New review for Silent V #4 by Kyle Baddeley. Still messed up from this lovely weekend-killing flu bug, thanks for asking, but I dragged myself out of bed and all the way to the computer just so you guys could get your new comics fix. Yes, I am just that selfless.
Update for 6/27/11
June 27, 2011
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Posted by Kevin
Baddeley, Kyle – Silent V #4
June 27, 2011
Silent V #4
Could it be? Is this the missing Silent V origin story? Well, sort of. The storytelling in this one is damned near linear, which is shocking in itself after the first three issues. The first half of the comic (roughly) deals with the early years of our hero and his proficiency in killing aliens. I’m still not entirely clear on WHY he hates aliens so much, although it seems to be basically because his scientist father didn’t have time for him as a kid, so he killed aliens in brutal fashion to pass the time. Chances are I’m missing some nuance there. The second half has a human sacrifice gone wrong (actually an intended dingo sacrifice) and the escaped dingo learning about the god he was supposed to be sacrificed to. See, I was able to more or less summarize this issue coherently! This also leads me to an inescapable conclusion: I’m going to have to read all of these again when #5 comes out, theoretically by the end of the summer. I have a sneaking suspicion that some of the things that seemed like nonsense before (delightful nonsense though, no doubt about it) are going to start coming together. If not, well, then Kyle hasn’t been doing his job properly. Still, there’s just enough sense to all of this that I can see bits and pieces of a master plan poking through the surface. You guys should buy some of his comics to motivate him to get #5 out on time. Sure, it helps me out, but this comic should be seen by the comic reading world at large. $2 (?)
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Posted by Kevin
Update for 6/22/11
June 23, 2011New review for Weeknight Casserole by Kelly Froh, and why is it that I mainly get some variation of the flu in the summer months? It always feels vaguely wrong, outside of the obvious wrong feelings that it brings. I’ll still try to get updates together during the weekend though, as various chills don’t keep me from writing, right?
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Posted by Kevin
Froh, Kelly – Weeknight Casserole
June 23, 2011
Weeknight Casserole
I’ve found over the years of reading these books with funny pictures in them that there are two kinds of “collections of random stuff not collected in a single comic before” type of comics. One is the rushed mess of a comic, often half-filled with sloppy sketches, that was clearly done with the intention of having another (or one) book available at a convention. Then there’s the good kind, the kind that is full of stuff that just happened to be in different anthologies and sure, it probably doesn’t go together in any kind of logical sense, but who cares? Good comics are the goal here, not comics that tie together. This book fits that second description, as Kelly put a bunch of solid stories in here. Doesn’t Kelly know that you’re supposed to half-ass it for anthologies? Stories include a damned sweet piece about her Dad, an old boyfriend’s surprise party and how he was hit on all night by a male friend, cramming in a lunch break, “Accidental Adventures in S & M” (worth the price of admission all by itself), a page of small observances from her day, an early experience with live music (and not knowing a mildly famous guy by sight), and her odd crush on an older professor. There are a couple of pages that are portraits of various people, and not one of them was filler in any way. Once again I have nothing but praise for one of her comics. Sorry to disappoint the people out there who live for savagely negative reviews, but most of those folk left here years ago. $2
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Posted by Kevin
Update for 6/22/11
June 22, 2011New review for Built #1 by Brian John Mitchell & Joe Badon, happy Wednesday!
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Posted by Kevin
Mitchell, Brian John & Badon, Joe – Built #1
June 22, 2011
Built #1
Here it is! Brian’s 100th ongoing series! OK, maybe I’m being a bit of a glib dick, as that’s not even closely to being literally true, but damn, this man has a lot of ongoing titles to juggle. It doesn’t hurt that they’re all in comics roughly the size of your thumbs placed next to each other, but it’s still an impressive achievement. This one deals with a robot who breaks free of his programming and decides to escape. This robot is on all the time, constantly improving itself, and it knows that its behavior will be noticed sooner or later, so this escape is a matter of self-preservation. Anyway, it manages to escape, is eventually found by a group of angry humans, and discovers just how unlikely humans are to listen to a sentient robot. Things end on a note that quite obviously makes this another continuing series and why not? There are all kinds of possibilities from here. Sure, “robot gains sentience, escapes from captors and wants to join humanity” story has been done before, but at this point I have full confidence in Brian’s ability to get something new out of it. That and Joe Badon’s scratchy, almost panicked art was perfect for the story. So yes, the verdict is that this is another potentially excellent series. Or another potential series that is abandoned early on, and only time will make that clear. For now I’d say it’s worth your support, but what do I know? $1
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Posted by Kevin
Update for 6/21/11
June 21, 2011New review for Major Mishap Pushes the Panic Button! by Jerry Goebert & Christopher Durant. In case anybody out there is looking for a convention to attend this weekend, it turns out that it’s FLUKE time again in Athens Georgia. The last one I went to was held in a bar, which should be mandatory for these things, and it’s a blast if you’re looking for great new comics, various performers and bands.
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Posted by Kevin
Goebert, Jerry & Durant, Christopher – Major Mishap Pushes the Panic Button!
June 21, 2011
Major Mishap Pushes the Panic Button!
It’s best that I get a few disclaimers out of the way before I get to the review. Jerry sent me a whole pile of comics but, due to the various technical problems my computer, scanner and brain have had over the last few months, I haven’t been able to get to them. Some of them are even still in the original envelope, to pull back the curtain on the goings-on around here a bit. So when I say that I don’t have much context to review this comic, or any idea if it’s part of a larger series (it sure seems like it, but that’s just a hunch at the moment), that’s exactly what I mean. I’m going to break my usual rule here and even talk about the ending, but to make up for it I promise not to spoil any of the other several comics he’s sent me, and it’s necessary for the point I’m trying to make. What is that point? That I don’t get this comic. Oh, the basic story is simple enough, and even a little funny: man trapped in a remote installation for 30 years snorts some “mystery powder,” gets a notice from his superiors that he cant’ handle in his state, and he blows up the world. It’s a very short comic, so that’s all you really need. But then there’s the presence of “Dusk, Ruska Vampire Nurse.” I assume that means that her name is Dusk, but a word of explanation about what a “Ruska Vampire Nurse” is would have been helpful, unless this is part of a bigger string of stories and I’m the one being stupid here. Anyway, it turns out that our hero gets nightly visits from this vampire nurse, so we see her in a few panels handcuffed near his bed, standing by a fan, and smiling a wicked smile after he discovers the mystery powder. Was it because she put it there? Was she a hidden instigator for the destruction of the planet? It seems like that would be a little inconvenient for her too. Anyway, the oddest thing was that there was no interaction between the two characters. She seemed to be there for very little reason. Was she invisible? Subtly influencing him? It’s a little baffling. I’ve already gone on too long about this tiny comic when I probably could have stopped at “I don’t get it.” I’ll have to dig through these piles further to try and find some contact info and a price, and I’ll update this thing once I do that. For now I did link to what is more or less (probably less) his website.
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Posted by Kevin
Update for 6/20/11
June 20, 2011New review for The Collyer Brothers by Emi Gennis, and I just downloaded over 30 images to this computer (using the still very stupid process I’m stuck with in regards to this scanner), so any lack of reviews over the next couple of weeks will be due purely to my laziness/malaise/suddenly broken again computer. Not that it’s broken yet, but I’m well aware of my luck with these stupid things.
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Posted by Kevin
Gennis, Emi – The Collyer Brothers
June 20, 2011
The Collyer Brothers
And here I was thinking that this would be a mostly throwaway comic. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve thoroughly enjoyed Emi’s work up to this point, and I was curious to see what she did with this story. Still, I got the general impression that most of her creative energies (in terms of comics at least) went to her Spaz comic. Turns out that she has plenty of that energy to spare for side projects like this, as it’s one damned fine comic. This is a story taken from Wikipedia (just in case you can’t read that cover and are afraid of the image embiggening process) about two brothers who lived as hermits in Harlem in the early 1900’s. The neighborhood changed around them, they both became hermits and withdrew from the world. When I say “hermit” I don’t mean your average person with little to no social life. No, I’m talking about two guys who would scavenge food from dumpsters and avoid paying bills until they were trying to generate their own electricity. And they were rich! Anyway, life went on, one brother had a stroke that left him blind, and their refusal to sell the house led to rampant speculation about the treasures hidden inside. I can’t say much more without ruining the ending, but Emi’s use of perspective leading up to that last page was a wonderful thing to behold. I still have a new Spaz to get to in the coming weeks, but this deserves the attention of the comic reading masses. I’m thinking maybe this is a concept she should really get behind, as there have to be a huge pile of stories about the internet involving people dying in bizarre ways. It’s a bit macabre, I guess, but Emi lists on her website that she lives with two cats and ghost, so how much weirder could it get? This isn’t listed on her website at the moment, but I’m guessing that if you send her $2 and request this book that she’ll be willing to help you out. Or add a dollar or two if you’re not sure, or contact her first. You know the drill.
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Posted by Kevin
Update for 6/16/11
June 16, 2011New review for Monty #2 by Kayla Escobedo. Go outside and play, it seems to be a very nice day.
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Posted by Kevin
Update for 6/14/11
June 14, 2011New review for Herman the Manatee #3 by Jason Viola. Hey look at that, an update with no complaining about anything from me!
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Posted by Kevin
Viola, Jason – Herman the Manatee #3
June 14, 2011
Herman the Manatee #3
So much for all those boats hitting Herman on the head. Granted, Jason was able to make that running gag funnier for longer than I would have thought possible, and frankly he probably has it in him to make it funny again, but this issue veers away from that concept. In this one Herman is in jail. In case you were wondering why, it’s because he was hanging posters without a permit. Yes, the laws of the sea can be unduly harsh. Herman meets a couple of new friends in jail, one a self-loathing manatee (which is why he’s in jail) and a narwhal who is in jail because he killed other narwhals. Stories in here include a complicated escape plan, some time back out in the wild, and an even more complicated rescue plan. If I say any more than that this whole thing will get ruined, but I’m loving this change of direction. Sure, he still got hit on the head by a boat, but I think it was only the one time, and the individual strips are forming a cohesive narrative much more smoothly than they were in the first issue. Several strips don’t seem to have anything resembling a punchline, which is a welcome sight to me at least. And Jason’s art, even though he often doesn’t need to do much (what with it all taking place in the vast underwater ocean), is stellar everywhere. I was hesitant to go all in on this one because I was afraid it would get repetitive but you know what? Screw it. This is a damned fine comic book, and people who enjoy damned fine comic books should go out and spend some money on it. $3, or I just saw on his website that he’s selling the collection of #1-4 for $10, which is a steal.
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Posted by Kevin
Update for 6/13/11
June 13, 2011New review today for Blackguard #3 by various international folks. Sorry about the review gaps, I had an actual weekend for once so no time for comics. I’ll try to make up for it during the week, he says one more time with his fingers crossed…
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Posted by Kevin
Various International Anthologies – Blackguard #2
June 13, 2011
Blackguard #3
The crime issue! If you’ve read past issues of this anthology and think that this is a subject that this crew could handle very well, you were absolutely correct. My only complaint is that almost the first half of the book is dedicated to a letters page and comics and zine reviews. Not that I hate such things, but sometimes it gets in the way of the actual comics, and I’m speaking from my own personal and cranky bias about getting zines and comics all jumbled up. As for the comics themselves, it’s hard not to find plenty to love. When things start off with a color strip about Nazi superzombie monkey sleeper agents (by Ryan Vella), you know you’ve reading a book with tons of potential. Well I do anyway, it’s entirely possible that such a thing would turn you off immediately, in which case I’d recommend leaving this review now. It’s OK, there are plenty of other comics to read about on this site and not a single one of them has a Nazi superzombie monkey sleeper agent to bother you. Strips include an actual serial killer and the Hamburglar discussing royalties (by “Glenno,” which may or may not refer to Glenn Smith), Adam Pasion (or his story stand-in) lighting an empty pool on fire as kids, Stratu with a brother killing his sister after a stupid argument, scribbling a penis on a “Walk” sign (by Bize), Chris Mikul with the profoundly strange story of Kenneth Neu, Shaun Craike with his crisis of conscience after his only attempted theft, Neale Blandon with the story of the property theft of Mickey Mouse, Anton Emdin with the angriest man on earth and Dexter Cockburn (with one of the few stories of his without visible sexual organs) with the story of the murder of a young girl and the enigmatic diary entry detailing the deed. There are also two text pieces by Damian McDonald and Henry L. Racicot, both of which are well worth reading. As I already gave away in the intro, this comic is well worth picking up. I only mentioned about half of the stories to leave you with a lot of surprises, and even if you think that comic and zine reviews are wasted space (and, even though I pointed them out, I did notice a few comics I should probably check out, making me a bit of a moron for even mentioning that in a negative light) there are still more than enough comics here to make this worth the $5.
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Posted by Kevin
Update for 6/9/11
June 9, 2011Two new reviews today for Vigilant #1 by Brian John Mitchell & PB Kain and Crocus by Whit Taylor. Sorry about the lack of updates yesterday, I was trying to fix a virus that has the lovely side effect of making most of my Google links go to a misdirected site. It still isn’t fixed after running every malware/antiviral thing I could think of, so if anybody else has gone through this hassle and fixed it I’d love to hear from you.
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Posted by Kevin
Taylor, Whit – Crocus
June 9, 2011
Crocus
Just a suggestion for young small press comic artists: watch the handwriting. My handwriting it shit, for example, but in the few comics I did WAY back in the day (that will never again be seen in public, thank you very much) I slowed myself down and passed the pages around before putting the book together to make sure that people could read what I was writing. Not much point otherwise, is there? I’m mentioning to try and not single Whit out, as it’s not like she’s alone in this, but there were a few strips here where fairly critical words were crammed into the bubbles or entire bubbles felt like they were written under a time deadline. It was a pretty solid book other than that, but little problems that could have been solved before the book was released will always bug me. Anyway, she mentions in the intro that these were the first comics she did after being unproductive following a move across the country, just to throw that out there. Stories include discussing who would get to go through your embarrassing stuff if you died, trying to plan a party as a fake wedding extravaganza, watching shows about polygamy, a meticulous blowjob, and what your favorite artificial flavoring says about you. There are also short pieces of things she both will and will not do again, and a piece about how Jersey Shore doesn’t feel spontaneous any more because they all clearly see themselves as brands. Any comment I have on that one would be mean so I’ll just leave it alone. Like I said, it’s a pretty solid pile of stories, so you should probably check it out if you liked her previous work. Or hell, even if you didn’t, although if I’m being nitpicky I’d maybe start with Onesies or Attic before moving on to this one. $2
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Posted by Kevin
Mitchell, Brian John & Kain, P.B. – Vigilant #1
June 9, 2011
Vigilant #1
Brian continues to be a mini comic machine with yet another new series. And when I say mini comic, I mean that the sample image (before you click on it to make it bigger) is larger than the actual comic. If you’re going to keep up with all of his books I’d recommend setting aside a shoebox or something for these tiny things, as my current plan of “let’s just leave these things lying around in piles” is not working all that well. So anyway, this comic deals with a group of vigilantes who are, um, vigilant. They watch out for the little guy, punish the evil guys, and wear short pants with their hooded robes. Maybe that last thing isn’t a listed part of their agenda, but it was still hard not to notice. As with many of Brian’s comics this one was fairly thin on detail and hard to get a handle on in terms of a potential series. His other series mostly became really intriguing after a few issues, so I’m not too worried about it. We didn’t learn much about this group, but the implication was that they were at least mildly normal during daylight hours. At this point I have all the faith in the world that Brian can turn this into a worthwhile series over time, but so far there’s not much here that you haven’t seen before. Shadowy group of crime fighters takes on the criminal element but they work outside the law! Yeah, we’ve all been there. If he focuses his considerable skills on putting out another few issues of this series I have all the faith in the world that he can make it interesting. If he decides to let this one go to focus on a half dozen other series that I’m already invested in, well, so far I wouldn’t miss this one too much. $1
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Posted by Kevin
Update for 6/7/11
June 7, 2011New review today for Nine Short Works by Jon Allen, and I’d have more but the computer is freaking out so much that I’m a little shocked that the review managed to get posted. Time to run every anti-viral thing I have and hope for the best…
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Posted by Kevin
Allen, Jon – Nine Short Works
June 7, 2011
Nine Short Works
Would you believe that this comic has nine short stories in it from Jon? Shocking, I know. A good chunk of them are available for free at his website, just in case you wanted to look them over before continuing here. It’s a solid bunch of stories that range all over the place, but one continuing theme throughout is quiet. There’s not a wasted word to be found, and everything that is said is relevant. Stories include a piece about a fight that got of hand between a couple of kids (and the loser of the fight in his later years), a chat between a woman and her mother about the things that get revealed if you watch the person you’re dating for their reactions to a movie, a day alone at a fancy home, the random kindness of a jump and the weird stuff in the guy’s back seat, a stupid death and the entrance requirements to heaven, and a boy with a dead bird. Other pieces that were a little more interpretive (not that those pieces above are exactly cut and dried) include images of a Chinese restaurant, the stars disappearing and a series of escalating images and messages. I’d go into more detail with that one but it lost me, so you’re on your own there. Anyway, it answered any doubts I may have had about the guy, so that’s a good thing, even if all of the stories perfect. A solid majority of them work for me. As for the price, your guess is as good as mine. It baffles me that a book that’s this well put together would make you guess such a thing, and his website isn’t any help. $7? Sure, let’s go with that.
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Posted by Kevin
