May 2, 2010
Website
Cold Summer Book One
Ah, the wonders of writing online. I just wrote a big old review of this that was wonderfully eloquent and had many great points about the meaning of it all, but it’s gone now, so you’ll have to settle for me being slightly annoyed instead of profound. Oh well, it’s probably for the best. Still, that’s not enough for me to like this book any less. It’s the story of four young women who head off to a summer camp so that they can quit smoking. The four women are India (spoiled rich girl from Georgia), Shing-Shing (girl who’s had a rough life and is trying to quit to salvage her failing relationship with her girlfriend), Astrid (snooty girl, but we don’t know much of anything about her yet so it’s too early to tell) and Amy (girl who’s almost completely silent, so there’s definitely a story coming there). This volume deals primarily with India, although we do get a brief synopsis of the early years of Shing-Shing and how she met her current girlfriend. India’s story deals with her not trying at all to fit in, running off when things get too tough for her and what she’s done to cope with her life in general. The art in here is great all the way through, don’t get me wrong, but it was the writing that really floored me. Ten pages into this book I felt like I knew all 4 characters well, and that’s quite an accomplishment for a debut book. OK, maybe it’s not a debut book, but it’s the first thing from Jennifer that I’ve seen, so it’s new to me. And did I mention that she bound all of these by hand? That just makes the whole thing that much more impressive. This is the best thing I’ve seen out of FLUKE so far, and I’ve already seen some pretty good stuff. This is a measly $9.95, check out the website and see what you think. If this is the first collected book she has I’d say that she has the potential to be a really great creator in comics…
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Posted by Kevin
May 2, 2010
Website
Now Available! $7
Old Man Winter & Other Sordid Tales
It doesn’t hurt a comic one bit when I open up to the first page and think “Joe Sacco”. Kids, ask your parents. He did (does?) comics about distant parts of the world, often with a political tinge, and is one of that rare breed of “respected” comic artists. Well, respected to people who don’t automatically disqualify comic artists, that is. Anyway, the comparison quickly fades as it becomes clear that J. T. has his own unique style. The first story in this comic, Old Man Winter, takes its time setting things up, and shows us an expansive world of full page panels. With a lesser artist this would be called “filler”, but as every page is packed with background and the environment surrounding this man, you seamlessly get pulled into his world. The old man’s wife has died recently, he’s more or less living out the remaining years by wandering around local shops and talking with his daughter. J.T. does an excellent job of just showing the silence that follows the man wherever he goes with his huge panels, but still takes the time to focus in on the people he leaves behind and their reactions to his ways. Frankly, not enough people do stories about the elderly and, as most of us are going to get there eventually (if we’re lucky?), it’s illuminating to see the world through their eyes. Next up is All Is Forgiven, a silent piece about a scientist doing horrific tests to lab animals and his depression after his breakup. Good luck coming away from that one without feeling bad that you’re part of the human race. He follows this with a lighter piece about the dead time he spent as a child living in a small town and how he passed the time: by “logging”, with another friend, yet another childhood friend and his family. Logging meant essentially that they would put a log somewhere on the car or near the house during the night to terrorize his friend’s family. Trust me, I grew up in a small town and this makes perfect sense. The pranks escalate until the cops are called in, and that’s usually the point where the pranks stop. If you weren’t depressed enough from the previous story about animal testing wait until you read Road Trip. It details two trips, side by side: a young child going to an amusement park and a young cow getting systematically taken apart at a slaughter house. Oh, and the journey to the slaughter house, which is horrific enough in its own right. J.T. doesn’t spare us the details and, as is always the case after reading stories like this, it makes me question my carnivorous ways. Finally there’s a shorter piece detailing a young man joining the circus and their treatment of elephants, but the tininess of the panels blunts the impact a bit after seeing those other two pieces in exacting detail. A couple of these pieces were in Young American Comics anthologies, so if you’ve followed all their stuff you’ve already read some of this, but this a powerful pile of stories lumped together. You’ve got mortality, cruelty to animals (in a few different ways), and even the story of a harmless prank gone wrong. It’s a bit bleak, but it’s impossible to deny the power of these stories and his art is phenomenal. This is the part where I should get into linework and if I was a professional artist I’d be happy to, but from my amateur perspective all I can say is that everything was crystal clear (sometimes too clear) and volumes could be taken from a glance or smile. This won the Xeric award this year if you can’t see it on the title, and it’s certainly one of the best things I’ve seen lately. Check it out, you may learn something. $6.95
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Posted by Kevin
May 2, 2010
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Theta Graft #1
Here’s a random comic out of Champaign, IL for your viewing pleasure. The story here is complicated, or at least it has the potential to be complicated: a group of scientists is developing implants that can give the recipient incredible speed and strength, and have medical implications that they are only beginning to understand. One of the recipients (the one man who seems to have raised doubts about the program at all) has escaped, and we spend this issue basically getting to know him and the rest of the cast of characters. They have plans to take this to at least issue #14, which is good, because there could be a lot of ground to cover here. I liked it more than I thought I would, honestly, but I do have a few minor complaints. The lettering switched from hand-written to typed right in the middle of the story, which is a very minor thing indeed, but why do that? It’s jarring for no reason. The art, in a few panels, looked kind of rushed and a bit bare. Still, minor things in a book that was pretty good overall. One question though: why the thing over their eyes (that thing covering his eye on the cover)? Is it just because it looks cool or do we learn a reason for it later? So: and intriguing story, one that could go either way, but has potential to be good. $2.25, send an e-mail for ordering info…
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Posted by Kevin
May 2, 2010
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Sunday
This might be the single most peaceful comic I’ve ever seen. The title says it all, as this is the tale of a quiet Sunday afternoon. Chin (I’m guessing this is meant to be him, but it really doesn’t make any difference in this case) wanders through the day, listening to music, washing his hands, playing the guitar… all little things, all focused on in minute detail. I love his interpretation of listening to music. Most people show notes in the air or colors or memories that the music evokes, Chin goes with the idea that music just blanks out the mind, perhaps putting it into a peaceful, blank state. It looks like he hasn’t made too many copies of this yet, but this is a short, serene first effort that should be given some attention. E-mail the man to see where you should send a few bucks…
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Posted by Kevin
May 2, 2010
Website for Chris
El Mucho Grande: Wrestler For Hire
Let’s get this out of the way right now, as there are quite a few names at the top of the page: Chris Yambar is the writer, George Broderick Jr. is the artist and letterer, Ken Wheaton is the inker. Not that you’re probably going to care that much until you actually see the comic, but there you have it. I came into this one fully expecting to not like it very much. I don’t know what gave me that impression, but I get it sometimes and, well, I’m usually wrong. Instincts, schminstincts, that’s what I say. This one is funny and smartly written all the way through. It’s a collection of the first four issues (I’m guessing here because it’s in four parts and they’re all “to be continued”). One deals with setting up the character and sending him to Saturn, one is set in Asgard, one deals with the pure evil that is Walt Disney and the last one is a Christmas story. Of all of those only the Christmas story wasn’t fantastic, and that’s only because it got a little infected with Christmas cheesiness. Funny, intelligently written and expressively drawn, I’d say that everybody involved played a large part in making this as good as it is. E-mail Chris for info or just send $5 or so to: El Mucho Mail P.O. Box 1260 Youngstown, OH 44501-1260.
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Posted by Kevin
May 2, 2010
Website
The Silent City
Maybe it’s just the current state of the world (it’s 4/2/03 and we’re in the middle of a messy and indefensible war, possibly the start of something much worse), but images of a brutally oppressive government that keeps that working folks down isn’t that novel to me any more. We see stories every day about how this government or that one is keeping people from being free, and… I’m on a soapbox now, aren’t I? Sorry. The comic is about innocent children being hurt with no consequences and the working class being brutally oppressed. Striking images all over the place of a bleak, barren world. A wordless comic, I can’t imagine that any words would be needed to convey this message any more effectively. It’s a good comic, it’s just depressing to think that the message in here has been ignored so many times, and here we are… Check it out, it’s a quick read but it’s worth a look.
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Posted by Kevin
May 2, 2010
Comics at Stripburger
Corkscrew Against Dope!
If anything can pull me out of this funk, it’s a batch of 12 mini comics from the fine folks at Stripburger, An international collection of the best comic folks around, at least that’s the impression I get. Still haven’t read anything from them that wasn’t exceptional, and this one is no different. Everything I’ve seen is just such a completely new way of doing comics. There’s really nobody to compare it to in North American comics. The closest you could get to this one would probably be some of Peter Kuper’s silent work (even though this one isn’t silent) and maybe a Bizarro Renee French. Like I said, hard to explain. The story behind this one is that the hero has a corn on his foot that he uses to catch drug users and a corkscrew that he uses to change their habit over to alcoholism. And he has three cops who follow him around (who kind of look like Frankenstein) who say “Huh?” to everything he does. Text under the pictures, it’s both confusing (I get the feeling that some of the words would have had slightly different meaning before they were translated) and engaging, if that makes any sense. Beautiful packaging too, both for the whole bundle of 12 comics and the color cover for this one. Try to find this whole batch from Top Shelf or contact the authors. I’m not sure who drew and who wrote, so here’s the info for both of them.
Danilo Milosev Wostok Drvarska 12 yu – 26300 Vrsac, Yugoslavia
Ivana Filipovic
Chris Staros over at Top Shelf told me that although the Mini Burger set isn’t available on the web page, you can still order it through their online catalog. Just go to the ordering page, click on #4 at the bottom (additional comments) and write in that you want the Mini Burger set for $19.95. They have it in stock, they just haven’t updated the site in a while. From what I’ve read, it’s worth it. There might be two bad ones in this bunch and a couple of mediocre ones, but the good ones are good in ways that you don’t usually see in this country.
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Posted by Kevin
May 2, 2010
Website
Jesus Delivers (with David Lasky)
It makes me sad to think that Jim Woodring is hardly doing anything with comics these days. I understand the reasoning, as there’s no money in it, but his comics were like nothing else in this world and it sucks to not see a new one every six months or so. This is an old mini (1996) about a missionary trying to convert a young boy, which is then followed by the parents trying to explain how things really are to the kid. Great stuff, as a rant about the evils of Christianity is always a welcome thing. And who knew that Jesus was in charge of the post office? A measly dollar is all this is, and if you’re like me and already have everything Jim Woodring has done, this is a welcome sight.
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Posted by Kevin
May 2, 2010
Seven Miles a Second
For those of you who think that Vertigo is worthless, I offer this book up for your consideration. This is the autobiographical story of David Wojnarowicz, and he certainly had a tough life. He grew up on the streets as a child prostitute and doesn’t shy away from any of the details here. The book also shows him as a young adult, doing anything he can to stay alive, and as an adult, dying from AIDS. If the name looks familiar, it’s probably because he was a pretty accomplished artist and writer before he died. Yeah, sorry, this is the only comic thing you’re ever going to see from the guy. This book is incredible. His pain at the injustice and corruption of the world is obviously heartfelt and it’s not easy to read about the things he had to go through in his life. This is a pretty cheap buy at $8 (or $4 if you click on the title) and it’s an amazing, amazing book. Here are some sites I found where you can learn a little more about the guy: this one, or this one. If you’ve ever lost anybody to AIDS, or if you just want to see how little the world has really changed in the last ten years, try this one out.
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Posted by Kevin
May 2, 2010
Website
Izzy Challenge #5
This has turned into a weekend of anthology comics here at ye olde Optical Sloth, and these are a couple of good ones to contrast. The other comic reviewed was the first issue of the Trubble Club anthology, in case anybody reads this years down the line and wants to compare. In this issue, JB recruited people to do a panel each, based on a state, and have the story be about Izzy traveling through all 50 states. It had to be all ages stuff, JB sent an image of Izzy along and the artist had to fill in the backgrounds. With Trubble Club, well, I’m not entirely sure how they did their stories, but they certainly weren’t all ages (a plus in my book), and they had a whole page to set up a story, not just one panel. It’s probably silly to compare the two books, as they’re aiming to do completely different things, and… you know, that’s a good argument, so I will. This comic is less about a story than it is about the challenge to have 50 artists represent something from each state, whether or not that something has anything to do with reality. Looking at JB’s website I can see that he/she has experimented with the individual panel idea before in different ways, and I’m all for people pushing the boundaries of this “graphic art” idea as far as it can go, so kudos to him/her. There’s also a deal up at the moment (through the end of December) where you can get #1-5 of this series for $3.50, which is a good a chance as any to see what other experiments have been going on with the Izzy Challenges. So, to sum up, the Izzy Challenge books are a fascinating look into single panels from all over the country (because that’s what they were trying to do) and Trubble Club is a fascinating look into utterly random jam comics that somehow stick to a basic theme (because that’s what THEY were trying to do). Can you believe I’m not rich from such utterly random commentary yet? Yeah, me too. Oh, and as for the list of contributors to this book, check out that website listed above, as I’m not typing 50 names in here. Some of the people I know are listed on this page are Jack Turnbull, Isaac Cates, Barry Rodges, Sarah Morean, Joshua Cotter and Matt Feazell, but that’s a very incomplete list. $1
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Posted by Kevin
May 2, 2010
Website
PO Box 390, McCleary, WA 98557-0390
Retreads #14
It wasn’t until after I finished this that I realized that this wasn’t a one time collection of various sketches and stories, but instead part of a long series of such books. Assuming that the other ones are all like this one, that is, which I suppose isn’t the safest of assumptions. Why not save everybody up for a “proper” comic and then but out a few sketchbooks?? Who knows, personal preference is what it is. There’s a surprising amount of “meat” here for a sketchbook type thingie though, so nobody is going to go away feeling cheated. It starts with a few playing card-like descriptions of various characters and events through history including Harry Truman (not that one), Jacko the Sasquatch, and some flying disks in the sky. After that it’s mostly a series of random sketches, promotional posters for various art shows and local events, and the one two page strip that I sampled below, with a bit of an obvious punchline but, as they say, it’s funny because it’s true. Still worth it for the $2 price tag in my book, unless you’re absolutely against any kind of sketchbook chicanery. $2
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Posted by Kevin
May 2, 2010
Website
What I Did On My 2008 Summer Vacation
There are times when a title is all you need to sum up a book, and this is one of those times. This is a listing of what J. did from July 3rd to August 7th, all told with one giant panel per day. It’s one solid black page above one descriptive page, all the way through, with pithy little observances that often leave you more than a little confused (as they’re mostly without any kind of context). Oddly, this was a welcome break from the usual diary strips that nail everything down in exact detail. What does he mean, “I was caught between scylla & charybdis”? The picture doesn’t help (unless they’re two people), but that was early on in the book and it sucked me right in. It’s not all interesting, or even close to it, as 4 pages of strips about his move was a bit much. Still, not a bad entry into diary strips overall. Just on the off-chance that J. does requests, how about something a little meatier next time? $2
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Posted by Kevin
May 2, 2010
Website
Ex-T (with Nik Havert and/or J.C. Filer)
People of the small press comics world, take note: listing the people responsible for the book in such a haphazard fashion on the back of the book is bound to confuse lowly reviewers like me. If I had to guess, I’d say that Nik wrote this, B. drew it, and J.C…. was very supportive. There’s also the mention given on the website to some guy named Lou, but I’m not even going to try and track that info down. This is loosely based on an actual band called Expendable Teens or, more accurately, is an excuse to have them battle grandma zombies in comic format, and more power to them for that. All my confusion about who is responsible for what aside, this is still a pretty fun comic. As the Teens get ready for a show, people start to hear odd noises, which turn out to be elderly zombies, always a source of hilarity. A rock and roll fight scene occurs, and that’s about all the room they have in this little comic. It probably won’t cure cancer or anything, but it’s still a good mini for what it is. No hint of a price, of course, but I’d guess a buck or two…
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Posted by Kevin
May 2, 2010
Website
The Deformitory
I’m guessing that somewhere along the line the Xeric Foundation people have screwed up and funded an awful comic, but I have yet to see one. Much like how everything I’ve seen from Secret Acres has been amazing, everything I’ve seen with that Xeric name mentioned has either been an incredible comic or clearly the work of somebody who has all kinds of potential. This one, luckily, is a bit of both. This is the story of the Deformitory (as you may have guessed from the title), a place where people with deformities go to live normal lives. This isn’t readily apparent at first, as the story starts off with a young boy seeing a unicorn in the forest. He grows up, meets a nice girl and seems destined to have a normal life, but he can’t get the unicorn out of his head and builds the Deformitory. Well, it probably wasn’t called that yet, as he wasn’t deformed, and he grows old there hoping to catch another glimpse of the creature. One necessity in a story like this is to have the Deformitory seem like a real place, a place where all sorts of odd people enter and leave. This is nicely taken care of with a couple of pages before the introduction of the next character, as Sophia shows a good number of oddities living their lives, some of which enter the story in a more significant way later, some of which do not. This is where we first see Doloris, who becomes essentially the main character in the book. We see her sitting quietly with two stumps instead of hands and proceed to learn through the rest of the book how this came to be. Also featured prominently are the Heart Monster (with one of the better uses of the full page center spread that I’ve seen), the ugliest mermaid and a girl who is half slug. It all comes back to Doloris and the old man and his wait for the unicorn, but I’ve said too much already and this is definitely one of those books where you need to see these things for yourself.  Kudos to Sophia as well for making some things that are genuinely new, as at least a couple of the deformed people were absolutely unique, and the single panel most of those characters got spoke volumes about them.  Really, this is a success in every way. Check it out, it’s well worth your time and cash. $6
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Posted by Kevin
May 2, 2010
Website
Hot Shower #8
How exactly did I pick up a comic from a local Columbus artist in Chicago? Not that the man doesn’t deserve to have his comics all over the place, it’s just that if he’s already on #8 I should have seen an issue around here at some point. This comic alternates between stream of consciousness weirdness and more normal storytelling effortlessly, to the point where it gets a little difficult to tell when one piece ends and another begins. It’s irrelevant though, as the comic works beautifully as a whole. Josh starts off simply enough, with a couple of stories about how it’s easier to wake somebody up early in the morning if they’re not your lover and about his experience at COSI, a Columbus landmark of sorts. He follows that with a simple observation from his grandfather, then everything starts to come together. Without trying to analyze things too much, it’s all about formless sex, learning about women, drawing, watching serpentine cigarette smoke, failing to clean up before attempting to meet women, more sex (with symbolic dog head), taking inner photos with hard blinking, meeting two women in L.A., a sign of affection, being self-centered and a drunken brawl. Honestly, when something is this disjointed it could go either way, but I thought it was brilliant. Makes me wonder if #1-7 were this good or if he had to work his way up to this. Hey, SPACE is coming up, maybe I can find out more there. $2
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Posted by Kevin
May 2, 2010
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A Spot of Mud
I have mixed feelings about this one. It’s a great story, about a young boy and how he deals with his mother getting cancer and dying a slow, lingering death. Great packaging, very well put together, no problems there. The art was just a little bit… sloppy, I guess. Not sure what I’m basing that on, really, other than a few panels here or there with a really awkward head in it and a few things like that. Not something that most people would even notice, probably, but there you go. If I had to guess I’d say that he’ll be just fine with a little more practice. Hell, I’d say that he’d be a lot better than fine, as this was a genuinely moving and disturbing story at times. In other words, I’d say to keep your eye on this guy, as I think he’s going to do great things. I can’t completely recommend this story, sure, but it’s a lot better than most of the stuff you’re going to find out there, and you’ll get to see him before he works out the few bugs in his drawing. Send him $3.50 at P.O. Box 20291 Fountain Valley, CA 92728 or just e-mail him. This was done in 1999, it’s entirely possible that he has great things out right now and I just don’t know about it…
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Posted by Kevin
May 2, 2010
Dirty Boxes
I picked this book up a few weeks ago and just got around to reading it today. It was a blind buy, one of those things that I got off the pre-order page months ago because I had a little bit of extra cash and the description said “Xeric award winner”, which is usually worth at least a glance. When I brought it home I looked through it a couple of times, decided that I wasn’t in the mood to read something like that, and put it back down. Finally I was at the bottom of my pile of stuff to read (and Sassafrasquatch was asleep on my back so I didn’t want to disturb her by getting up) so I decided to read it. Then it came to me: there was a reason that I was never in the mood to read it. It’s because I usually don’t like comics like this. There are words and there are pictures, but they rarely go together. When they do they aren’t meant to be heading towards any kind of a story anyway. Parts of this book impressed me a lot. The bit of writing at the start, the sheer level of detail put into every page, the sheer artistry of some of the pages… but it’s just not for me.
I guess it’s another case of my knowing what I like when I see it, but I’m unable to defend that logically. If I would have seen this on the shelf I wouldn’t have picked it up because I would have known that the chances of my liking it were pretty slim. I don’t want to sell this book short though. If you’re a student of the art of comics and wonder what else can be done with panels, composition, placement and design, then get this. It’s fantastic for that, and I’m sure there are going to be plenty of people who absolutely love this book. It’s technically incredible, it just leaves me cold. Hard to put it any clearer than that. I don’t always need a linear story and it’s possible for something like this to win me over. Maybe some other time I’ll read this and think it’s fantastic. I haven’t seen a single review of this so I don’t know what the general reaction is, but I could have seen being blown away by this if I was in a different mood. I think, in the wake of all that’s happened, that I’m looking for escapism more than ever. Stories that I can get lost in, basically. This book is proud of not having a story and that’s fine for it. It’s just not what I’m in the mood for these days.
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Posted by Kevin
May 2, 2010
Website
Untitled
You know, I always liked the idea of untitled books before I had this website. Now that I have this everything needs to be categorized and untitled things are a bit of a pain, but I still respect the need for them. This comic is basically a love letter from Drew to his girlfriend, wife, or target of stalking, Eleanor. He gets home from the store only to have a tornado of some kind hit, so he has to spend the rest of the comic trying to find Eleanor. It’s an interesting story, pretty quick read though. I liked it anyway. Website revealed!
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Posted by Kevin
May 2, 2010
Website
The Goldfish and Bob
The words “graphic novel” are tossed around these days like they’re going out of style, and that’s fine, as the terms for these little stories are many and varied. Some people hate calling them “comics” in any form, mostly because the vast majority of comics are so terrible. Mainstream, that is. Anyway, when I see “graphic novel”, I expect to spend more time reading it than the average comic, and they should be at least kind of large. Both of them these might also not be true at any time (is anybody out there going to argue the fact that Like a Velvet Glove Cast in Iron is a graphic novel, despite the fact that you could probably read it in 10 minutes?) so, once again, I don’t know what I’m talking about. This one is called a graphic novel, but I see it as a mini comic. A really expensive mini comic ($6.95), but a mini comic nonetheless. His style reminds me A LOT of James Kochalka, although I’m sure he’s sick of hearing this by now. It’s the story of a man and his goldfish. The man hates his job, the goldfish apparently doesn’t like seeing the man so unhappy, and there’s the basis for the comic. Not too complicated, but a good story. Still not a graphic novel, but that’s just my opinion. You can probably get this if you put in a request at the Top Shelf ordering page. E-mail the guy to tell him hi, or go to his website. He’s also done work in the Flummery book, in case you’re wondering where you’ve seen him before.
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Posted by Kevin
May 2, 2010
Website
Rat: A Love Story
Anybody out there want to read a really solid, well done comic? Well, here you go. Sure, it gets a little sappy at times, but it’s a bizarre love story, so what do you want? The art is great and most of the writing is intelligent and stuff that people would actually say. For those wondering, it’s the story of a rat who falls in love with a woman and the lengths he goes to to try and win her over. Kind of silly, I guess, but it never really feels like a ridiculous story, which is a credit to the writer. It’s $7.95 and you can send money to 201 East 4th Street Frederick, MD 21701. There’s a website advertised in the book. Check it out, they have all kinds of books that were advertised in the back of this one.
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Posted by Kevin
