Loud Comix #1
You know that thing with anthologies (or any small press comic really) where you’re not sure whether or not the next issue is ever coming out? Or is that only for cynics like me? Anyway, this one ended on a pretty big cliffhanger, so here’s hoping they have things well in hand and that the next issue comes out on time. Which should be out by now, and the website says that it is, so never mind all this. This is just my long-winded way of saying that the last story of the bunch did a really great job with its cliffhanger ending. Anyway, four stories in this one, but it’s a little different because they were all drawn by Jamie Vayda. Which makes me nervous about it keeping up a bimonthly schedule, but I’ve already mentioned that I can be quite the cynic about such things. Anyway, stories include “Mr. Breeze” by Sonny Joe Harlan (about the dangers of being hit on in a biker bar), “The Rise of Billy Bloodlust” by Frankie Nowhere (which I really hope is a true story about your perceptions while high on mushrooms and the aftermath of what you think happened during the trip), “Johnny Funhouse” by Erika Lane (the origin story of a kid who was pulled out with forceps by his mother, how he perceives the world and his first love) and “Wooden Leg” by Alan King. That last one offers tantalizing hints into the life of this guy with the wooden leg, including how he struck terror into the heart of the author as a kid, but it looks like they’re saving most of the good stuff (like how he got that wooden leg and what exactly made him such a lunatic) for the next part of the story. It’s a pretty great pile of stories, although I should probably warn off the squeamish who can’t handle a woman delivering her own baby in graphic detail, but it’s not as bad as you’re thinking after reading that sentence. I’ve been reading these things long enough to think that $6 is a little pricey for a book that’s all black and white, but some punk legends wrote some of these stories and I should get over thinking that that’s too much for a comic. Times change! $6
