Scrambled Circuits #2 (link to the collected edition)
I dug deep into the random pile of comics, stickers and such today, and I came up with this one from 2010. Readers from the future, if you’re confused, it’s currently 2023. But hey, this must have been sent in the last few years (the random pile is of indeterminate age and origin), so it has to be around somewhere, right? …OK, further review shows a collected edition, but not this individual issue. Still, I’ve come this far, so onwards! The collected edition has the first three issues and some new material, so you’re basically getting this issue in a Scrambled Circuits sandwich. In case anybody is still reading this, what’s the actual comic about? It’s a series of short pieces featuring Primus, a robot going through some things that may or may not be a stand-in for Cameron. Or maybe just things he’s observed; I have no context here. Subjects include trying to get out and face the day, realizing how terrible everything is but also realizing that the need to create would disappear without it, his terrifying origin story (of the robot, not Cameron), the pieces that you get as a child that adds up to you as an adult, a remembered incident with a hyperactive kid who may or may not have been a bully, flirting by text (this was a newish thing in 2010), what we all think will eventually happen with q-tips, focusing on the right things over Thanksgiving dinner with the family, having an immature sex ed teacher, and finding Belgium. It’s a pretty solid comic overall, with maybe a few weaker pieces, but it’s impossible to judge this man. After all, he’s still doing comics and it’s 13 years later. I doubt he hit his high water mark creatively in 2010. Still, there’s enough good stuff here to make me wonder what the collected edition is like, so hey, maybe you will too. If you can find this I’m guessing it’s in the $3-5 range, if not the collected edition is $15.
