Did I go into SPACE this year hoping to get a new comic from Suzanne? Of course, it’d been at least 5 years, maybe more. But I’m also a sucker for a good collection, so here we are. This is a collection of the minis that Suzanne made specifically to have free comics to offer at cons. She made a new one every year for several years before finding out that the plan was unsustainable, as that’s a whole lot to manage along with everything else that goes into planning for a con. She has an informative introduction for anybody who’s curious about the process, and as somebody who rambles on a regular basis (I’d say “professional basis”, but come on now), I can appreciate an intro that goes into detail about a grammatical error that’s bugged her for years and was only fixed for this collected edition. If you’re thinking that you go to every con all the time and probably have already seen these stories, I kind of thought the same thing, and only two of these stories were familiar. This is a collection of seven stories, dealing with things like a talking teddy bear that gets far too existential with a small child, the joy of skipping and how it’s somehow not for everybody, a detailed strategy session for dealing with whiteheads, getting called out at school after forgetting about the social hierarchy (also kudos for the information on the back cover proving that she was correct way back when), a more realistic love song, aliens at the bar, and the inevitable conclusion of being unable to change your mind. She was correct in her intro, these stories held up really well and I’m glad she put them all out in this collected format. I also saw several minis on her website that I wish I had picked up (two 24 hour comics in a row? Done over a 48 hour period? The mind reels), but hey, there’s always next time. $8
