Tinder, Jeremy – Black Ghost Apple Factory

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Black Ghost Apple Factory

If there’s one downside to doing this website, it’s that it makes me a bit too passive in finding comics for myself.  Generally speaking (or at least before I started doing reviews every single day), I’m lucky to just keep up with all the stuff I get through the mail and at cons, so I don’t go out and find work from people I’ve been hearing about through the years.  Jeremy is one of those people who slipped through the cracks for ages, and it’s a damned shame, as this book (collecting his minis from 2004-2006) is brilliant.  This is a collection of short pieces, and there isn’t a weak one in the bunch.  It starts with the title story, a hopeful love story as well as an instructional tale about how apples are made.  Following this is a story about an asshole robot (that’s just how he was programmed) and the heart of the book: It’s Spring, And Jeremy Tinder Is Secretly In Love With You.  Everybody who has ever had a crush or who loves everybody a bit too much can relate, as Jeremy honestly lays out his feelings for one woman in particular (even though he freely admits to having feelings for several), describes how it’s really not a creepy thing that he thinks about her all the time, lists her options and begs her to be gentle with his heart and just be honest.  Honestly, the whole book could have ended there and I would be floating on air, but wait, there’s more!  Jeremy (who, from the way he draws himself, apparently looks like Gilligan) wakes a bear up from his hibernation, attempts to introduce it into the ways of society, and meets a gruesome end. Um, spoiler alert!  Then there’s a shortie about a rabbit who seems to have a remarkably fulfilling life, but wishes only for sleep so he can dream about crying.  Next there’s the story of a kitty who gets a brutal education in the meaning of the term “getting fixed”.  Finally there’s the seemingly heartwarming tale of an elephant and a girl having a picnic and spending the night together outdoors.  Like I said, this is brilliant all the way through, and now I’m going to have to go back and get whatever I missed from this guy.  $5