New review today for DemonDust #15 by Bernie McGovern. Chances are that the recent issues I missed are around here somehow, so chances are I’ll end up reviewing them out of order later on, so don’t be alarmed. If anybody is alarmed, which really shouldn’t happen over such a thing.
Update for 7/16/13
July 16, 2013
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Posted by Kevin
McGovern, Bernie – DemonDust #15
July 16, 2013
DemonDust #15
Bernie is on a serious roll lately with his comics. Hell, maybe with the rest of his life too, but I have no way of knowing about that. But he’s putting these DemonDust books out just about monthly, still working on his ridiculously impressive “An Army of Lovers Will Be Beaten” series, AND building a universe for another mini comic series that he’s starting up. Most comics creators would be content with keeping just one of those things going, and Bernie is out there making the rest of you look bad. The only way to make up that ground is to get to work on a series or two yourselves, other comics artists! Anyway, this issue deals with the troubles inherent in trying to create a comic by staring at a blank piece of paper and hoping for inspiration. This leads to a piece of paper that is able to breathe and talk, although seemingly only to ape whatever somebody near it is saying. We see the process by which this paper is made, reflect on the mantra of the paper, and finally get a character revolt about the content of the story. Bernie always ends these books with a text piece on the state of his life/projects/month, just in case you insist that a mini comic that looks this good that still manages to come out monthly is not enough for you. It’s another solid issue, but if you insist on a continuing story I’d recommend his other series. I haven’t read his new one, “The Cosmouse,” but his other series should be read by all humans and you know what? I’m going to recommend his new series without even seeing it. Eventually it’s possible to recognize when somebody just does good work, and I think Bernie has more than crossed that bar.
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Posted by Kevin
Update for 7/15/13
July 15, 2013Hey look, I’m still alive! The cable box came at my new place without the cable modem, and it was a holiday week, so that took forever. Then I was out sick most of last week, which put me not at all in the mood to write comic reviews, or eat, or exist. But now things are back to normal, and if all goes well I should be able to get the usual 4-5 reviews up this week, assuming that I can find all of the comics I had yet to review, as that’s still a problem with the new place. But enough about me, the new review today is for The Unusual Death of Gregory Biggs by Emi Gennis.
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Posted by Kevin
Gennis, Emi – The Unusual Death of Gregory Biggs
July 15, 2013
The Unusual Death of Gregory Biggs
You ever have one of those days where you’re not even sure if you’re the same species as other humans? Well, if you’re having one of those today, I advise you to stop reading about this comic now, because the casual inhumanity here is stunning. I actually remember reading about either this guy or a very similar story years ago, but the gist of it is that a young woman and her friend were out on the town and they drank a bit and did a few drugs. One of the women tried to drive home, a man was walking along the interstate very late and night, and she ended up hitting him. That would be bad enough, but it’s the kind of thing that probably literally happens every day. But hey, that would mean that the “unusual death” title was incorrect, and that is not the case. Gregory ended up stuck in the windshield, as a very unfortunate human dart. The first reaction of the driver was to try and pull him out of the windshield and then drive away, which is horrific enough, but at least then the guy might have lived through it. As it was he was too heavy for her to lift, so she just drove home with him stuck in the windshield, parked the car in her garage and had sex with her boyfriend. As this guy was pleading for help and slowly bleeding to death! She eventually told her boyfriend, they got him out of the windshield (this was the next morning and Gregory was dead) and they dumped his body in a field, as they wanted his family to find him so that they could bury him. I’ve probably said too much already, but this is such a macabre story that I couldn’t help it. The rest of the comic deals with the events after they dumped his body, how they were eventually discovered and what ended up happening to the people involved. I can be an ultra liberal squish on sentencing for crimes, but this lady is as clear of an example of a sociopath as I’ve ever seen and it would be absolutely insane if she was ever allowed to be a free woman again. Emi really seems to have found her niche with these types of stories (and the occasional Spaz, of course), and there are certainly more than enough out there to keep her busy for years, lucky for us. But hey, if you do find yourself walking home along an interstate at 3 in the morning one day, do what I do: if at all possible, walk on the other side of the guard rail. That way they at least have to really want to hit you…
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Posted by Kevin
Update for 6/26/13
June 26, 2013New review today for Tortilla #3 by Jaime Crespo, and that’ll do it for updates until I’m in the new place. And hey, if the estimate of the cable company was correct that should be by the start of next week. Anybody believe that?
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Posted by Kevin
Crespo, Jaime – Tortilla #3
June 26, 2013
Tortilla #3
Have I ever mentioned my inevitable first reaction whenever I get a comic with a text story in it? Invariably, it’s “huh, this probably would have made a good/great (depending on the quality of the story) comic.” Which is odd, as I read plenty of novels and books of short stories. But hey, if it’s in the middle of a book of comics, it makes total sense, right? Anyway, Jaime has been on a bit of a roll lately, and he keeps that going here. Things start off with another chapter from his upcoming “Turk Street Serenade” graphic novel, and he’s wisely going to stop putting those chapters in his comic now, as why give away the whole thing for free? Well, not free, but you know what I mean. This chapter deals with him having a shitty day (in more ways than one) at work and his confrontation with a jerk. I can say no more, but it’s always funny to see assholes get their due. Next is the text story I mentioned before dealing with Jaime’s lifelong troubles with math, going back to his early days in middle school and the methods that his teachers used to get him to learn. Well, teaching him wasn’t really their goal, as he lays out in detail, but they seemed to think that cruelty could maybe do it all by itself. Finally there’s a story told from the perspectives of two very different people up until their eventual meeting. It’s another solid mini, and to be fair I do get why Jaime would do a text story instead of a comic about his math troubles: it would have been a lengthy and complex comic and hey, it’s not like him writing this story prevents him from ever making it into a comic. Check it out, and I’m really looking forward to him completing that graphic novel. $3
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Posted by Kevin
Update for 6/21/13
June 21, 2013New review today for Monkey Squad One #12 by Doug Michel. Expect some sporadic reviews over the next couple of weeks as I move and get settled into a new place, or if everything goes perfectly expect no problems at all. Who else expects that to happen? Happy weekend everybody!
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Posted by Kevin
Michel, Doug – Monkey Squad One #12
June 21, 2013
Monkey Squad One #12
What a perfect comic to read on a Friday afternoon. Have you been following this thoroughly entertaining series for long? Maybe you find yourself a bit confused by the various plot twists and/or other realities and the constantly increasing cast of characters? Yeah, throw all that out the window. This is the last part of the current three part story, and Doug has a tendency to really bring the action in those situations. He didn’t disappoint this time around, as there’s all kinds of mayhem and explosions in here. And important story elements, don’t get me wrong, as one major character gets killed and the status of another one is in serious doubt, but the star of this issue was the non-stop action. The end of the last issue showed us the squidface Nazis, and three cheers for fictional Nazis for being so readily killable. Seriously, you can get away with just about any type of violence if it’s done to Nazis. Or zombies. Eh, at this point they’re the same thing. Anyway, getting into a lengthy review breaking down every bit of this would spoil the fun, but if you’re looking for a good time in comics, buy this issue already. Technically you should get at least the two issues that came before this to complete the story, but if you’re looking for pure mayhem this issue alone should do it for you. $2.50
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Posted by Kevin
Update for 6/20/13
June 20, 2013New review today for California #3 by Rob Jackson. This week cannot end soon enough, and it’s the next one that’s supposed to be crappy. Oh well…
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Posted by Kevin
Jackson, Rob – California #3
June 20, 2013
California #3
In this issue: shit goes down! There, I’m experimenting with shorter reviews, what with everybody using Twitter and willingly confining themselves to 140 characters per message. Eh, that’s cheating, as I’m assuming people come here to get a little more detail out of their reviews. What’s that? You say it’s mostly just to kill time at work? Fair enough. It’s impossible to say that this is Rob’s strangest comic, because there’s quite a competition for that title, but it’s steadily gaining on his other entries. In this issue Billy confronts Jake in the basement of the church and gets the barest glimpse of what exactly is happening. But when Billy wakes up the next day he discovers that everybody except for the preacher at the other (otherwise abandoned) church has disappeared, he has to go back to his friend from the first issue for advice. And that is when shit goes down. My policy against spoilers has rarely hurt more, but if you think that cover is a rare abstract Rob Jackson cover, nope. That happens in the book, even though you most likely have no idea what’s happening just by looking at it there. Things are “to be continued” again, although I’m guessing from the pace of the story that he meant to say “to be concluded,” but what do I know? This is another impressive series from a man who has built up his own personal library over the last 8 (or so) years, and you should damned well be reading it.
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Posted by Kevin
Update for 6/19/13
June 19, 2013New review today for Unknown Origins & Untimely Ends edited by Emi Gennis and featuring all sorts of folks that you already know and love.
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Posted by Kevin
Gennis, Emi (editor) – Unknown Origins & Untimely Ends
June 19, 2013
Unknown Origins & Untimely Ends
You should have a pretty easy time knowing whether or not you’d be inclined to like this book from the title alone, and I’m happy to tell you that the contents more than live up to it. Emi has been doing mini comics on this theme for a few years now, and she took her chance to edit this anthology and ran with it, doing a really fantastic job of picking out/accepting these stories. I should say up front that I have no patience for those stupid “ghost hunting” shows with the shaky cams and the loud noises and won’t believe that aliens have visited us until I see solid proof (which is not the same thing as declaring that no other life exists in the universe), but overall this isn’t that type of book. These are all, as Emi says in the introduction, unsolved mysteries, so the reader doesn’t get the satisfaction of getting the story neatly tied up in a bow by the end. Instead you’re left wondering what the hell happened for these 32 stories. If you’re a naturally curious person and/or at all interested in the weird and bizarre then you’ve probably already stopped reading this and ordered a copy. For those of who are too polite to quit reading in the middle of the review (and it’s OK if you do, I’ll never know), subjects include a mysterious gelatinous goo that rained down on a town, the monster with 21 faces, an unexplained shower of meat from the sky, an arcade game that quickly came and went in 1981 under mysterious circumstances, a tumor that was bigger than the carrier, Gef (of which I will say no more but this may have been the most intriguing tale in the book), that weird hum in the air that some people can hear all the time, the Nain Rouge and his continuing destruction of Detroit, the money pit of Oak Island (which some bored billionaire should look into), creepy kids with black eyes trying to enter homes, the Leatherman and theories of who he might have been, unsolved murders at a campsite, the former Prime Minister of Australia vanishing while swimming, the missing body of Addie Mae Collins, why 9 campers in Siberia ran from the safety of their tent (sometimes barefoot) and why they never went back to it, two bodies and their lead masks, Rasputin (an oldie but a goodie), Frederick Valentich and the UFO that seemed to by toying with him, D.B. Cooper and his disappearance (it’s an ever funnier story to anybody who watched Justified this season), a bridge where 600 dogs have committed suicide, the Axeman, and a serious skeleton in the closet of Orson Welles (possibly). DC comics used to do a series of “Big Books” on various subjects, and after seeing this I’d suggest that they start it up again and put Emi in charge. Not every story was perfect, granted, but good luck not having several of these stories haunt your dreams. Also good luck on not taking to the internet to learn more about them, as I already know how I’m spending the rest of my afternoon. And look at that pile of talent in the tags section! Why would you possibly need any more convincing to check this out? $12
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Posted by Kevin
Update for 6/18/13
June 18, 2013New review today for Star Pilot #9 by Frank Swartz.
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Posted by Kevin
Swartz, Frank – Star Pilot #9
June 18, 2013
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Star Pilot #9
I have this vague sense that Frank tuned down the madness just a touch for this issue which, don’t get me wrong, still leaves plenty of madness. And I mean that in the best possible sense, because the man puts out some ridiculously entertaining comics. Probably just my imagination. Anyway, this one will seem topical, as it’s all about a government that monitors everything and oppresses its citizens. For some reason this is in the news now, in the middle of 2013 (o future readers), and not so much when these actual policies were initially implemented, but that’s a whole other conversation. This one is set in 2084 (wisely following the rule of setting your future stories far enough ahead so that you’ll be dead when that date actually occurs) in a world dominated by Brother Goliath. The motivations for Brother Goliath are left vague, but they’re probably the same types of things that always motivate world conquerors. Anyway, one man is still broadcasting his message of dissent, and he is confronted and shot by another man early on in the proceedings. From there we learn a bit about Mantis Unit, a resistance group that is thought to be long since destroyed, and I’m about to start getting into serious spoilers. Battles ensue, some fantastically over the top actions take place (I particularly enjoyed the guy who shot the broadcaster explaining himself to a quizzical cat), and we get to see an eyeball in the palm of a hand used as a weapon. Frank seems to be keeping these issues more of less self-contained, so don’t worry about jumping in on #9 of a series. You could also solve that problem by ordering some of his back issues, but I’m not the boss of you. $1.25
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Posted by Kevin
Update for 6/17/13
June 17, 2013New review for My Senior Year by Sarah Friedman. If all goes well I should actually be able to have a regular week of reviews this week, then next week should be a mess (I’m moving out of my current place at the end of the month), then the week after that may or may not be normal, depending on how reliable Time Warner is in getting the internet set up. But hey, quit mailing me review comics for the time being, if you please. I’ll post my new address up here soon and as of July 1st, fire away.
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Posted by Kevin
Friedman, Sarah – My Senior Year
June 17, 2013
My Senior Year
Is it me or is a little odd for a comic with this title to just barely touch on school? Granted, there is one brief (and funny) strip about her plans after graduation, but other than that it’s all life stuff. Not that there’s anything wrong with that! Overall it’s a pretty good comic, although I had a few issues that I’ll throw out there because hey, why else am I here? Oh crap, I better pull back in a hurry or I’ll start questioning why anything is here, then you’re in for a lengthy ramble that nobody wants to see. Her strip about her roommate making a comment while they were watching tv flew right over my head (and I am pointing out early that I am older than her and some things are very likely to fly over my head). Without any sort of context of her life and with this as an opening strip it made no sense to me, other than to imply that people can never have enough blogs. The strip where she was woken up by music from a neighbor in the wee hours of the morning could have been creepy as hell, but I couldn’t interpret her expression on that last panel. I’m guessing “backing away slowly,” as that would make the most sense, but that’s a difficult thing to pull off in a single panel. The babysitting strip was cute; no complaints there. I thought her strip about not having time for real weekends could have used a bit more room to breathe, but it was still kind of funny. The cat adoption story was cute as hell and damned near perfect, although it is a little cruel to leave your readers not knowing what happened after that last panel. Her final strip (outside of the strip I mentioned at the start of the review) about sleeping in was a good example of taking a small victory and making a strip out of it. I get the impression that this is her first comic, in which case she should definitely keep it up, as there’s plenty of potential here. No misspellings or grammatical mistakes are, sadly, a rarity, and a good step in the right direction. Maybe she should try a longer piece or two the next time around to see what comes up. So yes, it might not be perfect, but it is worth a look. $5
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Posted by Kevin
Update for 6/14/13
June 14, 2013New review today for Blammo #8 by Noah Van Sciver, because there’s always time for Blammo. Happy weekend everybody!
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Posted by Kevin
Van Sciver, Noah – Blammo #8
June 14, 2013
Blammo #8
I often end reviews here by pointing out that you should buy the work of whoever it is I’m reviewing that day, because if enough of you do that then that person will eventually be able to make a living purely from their art, enabling them to create exactly what they want to create. Well, after a year without Blammo (he was working on a few other projects that didn’t leave him much time for it) Noah has concluded that he’s better off just working on pages after work when he gets the time. So never mind! Although I get the sneaking suspicion that he’d change his mind if somebody dumped a million dollars in his lap and told him to draw whatever the hell the wanted, but who knows? Maybe he has a fantastic day job. But hey, how about this comic of his? As always, you won’t get more out of your comics dollar than an issue of Blammo. An actual letters page, bunches of stories, there’s even a comic on the back cover for the gentler souls who may have trouble with… well, anything. Stories in here include the origin story for a dog on wheels (a creepy little toy who compels you to tell it your deepest secrets), a young man trying to reconnect with friends after backing away from them during a breakup where both members of the couple had mutual friends, Charles the chicken trying to bring Bill back to life in a series of hilariously hopeless ways, an adaptation of an old Grimm’s fable about the wolf and the fox, a man and his ill-fated attempt to get a woman to date him while he’s wandering around with a tiny grotesque man, a dream of sleeping and waking in an old apartment with serious emotional ties, punks vs. lizards (starring John Porcellino, sort of), and all kinds of strips packed into the final two pages. It’s comics like Blammo that keep me from declaring comics in this form dead entirely. It all seems to be trending towards collections or graphic novels, but this format is much more suited to a comic like this. Hey, there’s room for both. $5
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Posted by Kevin
Update for 6/10/13
June 10, 2013New reviews today for Uncles #1 by Desmond Reed and Scorched Earth #1 by Tom Van Deusen. It’ll probably be another spotty week around here for reviews unless I manage to find a new place to live tomorrow, in which case… eh, that mind up spotty too. Expect spottiness for the remainder of June and be pleasantly surprised if that’s not the case, how about that?
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Posted by Kevin
Van Deusen, Tom – Scorched Earth #1
June 10, 2013
Scorched Earth #1
Are there any guys out there who need to feel better about their awful dating life? This might be the comic for you! Or it might not be, as at least this guy is going on dates, and maybe that is not true in your situation. Anyway! This is the story of Tom, who is either partially or not at all based on the Tom who made this comic (I’m guessing “not at all”) and a series of his dates based on women who responded to him on OKCupid. Which is the dating site for people who don’t want to pay to be on a dating site, in case you haven’t heard of it. The trouble is that Tom (the character) is an unrepentant asshole in just about every way, which makes dating difficult. His first date is with a vegan hippie lady, so his choice to start it off with a joke about “fags” doesn’t go over too well. Still, booze is a hell of a thing, and drinking enough of it would make just about anybody attractive. Tom has a shallow (but hilarious) moment, things do not end up going well and he ends up drunk at home by himself. The next morning is awful, but Tom is a trooper and already has a date lined up for dinner that night. Unfortunately the lady from his previous awful date is there as well, and the date that he did line up looks nothing like her profile picture, and there’s still all that wonderful booze around to confuse things, which is about where I have to stop getting into this to avoid spoilers. There are also three short strips at the end in the style of the old Peepshow strips (lots of tiny panels on one page, just in case any of you philistines haven’t read the early work of Joe Matt). One deals with one of the worst job interviews I’ve ever seen, one is about a party and Tom’s attempt to win everybody over, and the last one is one more date to round things out. This is funny as hell and you’re going to have a hard time reading this without ending up feeling better about yourself. After all, chances are that you aren’t nearly as big of a dick as this guy, and that’s something, right?
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Posted by Kevin
