series? It’s always fun to get in on the ground floor! $15
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Posted by Kevin
Update for 7/16/24
July 16, 2024Hey look everybody, a new website design! Eh, I’m still undecided about it, but my skills in that area are limited (to put it extremely mildly), so I don’t want to do too much and risk blowing the whole thing up. At least now everybody can see the years that the reviews were published, for those of you think I just came into existence a few months ago or something. I’ve been talking nonsense here since August 2001, baby! Even if the dates on some of those early reviews are messed up from past website updates. Oh yeah, also there’s a new review today for Ha! Magazine Summer 2024 by Robb Mirsky.
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Posted by Kevin
Mirsky, Robb – Ha! Magazine Summer 2024
July 16, 2024
Public service announcement: Robb has released a collected edition of his Sludgy comics, which is required reading for anybody who likes laughter and/or pathos. Or just great comics. But hey, howsa about this comic here? It’s another collection of gags and funnies, with maybe a lesson or two to be learned if you’re not careful! Or not; any morality learned from these strips is strictly up to you. Stories in this one include a very practical deal with the devil, Dripsy Mutt and his sad efforts to make people laugh, good ol’ Chucky and his unlucky (then lucky, then unlucky again) attempt at dating, a few ads against smoking that would be more effective than whatever else is currently running, those lovable scamps DIngus and Dum-Dum and their lengthy journey to try and make chicken soup, the struggles and horror of Toddler Body, and John Kinkade and his journey to bring the residents of a small village… freedom maybe? There’s also a full color bit in the middle with our friends from the Lemonade Brigade trying to shake down a lemonade stand and their attempt to start a band. Please understand, as always, these are my fairly dry descriptions of strips that are filled with laughs, and it is forever a hopeless task for a reviewer to try to convey humor through description and/or light critical suggestions. As for that end of things, about all I have on that front is a few spelling errors, but I’m guessing they’re the kind of things that only stand out to real pedants, like me. If you’re also like that, see if you can spot them! If not, take in the funny and enjoy why don’t you? Oh, he also says that supplies are limited for that Sludgy book, and since this particular issue is already sold out on his website (don’t worry, I linked to a source that still has copies), I’d be inclined to believe him on the limited copies. $10
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Posted by Kevin
Update for 7/12/24
July 12, 2024New review today for Total Eclipse of Brick by David Craig, happy weekend y’all!
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Posted by Kevin
