Misanthropic Cavalcade #6
It’s been way too long since I’ve seen one of these comics. It looks like Joe is focusing more on his painting these days and is trying to do a larger and more complex work, so sadly this might be the last issue of this for awhile. Ah, isn’t that always the way, with these talented and funny comics people starting off with the funny stuff and then moving on to more relevant and important work. Phooey! Artistic growth schmartistic schmowth. And if you like that level of maturity (but depicted by somebody who can be pretty effortlessly funny on a regular basis), then you’ll love these comics! Seriously, the past issues have been out there awhile, you probably should have already seen his stuff at some point. If you never have or are very new to the small press comics world, Joe is a guy in Athens, Georgia who does (or did, if he’s changing his ways) mostly one page strips for a local newspaper and then puts them together into a comic when he has enough. And we get to see all the stuff that a newspaper is too cowardly to run on their pages, so hey, more cursing and violence! These strips actually seem a little less manic than his past work, and I’m still not sure if that’s a good thing, but it is still a hilarious thing, which is all that really matters. Strips in this one include the drawbacks of getting texting removed from a monthly bill, a fantastic analogy for attempted drunken sex, trying to do a good deed to a bee, bird romance (and bird break-ups), a drunken elephant and the current trend of tights as pants with the ladies. And that’s just the first half of the book! I’ve loved these books every step of the way (as you could probably guess from that cover message from Joe) and this one is no exception. Maybe if you buy enough of these books it’ll stop Joe’s artistic development in its tracks and he’ll stick to making funny strips forever instead of trying to grow as a person. We can only hope… $3
