New review today for A Smaller Hell by Adam Jakes. See, I can occasionally post updates on Tuesdays…
Update for 1/24/12
January 24, 2012
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Posted by Kevin
Jakes, Adam – A Smaller Hell
January 24, 2012
A Smaller Hell
Why in the world isn’t this a regular numbered series? I can see from the past issues that it started off as one, but then it turned into a series of individually titled comics. Granted, Adam does a nice job of recapping what came before at the start of the comic, but even that could have been made better if he had mentioned which issues to read to get a fuller story of the recap. I’m bitching mostly because he sent me two new comics to review and I’m still not entirely sure that I’m reviewing them in chronological order, and there’s no reason for that to a difficult question to answer. Anyway! This comic continues the story of Floid, Guedo and Madlenka. If you’re not familiar with any of those characters, check some of the other reviews under Adam’s name. Or maybe buying some of those comics would do the trick. Floid is bored silly after the woman he was supposed to be protecting was killed, and Guedo finds him and gets him to help find Madlenka. With a few fight scenes thrown in, of course. So they both go into her brain (a special trick of Floid’s), but their timing is terrible and she gets distracted and stabbed just as they go in. Oblivious to this fact the two of them go about trying to undo Madlenka’s brainwashing, but they only have a finite amount of time to do it and she may very well be dead by the time they’re finished regardless. Here is where Adam shines, as the creatures inside her brain were creepy as hell and the dialogue continues to make this book. In a lot of ways it would be easy for my to hate this, what with all the punch-’em-ups and such, but that dialogue is so often brilliant (and the art isn’t half bad either) that I can’t help but be drawn in. Once there’s some easy way to keep track of the order of these things I’ll have no problem with them at all. Guessing $6, mostly because it’s huge.
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Posted by Kevin
Update for 1/23/12
January 23, 2012New review for Bad Breath Comics #4 by Josh Juresko. Who else knew that Jeffrey Brown had a movie out at Sundance? Or the fact that it starred the most ridiculously attractive woman on the teevee (Alison Brie from Community)? It was news to me…
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Posted by Kevin
Juresko, Josh – Bad Breath Comics #4
January 23, 2012
Bad Breath Comics #4
Is it still OK to give advice if it’s totally useless? No? You’re right, I don’t think so either. That being said, her’s some useless advice for Josh: his covers could use some work. Now here’s where it gets useless: I don’t have very good advice for the guy on how to make them better. I don’t care for the plain white borders on the covers, and keep the self-deprecation to the inside of the comic please, as you never know who’s going to be instantly turned off by that cover saying that there is no creativity in this book. That being said, his method enables him to sell these comics for $2 each, which is a damned good way for him to get people to pick up his books, and people should be reading these. That sample is brilliant, and part of its brilliance is the fact that nothing else in the comic is remotely like it. He has a nice wide range of topics in here and sure, they’re not all brilliant, but I love the fact that he’s trying so hard in so many different directions. First off there’s the intro and outro by Stepbrother Scary (kind of a Crypt Keeper-esque character), and I’m always a sucker for those bad puns. Actual comics in here deal with such subjects as a singing masked cowboy band rescuing a clothed platypus, fake covers from old comics, a two pager about “Satanama” that flew right by me, why a CD that you hate upon the initial listening can sound fantastic a few years later to you, and a continuing (?) story dealing with a young woman going home from work for the weekend and a creepy guy on the bus with an obvious hidden camera. There are also two longer pieces that I loved in different ways about History vs. America (featuring an obvious Bill O’Reilly stand-in and dealing with the need to have some idea of the historical relevance of current events) and taking a walk on a Saturday afternoon and seeing all of the televisions on inside with nobody watching them and nobody else outside on such a nice day. That second story actually managed something of a happy ending, even though I’m not supposed to mention such things. This whole review is a long-winded way of my saying that I love the vast majority of this comic (and of this series that I’ve seen so far) but think that a better cover would help it out. That being said, I should at least mention that I loved the sheer ridiculousness of that back cover, so make of that what you will. $2
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Posted by Kevin
Update for 1/20/12
January 20, 2012New review for Flying Creature by Rob Jackson. Hey South Carolina voters, do you know what would be funny? If you voted for Herman Cain in the primary tomorrow. Why? Because that really means that you’re voting for Stephen Colbert, and who in their right mind wouldn’t want to do such a thing? And you do know that any and all registered voters can participate in this, right? So go vote!
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Posted by Kevin
Jackson, Rob – Flying Creature
January 20, 2012
Flying Creature
Ah, a comic as a newspaper. I’ve seen a few of these recently and love the idea, but hate the fact that I can’t scan anything off of the damned things and always have to end up using the sample images from the creator’s own website. And, in this case, that sample looks like total crap. Oh well, luckily Rob has a huge backlog of comics, so chances are that you probably already know whether or not you enjoy his work. Anyway, this comic starts off with a man having some quiet time by himself before this is rudely interrupted by a chase scene between a cop and a gangster. There’s a crash, the quiet old man tells the cop that the gangster has been killed but secretly fixes up the gangster because he’s not a big fan of the police. Our hero lets the gangster rest up but doesn’t want to return to that life (we’re left with the impression that he gave that life up for the peace and quiet many years ago), so he agrees to take him close to the city. On the way there they stop and stumble across a plot to take over the world involving angry caterpillars with wings. Hey, they’re not moths yet, so what else would you call them? From there we get a longer chase scene with some caterpillars that have an interesting method to increase their numbers, a peek behind the curtain to what’s really going on, and an absolutely fantastic finale. Sure, you could kind of see it coming, but it was still nicely done. I’m clearly getting older and crankier, as I used to love comics of odd shapes and sizes, but these days I’m mostly annoyed that I don’t have any place to keep them (too big for comic boxes, too awkward for a shelf). Still, I’ll take a great story over an awkward presentation any time, and this one fits the bill for that. That and a newspaper comic left laying out of a coffee table is always guaranteed to confuse even the friends who slightly understand the world of comics, which is always fun. No price listed, I’d say at least $6 from the sheer size of this.
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Posted by Kevin
Update for 1/19/12
January 19, 2012New review today for Carl Finds Love #1 by Sara Lindo, which would have been up yesterday if it wasn’t for my website being down all afternoon. Anybody else having problems with that or was it just me?
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Posted by Kevin
Lindo, Sara – Carl Finds Love #1
January 19, 2012
Carl Finds Love #1
Ah, love. Judging from the pink store displays it is almost that time of year again where you are legally required to be dating somebody or else be considered a hopeless loser. Sara tackles the question of what it is that ladies like in this issue, which is kind of odd as she is a lady, but hey, I’ll take useful advice wherever I can get it. Um, I mean wherever the reader can get it. Anyway, things start off with what is almost an accident between a construction worker with a traffic cone for a head (or is it only ON his head?) and a car driven by a man with a tomato for a head. Oh, and the whole thing is witnessed by a walking, talking screwdriver. I know that Sara is dating the frantabulous Steve Seck (you know, those “Life is Good” comics that you are all reading), so now I have to wonder if they both decided to depict their characters as living inanimate objects or if it was their mutual preference for such characters that got the two of them together in the first place. There’s some pretty rough perspective work on that second page (a nearly wrecked car should not be smaller than the doors for a nearby establishment, and the traffic cone head guy should not tower over the vehicle as he walks towards it), but that’s the only error of that nature that I noticed. From there the guy with a tomato for a head offers the pair of gents some advice about the ladies: complimenting them on their appearance so that they know that “all that time they spend in the bathroom doesn’t escape our notice.” This man then walks up to a couple of ladies and uses one implicit and one explicit really bad pick-up line, and they both work like a charm. This confuses our two heroes (the traffic cone head guy and the screwdriver guy), but after seeing it work they decide to try it themselves on their lunch break. The result of their attempts are depicted below in the sample, and the rest of the comic is them talking with friends in a restaurant about their failed attempts and what it is exactly that the ladies like. Left unsaid in that conversation was the thing that flummoxed me: if the ladies hate that type of behavior in guys who were asking them out, why did the two ladies that the tomato head guy talked to give him their digits so readily? There’s still another issue to go that might explain that part that made no sense to me, but overall it’s a pretty fun comic with some pretty terrible advice on how to woo the ladies. Which, I believe, is kind of the point. $3
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Posted by Kevin
Update for 1/17/12
January 17, 2012New review for Epic Tales of the Mundane #7 by Brad Dwyer. Three cheers for very tiny hail!
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Posted by Kevin
Dwyer, Brad – Epic Tales of the Mundane #7
January 17, 2012
Epic Tales of the Mundane #7
Between this and the recent mini comics from Max Clotfelter this is starting to feel like nostalgia week around here, as Brad was another one of the earlier people to consistently send me review books. Or my sense of time is all wrong and I’m mistaking the number of books he’s sent for the time period in which he sent them, which is a distinct possibility. But enough about website history, who cares about that in as disposable a medium as the internet? This comic is the first one that Brad produced in a couple of years due to financial troubles and life in general, and most of the material is from 2008 and 2009. Still, self-loathing three panel strips are pretty much timeless, and there aren’t enough topical references to make it dated. The bulk of the book is the three panel strips, with a the first part of a short story in the end that, to me, was the highlight of the comic. It dealt with the moment in high school when Brad went from being a painfully shy and awkward kid to a kid who used hate as a shield. Getting called out by a girl that he had previously rejected (after Brad’s acne flared up in a big way) was the final straw, and the reactions from all involved were authentic as could be. I’m intrigued as to where this is going next, assuming he keeps it going. Sure, I could just peek at the next issue that he sent me to figure that out, but then where is the mystery? As for the three panel strips, I might be the only person on the planet who thought his strip where he was trying to decide if he was doing three panel gag strips or a diary strip was funny as hell, but it won me over. Other subjects include what he should have said to specific questions, how his life was going (what with being newly married and sporadically employed), cats, trips to the doctor, geeky stuff and how awesome his wife is for appreciating it all. Worth a look if you’re already a fan, if you’ve somehow never heard of the guy you might want to go back to the earlier books to get more of a sense of who Brad is, but this one is just fine as a stand-alone comic. $2
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Posted by Kevin
Update for 1/13/12
January 13, 2012New review for Wing Man by Max Clotfelter. Happy snow day everybody!
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Posted by Kevin
Clotfelter, Max – Wing Man
January 13, 2012
Wing Man
Crikey, it’s been years since I’ve seen one of Max’s comics. Well, at least I think it’s been years, as I’ve found that website time does not necessarily correspond exactly to actual time. Good to see that Max is still loving drawing the representatives of the lowest rungs on the societal ladder, and you’ll be happy to know that any preconceptions you might have from that title are completely and totally wrong. This is the story of an amorphous blob of a man and his young son. Well, that and the fantastically creepy way that the older man hugs his son. The older man tells his son to look after “Maw” and goes away for 20 years. When he returns he discovers that “Maw” has either died or gone missing in his absence, so they both go to a local bar to… find her? Exact revenge? Share a drink to her memory? I’m pretty sure it’s not the last one, but other than that I’m not sure. Maw is never seen in this comic, so it’s all up to your imagination as to what happened to her/exactly what she is. It’s a great finale either way, with the final line explaining the point of the title. If you knew what it was you’d be laughing too, but you probably still need to buy the comic and I’m not going to ruin it for you. Max was nice enough to send along a few other recent minis, so he should be up here a few more times in the coming weeks. The man has been putting out quality comics for years (if memory serves, which it probably doesn’t, he was one of the first people to send me some minis for review when I started this thing up 10+ years ago) and he just keeps chugging along. No price, but e-mail the man and you could probably get a copy for a buck or two.
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Posted by Kevin
Update for 1/12/12
January 12, 2012New review for El Diablo by Luis Echavarria. Hey, snow! That’s right, it’s supposed to be winter. Good thing that the climate change stuff has basically eliminated seasons. Makes it much easier to decide what to wear…
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Posted by Kevin
Echavarria, Luis – El Diablo
January 12, 2012
El Diablo
This book just might have my favorite comics intro of all time. Luis talks about how this book is based on a song called “NeoSatan” from an Argentinian punk band. He then tries to explain that it isn’t as dark as it sounds, that the song is actually just off-beat, before clearly realizing that he can’t possibly explain all the nuances on the inside front cover of a tiny comic and just leaves it up to the reader. Yes, you’re right in thinking that there is only a very small list of people who would even notice something like that much less love it, but that’s why I’m here. Anyway, the comic is the story of the devil sitting at a bar and remarking on how far he’s fallen, how he’s not even capable of scaring people any more. It is upbeat in an anti-devil kind of way, but the devil himself is clearly having a miserable time of it. Oh, and there’s also a kid involved that helps set up more hilarity for the devil before the book opens up (it’s one of those minis where you can unfold it into one giant final image) for the finale. My only problem was that the art seemed kind of uncomfortably cramped at times (it looked like it might have been shrunken down from a larger comic), but it’s still a great story. Which makes, what, everything this guy has sent me so far? There are still a few left to go, maybe there’s still a stinker waiting to be found. No price, but due to the size of this thing I’d say you could probably get a copy for a buck or two.
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Posted by Kevin
Update for 1/11/12
January 11, 2012New review today for SF Supplementary File #2A by Ryan Cecil Smith. Sorry about the missed day yesterday, I was mostly out of town.
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Posted by Kevin
Smith, Ryan Cecil – SF Supplementary File #2A
January 11, 2012
Supplementary File #2A
American readers take note: this comic is meant to be read manga-style, meaning back to front and right to left instead of the other way around. Granted, the fact that the cover is on the back of the book (as they are usually arranged) should be a pretty big clue, but I just wanted to make that perfectly clear. Another big clue is the fact that this is a redrawn version of a Matsumoto Lieji comic called Queen Emeraldas from 1979. So really, you no longer have any excuses if you read this thing backwards. Anyway, this is the first of three parts of the adaptation, with Ryan releasing one part each month for three months (an impressive achievement in today’s small press comics world). This one starts off with our hero running into somebody who apparently just landed called “Boundless Ocean Boy.” They’re also searching for Deathskull, who apparently got away after being wounded. They chat for a bit and then leave the planet, but after they go our hero blows the entire place up. And this is one of the things I’ve always loved about manga: the willingness to let the stories breathe. We’re treated to several pages of the planet starting to blow up, first with smaller explosions and finally with an explosion big enough to turn it into rubble. With most American comics you’d see the planet explode, either in one panel or one page, before moving on to the rest of the action. In this comic you’re given plenty of time to absorb the fact that you’re watching a frickin’ planet explode and maybe you should take a moment to appreciate that fact. It’s an intriguing set-up for a three part comic, with my only complaint being the lost word bubble on the third page. Maybe it was supposed to fly off the page? Either way it doesn’t do much damage to the rest of the book. Oh, and this book will also make perfect sense to you even if you’ve never read any of Ryan’s other comics, so don’t worry about getting bogged down in the continuity. $4
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Posted by Kevin
Update for 1/9/12
January 9, 2012New review today for The Offering by Anna Bongiovanni. Hey, there’s another Kickstarter fundraiser that you should be looking into: Marcos Perez is trying to raise $1,000 to put out a collected edition of Carl’s Large Story. The donations have already doubled since I first looked at it a few hours ago, so I like his chances of making his money, but if you have the means (and would like some of the swag that he’s offering to people who donate) then send the man some cash. This world would be a vastly poorer place if a collected edition of all of his Carl stories wasn’t allowed to exist.
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Posted by Kevin
Bongiovanni, Anna – The Offering
January 9, 2012
The Offering
I was wondering what had been going on with the folks from the Good Minnesotan anthologies. I first noticed Anna’s work in the pile of other comics that comprised Good Minnesotan #4 (hey, whatever happened with that Kickstarter fundraiser? Is there a collected edition in the works?) and have been curious to see further work from pretty much everybody involved. This comic tells the story of two young sisters who go off into the woods to meet some witches. The older sister is going because she wants to help the witches, while the younger sister is reluctantly being dragged along for the ride. The older sister decides that she wants to be an active participant in the witchcraft that’s going on and ends up being sacrificed to bring a monster baby either to life or back to life. This freaks the younger sister out more than a little bit, obviously, so she runs away from the witches and comes across another, unrelated witch in the woods. From here she learns a possible method for bringing her older sister back to life before confronting the original witches again. It’s a thoroughly engaging story and that ending is pretty much guaranteed to creep you out. Solid art, enthralling story, there’s not much more to ask for from a comic. My only problem was a technical one, as she didn’t list any contact information inside the actual comic. Luckily she doesn’t have the most common of names and her information is easily found with a Google search (and she included a business card with the comic), but it’s always a good idea to put at least an e-mail address inside your comics, as you never know who’s going to end up reading it. But the actual comic part of it? Yeah, I liked that a lot. No price listed (which is impossible to get annoyed about, as very few people bother with a printed price), so I’m guessing $4 for no good reason.
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Posted by Kevin
Update for 1/5/12
January 5, 2012New review for Fight by Sam Spina. Start your new year off right with a Fight!
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Posted by Kevin
Spina, Sam – Fight
January 5, 2012
Fight
Sometimes my rule about never listing any spoilers really hinders some of the points I should be making. This comic was damned near a masterpiece before it reached that ending, which kicked it up a few notches. Mega-masterpiece? Masterpieceapocalypse? Make up your own awesome word, it won’t be as great as this ending. Still, I’m getting ahead of myself. Fight is the story of a professional wrestler/monster named Fight. He’s having a good run as champion until a female version of himself called Super Fight comes onto the scene. He falls instantly in love and she takes advantage of his distraction to beat him and win his title. It turns out that Fight managed to get Super Fight pregnant during their kiss (hey, they’re monsters, who’s to say how they reproduce?) and she has a baby called Fight 64. This thing seems to exist purely to cause mayhem in various situations (I would direct your attention in particular to the chapter dealing with the pathetic creature known as the Boobstadon). Meanwhile Fight is down on his luck after losing his title, attempting to get a series of humiliating jobs, and Super Fight seems to be trying to drink herself to death. All three of these characters stay away from each other until right near the end and, as I’ve mentioned, what an ending it is. The book is a damned epic, and this in a book that I assumed would be merely funny with a bit of a punch-’em-up thrown in, which is what I get for assuming. This book won a Xeric award, and this world would be a poorer place if the money didn’t exist to put this book out, which maintains their damned near perfect grant record. I guess you might hate this if you’re looking for a heartfelt tale of introspection and loss, but if that was the case you probably wouldn’t be picking up a book called “Fight” anyway. Read it, love it, and recommend it to your friends. Yes, even the ones who don’t like comics. If they like funny things done well then you just might manage to convert them to comics. $5
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Posted by Kevin
