December 21, 2012
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Daggurs: Troubled Youth
It always makes my job so easy when I can use basically any page of a comic for a sample and still have it be hilarious. That’ll probably give away my opinion of the book right there, but how much suspense were you expecting in a review? Get a grip on yourself. Anyway, this is mostly a 24 hour comic (“mostly” meaning that Sam drew the whole thing in 24 hours, then went back in after the time limit to add some greys, which still counts in my book) about the life of a man/creature named Daggur. He is absolutely awesome and the idol of the children of his area, but he has a crisis of conscience when it dawns on him just what he’s done after the children praise his killing of a sea creature. So he goes back and examines why he is what he is, which leads to an eventual confrontation with said cause, and the introduction int my life of the word “whangel.” Sorry, you’re going to have to read the comic to find out what that means, although I guess it’s possible if you just break the word down a bit. Oh, and the last page of this book is something that should be put in a time capsule to show to future generations/our eventual alien conquerors, as it sums this whole “life” thing up pretty well. Buy it, read it, laugh. $2
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Posted by Kevin
December 20, 2012
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The Pig Sleep
Noir comics are easy to review. I’ve read plenty of Raymond Chandler, James M. Cain, Jim Thompson and the gang, so I’m going to have a pretty good idea of whether or not the writer nailed the tone. And this time? We have a winner! This comic is mostly in color, but the page sampled below is such a perfect representation of the way that detectives typically size up women in those books that I had to use it. So if you hate it, feel free to spend your precious dollars elsewhere, although I think you’ll be missing out. The story is summed up pretty neatly in the sample too: four cops have gone missing and the detective is hired to find out what happened to them (and given precious little to go on). A suspect is found dead with a note indicating that he kidnapped the cops and that they’ll never be found, but our hero thinks the whole thing is a little too easy and keeps looking for the truth. It’s a pile of fun, and it even uses the old mystery trope of the typewriter with one letter that’s off to identify it. There are also four one page stories in the back, each told in rhyme, and those managed to be pretty damned engaging too (and it’s damned easy for a comic told in verse to annoy me). Matthew Daley’s art really completes the package, as the whole thing has a unique look to it that still somehow fits the theme perfectly. If you have any interest in this type of story, it’s rarely done any better than this. If you don’t have any interest in noir, why not give this one a shot to see if maybe this time you can build an interest? Expand your horizons! $5
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Posted by Kevin
December 18, 2012
Website for Paul Tobin
Website for Colleen Coover
Gingerbread Girl
I generally have a problem with comics/tv/movies that have characters talk to the audience in the first person. Not that I have a problem with it in books, as I’ve read too many books written in the first person to still have a problem with it, but in other forms of entertainment it usually takes me right out of the action. But then there was Gingerbread Girl, where everybody in the damned thing (animals included) stop and chat with the audience. And it’s fantastic! This story could have been told without it, I suppose, but it would have made it much less of a story. So yes, I am starting this review by telling you that the graphic novel I’m talking about could very well change a fundamental aspect of how I view most modes of entertainment, so you can probably guess that I liked the book a whole lot. It’s the story of Annah, a young woman who is convinced that she has a sister out there somewhere who was created by her scientist father from an extracted portion of her brain. This sister feels what Annah feels, so Annah has taken to wandering around different parts of town and striking herself with a ruler to see if she hears any cries of pain. Oh, and this sister is missing. And quite possibly imaginary, as she appeared right around the time that Annah’s parents got divorced, and Annah doesn’t seem to have any pictures or any other physical evidence of the existence of a sister. Then again, there are also no pictures of her parents, but they had to exist or Annah wouldn’t exist, and there don’t seem to be any pictures of Annah either before she was around 20… so yeah, lots going on here, and the fun of the book is trying to unravel it all and see what’s true. There’s also the fact that Annah is a bit of a monster, as the book starts with her waiting for a date after making two dates at the same time (she was letting fate decide by going on the date with whoever showed up first). I was still riveted the entire time, and I don’t know what more you could ask of a mystery. It’s funny (some of those animal dialogues had me chuckling out loud), utterly compelling and beautifully drawn (it should be obvious by now that I liked the writer quite a bit too). If you’re a fan of those things you should probably buy a copy of this. Or get it from the library, if you live near a really fantastic library that has a good selection of such things. $12.95
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Posted by Kevin
December 17, 2012
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DemonDust #12
You know what just about everybody who makes comics should do? Put out little 8 page niblets like this. Make your own theme, do your own thing, but just doing something on a regular basis would do wonders for some of the artists who only put out graphic novels or gigantic mini comics. Just a suggestion, and it has nothing to do with the contents of this comic, but hey, I occasionally like to make helpful suggestions/meddle. This one starts off with a very brief recap of the state of the world (it’s election time) and features a man with a pumpkin head and an elf using various over-the-counter drugs to get themselves ready to go for an evening of playing video games. See, I say it like that and it seems overly simplistic. You also have the ethics of a man with a pumpkin for a head having a friend who is looking to buy a pumpkin and carve it for a decoration, some traveling, some conversation, and the inevitable result of all of those drugs. It’s all capped off by an afterward on the state of life in general at the moment of his producing this comic, and a tidbit or two about the making of it. It’s funny, bizarre, and has a nice starter list of drugs that you can buy anywhere (although I have no idea of their effects, as they’re all new to me/possibly made up for comedic purposes). So check it out. In fact, why not just buy a stack of these? Like I said, they’re short, so that makes the most sense. $2
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Posted by Kevin
November 27, 2012
Just checking in to let everybody know that I am still alive, that I have a stack of comics I’m looking forward to reviewing, and that I’m STILL working crazy hours at the Board of Elections. When I come up for air from that mess I’ll get to all of the comics that were sent my way, possibly in a frenzy (if I take some time off work) or not (if I don’t). Your patience is appreciated! Oh, and the store still works if you want to order stuff, but please list some replacements too because I’m out of stock on a number of things. That will be fixed when I have the time, like everything else.
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Posted by Kevin
November 2, 2012
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Underwire
I should admit one thing right off the bat, as it will color my review: I don’t generally care for comics that deal with young artists and their kids. That’s a blanket statement, and there are all kinds of exceptions, but it’s based on the general parental idea that their kids are unique, and their interactions with them are unique, and therefore worthy of outside attention. More often than not that’s just not the case, which is why comics like this are always a welcome change. Her relationship to her kids is a relatively small part of this book, but I found myself genuinely interested in it when it did come up, which I though to be a rare enough event to be worth a mention. This book is a series of web comics from Jennifer (plus 17 pages of new material, so even if you read all of that stuff there are still new comics for you to read), mostly in the 1-5 page range, dealing with subject like the growing realization that both of her kids are their own people and are needing her less and less (and she has the refreshing honesty to talk about how crazy they can be on certain things), two of her oldest friends hitting it off and how their collective kids fit into the picture, dueling sex dreams with her husband, her son going off to boarding school and her reactions, head lice, the intricate (and thoroughly modern) life stories of some of her daughters’ dolls, the deer that jumped at the side of her car, how her kids went back and forth between releasing their helium-filled balloons, going back to check on their favorite old college spots, and a dream where she was a terrible serial killer. “Terrible” meaning that she was really bad at it, as it’s kind of implied that all serial killers are terrible. This series was done with the intention of being something that she worked on while finishing her graphic novel about breast cancer, and it has made me plenty curious to check that out when it’s released. You’d probably get the most out of this if you were female, middle-aged and with children in school (as there’s plenty here for you to relate to), but there’s lots here for the rest of us too. Check it out, why don’t you? $9.95
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Posted by Kevin
October 31, 2012
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Any Empire
I should start this off with a disclaimer: I haven’t read Nate’s “Swallow Me Whole,” and this is listed as a follow-up to that book, so it’s entirely possible that I’m missing a lot of context here. What can I say, the man has put out all kinds of graphic novels over the last ten years and I’ve its own way. Things start off bouncing around between Lee, Purdy and Sarah, three kids who are each doing their own thing. Sarah is trying to figure out which kids have been hurting turtles, Purdy is a budding crazy person who is still looking for something resembling friends, and Lee bounces seamlessly back and forth between reality and his fantasies while playing with his toys. Lee’s bits hit the hardest for me, as this was set around the time that I was a kid and I vividly remember going from bored to totally immersed in the intricate imagined happenings of whatever toys and accessories were around at the time (there were all kinds of G.I. Joe/Transformers/He-Man crossovers when I was playing). School is included as well, but just barely. It’s mainly all about how these kids interacted with each other and how every little thing was crucial and fundamentally meaningless at the same time. A number of years pass quickly to the to the second part of the book (maybe ten years?) and we see snippets of what our heroes have been doing with their lives. (THIS IS THE PART WHERE I SPOIL BITS OF PART 2, IN CASE YOU DON’T WANT TO READ IT) Lee is wandering a bit, Sarah is established in a good job but bored silly, and Purdy is off in the armed services. Sarah and Lee have some catching up to do after losing touch since their childhoods, and things get downright weird when Purdy enters their lives again. Your childhood may play a role in how much you enjoy/can relate to this book, but it triggered all kinds of memories in me. I think you’d still get something out of this even if you were raised in a nunnery away from all other kids, but that’s because it’s a fascinating story that’s expertly told. What can I say, I’m biased towards such things. $19.95
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Posted by Kevin
October 30, 2012
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Lucille
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I doubt that Scott McCloud was the first one to mention it, but his comment about the real action of comics all taking place between the panels really came back to me while I was reading this book. This is the story of two teens who feel completely abandoned by the world. Lucille is anorexic, disgusted by the act of eating and is basically trying to disappear. Arthur (later Vladimir, which would be a spoiler if you already knew all the details of this story) makes himself more important to the other kids by pretending to have a direct line to Satan, giving kids advice and “telling their future” in exchange for their souls. Both have troubled relationships to their parents, with Lucille constantly annoyed by her mother (even though she seems to want the best for her daughter, but what teenage girl ever accepts love like that?) and Arthur trying but failing to develop some kind of love for sailing so that he could be closer to his father. The power in this comic comes from the quiet moments in both of their lives, as Lucille tries to find a reason to keep going or ever take her medicine, while Arthur deals with a life or death decision that he’s forced to make while working alongside his father on a ship. It isn’t until about halfway through this gargantuan book that these two finally make a connection with each other, and it doesn’t take long for them to see each other at their lowest points. What follows is an eerily accurate account of the problems and pitfalls facing two young people who are exploring a relationship for the first time, with things happening later that I’m not even going to touch here. This won all kinds of awards in France before finally being translated and released by Top Shelf, and I can see why. It’s always a good sign when images or pages pop into my head unprompted hours after reading a book, and that’s been happening to me all morning. The structure of the whole book is deceptively loose, as Ludovic doesn’t care for panels, but make no mistake: this book is intricately plotted, with even the seemingly unconnected and brief dream sequences eventually playing a major role. There is also a sequel out in France, but so far it hasn’t been translated into English (as of 10/12). Still, I’m absolutely hooked on this story and will be checking in with Top Shelf every now and then to see if the next book is available. This book, by the way, is damned near flawless. It’s not light reading by any stretch of the imagination, but who wants all of their entertainment to be light and fluffy? This takes on huge life problems in interesting ways and, while not always finding the answers, is going to leave you thinking about them long after you’ve finished the book. Read it, is what I’m saying. $29.95 (or cheaper if you were smart enough to pick it up during Top Shelf’s yearly sale).
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Posted by Kevin
October 28, 2012
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Lower Regions
Have you enjoyed various RPGs and dungeon crawler type games in your life? Did you, when given the opportunity, play through said dungeon using a warrior woman with large breasts (as that does seem to be the default breast setting of several of these games) of your own creation? If not, congratulations on your rich and successful social and business life! For the rest of you, I don’t see how you could find a thing to complain about here. This is a wordless comic, so it takes a few pages before we get to see the “point” of this adventure (the heroine is out looking for her lumpy captured boyfriend). But who needs a point? Things start off with the heroine fighting a large three-balled monster (which is obvious because the dude isn’t wearing any pants). From there she has to fight off a series of challenges and guardians, all while protecting her companion hobbit (or possibly gnome) whose only purpose seems to be holding a torch so that she can see. That whole character is done to perfection, and should get a good laugh out of anybody who has ever played one of these games while trying to keep an obviously inferior character alive. What happens to this hobbit a couple of pages after the sampled page below is absolutely priceless. Anyway, monsters are fought, limbs are hacked off with increasing abandon, and things finally reach their more or less inevitable conclusion. Like I said, if you’re of the right mindset to like this comic then you’re going to love it. If you’re looking for another tale of somebody in their mid 20’s complaining about the meaninglessness of their existence, you could try about 3/4 of the rest of the small press comics out there to satisfy your need. I checked the Top Shelf page out of curiosity to see if there were more issues of this series, and there’s one that’s “web only,” so screw that. Physical comics only please, says that curmudgeon! Then again, it is $7 for this relatively tiny book, which is probably why the next one hasn’t been printed yet. $7
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Posted by Kevin
October 26, 2012
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Ci Vediamo
I should start this off with a disclaimer: the sample below is technically only half a sample, as the construction of this comic makes it difficult to sample a page fully without giving away the meaning that comes from putting two pages together. That’s probably not going to make sense to you unless you’re holding the book, so I should just start at the beginning. The title is an Italian phrase that means “we’ll see each other” and the book deals with two people who are either entering or leaving a relationship. Or they’re just the two proverbial ships passing in the night, but it’s open to interpretation. Anyway, several of the pages are transparent with images imposed on them, so when you turn one page it causes those images to show up on the previous page. When you put that page over the page sampled below the meaning changes considerably, which is why I was leery about the best way to sample it. It’s a short melancholy tale, and I just now pieced together that last page, which makes it a little less sad. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything quite like it, which is always a welcome thing in the world of mini comics. She also won a Xeric award for this, proving once again that those folks know what they’re doing. $6
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Posted by Kevin
October 25, 2012
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The Lovely Horrible Stuff
It’s constantly annoying to me that Eddie Campbell isn’t fabulously wealthy. He seems to get by OK, judging from his comics (it’s not like I’d have any other way to assess his finances), but somebody who has been putting out some of the best comics in the world for 30+ years now should be sleeping on a pile of money. This particular graphic novel, as you may have guessed from that cover, is all about cash, and that title should give you some idea of Eddie’s opinion on the subject. He gives us a tiny peek into how his finances work, why it’s a terrible idea to ever loan money to a father-in-law and why timing in pitching any sort of tv show based on him or his work is everything (anybody else remember that global financial catastrophe that started in 2008? I know that American voters seem uncomfortably hazy on the subject, but I’m hoping the rest of the world has better memory). Eddie wanders around a bit, but the conclusion is the same as always: the man just wants to make art and live a comfortable life. It’s a little disconcerting to see his kids as young adults, as I remember them as the tiny creatures from his earlier books, and it’s even more annoying that he has to worry about their college fund. Anyway, my bitching about the total lack of justice in the world isn’t going to change anything. The second half of the book is a bit more dry, as it’s all about an obscure form of currency from the island of Yap, what’s happened to it over the years and how it’s value was measured obliquely preceded some of the other tricks that are a huge part of the current global finance system. And they’re very large circular rocks with holes drilled in the middle of them, so their construction and how they got from place to place was also covered. This book was a bit of a departure from some of his other graphic novels, as he liberally sprinkled in pictures of people and places to mix with his drawings, which served as a vivid reminder of the almost invisible line between his character of Alec and his real world. It’s another great graphic novel from one of the best comic artists/writers working today, and there’s no reason in the world why you shouldn’t have a copy of it. Unless you hate really great books, in which case you seem to have wandered into the wrong website. $14.95
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Posted by Kevin
