Sorry about the odd schedule this week, but at least I’m still putting reviews up. Two news ones today for Dog Walk Dog by various folks Pat Keck, Tom Van Deusen, Karissa Sakumoto and August Lipp) and The Frantastic Four by Sam Spina.
Update for 1/17/13
January 17, 2013
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Posted by Kevin
Spina, Sam – The Frantastic Four
January 17, 2013
Do you automatically steer clear of any small press comics that you think might be super hero parodies? You do? Come closer to the screen so I can punch you. OK, maybe it’s not always a terrible rule, but you might as well punch yourself in the face if you skip out on this one. So much comic for $5! Things start off with Frank Frantastic being picked to fly to Neptune to check out some strange life sign readings. Frank has always lived in the shadow of his more successful older brother, who “died” in an explosion years before (Frank never bought the official story). He makes it to Nepture, discovers a substance that appears to be alien in nature, and then discovers the creature who was shitting out this other substance. Frank decides that this creature is too much like him to be turned over the government (even though, brilliantly, the creature never says a word), so he makes a plan to sneak him out of the shuttle and back to his apartment, using the hilariously unlikely means of putting a sheet over the creature’s head and leading him out of the space center. Once back at his apartment Frank introduces this creature to his roommate (a robot made years earlier by Frank’s brother), the creature is confronted by another creature who lived underground (he came to the surface after sensing the “evil” nature of the alien), the alien is given a name (“Celery”), and Frank draws the conclusion that they are now the Frantastic Four and that they should fight crime for a living. The rest of this damned hefty book deals with them trying out a number of different careers (as it turns out that nobody pays you to fight crime in such a fashion, and there really isn’t all that much crime to fight to begin with), showing what happened to the crew a couple of years after the events of the comic, and an epilogue where it shows how their lives ended up years later. This makes the possibility of a second issue of this series unlikely, which is a damned shame, but you basically have an entire series crammed into this one comic anyway. I’m increasingly of the opinion that Sam can do no wrong, and this comic has damned near set that opinion in stone. Buy this comic, laugh a whole bunch of times, feel better about the world for a bit! $5
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Posted by Kevin
Various Artists – Dog Walk Dog
January 17, 2013
Dog Walk Dog
Huzzah for dog anthologies! Well, pet anthologies in general, as there aren’t nearly enough cat anthologies in the world for my tastes. This one has a collection of fantastical tales involving dogs of some kind (no mushy autobio stuff here) along with a few photos of dogs. Things start off with a story by Patrick Keck about a humanoid dog walking another dog, having a perfectly lovely afternoon or evening. The humanoid dog reminisces about his dog when he was a kid and how he was sorry about how he was only rarely able to let it into the house, which was odd as the humanoid dog was apparently a human boy as a child, but I shouldn’t get wrapped up in such things. Next up is “Woof” by Tom Van Deusen, which probably unnerved me more than was the intention of the story. It’s about a dog and his animal friends playing in a band and having a BBQ, which all sounds perfectly nice, but the way that all of these creatures’ mouths were all the way open when they talked (along with the casual way that the alligator at the deli counter scarfed down a squirrel customer) was more than a little disturbing. And that’s not even getting into his representation of God at the end of the story, or the way his/her/its mouth was a black void of stars, or the horrible dead eyes. Yes, this is more likely to be my own odd hang-ups than the actual meaning of the story, but that’s all I have to work with here. August Lipp has a short piece next about dogs on their humping schedule (of legs, that is), then Karissa Sakumoto tells the story of a half dog, half man creature and how it is unloved in either world. Another one that’s a little creepy, but it was thoroughly engaging. There’s also a centerfold with a new interpretation of the famous dogs playing poker painting, just in case such a thing would push you over the edge into checking this out, you weirdo you. You have to be a fan of the particular animal for most pet anthologies, but for this one you’d be just fine if you hated dogs, what with all the general insanity going on. No price listed, but maybe $3 at a complete guess?
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Posted by Kevin
Update for 1/15/13
January 15, 2013Two new reviews today to make up for the missed day yesterday: Super Lobotomy by Sara Lindo and Startled Maggie by Meghan Hogan.
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Posted by Kevin
Lindo, Sara – Super Lobotomy
January 15, 2013
Super Lobotomy
Have you ever wondered about the domestic life of a walking, talking brain and the piece of itself that was cut off in a lobotomy? You haven’t? Lucky for you, Sara is on the case. The basic story here (and it will be difficult to do this madness justice) is that the vast majority of the brain has no interest at all in household chores, and instead chooses to focus on daydreaming and loafing. Maybe the portion of its brain that was removed was the part that controlled such things? Eh, I’m thinking way too literally and scientifically here, and I apologize. Anyway, the brain sends away for a “hero cape,” it finally arrives in the mail and the brain proceeds to go into town, looking for various ways to save the day. It’s likely that I wouldn’t want to live there, but this world would be a fantastic place to visit. Sentient waffles, one of the ghosts from Pac-Man (purely guessing here) as a criminal, a pineapple parking enforcer, a piece of toast working as a hot dog vendor (would it be unethical for a piece of toast to sell hot dog buns, as they might be related? Yet another thing that I had never considered before reading this comic), and an ice cream cone and a gumdrop playing together. Why does the gumdrop only have one leg while the ice cream cone has two? It’s probably best left to your imagination. My only minor complaint is that, as a silent comic, there are a couple of moments when I had some difficulty following the action. But it always made itself clear in a panel or two, which is why it’s only a minor complaint. This is a pile of fun, and good luck not chuckling at least a few times. $5 (guessing again, as it’s not listed on her website as being for sale yet, but it totally is)
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Posted by Kevin
Hogan, Meghan – Startled Maggie #1
January 15, 2013
Startled Maggie
Well, this book took a turn for the better when I found out that this was actually all about Meghan as a kid and not about the early days of her child (if she has a child, which she may or may not, how should I know?). It deals with the first few years of life of a young girl, her various utterances (it’s tough to call them conversations) and happenings. It seemed almost too cute if it was about Meghan’s mythical child, but learning that it was about Meghan as a kid and that she’s doing this series to document the nature of memory and early life makes it a lot more interesting. This wouldn’t be the case if I had a kid of my own and/or shared the belief of all parents that their children and their children alone are precious little snowflakes, but alas, that isn’t the case. It’s irrelevant, as these are all stories told to Meghan by her parents about her very early days. I’d be curious to see a comparison after this is finished between her own memories and the memories that she depicts here. Are they largely the same? If not, where do they differ, and what does that say about everybody involved? This has the potential to be a downright fascinating series when all is said and done. I have no idea how long she’s going to depict this (it would lose some of the point if she kept it up through her teenage years where, if she was like most other teenagers, her parents lost touch with exactly what she was up to on a daily basis), but I am very curious to see how it all shakes out. $6
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Posted by Kevin
Update for 1/11/13
January 11, 2013New review for The Return of the Magic Whistle #12 by Sam Henderson! I can’t think of a better comic to send you off into the weekend (meaning that I probably won’t get any updates done during the weekend, but who knows?).
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Posted by Kevin
Henderson, Sam – The Return of the Magic Whistle (#12)
January 11, 2013
The Return of the Magic Whistle (#12)
| One of the oddest things about my reviewing comics on this site for the past 11+ years (!!!) is that I’ve lost touch with more than a few of the comics that got me started doing this in the first place. It’s hard to overstate the importance of Magic Whistle during my small press formative years when I was climbing out of the superhero ghetto, and I still have most of his mini comics before he was published by anybody to prove it. Still, I ended up getting overwhelmed with comics submitted for review (a damned nice problem to have) and taking fewer trips to the comic stores, so the end result is that I haven’t read an issue of this in at least six years. It turns out that Sam hadn’t put out an issue in roughly four years, so it turns out that I hadn’t missed all that much anyway (although there are at least two issues advertised in the back of this one that I don’t own, a situation that will soon be rectified). So, much like my King Cat reviews, don’t expect to find a lot of negativity here, as the sheer joy at seeing another issue of this series overwhelmed my critical faculties. Which is not to imply that it’s bad and that I’m too biased to see it but, humor being subjective and all, I guess you might not find it funny. Hey rambly, what’s this comic about? Well, for those of you who have never read an issue of this series (and, after being gone for four years, I could even excuse a few of you for that), there are no magic whistles present in these comics, except for maybe the very early days. Instead they’re a series of funny bits of differing lengths, which may sound like a lot of comics, but Sam’s style is simplistic in his own unique way, and there’s no mistaking it once you see it. Subjects in here include a protest about the reality of the constitution by a man in the audience of a school play, the trials of having a large ass and always being expected to give people rides on it, a look back at a really terrible gym teacher from grade school, Dirty Danny’s sneaky trick after getting elected, the lonely robot duckling asking questions about the terminology behind pornography (in the story that got the loudest laughs out of me), the differences between how you’re perceived crossing a section of the river as a child versus doing it at 42, learning about his teacher and her possible gay relationship as a child, some letters from ages ago, and several one panel gags that I’m not going to spoil even a little bit. If you’re just wondering if he’s still funny: yes. Yes, he is. And that’s why you’d be buying a Magic Whistle comic anyway, right? It’s good to see Sam back and, with his announcement of a big collection of strips coming out in 2013, it looks like we’ll be seeing a lot more from him in the near future. Hurray! $4 |
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Posted by Kevin
Update for 1/10/13
January 10, 2013New review today for SF #2 by Ryan Cecil Smith. Yes, I do write these posts (even though the review is clearly visible below) even when I have nothing new to say. Why stop now?
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Posted by Kevin
Smith, Ryan Cecil – SF #2
January 10, 2013
SF #2
If only Ryan didn’t have to worry about making a living, I’d say that this story has the potential to become one of the next great comic epics. As it is I don’t see how he’ll have the time to do this story justice, but please, prove me wrong! I say that because Ryan puts together supplemental issues for the regular issues, expanding this universe of his every step of the way, and reading this issue showed me about a half dozen different ways he could take this story. There’s a handy and concise recap on the inside cover (every other comics artist ever who puts out a continuing story, take note), then the bulk of the main story deals with two members of the SF squad (actually SFSFSF, but maybe that was too clunky for a title) trying to free an admiral who they hope will become an ally. A game is played to determine his fate, something goes horribly wrong, and the planet ends up devastated, as you may have guessed from that cover. And oh, the devastation! Ryan shows a world both crumbling and being eaten away, and he does it beautifully. He even saves time in the end to show off the SF headquarters and for some character development, although I maybe shouldn’t tell you what kind, as that would give away more of the content of the main story. The only complaint I have is a technical one, as pages 8 and 29 are completely blank (unless that is some artistic master plan that I’m not catching onto). Ah well, something to fix for the collected edition, right? If you’re not following this series and you’re at all interested in anime/giant galactic skirmishes, I’ll just come right out and say it: get it together. Maybe ignorance could excuse you before this, but you’re reading these words, right? Buy the issues and put them in a vault, as this man will become famous for his comics if there is any justice in the world. Which there usually isn’t, but hey, we can always hope. $7 (for a damned hefty comic)
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Posted by Kevin
Update for 1/9/13
January 9, 2013New review for Segway by Rob Jackson. Anybody else having trouble getting to this site? Just curious…
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Posted by Kevin
Jackson, Rob – Segway
January 9, 2013
Segway
Hollywood, take note: “Time Puncher” should be a major motion picture in the next few years. Conversely, Rob should really trademark that idea. Oh right, you probably don’t have any idea what I’m talking about unless you’ve already read this. The main story in this comic deals with time travel, hilariously set up by a guy who’s just trying to read the electricity meter and has no interest at all in the fantastic goings on around him. The professor who invented the machine wants to go back to a few moments in his past (relatively minor moments, sort of, but they do involve punching), but things naturally get a little tricky by the end. But wait, there’s more! Other stories include an anxiety dream involving spiders shaking their fists in anger (I wonder how many fists they were shaking? It’s just the one in the image, but with the eight legs and all…), the only good thing about the power going out in a freezer full of Rob’s homemade ice cream, living the life of a ventriloquist, having a ghost in the house (song lyrics, not some dope who actually thinks that ghosts are real), the ups and downs of how dreams were interpreted in ancient times, and the true origin of a woman named Marigold. That last story seemed to just fade away at the end, but it was still an amusing story while it lasted and I have no complaints at all about the rest of the book. I’ve been reading Rob’s comics since damned near the beginning of this website, and I have to confess that there were moments when I didn’t think that he’d make it (whatever that means). But the man has built his own niche, handling short pieces and longer pieces with equal skill, and this one even has a genuinely striking cover. The lesson to people who put out a few comics but maybe weren’t happy with the results? If you have something to say, keep at it! You’ll get there. Dave Sim has said a lot of genuinely crazy things over the years, but one thing I always liked was his comment that every artist had 1,000 pages of terrible art in them (I’m probably getting the number wrong, but you get the idea) and the only way past it was to draw the pages and get them out of the way. Anyway, buy this comic and enjoy. No price, but his books generally go for somewhere in the $5 range.
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Posted by Kevin
Update for 1/8/13
January 8, 2013New review today for Coffee and Donuts by Max Estes, as the old timey graphic novel reviews continue.
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Posted by Kevin
Estes, Max – Coffee and Donuts
January 8, 2013
Hey, who’s up for a heist involving cats with pants? Well, shirts too, and one of them even has a pair of glasses on. You also may be thinking that the title and that image of a cop car on the cover have an obvious correlation, but you’d be wrong! And a little too quick to go with a stereotype, frankly. Anyway, this is another review of an older (2006) graphic novel in my continuing series of “oh, that person that I really like put out a graphic novel 5+ years ago and I somehow never heard of it? Huh.” reviews. This one starts off with two cats (Dwight and Jules) who are living in a dumpster, trying to find enough food to live on. They also have a mysterious benefactor who leaves (you guessed it) coffee and donuts on their dumpster lid every morning. Life goes on for these two until they notice that the same armored truck makes the same stop near their alley on a regular basis, and there’s only one guard to the truck, so they figure that it should be easy to rob. Not that they’re bad people (um, cats), but a bag of money would do wonders for their situation. Little do they know that two professional criminals have also come to the conclusion that this armored car would be easy to rob and they’re making their own plans. Well, Dwight and Jules get there first, and their heist attempt goes disastrously wrong, as you’d probably imagine regarding a heist planned by two homeless cats. This failed attempt is seen by the criminals and another mysterious observer who isn’t revealed until later, and the rest of the books deals with those two cats trying to get out of this increasingly dangerous predicament. This is all making the book sound like a serious, tense heist thriller, when this could actually be pretty easily be categorized as a children’s book. The danger never gets too serious and the characters do cartoon character moves, like jumping safely from a roof onto an overhang several stories below. But it is still an absolute blast, and it manages to be adorable without crossing that line over into obnoxious. And those flailing cat arms! Ridiculous and mesmerizing. It’s a complete shift in tone from Max’s first book (“Hello, Again”) and it’s well worth a look, unless you have moral problems with cats wearing pants. $10
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Posted by Kevin
Update for 1/6/13
January 7, 2013New review today for The Homeland Directive by Robert Venditti & Mike Huddleston. And for discussion: did the fact that that the show “Homeland” really went off the rails this year make it A. a bad show or B. a ridiculously stupid yet entertaining show. There are no comment sections, but please, discuss amongst yourselves.
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Posted by Kevin
Venditti, Robert & Huddleston, Mike – The Homeland Directive
January 7, 2013
When my biggest problem with a book is its fairly generic title, it’s safe to say that I don’t actually have much of a problem with the book at all. This is the story of a conspiracy within the U.S. government, told with snippets from all sides. There are the two scientists who have been targeted for assassination, although we don’t learn why for quite some time (and obviously one of them gets away initially, as there wouldn’t be much of a story otherwise). There’s the Homeland Security chief, who’s fed up with a feckless President who is more caught up in his image than in doing what the chief considers the necessary dirty work. You also have three agents from disparate government agencies who have detected that something is up and have decided to help the targeted scientists, and there’s the agent (or assassin) who’s trying to take them all out. These are the trickiest comics/stories to review, as they’re based almost entirely on suspense and the ability to keep surprising the reader, and a sloppy reviewer can take that away pretty easily. I can tell you that the suspense is so expertly handled that the ending of the book completely snuck up on me, which is tough to have happen when you’re holding a physical copy of a comic and can tell that there aren’t many pages left. It felt like it could have gone on longer, but they mentioned in the story a fact that would have kept a book like this short: there are tons of ways for the government to find you and only so many ways that you can avoid being found. One thing that I usually pick up on in a story (sometimes too much, depending on who you ask) is whether or not it’s plausible, and it has to be plausible the whole way through for a book to “win.” This one meets that test all the way through up to and including the way the ending is handled, and what more can you ask out of a suspense/thriller? It even has a few messages tucked in, which can be dishearteningly rare in small press comics. Of course, Robert Venditti is the guy who wrote “The Surrogates,” so maybe “small press” is stretching it a bit. Anyway: it’s relentlessly suspenseful, the use of color only in portions was inspired, and, just to give them something hokey to use as a quote that I also believe, it was a hell of a ride. $14.95
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Posted by Kevin
Update for 1/6/13
January 6, 2013Well, so much for putting up a review for every day of 2013. Good to get that out of the way early. New review today for Bad Breath Comics #5 by Josh Juresko!
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Posted by Kevin
Juresko, Josh – Bad Breath Comics #5
January 6, 2013
Bad Breath Comics #5
It’s the constant danger of comics made of a number of short stories: there are bound to be some stinkers in the bunch. Or if not necessarily “stinkers,” then definitely lower down on the “meh” scale. Josh’s covers also don’t seem to have much of anything to do with the interior, which is a perfectly valid option, but if you only bought this because you love flying cars you’ll end up disappointed. These books are narrated by a Crypt Keeper-esque dude called “Step-Brother Scary,” which is something that I think should be in more comics, but I’m not the boss of the world. Things start off a little awkwardly with a story about a young man who is obsessed with a certain type of candy bar, but only for the wrappers. This story is all over the map, as the young man veers away from people to avoid incidental eye contact but also offers the candy to strangers so that they can eat it and give him the wrappers. The “why” of this is never established, unless it’s just for the sake of telling a brief story about a creepy dude. Josh also has a few spelling mistakes where he uses a word that sounds like the word he’s supposed to be using, to the point that I started wondering if he was doing it on purpose. If so, bravo! If not, everybody knows that you can plug any word into Google and the definition is usually one of the first things that comes up, right? Just saying that’s it a very easy thing to fix. Other pieces in here involve a misunderstanding involving fishing, an honest group reaction to a self help class, the tai-chi guy, hijinx with a grown-up in a bee costume, a haunted house conversation that’s all build-up with no payoff (but it’s still funny), a duck buying back his stolen bike, an introverted guy giving a speech, two parking lots, and a story about a young woman falling asleep on the bus that goes absolutely nowhere (but is, for some reason, listed as “to be continued”). The humor was a bit dopier than my preference at times (“Wall-Fart” instead of “Wal-Mart” probably isn’t going to cause a whole bunch of people to guffaw), but there’s still enough good stuff in here to be worth a look. And that page I sampled below was brilliant. $2
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Posted by Kevin
Update for 1/4/13
January 4, 2013New review today for Monday Saddies! #1 by Steve Seck. I’ll try to get an update or two together this weekend, because why not? I’m on a roll!
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Posted by Kevin
Seck, Steve – Monday Saddies! #1
January 4, 2013
Monday Saddies! #1
Go ahead, make a first impression based on that cover. It shouldn’t be too difficult, with what appear to be three depressed and/or confused characters. That hat on the bear makes it obvious that it’s a talking bear (what other type of bear would wear a hat? Don’t be silly), and you might also get that same impression from the snake because he’s sitting at the table. Do you have that impression firmly established in your head? Yeah, you’re wrong. Or if you end up not being wrong, you might want to look into getting psychiatric help. Things start off with the ranger taking a bunch of kids camping, hoping to show them some constellations. This plan is interrupted by the snake, who has recently purchased a bat signal and is loathe to turn it off. Mayhem ensues, the snake gets the better of the ranger, and you might think that it would turn into a wacky adventure with the ranger trying to put one over on that rascally snake. Well, no. It turns out that the ranger likes getting beat up a little too much, and tries to escalate things with the snake. Meanwhile, the snake (and he’s called Sweetie Snake, which is too awesome for me not to mention) learns that he isn’t exactly punishing the ranger by attacking him, and asks that talking bear for advice. I should say no more, as you should see how the rest of this goes down for yourselves (and the fate of that bear had me laughing out loud), but it’s very much worth a look. And apparently future issues will have entirely different characters, which already has me wondering what Steve comes up with next. $5
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Posted by Kevin
