Black Star #2 Now Available! $2
This issue is, by a wide margin, the best thing that Jeff has done. I don’t want to crap all over his other books (he does that plenty in this one), as I thought they were fun comics, if maybe not a grand literary acheivement. This one puts all the feelings I had about him having better stories in him and crams them all in one hefty book. The first story in here is about comics, their incestuous nature, getting past the superheroes and trying to find meaning in it all. It’s obviously influenced more than a little bit by Hicksville but, as that’s probably the best comic ever done ON comics, there are worse things in the world to look to for inspiration. That story alone, especially for anybody out there who wonders why they even keep buying comics when so many of them are so similar (even in the independent scene), is required reading, worth the price of admission right there. Then he goes on to a story about a Supergroup of musicians made up of Bono, Mick Jagger, the angel of Elvis, zombie Kurt Cobain and the Jedi ghost of John Lennon, who get together to rid the world of venereal diseases before another Supergroup threatens to destroy what they’ve done… but it’s left as a cliffhanger, so I’ve already probably said too much. Next is a story of a group of messiahs born when Mary, after visiting a fertility clinic, gives birth to 5 babies, all of whom are the son of god. The last story in here is called Saddle Shoes and it’s about chasing a girl, but obviously there’s much deeper meaning here and a lot more going on, but I’ll leave the analyzing to other, more qualified folks. But wait, there’s more! After all the stories are done, there’s an interview with Jeffrey Brown, and if you don’t know who he is, shame is too weak of an emotion for you to be feeling right now. All this, I should also mention, is a measly $2. RIP Jack Rabbit, we hardly knew ye. But if the death of that comic means that he’s going to move on to books like this one, good riddance!
