Champ 2010 #1
I have a pretty basic rule of thumb to tell how a good a journal comic was after reading it: how difficult is it to pick a sample image? If there’s only one or two funny strips, then it’s an easy call and probably not that great of a journal comic. If there’s a dozen or more I could have happily thrown onto the page, then that journal comic was pretty damned good. This one falls in the “pretty damned good” category. Also, does it make me a bad person if I saw Jed’s cover warning that he’s not drinking this year and immediately thought that the comic would be duller because of it? Yes, it probably does. It doesn’t get off to the best of starts either, as Jed notes at the top of his first strip that he redrew it the next day. I didn’t think that was allowed in journal comics, but he immediately makes up for it by describing in his next strip that he redrew it because he wasn’t sure how to depict his moustache. Looking at my book of rules for journal comics, I see that “moustache confusion” is an acceptable reason to redraw a strip, so I stand corrected. As for the specifics, strips in here deal with his new sobriety, trying to find a job (and coming up with some pretty crappy jobs), trying to sell his truck for a pittance due to an immediate need for cash, a crazy owl, a bird-shit water enema, a golden flavor nugget, stupid football rules, (surface) grave digging, e-mailing a woman who he forgot about from back in his drunken days, making copies, looking Asian, getting free books, and rediscovering an old van. There are a few of the “oh crap, I need to get a strip done today” strips, but Jed mostly manages to make them funny. The only aesthetic problem I have with the series is Jed’s occasional use of black text over a dark gray background, but that’s the sort of thing that is probably more the fault of the copier than him. Which kinda does make it his fault then, as he’s the one making copies, unless it’s just a profoundly crappy copy machine. I just glanced over at his website to try and find a price for this thing (and to make sure he was keeping his journal up, which seems to be the case), and he has the first volume for sale for “any amount you’d like”. That’s profoundly generous, and if you’d like my at least slightly informed opinion, here’s how much I think you should give the man when you buy this comic: $4. Nice cover, nice packaging, a fair amount of content, to me that equals exactly $4. Or, if you’re rich, you could make his day and give him $100. Your call…
