New review today for The Adventures of White Cat Volume 2 by Ben Rosen. I rambled a lot in that one! As opposed to the rest of the time when I am so very concise.
Update for 2/13/13
February 13, 2013
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Posted by Kevin
Rosen, Ben – The Adventures of White Cat Volume 2
February 13, 2013
The Adventures of White Cat Volume 2
Finally, a super hero parody that’s sure to please everybody. Well, such a thing is technically impossible, and that’s not even getting into the vast majority of the population that will never even see this book, but I’m already getting distracted. I just don’t see any way that a human being who had any interest in comics at all could read this and not be overjoyed. My only tiny complaint is that I really wish that there was a recap of the last book at the start of this book, but my universal edict on this subject has still not been taken up by the comic producing public. Ah well, at least the occurrences of “your” and “their” being used incorrectly seem to have dipped in recent years. Anyway, White Cat is a fairly humble guy who’s not at all sure of his place in the universe (that “aw, shucks” cover being a damned near perfect representation of that fact, along with a good way to highlight the massive cast of characters), and I’m still not clear on his super powers, other than using his punches to solve problems. This book is a series of shorter stories, maybe from the internet, maybe from mini comics, who can tell? Stories in here include White Cat’s efforts to get his musical hero changed from a dinosaur back into a human, trying to unravel the mystery of why the latest album from his musical hero is terrible (going to great lengths to avoid the obvious “maybe it’s just bad” hypothesis), a fresh take on the “our bodies have been switched around!” storyline (which I didn’t think was possible, but his discovering new powers while being in Colonel Spectacular along with many other things I don’t want to spoil here were handled very well), learning the limitations of a cell phone charge while taking a space flight to test napping, and his battle with his own insecurity about a lack of money and the future of his relationship (which materializes itself in the form of a yeti). Each one of these is densely layered, and that’s not even including some of the thicker pieces. There’s the White Cat, his casual use of a time portal that goes back to the 50’s to get a replacement typewriter for a reporter friend, the advice he gets about how to woo a lady from his mortal enemy (who is utterly fantastic in his own right), and the mental breakdown that Barracu-Dan has when he can’t get anybody to take him seriously. Or there’s the one where he gets captured by Fratboy Scientist and injected with the secret ingredient in Four Loko, while his theoretical lady love learns exactly what her current boyfriend thinks of her, and the hints of an overall evil master plan at the end of it. Or the nostalgia bomb story! That one was utterly packed with goodness, from people being forced to relive moments from the 90’s, the douchebag music critic, the robot half-brother of White Cat’s girlfriend who is the only other creature who isn’t affected by the nostalgia bomb, and the overall solution to the problem, among many other things. I’m gushing a bit here, sure, but comics are supposed to be fun, dammit, and this one was nothing but pure fun. What more could you ask for?
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Posted by Kevin
Update for 2/12/13
February 12, 2013New review today for Jerry’s Journal #2 by Neil Fitzpatrick. Yes, I know that I’m running behind on reviews again, but I should be able to catch up as the week progresses. Or not! You know I like to keep it unpredictable around here…
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Posted by Kevin
Fitzpatrick, Neil – Jerry’s Journal #2
February 12, 2013
Jerry’s Journal #2
How much of this comic is autobiographical anyway? There’s no way to know, and Neil makes fun of that fact in his brief epilogue. But the fact remains that Neil got his heart broken while he was making this comic, and the second half (and then some) deals purely with “Jerry” trying to come to terms with it. This comic is a series of one page strips, dealing mostly with life, trying to get some meaning out of it and the horror of dealing with a breakup. It’s pretty clear where this breakup happens, as things get grim in a hurry. Still, plenty of that stuff will look familiar to other people who have had their hearts broken, or everyone. Unless you’re one of those assholes who only breaks hearts, in which case shame on you, aren’t you aware of the trail of devastation you leave in your wake? Those looks aren’t going to last forever, you know. Anyway, there are still plenty of genuinely funny moments, as Neil is a master of that sort of thing. But this one also gets a bit more “real” than past issues of Neil’s comics. Or not, as Neil has always been about finding some meaning in the universe, and what’s more real than that? If you like his stuff I can’t see why you wouldn’t like this one, and if you’re not familiar with his stuff, where have you been these last 10 years or so? The man’s a comic producing machine and you should be reading his stuff. $5
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Posted by Kevin
Update for 2/7/13
February 7, 2013New reviews today for The Horror #2 edited by Eric Schuster and It’s Cris Carver’s Fun Time! I think you can figure out who put that one out. Both from Lutefisk Sushi E, still going strong.
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Posted by Kevin
Schuster, Eric (editor) – The Horror #2
February 7, 2013Website where you can buy Lutefisk Sushi E
The Horror #2
Hey, wait a minute, this isn’t an anthology! That “edited by” credit on the cover threw me right off. I guess an argument could be made that this IS an anthology, as around six other people contributed to this, but it’s a trick. The bulk of the story is the first chapter of “Dog Boy” by Eric Schuster, and everything after that is a full page spread of various assorted creatures. Is that an anthology? I need a ruling from a judge over here. I don’t think it counts. But hey, I can always review the actual comic part. The comics in this Lutefisk Sushi E box have mostly been self-contained so far, and that’s a good thing, but I can see the wisdom behind putting part of a continuing story in this box, as it’s basically a small press sample platter. Anyway, what we see so far is a young man going outside for a smoke break and getting into an altercation with a, well, dog boy. Or werewolf, or whatever it is. Oh, and the werewolf is riding a bicycle. The young man gets bit, as there wouldn’t be much of a continuing story otherwise, and things end with him getting a mysterious visitor at his door. It’s an intriguing start and I’m curious to see where it goes from here, but the danger that it becomes another cliched werewolf story is high. That mysterious visitor at the door is what’s keeping hope alive, as I do wonder what was up with that man. The full page spreads are pretty good too, with my favorite being “Surprise Minotaur” by Nathan Anderson. Yep, another good one in the mini comics box, another reason to buy the whole damned thing.
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Posted by Kevin
Carver, Cris – It’s Cris Carver’s Fun Time!
February 7, 2013Website to buy Lutefisk Sushi E
It’s Cris Carver’s Fun Time!
When you’re dealing with a box of 30+ mini comics, all sold in the package called “Lutefisk Sushi E,” there are bound to be a few comics in it that are… insubstantial. Plenty of them are tiny, as there would be no other way to fit them all into the box, but some of them make more use of their space than this comic does. Not that it’s terrible, it’s just kind of there. This comic is the story of a joke, told to another character that doesn’t want to hear it, and the joke isn’t funny. The person being told the joke reacts appropriately, the end. The art is erratic and more than a little sloppy (I wouldn’t be surprised to hear something about this being a 2 hour comic, if that was a real thing), as your characters have to remain the same from panel to panel no matter what story you’re telling. So yes, it turns out that there are comics in this box that aren’t all that great. I would have been shocked if everything in here WAS great, and the success rate is still pretty damned high, so my opinion on the entire comic set remains the same. If you find this individual comic sitting around at a comic store in the future, unless you have the corniest sense of humor in the world, it’s pretty safe to skip it.
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Posted by Kevin
Update for 2/5/13
February 5, 2013Yeesh, I need to fix this sporadic posting schedule. But hey, two new reviews today, both from the Lutefisk Sushi E box set of mini comics (yes, I’m doing another week on them. If you put out a box of 30+ mini comics I’ll give you the same level of attention): Rebecca and the Super Heroes by Ryan Dow and The Last Hour by RL Hansen.
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Hansen, RL – The Last Hour
February 5, 2013Website where you can buy Lutefisk Sushi E
The Last Hour
Quick, who out there has worked in food service? Coffee shop, fast food restaurant, cafeteria worker, that sort of thing. The last hour of the day at those places (from my experience) is often a nebulous zone where you’d like to be working on things to get you home more quickly after closing, but most of those things can’t be done until all of the customers are gone, and customers come in so infrequently for that last hour that you’re mostly just bored silly. This comic is about one of those hours, as RL waits to close the coffee shop while tending the counter. There’s the conversation with a co-worker to try and figure out anything she could do to help, the interaction with a faceless customer who can’t even be bothered with basic human courtesy, a reasonably friendly guy who was probably mostly there to hit on her (he did ask what her favorite drink was so he could order it, after all), a cheery old man who just wants regular coffee, and one woman who places a large order but ends up giving RL some solid advice on trying mini comics first if she was having trouble putting together a longer story. It’s a solid comic and it does a nice job capturing that awful, useless, potentially magical hour.
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Posted by Kevin
Dow, Ryan – Rebecca and the Super Heroes
February 5, 2013Website to buy Lutefisk Sushi E
Rebecca and the Super Heroes
Warning: no super heroes appear in this comic. Well, I guess one does at the end, sort of. This is the story of Rebecca, Ryan’s girlfriend, and her introduction to Ryan’s world of comics. A very brief introduction, as this comic only has five single page stories, but maybe a larger edition is in the works? Anyway, stories in here include Rebecca’s similarities to Kal-El, the practical limitations of properly filling out a Wonder Woman costume, the joys of not having to get into dumb comic book arguments, and Rebecca’s first experience with watching an episode of the old Hulk tv show. Which, really, is not the best “gateway show” to get the ladies interested in geekery. My opinion is that you can’t go wrong with Buffy, and sure, I know that there aren’t any super heroes in that technically, but it lets the uninitiated know that such an idea can be compelling and rewarding for adults. This is a tiny comic, like I said, so there’s not a whole lot more to say about it. It’s an interesting subject, and Ryan could maybe have enough material to make a full size comic or maybe even a graphic novel out of this. It’s worth checking out, and is another welcome addition to this giant box of mini comics. Oh, and Ryan is going through something of a crisis in comic form on his website (new strips on Wednesdays and Sundays!), and going through the back strips has already taken up a good chunk of my morning. Just sayin’…
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Posted by Kevin
Update for 1/31/13
January 31, 2013New reviews today for Fear is the Mind Killer by JP Pollard and Alternative Medicine on Trial!! by Mike Toft, both from the ridiculously huge Lutefisk Sushi E mini comic box.
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Posted by Kevin
Pollard, JP – Fear is the Mind Killer
January 31, 2013
Fear is the Mind Killer
Since I’m generally so nice in these reviews (but not always! Yes, you can find many bad reviews on this site if you look hard enough), I thought I’d start off with a negative: that cover looks terrible. Not the lines or the design, but that awful yellow color. Sometimes simple is best, and a plain old black and white cover would have worked fine here. That being said, I don’t have a whole lot of complaints about the actual story. Sure, I could have done without some of those spelling errors, but that “24 hour comic” on the cover is the great “get out of jail” free card for such things. The story here covers some familiar territory in small press comics (paralyzing self-doubt, wondering why you can’t work up the energy to make comics, letting every little setback throw your whole plan off), but JP has an interesting take on it. He had a job where he was making good money but kind of hated it, so he made a pact with his wife that they would leave their comfortable town, she would get a job in Chicago and he would work on his comics. Then… nothing. Well, she got a job, but he didn’t keep up his end of the deal for quite a while. We see the many reasons why that was the case, his observations from wandering around the town during regular business hours, and how he finally got going with his comics. And would you believe that Henry Rollins indirectly had a lot to do with it (even if JP does draw him as a black and white hulk)? It’s an engrossing story, even if we know how it ends (there are ads for his other comics on the back cover). Not that we really do know how JP’s story ends because hell, it’s still going, right? Here’s hoping he keeps it up, because he had some really innovative uses of words and word balloons in there, among other things.
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Posted by Kevin
Toft, Mike – Alternative Medicine on Trial!!
January 31, 2013
Alternative Medicine on Trial!!
If there’s one thing I’ve learned during my years on this planet, it’s that believers in alternative medicine are rarely swayed by facts or logic. So if you’re one of those people, you’ll most likely just feel that this comic is an attack on you personally and will be offended. If, however, you are at all willing to be convinced, or if you already know that most forms of alternative medicine are pure quackery, you’re going to love this book. This tells the story of a trial involving an acupuncturist, a lady who practices homeopathy, and the head of an actual government organization. This government group is actually real and funded by taxes, in theory to investigate the efficacy of various types of alternative medicine. Mike brings some facts into the discussion, and they’re pretty damned convincing, but nothing drives his point home more effectively than the actual quote of the head of the government group. I thoroughly enjoyed this comic, and you probably will too if you’re willing to give it a shot.
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Posted by Kevin
Update for 1/29/13
January 29, 2013It’s Lutefisk Sushi week! Or possibly weeks, as there sure are a lot of mini comics in that box. I’m picking them at random, so today it’s The King of Fort Road by Nate Patrin and Office Ewok by James Powell. And no, I have no idea why those reviews are structured differently even though I posted them exactly the same of way. 11+ years of web ignorance still going strong!
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Posted by Kevin
Patrin, Nate – The King of Fort Road
January 29, 2013Website where you can buy Lutefisk Sushi
The King of Fort Road
| Three cheers for local legends! This comic tells the story of a mysterious man who was the “king” of a section of town for roughly a 50 year period. The author of this comic tries to piece together the bits of the legend to come up with a real person and has more than a little bit of trouble. I’m guessing that this isn’t a true story (although life would be better if it was), but Nate does a nice job of showing the variables involved in trying to learn about somebody only from passed down oral history. Nobody seemed to know the king’s real name (eight people came up with eight different names), exactly how he made his living (but he was always paying for meals and showering people with drinks), whether or not he had a family or where he lived. But he was beloved, and the bit about his only rival of consequence was notably short (spoiler alert: the guy wasn’t very successful at replacing the king). It’s a thoroughly engrossing story, which makes it even more impressive that this is Nate’s first comic. He should keep it up to see what else is in that brain of his. As far as constructive criticism goes, a few of the facial expressions seemed a bit forced, but that’s reaching a bit. Another worthy contribution to this giant box of mini comics. |
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Posted by Kevin
Powell, James – Office Ewok
January 29, 2013
Office Ewok
It’s difficult these days to keep up with all of the rules you’re expected to follow while working in an office. For example: mandatory pants. Who knew that it could be such an issue of contention? As you may have already guessed if you’ve seen the movie referenced on the cover to this comic, Ewoks have always been a pantless society. Well, that may or may not be true; I am not aware of the entire species history of Ewoks (I doubt very much that George Lucas is either). Anyway, this comic deals with the effects of not wearing pants in an office and having to conform to fit in. Really, it’s just an excuse to draw a number of usually pantless Star Wars characters wearing pants (I particularly enjoyed Chewbacca in his suspenders), but what more do you need? It’s a short pile of fun with an office lecture thrown in and a hell of a punchline.$25 for the whole box of 35+ comics (plus shipping)
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Posted by Kevin
Update for 1/24/13
January 24, 2013Today accidentally became Craig Bogart day, as I reviewed Craig’s The Ineffables: All of Creation AND Panel #19: Green, which is an anthology by various Columbus Ohio folks, and Craig is included in that group. So happy Craig Bogart day!
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Posted by Kevin
Various Columbus Artists – Panel #19: Green
January 24, 2013
Panel #19: Green
One thing struck me right off the bat in this 19th (!) installment of one of the better anthologies out there: they really could have raised a bigger stink about this being printed on recycled paper. Or, if that “recycling” symbol on the cover is just for show, they missed a golden opportunity to release this book on recycled paper. Either way, making fun of environmentally conscious folks for their preachiness is just too big of a target to ignore (obligatory disclaimer: I agree with the goals of environmentalists, obviously, but their lack of a sense of humor is quite a target). But hey, at least the paper itself is green. This is the usual pile of short pieces by various Columbus artists, and once again the vast majority of the stories ranged between pretty good and damned great. Things start off with a silent piece by Dara Naraghi and Matt Kish detailing the “life” of a can of soda, and it’s a fantastic example of exactly how many things one piece of trash can affect. Andrew Lee and Ben Smith are up next with a piece about the evils of drugs, as told to a pair of stoners by a cartoon anti-drug man. KT Swartz, Brent Bowman and Dara Naraghi are up next with a story about military training and the dangers of not paying attention to your surroundings. I guess this one was “green” because it referenced the military? Or was it because they were outside? I need to stop taking things so literally. Anyway, the next piece called “Luck of the Irish” by Ross Hardy deals with the death of a leprechaun and the search for his gold, because how could you make a book with that title and not have a story about a leprechaun in it? Finally there’s a space adventure by Tony Goins and Craig Bogart that didn’t do a lot for me (five pages isn’t very much room to jump into a space adventure, but they still managed a few good jokes and some effective shouts of “silence!” by the big baddie), but at least they were nice enough to mention that the space explosions were silent, which is something that most movies don’t even manage to get right. There are also a few full pages spreads, one with that delightful Yoda fellow that is also required by law to be in any anthology with this title. I’d probably rank this somewhere in the middle of the pack in terms of quality in this Panel series, but considering the fact that a few issues of this series are among my favorite anthologies out there, “the middle” is still pretty damned good. And they managed to keep it at an affordable $3!
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Posted by Kevin
Bogart, Craig – The Ineffables: All of Creation
January 24, 2013Website is currently down, but I’ll update this when there’s a working website again…
The Ineffables: All of Creation
Kudos to Craig on that title, as it’s hard to get more literal than that. There have been more than a few Ineffables books over the years, and that fact may scare you away from trying it out, but this one is perfect for new readers. It starts at the Big Band and ends at the Big Crunch; it’s hard to get more self-contained than that. Things start off with the revelation that the hero of the series (well, one of the heroes) is actually an immortal being, as his travelling back in time caused the Big Bang. Which is the kind of time travel thing that can make your head explode, but don’t think about it too much. From there we see the creation of Mason (OR DO WE? (that’ll make more sense after you read the whole book)) and the destruction of the dinosaurs by a group that has a convoluted but effective plan to make the planet more habitable to them. That’s your first chapter and, as spoilers get a bit dicey from here, I’ll just break down the remaining four chapters briefly. We see the death ray of Archimedes, Ineffables traveling back for a big old brawl (including a Mason vs. Mason brawl that is among the best comic book fights you’ll ever see, unless you like punching), android Ronald Reagan fighting giant sea monsters, giant alien bees taking over the planet, a thousand Mason heads raining nuclear destruction from the sky, and the plan to preserve all the knowledge in the universe at the Big Crunch. This series has really taken on a life of its own in recent years, and I love the fact that we’re seeing more and more team members and, well, all of creation. He even sneaks in some funny lines here and there (like Reagan’s “gift” to a liberated society). I do wish that he’d start putting the title on the spine of his graphic novels, but that’s purely as aesthetic thing for the sake of my bookshelf. This could make a hell of a cartoon series if there’s anybody out there willing to finance a smart, scientifically-minded series about time travelers trying to solve some of the bigger problems of existence. Nah, I don’t see anybody willing to finance something like that in this day and age either, sadly enough. But it would be awesome! $12
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Posted by Kevin
Update for 1/22/13
January 22, 2013New review today for I Will Bite You by Joseph Lambert and yes, I took a holiday weekend.
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Posted by Kevin
