December 11, 2013
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The Casebook of Elijah Snugs #2
I’m just going to offer a little tip to Sal, and everybody else who makes comics while I’m at it: it’s not a good idea to use (basically) your final page as the cover to your comic. Generally speaking I’m awfully careful about spoilers, but when the big reveal is on the cover, what exactly would I be spoiling? Anyway, this comic is much improved over the last issue, with more time for the characters to breathe, more dialogue to get a better sense of these characters and more suspects being thrown into the mix (a requirement for a good mystery). The lights going out at the end of the last issue is dealt with quickly here (turns out that big old houses sometimes have rolling blackouts, so not so nefarious after all), then we get a lengthy conversation over muffins dealing with Firenza’s missing egg, her mistrust of her servants and the introduction of a shady detective. This detective has something of a feud going with Snugs, and it’s good to see a little bit of the history between them. The next issue promises to wrap up this story, and I’m a lot more intrigued now than I was after the first one. It’s worth a look if you like all-ages mysteries, unless you have some kind of aversion to talking animal stories, which would be weird.
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Posted by Kevin
December 10, 2013
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Strange Growths #16
Is there a good list of small press comics people out there who never got the acclaim/attention they deserved that anybody knows of? Granted, you could say “all of them” and be correct (as I went a lot of years wearing my King Cat shirt before anybody outside of a comics convention knew what it was), but I’m talking about inside of this little insular community. If there is a list and if Jenny Zervakis isn’t on it, then it’s a terrible list. I started reading these types of comics in 1993, and Jenny was making them back then. I think she got caught up in that “real life” stuff that seems to happen to damned near everybody, had a couple of kids and maybe found other priorities (as it’s certainly not like making comics is a way to make a living for far too many people), and I didn’t hear much about her for years. But she’s making comics again, and you whippersnappers who may have never heard of her should think about catching up. This is a collection of short pieces, as are most of her comics that I’ve seen. Stories in here include Jenny and her daughter going through the presidents while her daughter tries to find a female one, what happened to the moon people when the moon was dislodged from the earth, playing in the snow and the differences in how everybody reacts to it, a dream where Jenny saves a few castaways from drowning, images from a visit to the aquarium, a family at the end of its rope, some excellent questions about cats and dogs and how they perceive us, and a heartbreaker about their family losing their dog after she got spooked by a storm. It’s bad enough to lose any pet when they run off, but their dog was on seizure medication and there was very much a race against the clock to get to her before anything really bad happened to her. It’s a solid collection of stories and you should really think about picking it up. Where are we at on retrospectives of this stuff anyway? If I’ve been reading these things for 20 years now then there have to be some anniversaries coming up. Top Shelf or Fantagraphics, get on that…
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Posted by Kevin
December 9, 2013
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DemonDust #18/19
Uh-oh, it can’t be a good sign if Bernie is combining issues, and that turns out to be true after reading this one. See, Bernie has been living his life and working on his other series (An Army of Lovers Will Be Beaten, and shame on you if you don’t know about it), which leads to this comic having what he calls “an incredible lack of focus.” Still, you clearly haven’t been reading his stuff if you think that this means that the comic is worthless. Things start off strong with Gank, a man who exists for “snapping people out of their complacency.” I should mention that these quotes are all from his afterward, which is always worth the price of admission in these minis all by itself. He gets in the face of an obnoxious guy on his cell phone (do I still have to say “cell phone”? Can’t that just be the default assumption for “phone” at this point?), finds a joint in the mop bucket in a store bathroom, and then the strip falls apart. We start to see Bernie’s notes at the tops of the pages and the story disintegrates, complete with blotchy ink spots on the final page. The #19 part of this is even more discombobulated, as it’s only two pages of wondering where his summer went, complete with the same notes along the top margin. It’s still an interesting book, for the peek into his creative process and the afterward where he goes into detail, but probably not the best book to start with if you’re a new reader. Then again, if you’re a new reader of anything and you’re starting with #18, that’s kind of on you. $1
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Posted by Kevin
December 4, 2013
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Lucy the Octopus: Better in Small Doses
That right there is a damned clever title, and it must have flummoxed at least one reviewer. This is a collection of his weekly webcomic, which is based on Lucy the Octopus from his Tempo Lush set of ten tiny comics, which you maybe own if you’re awesome. Anyway, Lucy is a teenage girl octopus who is ridiculously unpopular with everybody around her. This collection of 40 strips shows her trying to exist (not really even fit in, as she seems to have already given up on that concept), bonding with her new poisonous pet, trying to stay friends with the new kid who doesn’t yet know how uncool Lucy is, taking beauty advice from her sister (who tells her friends that she isn’t even related to Lucy), and becoming a science experiment from her brother. These stories can get a little grim at times, but Richy manages to keep a light tone through most of them. And the coloring is gorgeous, so even though he mentions that it would be easier to go black and white with the strips I’m really hoping he doesn’t do it. This seems to be an all-ages strip, although I think kids in their early teens would probably get the most out of it. Come to think of it, all-ages is kind of a stupid qualifier, as I’m pretty sure that reading this to a baby would have no effect. I’m wandering a bit, but this is very much worth a look. He also sent along the next issue, so I’ll have more to say about this after I read it. You know, for a complete picture and all that. Or you could just go to his website and see his newer stuff for yourself, it’s a free country. Well, this one is. I don’t know where you are…
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Posted by Kevin
December 3, 2013
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Brain Food #18
The NSA is coming for you! There, that should get me on any government watch lists that I’ve managed to avoid up until this point. Unless you think the threat/intrusion from the NSA has been ridiculously overblown, which would probably mean that you don’t follow the news too closely, but hey, willful ignorance is your right as an American. I’m veering towards preaching already, which is just how I get on those rare occasions when a comic deals with current events. Anyway! This is the story of a creepy clown (is there any other kind?) that comes to a cheap hotel to stay for a local clown convention. This clown balks at giving his address out to the hotel after they inform him that they only ask for that information in case the police call to ask who is staying at that hotel. The clown wisely points out that he already gave up his name, phone number and credit card number to get into the hotel, so he’s not going to give them his address too. Things escalate from there, as the NSA is called in to check on this disruptive citizen, a protest group is called in to take the side of the clown (although there seemed to be a crossed wire about the sexuality of the clown somewhere along the line), and various branches of the government fight with each other to get credit for this arrest. I loved the bit where the protest group posted a picture of the clown being arrested to Facebook, and the clown is rightly annoyed that his picture is now on Facebook without his consent. His comment that being on Facebook is the same as just giving your information right to the government is dead on, which is one of many reasons why I have a dusty, unused Facebook page, but that fight has already been lost, culturally speaking. Anyway, lots of interesting tidbits about intrusive government overreach, along with probably a few exaggerations on his part, but he’s nice enough to list a bunch of links on the back of the comic so you can check all this for yourself. Worth checking out, unless your preferred reaction to news of the NSA is to stick your fingers in your ears and chant “la la la la” until it’s over. $1
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Posted by Kevin
December 2, 2013
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Big Brute
You know, I’ve had my problems with poems in comics in the past, because I have a cold heartless core that doesn’t appreciate lyricism. Or maybe it’s more to do with the quality of the poetry involved. Who knows? All I can say for sure is that Brian has found a way around that: make the poem about a giant monster on a rampage through a city. This is a very short mini with that very simple story, and the poem is from the perspective of the monster. The poem itself isn’t the greatest thing in the world, but it’s not terrible either, and while you’re reading it you get to see this giant beast destroy a town and fight an army. So really, it’s your call as to whether or not that would be of interest to you. Hate poetry but love mayhem? Then you have a real decision on your hands here. $1
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Posted by Kevin
November 21, 2013
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An Afternoon in Ueno
It’s hard for a story to get much more charming than this. It starts off simply enough, with a young boy eating a meal with his family and his father pestering him about various duties that the boy should have performed. All of these questions are answered in the affirmative, but the boy tries telling his father that he has a stomach ache to avoid getting out of band practice. The father doesn’t even dignify this with a response, and he drops his child off at band practice. Once the kid gets inside, however, he learns that band practice is actually next week, and his family is not answering the phone at his house, leaving the boy with an afternoon to kill. He starts off looking a little concerned about this eventuality, but soon realizes what this means for his afternoon and is overjoyed. I’m in danger of telling the whole story again, so I’ll just leave the description there, but again, this whole thing is damned near too charming for words. Graeme has already shown an uncanny knack for the quiet moments with his last book, but this one just cements that reputation in my mind. This isn’t a silent comic, but large chunks of it go without words, as they’re simply not necessary at times. Picking out my favorite moment would be difficult. The hat store? The birds? The jam session on the street? I’ll just go with “all of it” and leave it at that. Check this out, everybody. You won’t be disappointed. But hurry, will you? This only has a print run of 200, and this is one of those cases where I don’t think number will end up being high enough.
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Posted by Kevin
November 20, 2013
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Wuzzgutt
You know how sometimes a silent comic ends up, um (how do I put this politely), not making a lot of sense? I’m usually not clear in those situations whether I’m too dense to follow the story or if the author just wasn’t clear in what they were trying to convey. In this case I’m pretty sure that the reader isn’t given enough information to begin with. This comic isn’t entirely silent, so it gets a little clearer in the second and third stories (out of three). But that first story… woo boy. I should point out that this book is stunning visually, with plenty of genuinely weird and alien imagery. Anyway, the first story is entitled “Cosmic Pilgrimage.” The Wuzzgutt is that creature on the cover, just so you’re clear. I have very little idea of what happens in this story. Wuzzgutt meets a baby bird creature, who spews out some noise of some kind towards Wuzzgutt? Or maybe he/it is directing this noise towards the bird? Then Wuzzgutt sees a vision of a naked lady with a bird mask of some kind (and hey, if you’re just looking for boobs in your comic, this one has plenty of them), then Wuzzgutt either is transported to or sees a female singer (fully clothed this time), then it’s back to pure madness, and Wuzzgutt finally ends up seeing a female (?) Wuzzgutt near another lady. Or a Wuzzgutt statue? I feel confident in about 25% of that summary. The second story starts off fairly incomprehensively too, but once the talking starts we learn that some lady wants the Wuzzgutt captured, and the Wuzzgutt starts a ritual of some kind. Finally the third story deals with the ritual and the guy who tries to capture it, along with any ancillary damage that this guy does in the capture attempt. Maybe future issues would help this make some sense, but it sure feels like this is meant to tell the whole story, and if that’s the case the story it tells is a bit of a mess. I really like his art, and he sent along another comic so I’ll see how that one goes, but as a story I have to say that this made very little sense to me. $4
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Posted by Kevin
November 19, 2013
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Open Bar
Ah, good old 24 hour comic failures. Which is an odd way to refer to a comic that ended up being a pretty great story, but hey, it wasn’t completed in 24 hours. I do sometimes wonder what the honest number of comics actually produced in 24 hours would be, as it seems like damned near everybody can’t resist the urge to at least go back and “touch up” the book a little. But I’m wandering all over the place here instead of talking about this comic. The story is about as simple as possible, which is something of a requirement for 24 hour books: a night bartending at an open bar. Our hero doesn’t get to say a whole lot for large chunks of the comic, as he’s mostly there to listen to other people tell their stories and observe some of their behaviors, but at least he gets something in the end. Anyway, stories in here include a smarty pants and the lady he’s with (briefly, as she seems to be the drunken life of the party) talking about religion, another guy telling the bartender all of his theories about that ladies after she wanders off, an absolute weirdo with a cell phone fixation, a union organizer and a lady on the prowl. The union organizer has one of the oddest noses I’ve seen in comics, as the profile for it sometimes comes right up over his skull, but this has absolutely no bearing on the story and probably isn’t worth mentioning. But I did it anyway, and you can’t stop me! Overall this is a solid comic, and it’s always a win for 24 hour comics when they get me wondering what the creator is capable of when they’re not operating under time constraints (not that he technically was, as he finished this in about six months, but that was the original idea behind the story). Luckily Trevor sent along a few other books, so I’ll have the answer to that mystery in a week or so when I review another one of his books. And so will you!
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Posted by Kevin
November 14, 2013
Remember when I mentioned that work might make reviews sporadic for a few weeks? Well, it is, and it’s even more sporadic than I thought. Things should be back to normal next week, and I may or may not manage to get a review up tomorrow (but probably not). But hey, this gives me a chance to ask all of you about something that’s been buzzing in the back of my head. Remember the Xeric grants? Remember how those ended last year? Or, if you haven’t heard about it: those ended last year. Anyway, I’ve been trying to come up with some way to put together at least a partial replacement for them. Obviously I wouldn’t be able to come close to replacing the dollar amount, but was kind of wondering if getting $20,000-30,000 a year from Kickstarter and maybe a few fundraisers would be possible. This would mean grants to 4-6 people instead of double digits like Xeric usually did, but at least it’s a start. So my question to you guys is: ya wanna? I could contact the groups who gave money to Xeric on a regular basis, maybe find a few (hundred) more people willing to donate a little cash, and at least there would be one avenue open for people who need financial help getting their book published. I’m mostly just looking for opinions now. Who out there thinks this is plausible? Utterly ridiculous? Write me and tell me why either way. Did you get a Xeric grant in the past? If so, write me and tell me about the experience. How much money you got, whether it was enough or too much (not that I’m expecting many responses in that last regard), what could have been improved, your general impressions, everything. I’d probably have to take a month or two off work to put this together and run it, so I’d have to ask for a donation for those months too. I work at a place where my taking a month or two off wouldn’t be that big of a deal (provided they weren’t months with electi0ns in them), but the idea of asking donations to cover my life for that time might be off-putting to people, and maybe a tacky thing to even ask. This is where your opinions come in! Finally, I guess there’s the chance that I’d just take the pile of money and move to a tropical island or something, so this is where I’d have to hope that my 12+ years of doing this have built up at least a little credibility for me. So yeah, send me your thoughts. If this strikes too many of you as ridiculous/fantastical/impossible, I’ll give up before I get started. If it seems remotely plausible, well, my understanding is that Kickstarter donations only really count if you meet your goal, and if that’s true I don’t see any reason not to at least give it a shot. Write me!
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Posted by Kevin
October 30, 2013
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Jason Part 2
Hey, I did some good in this world! Well, that’s assuming a lot, but I complained plenty about the spelling in the first part of this “Jason” story, and it was all almost completely fixed in this one. Coincidence? Yeah, probably, but I’ll still take it. I mentioned in that first review that I didn’t have a single problem with the story, and that remains the case here. If you missed it, this is the story of Jason from the Friday the 13th movies, going about his days as an employee of a group that lets these killers have casual conversations with each other and provides them with state-of-the-art weaponry. This time around we get to see Jason trying to learn the basics of how to care for his new dog, trying to figure out why he wants to be a mentor to a kid (an actual mentor, but to somebody who will have full knowledge of what Jason does), the guy from the “Scream” movies talking shit to Freddy Krueger and challenging him to a kill-off, and a product demonstration of the various killing tools that Jason has available to him. It’s still chock full of funny bits, and once again you can just barely know about these characters and still get a lot out of it. Granted, it helps if you have some familiarity with them, but it’s still a thoroughly engaging story either way. And isn’t that always a sign that the creator has done their job? Yes! That’s the answer I was going for.
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Posted by Kevin
