New review for Foie Gras and the Joy of Cooking #1 by Edie Fake. I’m not even going to mention the Jeff Zwirek fundraiser for the collected edition of Burning Building Comix today, as I’m sure you’re sick of me talking about it. Luckily I won’t say a word about it today.
Update for 8/16/11
August 16, 2011
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Posted by Kevin
Fake, Edie – Foie Gras and the Joy of Cooking #1
August 16, 2011
Foie Gras and the Joy of Cooking #1
I think I picked the wrong book that Edie sent me to review first. The other book is apparently a lengthy collection of previous works, while this is a tiny mini. Oh well, it’s not like I could possibly stop this one and review that one right now. Why not? Um… look over there! So anyway, this one is a series of images (that look like they were taken from cooking instructions, or maybe they were just used as a reference/inspiration) with what appears to be a scattered poem. I’m lousy at defining such things, so I won’t even try. I do know that the combined effect of the words with the mostly innocuous images caused a few visceral reactions, so he’s clearly doing something right. The chopping of the prosthesis, the hand up the turkey’s ass with the words “about my boyhood” and the “fuck me like this” page being the prime examples. Dammit, I really should have read his other book first so I’d have more to talk about. Soon enough, and in the meantime this is almost certainly cheaper than that collected book if you just want a less expensive representation of his work. I have no idea how much is actually costs, as his website doesn’t say much about it, but let’s say $3 for the hell of it. His website also has a lot of sample images, if my word salad of a review was worthless to you today.
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Posted by Kevin
Update for 8/15/11
August 15, 2011New review for Too Blue Comix #3 by various people out of Dexter Cockburn’s Comix Company outfit. I haven’t said a thing lately about Jeff Zwirek’s fundraiser to get a proper collected edition of his Burning Building Comix together, mostly because I didn’t do any updates over the weekend, but you guys know all about it by now, so you already know to head over there and give him a few dollars right now. Like, right this very second. It’s the internet, it’s not like it takes ages to donate money these days.
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Posted by Kevin
Various Anthologies – Too Blue Comix #3
August 15, 2011
Too Blue Comix #3
Would somebody please send me a handbook on how to review porn comics? Even parodies of porn comics are tricky, but I have no idea what to say about stuff like this. Do you like drawn representations of sex and various sexual situations by different artists, with funny punch lines galore? Then you’ll love Too Blue Comix! There, does that work? Artists in this one include Dexter Cockburn (it is his company putting this out, after all, and who draws better comic sex than Dexter?), Aung Min Min, Simon Mackie, Roy Cutting and somebody called JTW. Hey, it’s a comic with naked bits, I can see why you’d go with a pseudonym. Stories include the unintended consequences of getting a coin that hypnotizes people and asking a woman to “fuck my brains out,” double giant booties, and a real life action figure in the sack. There are also a few full page spreads, including Dexter’s back cover of a giant fuck sandwich. This is a short and tiny mini, and that first Dexter strip is already in another one of his comics, but hey, $1 for some serious nudity and sex can’t be that bad.
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Posted by Kevin
Update for 8/12/11
August 12, 2011New review for Tall Tales for Short Kittens #1 by Jason Payne. And just in case anybody has forgotten, Jeff Zwirek’s fundraiser for his collected Burning Building Comix is still going strong. Well, strong-ish, as I don’t think his total has moved for a couple of days. Seriously, if you’re reading this right now, I’m talking to you. Just give the guy somewhere between $1-5 if you’re broke. More if you can afford it, as if you can do $20 then you get a copy of the collected edition when it comes out. And if you already have donated, well, tell your friends who like quality comics. Don’t let the world down!
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Posted by Kevin
Payne, Jason – Tall Tales for Short Kittens #1
August 12, 2011Website (for the publisher)
Tall Tales for Short Kittens #1
Hey, wait a minute! There’s nothing resembling a kitten in this comic! Which is probably for the best, because if Jason took his title literally then this comic would probably be insufferably adorable instead of breathtakingly strange. In the best possible way, of course. The first story is the longest (clocking in at six pages), and it definitely sets the tone for things to come. See, there’s this blob thing (who is wearing a very fetching fez hat) who crashes his boat ashore. The blob really doesn’t seem to mind, but a young girl watched the crash and finds this lack of concern worrying in its own right, so she goes off to tell her father. Meanwhile, the blob has found a rat to be his companion at a local tavern, and everybody comes crashing together at the pier of the original crash. My general policy against spoilers prevents me from telling you exactly how the ending perfectly tied this tale together, so too bad for you. Other stories include heartbreak, Dyna and her diamond ring, an odd bird/blob creature staredown, jazz players and their stereotypical lifestyles, and Lil’ Red Hoodie turning the tables on the wolf. There’s also an activity page with a 3D maze, some jokes and instructions to color the entire book if you’re bored. This comic is a bit uneven at times, but taken as a whole it’s a compelling collection of work. Is it bad if I get serious enjoyment out of the fact that that cover, somewhere in the world, led a confused parent to buy this for their kid? Probably so, but I can’t help it. Anything that helps indoctrinate kids into enjoying smart, quality comics is OK by me. $3
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Posted by Kevin
Update for 8/10/11
August 10, 2011New review today for Sigh Fi Tales by Macedonio. See what he did there? Anyway, the lesson for the day on Jeff Zwirek’s fundraiser for his collected Burning Building Comix is that if you donate $60 or more then you’ll get a copy of the collected edition AND one victim character pillow and a fire pillow buddy. The man is going to put these pillows together himself if you pay him enough money. Why wouldn’t you do that? Don’t you like pillow buddies? If you don’t, wouldn’t your daughter/son/nephew/niece/grandma want one of them? I think you already know the answer.
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Posted by Kevin
Macedonio – Sigh Fi Tales
August 10, 2011
Sigh Fi Tales
My ridiculous scanner situation has kept me from getting to these Macedonio comics as quickly as I’d hoped but, as with all comics that are sent my way, I will get to them eventually. I mention this mostly because this the third comic I’ve read from the man and each one of them is a completely original book and concept. Maybe three doesn’t sound like a whole lot, but if he’ll be in damned good shape if he keeps up this level of inventiveness for all of his comics that I have around the apartment. Anyway, according to his introduction this comic deals with “something that could happen and probably has, to someone or something at one point or another. Stories with no actual end.” So if you’re looking for resolutions, look elsewhere. Stories in this one include the general wide range of strangeness that exists (with a final panel that perfectly sums up “strange” in my book), birds eating fried chicken scraps, the extremely dangerous sleeping patterns of a dreaming mouse, a parting gift from a tom cat, and several pages based on different versions of time. See? That’s a varied pile of stories right there. In case you haven’t read the other reviews about the man’s work, he’s been around (with a VERY long break in the middle) doing comics since the Weirdo days and you whippersnappers could learn a thing or two from the man. No price listed, but $2 is probably in the neighborhood.
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Posted by Kevin
Update for 8/9/11
August 9, 2011New review for Extreme Lost Kisses #1 by Brian John Mitchell and Nick Marino. Yes, it’s exactly like a regular “Lost Kisses” but with guns. Exactly! As for that Burning Building Comix fundraiser that everybody here knows all about, did I mention that you can get a copy of the collected edition for a donation of $20? Because I have to imagine that the book will cost at least that much, and getting it for $20 would be a steal. Of course, donating more money gets you more goodies, but I’ll get into those later in the week. In the meantime, give the man some money!
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Posted by Kevin
Mitchell, Brian John & Marino, Nick – Extreme Lost Kisses #1
August 9, 2011
Extreme Lost Kisses #1
It makes perfect sense. After all this time with various Lost Kisses that were mostly personal stories or quiet, contemplative pieces, the comics world was needing a good old fashioned shoot ’em up. The story behind this is that the nameless badass gets surrounded by baddies, takes them all out and eventually looks for and finds a stolen nuclear device. I loved the fact that the internal monologue never stopped, not even when the leader of the baddies was maybe making a few relevant points to the situation. I don’t see any way that this crew (or any crew) could keep this concept interesting or entertaining for more than a few issues, but Brian has proven me wrong on such things before. If you like stick figure mayhem, well, look no further. As for me, I’m looking forward to seeing how this one fits in to the eventual, inevitable crossover involving the storylines from all of these comics colliding. Oh, don’t tell me you never thought about it… $1
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Posted by Kevin
Update for 8/8/11
August 8, 2011New review for Monty Comix #4 by Kayla Escobedo. Sorry about the accidental vacation, but these things happen. At least I wandered off when the thing at the top of the page mentioned Jeff Zwirek’s fundraiser for his collected Burning Building Comix. Last time I didn’t get into what YOU could get for donating money, but I have to point out that if a person exists out there who has $400 for this, they can get their very own sort of prologue to this story! That’s right, Jeff will produce a 19 page comic showing the story of the janitor who lives in the basement of the burning building. Ah, if only I was rich. Plenty of other goodies available for much cheaper, which I’ll get into as the deadline for this fundraiser gets closer. But for now, I stand by my story that all it will take is for everybody reading this right now to give the guy $1 then he’ll be able to pull this off. $1!
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Posted by Kevin
Update for 8/3/11
August 3, 2011New review for Brain Dead Phylum #2 by Kyle Nolan. I also got an e-mail from Jeff Zwirek, and he’s asking for donations to help get his collected Burning Building Comix published. It’s a bit more expensive than usual for these sorts of things, but Jeff is looking to get this produced in the way that it was intended to be read: as a literal burning building with different, interconnected things happening on every floor. I tried combining my copies but it ended up being a bit of a mess (and my cat kept jumping on the pile, making reading them like that impossible), so I would absolutely love to see this released in its intended format. If you have any spare dollars and are a fan of truly innovative comics, you should go to this site and help the guy out. Seriously, this site still gets pretty decent traffic, so if everybody reading this just gave him $1 it might push him over the hump. There’s also the fact that I’ll be pushing this until he meets his goal, so if this sort of thing annoys you then it would be in your best interest to help him reach that total early, right?
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Posted by Kevin
Nolan, Kyle – Brain Dead Phylum #2
August 3, 2011
Brain Dead Phylum #2
I mentioned something in my review for the first issue of this series about how the next issue could go either way. Well, the next issue is here and the way that it went is fantastic. Things start off with our heroes (two robots named Parker Lewis and Quasar) talking about “religgen” and how you don’t actually learn about the ‘bibble” by eating it, but rather that you’re supposed to pretend to read it. It’s not often that I’m 100%Â behind a comic after the first page, but Kyle managed it with that bit of dialogue. Then we get to see the people behind the religion in this strange land while our two heroes try to find their way to the city. After a slight detour they make it to town but are shocked and horrified to discover that caffeine is no longer sold. Their reaction is a thing of beauty and if I had the technology to easily change the sample image below I would do it in a second. I have to stop myself before I ruin any more of this, but I do have to say a few more things: Pabst Blue Rocket and the incredulous reaction of the religious guy when he saw that he might actually be getting his message across. If I was undecided on the last issue, I’m totally decided on this one. Visually inventive as can be (while still depicting everything as dirty, seedy and run-down), dialogue that got at least a few honest chuckles out of me, and a story that’s more than engaging enough to hold your interest. Sure, there may have been a cheap plot point or two, but who cares? Here’s hoping Kyle keeps going in this vein for a long time to come. $2
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Posted by Kevin
Update for 8/2/11
August 2, 2011New review for Life is Good #5 by Steve Seck, which is a flip book so it automatically comes with #4.
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Posted by Kevin
Seck, Steve – Life is Good #5
August 2, 2011
Life is Good #5
Steve went and snuck in an extra comic along with #5, as this is a flip book that also contains #4. If you already bought #4, well, tough luck I guess. You could always give your original copy to somebody else who might like it to try and get Steve another regular reader, or you could just silently fume about it, but there are plenty of worse things to be mad about if that’s the way you wanted to go. Anyway, this issue, as you could probably tell from the cover, deals with Unity Flower and Dr. Peace Rock. Just the two of them, so if you’re looking for that elusive character development of the main characters, forget it. If you’re looking for development of these side characters (that may blossom into main characters, what do I know about it?) then you’re in luck! Unity Flower is, it turns out, desperately lonely. She’s been having a really rough time of it in the online dating world, so when a hippie comes into her bookstore and takes an interest in how she runs the place, she naturally becomes way too trusting way too fast. Dr. Peace Rock has his own ideas for an ideal bookstore, and they tend to equal very few people actually buying books at the store. Other than that the issue is a descent into hippie madness, as being a vegan was declared to be not pure enough and selling fiction books in her bookstore was considered to be morally indefensible. From there it’s all about Unity trying to figure out if not being alone with somebody that she was gradually starting to hate was worth the trouble. No sense in totally spoiling the ending, but Steve finally referenced back to that scene in #2 with these two stumbling across the drinking pond. The trouble is that that exact scene was a little hazy in my mind (I do read a lot of these funny books and my memory has never been the greatest), so I could have used a bit more of a refresher than an instruction to buy #2 if I was interested. It’s around here somewhere, and that’s a minor complaint anyway. There are also a few extra pages of content to make you slightly less cranky if you already bought #4, but if you decide to make this issue your life’s cause then I guess you can just wait for the hypothetical collection to come out. That’ll show him! $4
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Posted by Kevin
Update for 8/1/11
August 1, 2011New review for Hot Little Cut by Carrie Q. Contrary, but watch out, it’s for adults only!
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Posted by Kevin
Contrary, Carrie Q. – Hot Little Cut#1
August 1, 2011
Hot Little Cut #1
OK, so maybe Carrie Q. Contrary isn’t the author’s actual name. So what? I have my doubts about Dexter Cockburn too, but I thoroughly enjoy his comics, so who cares? Besides, the modern world still hasn’t quite caught up to the fact that you can write and draw stories with sexy bits strewn about without being considered a pervert at best, so why not use a pseudonym? There are two longer stories in this one and one short piece. It starts off with the daydream of our heroine as she imagines growing to gargantuan size, shoving a writhing guy into her vagina to serve as a living dildo and an army of men who are willing to service her. Yeah, it’s also explicit as all hell, so watch out for that/enjoy, depending on your level of sexual maturity. The short piece has a nice little punchline that I’m not going to ruin, and the second longer piece deals with Carrie’s discovery of her own sexuality. It all started innocently enough, as these things generally do when kids get so little instruction about those feelings from authority figures, and progressed to her late grade school years. Which means that it remained pretty damned innocent for the duration of the book. It’s a damned solid comic, although if naked people and sex offend you then you should run for your sad, fragile innocence. Three cheers for Dexter and his Comix Company (although I could have done with a better company name) putting together generally smart and sexy adult comics, and this one creeps dangerously close to informative at times. Keep up the good work, you dirty, dirty perverts! $4
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Posted by Kevin
Update for 7/29/11
July 29, 2011New review for Window #10 by Dave Lapp, happy weekend everybody!
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Posted by Kevin
Lapp, Dave – Window #10
July 29, 2011
Window #10
Stupid Window comics! It’s all their fault for constantly getting buried in the perpetual mound of comics on my desk. For anybody who hasn’t read any of the previous nine reviews (and go ahead, that’s why I keep the archive easily accessible), Window mostly deals with Dave’s life as an art teacher in an inner city school. Things start off with a beating in the hallway, as Dave tries to figure out what to do about it (the beaters are two giant teens who are bigger than he is). He’s not the only one wondering what to do, but the beating takes its course and the scene moves to a game of jump rope outside. The jump rope game, as Dave says, “really is a sweet scene,” but it gets a little uglier when the giant teens join in. Other stories include a confrontation about a hat, the “reason” behind the beating at the start of the comic, and another one of the giant teens taking a real interest in art. Much as I hate to ever give away the endings to these things, I have to at least mention that Dave’s befuddlement when confronted with a very casual signal for a fist bump was a thing of beauty. I don’t know if Dave has the resources/contacts necessary to put this Window series out in any kind of collected form, but the world would be a better place if such a thing existed. I think they would be handy teaching aids, not to mention a compelling collection of stories for regular old readers. As far as I know these things are still mostly out of print, but if I ever get my rental thing off the ground… ah, who am I kidding. I’d need some kind of a grant to get that thing started or I need to suddenly become wealthy, two things that seem distinctly unlikely. Anyway, hunt these comics down if you can.
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Posted by Kevin
Update for 7/27/11
July 27, 2011New review for Man Man and Friends #5 by Gareth Brookes. I was able to scan a couple of dozen new comics for review today (as the saga of the scanner not working on my good computer continues), so if you’ve sent me books recently and I still haven’t reviewed them in the next few weeks, send me an e-mail so I can search around for them.
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Posted by Kevin
