One of Us #1
Here’s a pretty solid zine. The interview with James Kochalka is incredibly crappy. I’m amazed sometimes that the man is willing to let anybody who asks interview him, knowing that he’s probably going to get the same crappy questions over and over again. And yes, I’m aware that I’m saying that when I have two (2) interviews with him up at my site. Anyway, the book is good besides that. There’s a hilarious guide on how to be a bad artist, which rings true for plenty of people out there doing comics. I even recognized a few of this tricks from when I did a few comics and was a crappy artist. Other than that there’s a story about Mickey Mouse actually being Hitler and one about Alex’s first apartment in New York City. It was a bit too self-referential at times, but I don’t know how he could have avoided that with his choice of subject matter. Still, a pretty solid first effort, and you have to be impressed with a story called “3 Pages Going Nowhere”, about three pages that go nowhere. OK fine, maybe I’m just easily impressed. If I had to guess I’d say it’s a buck, send him an e-mail and find out! Oh, and kudos for the Freaks reference…
