September 22, 2012
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Drunken Cat Comics Anniversary
This is a special for the 11 year anniversary of Brian’s assorted comics, and I just have one question: where the hell is the Ruffians story? There are updates for a few of his older comics (otherwise known as “new stories”), but Ruffians, which was far and away his longest series, is nowhere to be found. Boo! Ah well, I can still judge the rest of the book on its merits. Our “host” for this comic is the drunken cat from the name who, if memory serves (and it probably doesn’t), has never really gotten this much face time before. The cat introduces us to the new stories and does make a passing reference to Ruffians, so at least it isn’t completely disregarded. New stories in here include Satan’s high school reunion (in which we catch up with Satan after he was introduced in Brian’s first comic 11 years ago), Fall Back (in which our hero goes back in time to try to recapture his perfect past love) and Big Metal Robots (in which… aw, the title tells you everything you need to know). Satan’s story had more than a few funny bits, the time traveling story managed to be a bit heartbreaking, and the story about robots sure did have robots punching and kicking big monsters. Kind of a waste of time for most of it, but the ending made it all worthwhile. The drunken cat shenanigans were also pretty funny, although that probably would not have been the case if the comic had gone on for much longer. 11 years is a damned long time in small press comics and, even though I haven’t seen much new from the guy in the last few years (which may well be entirely my fault), Brian has managed to amass a decent pile of comics over his time. Here’s to 11 more years, and to his getting back to work on Ruffians. Or, if he’s not going to get back to it, he should at least have the decency to put out a mini comic where all of the characters in that series get taken out in as many gruesome ways as is humanly possible. $4
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Posted by Kevin
September 16, 2012
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The Index #2
Which do you prefer: organizing all of your thoughts and trying to make some sense of them or merely writing all of your thoughts down and leaving them alone? Is there a greater truth to uncover by going over all of them, or is the act of writing them all down the greater truth that you were shooting for? If I’ve lost you already then you probably shouldn’t bother with this comic, but for those of you who enjoy the act of thinking, you should latch onto Caitlin’s work and absorb her wisdom. Or lack of wisdom, as who can say for sure? It’s the journey, right? After all, we all know where it ends. Crikey, do her comics ever get me into an existential frame of mind. I’ll have to watch something with a lot of explosions in it after this to get back to being a good American. Anyway, this comic starts off with John writing everything down on Susan’s blank index cards and having a grand old time of it. Susan eventually comes home and catches him, but instead of freaking out and having a dull shouting match, she does something that completely messes with his head: she puts his name on one of the index cards. It’s a simple act, and you wouldn’t think that it would cause such trouble, but Caitlin does a fantastic job of telling the tale of why it would be such a mind fuck. To sum it up: there’s a thoroughly engaging story, art that tells that story while leaving you plenty of little bits to mull over, and a closing line that would be damned difficult to top. I’m looking forward to seeing what else she comes up with over the years, as she seems to be entirely too good at this stuff to be so new at it. The potential for serious improvement out of her comics after she’s already at this level boggles the mind. $3.50
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Posted by Kevin
September 11, 2012
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Colossal: Vulpes Vulpes
I was all set for a righteous rant about this comic, but it turns out that it’s not #3 in the series after all and is instead just another part of the series. Supplemental material. Which is fine, but isn’t there a law that says that you can’t do such things until you have at least five issues of a series out? There isn’t? Well, there should be. Still, this is Jason’s vision, he gets to let things unfold at exactly the speed he prefers. So what’s this comic about? Well, it depicts the day that the big guy from the past two issues crashes to the ground. Or does it? We’re left to assume that it does, and it seems like a pretty safe bet. Anyway, we also get some technical chatter, with a few intriguing code words thrown in. The bulk of the comic is the reaction of the red foxes in the area (hence the title), but we also see very little of that. Honestly, this is a tough comic to judge by itself. As part of the series, at this exact moment in time, it’s a disappointment. If another issue comes out pretty soon, and if it ties in with this (as it surely will down the road, or what’s the point of releasing the issue at all?), then this one will end up looking better. And this will make some fine bonus material in an eventual graphic novel. But you have to keep interest up to GET TO a collected edition, and while this doesn’t kill the momentum of the first two issues, it does slow it down a bit. $2.50
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Posted by Kevin
September 9, 2012
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Monkey Squad One #10
Layers, people! That’s what you need to make any long-running comic successful. And yes, in the small press world, ten issues (and an annual, don’t forget the annual) does indicate a long-running comic. The comics that have some sort of a master plan are the ones that are going to be successful. Granted, Doug does seem be winging a few things here and there (in my humble opinion, as it’s not like I’ve seen a series outline or anything), but he refers back to several older incidents in this issue, with the promise of more resolutions to come. Of course, this kind of long range planning is only really effective if there’s some sort of collected graphic novel of a large chunk of the series available, which is something that should really be corrected in the near future, he says in a “hint hint” fashion. Anyway! This issue marks the start of a new three part series, with the next part coming out in December. Doug is somebody who has (as far as I’ve been able to tell) kept to a pretty good schedule, so I’ll trust him on that. The man in charge learns that the squad went to a planet that was populated only by women a bit ago (referring back to older happenings; see what I mean?) and decides that he has to get there. Logan has been transformed into a Hulk, so he doesn’t go along (although we do see his troubles trying to get clothes that fit and fitting through doorways), but UNCLE Doug and the other two members head out to try and find that world again. Things don’t go as smoothly as all that, obviously, and things are left dangling with a big old battle on the way for the next issue (as this is part one of three, that’s the natural place to end it). Logan also gets into some trouble, as you can’t have a character who has been hulkified and NOT throw him into a battle somewhere, but that’s also something that’ll be dealt with in the next issue. My journey from being indifferent to this series to cautiously optimistic to absolutely thrilled to get a new issue in the mail has been bumpy, but it’s now complete. And, unless you have an unnaturally strong aversion to anything resembling a superhero comic, you should hop on this bandwagon right now. $2.50
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Posted by Kevin
September 6, 2012
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Chimps in Space #2
Yep, that’s what I was afraid of based on that cover: the chimps are no longer in space. Not that that’s a requirement, but when you name your comic “Chimps in Space” it is kind of implied. This issue starts off after the chimps crashed onto a planet (they were in space, and we do briefly see their crashed escape pod) and onto a wild west planet. You’ve got your mustachioed evil chimp, a chimp bragging in a saloon before getting scared off by the town good guy, horses, lassos, the whole deal. But, in a nice twist, the town good guy is actually Minnie (from the last issue) in disguise, and Marty was the fake bad guy in disguise. The whole set-up was just a way to get some bananas as a reward. After splitting their reward they happen across a coach with a dying man in it who knows the location of some buried treasure. Things go a little awkwardly, but they manage to find out the location of this treasure right around the time that an actual bad guy (you could tell by the moustache) steals their map from them. Gunfights a’plenty ensue, and your desire for chimp mayhem will surely be sated by the end of it. I should make it clear that more than a few parts of this were pretty damned funny, and it also manages to keep that whole “fun for the whole family but not dumbed down for the kids” vibe going nicely the entire time. I’d say that Donna has written herself into a corner here, but the third issue is already out so she clearly knows what she’s doing. Overall it’s a fun series with all kinds of chimps in it doing all kinds of non-chimpy things, mostly for the sake of bananas. Check it out! $3
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Posted by Kevin
September 3, 2012
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Colossal #2: Illumine
Oh, so THAT’S what that title of “Colossal” meant. It was difficult to get a handle on the scale of the creature/robot in the first issue, as it was in a forest and it only interacted with one tiny bird. This time around our hero is on the move and we see that he towers over at least some trees and is clearly much larger than a truck. I’m loving the pacing of these issues, as Jason lets us feel every heavy stomp of the robot’s feet. He also gave us plenty of room to get a sense of the panic that started to creep into the robot when his guide disappeared for a few pages, but I’m getting ahead of myself. This issue is basically the journey to another bird and the robot’s steps along the way. He meets a fox (and gets a much better sense of the way of the world after that conversation), meets the “wise” bird and takes steps to follow its advice. The comic ends with a damned intriguing panel that doesn’t seem to be related to much that came before, but I can say no more about that. I’m getting just the barest hint of a True Swamp vibe from this series. Talking animals will do that to me, granted, but there’s also the fact that these talking animals are laying out some serious truths about the natural order of things. And yes, being compared to probably the best series from Jon Lewis is meant as high praise. Oh, and I just saw on Jason’s website that he calls the robot “IT.” Make of that what you will, but at this point I’m happy to be firmly along for the ride. $4
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Posted by Kevin
September 2, 2012
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Important Comics Volume 2
What, “Important Comics Are Bad” doesn’t count as a volume? Bizarre numbering system aside, it’s always a good thing when another collection of Dina’s comics comes along. This one has a fairly compact 40 pages of comics for a fairly steep $12, but oh the colors, they are very pretty. If you’re not familiar with her work you should feel a brief moment of shame before going to her website where you can see many free samples to educate yourself. For the rest of us, yes, this comic is still full of the funny bits that we have come to demand, which is really a lot to ask of Dina or anybody else on a consistent basis, but she seems up to the task. Subjects this time around include shut up, the feeling of stupid, internet addiction, getting crud on you, the human oldening process, a possible awkward moment in the doctor’s office, gamelon, crying getting in the way of the fun, telling the brain to fuck off while listening to your guts, and breaking the news. As always, she manages to cram a few strips on most pages, so it’s not like you’re getting short-changed or anything. And have I mentioned the colors? I did? Well, I want to make sure that you understand how impressive they are this time around. Not that they were crappy before, but you know what I mean. Buy her comic and continue this inevitable process of making her rich and famous. Hey, the first volume is even available on this website, so you don’t even have to leave to buy it! Yes, that was a shameless plug. I’ll stop now. $12
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Posted by Kevin
September 1, 2012
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Jerry’s Journal
Have you been enjoying Neil’s comics over the years but always thought that maybe they should be just a hair sloppier? Then Jerry’s Journal is for you! Neil finally bought a sketchbook, you see, after being against them for years because he always thought he needed structure in his work. The end result is a pretty damned funny comic, with panel lines and the occasional character image (almost always Jerry, as it’s all about him) that are a shade less than as universally perfect as the rest of his books. The comic itself, as the title implies, is all about Jerry and his constant, apathetic quest to find some meaning and/or summarize the high points in his life. Subjects include the important things in his life, the inevitable (and at least partially welcome) end to it, being alone, thinking too much, ways to get away from life, thinking about giving the world another chance, the unfortunate biological imperative to stay alive, and reflecting back on his life. Those are from the first half of it anyway, the rest is yours to discover. These are all one page strips, and it’s always a good sign when I have a hard time picking a sample image from a comic like this because so many of them made me chuckle. Don’t get me wrong, a lot of these strips are fairly dark, but would you really be reading small press comics if you didn’t have at least a slightly dark sense of humor? That’s what I thought. Seeing as how Neil is already one of the most prolific artists in comics, if he really takes to this sketchbook stuff we should expect to see a few dozen new books by him every year, which sounds good to me (if possibly fatal for the artist himself). And really, a good chunk of the small press artists out there wish they could be as neat as Neil’s “sloppy” sketchbook stuff. $5
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Posted by Kevin
August 30, 2012
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DemonTears
I have exactly one complaint to make about this utterly riveting, depressing, uplifting, real-as-it-gets-while-being-largely-based-in-dreams comic: it’s too short to be a proper graphic novel. Which doesn’t mean a damned thing in and of itself, as it doesn’t feel too long or too short. It’s just that graphic novels stick around for longer than single comics, and this comic deserves as long of a shelf life as is humanly possible. This comic deals with Bernie’s (or fake Bernie, in case this isn’t somewhat autobiographical) long trip out from alcoholism, told partially through bits of his real life and partially through a dream world that he is rudely forced into every night via his nightly blackouts. It would take a few thousand words for me to even attempt to explain all the symbolism and happenings in those dream bits, and I would most likely get chunks of it very wrong, but the Center for Cartoon Studies should put this in their curriculum toot sweet. The true horror/sadness of this comes in the real life bits. We see his hands start to shake as he’s drawing, happy evenings that he spent partying with friends always ending the same way, waking up just to take aspirin in the middle of the night, and his brief time spent sober with his family for dinner. The eventual conclusion wasn’t even remotely tidy, and it wasn’t meant to be followed by a group hug. Without giving anything away, he earned every bit of the events at the end of this book, and he deserves all the credit in the world for refusing to shy away from just what it took to get there. Flipping through this book again it just seems wrong for me to gloss over the dream parts the way I did, but they build such a careful narrative piece by piece that I’d feel like a dick just plucking bits out of context. I will tell you that Bernie is represented in his dreams by a floating brain that’s trailing a spine, and that does eventually become relevant. This book is an absolute triumph, and he depicts the warning signs clearly enough that there are bound to be a few people reading this who are looking at their own hands, wondering if that slight bit of shaking is just a side effect of getting old or if it’s from all the years of just a little too much booze. Buy it, tell your friends to buy it, and, if you know anybody in AA, you might think about passing some of these out at a meeting. Most human beings could learn a lot from this. $6
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Posted by Kevin
August 27, 2012
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Colossal #1: Feather and Composite Armour
I’ll say one thing for Jason: the man knows how to set a scene. This is the first of three comics in this series, so naturally setting the scene is damned important. He can’t give too much away or risk ruining future surprises and he can’t give too little away or he’ll risk alienating those short attention span folks who can’t live without their phone being within reach at all times. Go on, admit it, you were checking a text during that last sentence. Anyway, this comic opens up with a wide shot of a field, and from there we slowly move into a forest. We see sharp angles, the hint of something huge, and finally a hand on the ground. A display area on the hand opens up, we get a clear indication of what’s happening (I don’t want to spell the whole thing out for you), and finally the title character is revealed, roughly halfway through the comic. The rest of the comic is a conversation between our hero (as far as I know; it may turn out to be the destroyer of all humanity before the series is done) and a bird that happens across it, as they try to determine just what sort of creature it is. It has amnesia, you see, which can be a lazy trope to explain that part of the story… unless it’s done well. And this thing is clearly at least part robot, so amnesia could just be a programming thing. I’m intrigued, which is all that’s required out of the first issue of a longer series. The panel structure was a bit clunky at times, as some bits of foliage stopped when the panel stopped and others kept going, making their conversation occasionally difficult to follow, but that’s a minor quibble. $2.50
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Posted by Kevin
