May 2, 2010
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Salmon Doubts
Just in case some people out there don’t have a good idea of the general life of a salmon, let me give you the brief synopsis from the start of the book: salmon hatch in rivers, fatten on rich ocean food, return at maturity to spawn in their natural rivers and die shortly after spawning. In other words, what seems on the surface like a short, silly life, without much room for contemplation. Leaving aside the fact that they’re just fish, of course, this book is about the life of one particular school of salmon from birth to death. They hatch, form little social groups here and there, and basically go through their short lives, without much thought about what the other possibilities are. All of this is except for one salmon, who wonders what else is out there and why nobody else ever considers that. Anything other than that would ruin the story, in my opinion, but this story made me think more than most of the things I’ve read recently. I had a pretty clear idea going into this, that the school of fish was a bunch of followers and that their unexamined life was silly at best, and ended up with a new appreciation for the simple fact of being completely content with who you are and your lot and life. Screw it, I’m talking about the ending, so stop now if you don’t want to read it. Click on the title to go to the Amazon link for the graphic novel and help Jeff Mason out at Alternative Comics, OK? So at the end of the book, one of the salmon ends up going off on its own, but we don’t see what happens to it, or if it could possibly be as content and happy as the other fish. The other fish in the school, meanwhile, had sex and then died, completely at peace with their life and death. And did I mention that the use of a few colors in this makes this book a whole bunch better than it would have been otherwise? Like I said, it’s thought-provoking as hell, and not in the ways that I would have thought. It’s $14.95 and seriously, find a copy of this and read it!
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Posted by Kevin
May 2, 2010
Website
Ghost Jars #1
If I’ve gained any more “expertise” from doing this site for the last 8+ years than I already had from reading comics as a small child before I started this thing up, I’d like to think it’s the ability to tell when I’m looking at a genuinely unique comic. And this, dear reader, is a genuinely unique comic. I like a mildly whiny autobio book as much as the next guy, and superhero parody can occasionally be just fine. This book is neither of those things. This starts off innocuously enough, as a young girl staying with her grandparents for the summer wanders down to the basement to ask her grandfather for a soda. It’s a fairly creepy basement, as her grandfather skins animals and mounts them for the neighbors, so there’s an instant sense of unease. That sense grows when her grandfather doesn’t answer, and the only room down there that he could be is the room with the ghost jars. What’s a ghost jar? The sampled page will give you a pretty good explanation, but this is a continuing story so there’s still a lot to be uncovered. The rest of the story (as I’m going to give as little away as possible) deals with the young girl reluctantly entering the room with the ghost jars and finding out for herself whether her grandparents are crazy to be keeping the things at all. I think this is posted for free at her website, so if you’re unconvinced you can at least see more bits of it over there. I try not to get too enthusiastic about first issues, as artists can easily give up on a project for any number of reasons. Still, if she keeps this up this has all the potential in the world. I’m not easily creeped out, and this comic made my skin crawl. No price, but let’s say $2.
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Posted by Kevin
May 2, 2010
Website
Owly: Breakin’ The Ice
I’m pretty late to the phenomenon that is Owly, as I still haven’t picked up any of the graphic novels (and he’s up to three judging by the back of this book). Still, what better place to try something like this out than Free Comic Book Day? Here’s hoping this is still going to available somehow at the Top Shelf page or this is going to be a fairly pointless review… Owly is a completely adorable owl who seems to get into all sorts of adventures with his pals Wormy and Scampy. This issue is all about Owly noticing some hungry ducks and resolving to feed them, although he has to deal with a greedy friend and some thin ice in the process. It’s a silent book, which only adds to the cuteness here. Said cuteness can be overwhelming at times if you’re a cynical guy like me, but the inside cover goes to great lengths to quote mainstream places like USA Today and People magazine to say that these books have a lot to offer older readers while being sure to captivate the kids. The part about the kids I believe completely, and anything that might help kids catch onto comics is something that I’m behind all the way. Personally, I’m not going to rush out and get the other graphic novels here. It was a fun and completely adorable story, and there are some solid messages in here about friendship and sharing that aren’t heavy-handed at all (something that is tough to pull off). I don’t know, maybe I just have a bit too much of the year-round humbug in me to really get into something like this, but I could sure see a whole lot of people thinking this comic was the sweetest thing in the world.
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Posted by Kevin
May 2, 2010
Website
Runx Tales #2
Good luck getting that cover out of your head any time soon. This has been on my kitchen table for the last week and I just had to review it today so those googly eyes would stop staring at me. This comic has 4 stories and an excellent illustrated introduction to the man, how he draws himself and his comics. First up is Wrestling With The Truth, in which Matt, as a young gay man (and seemingly closeted), signs up with the wrestling team for obvious reasons. After being dumped on his head he has a vision where “it all made sense”, something that he hasn’t been able to make a lot of sense of since. Next is Nora Stories and, while it’s never a good sign when an artist is bugging friends for personal stories in the second issue, it’s a pretty entertaining piece, all about his friend Nora (and her friends) trying to get away from a creep who follows them around town. She also has an excellent epilogue where she runs into him at a part a year later and he’s still playing the exact same games, although at least this time he nearly gets clobbered. The next story is simply called Ranch, and it’s sure to be a big hit. Why? Because it tells the history of ranch, and who doesn’t love ranch? Those adorable vegans, I suppose, but it’s their loss. It turns out that ranch was invented in 1953 and was not sent down directly from the heavens, and this story tells the tale of how it got off the ground, how other companies are able to use the name, and its evolution over the years. Finally there’s a tribute to Samantha Jane Dorsett, a friend of Matt’s who died recently. It’s a short piece packed with personal memories and also tells how they drifted apart over the years. He also throws in a bit about how sad it was that Michael Jackson died, and I confess to not understanding the whole “national tragedy” thing the country went through after that. Wasn’t he living outside the country because we (“we” being the media and concerned parents) essentially rode him out of town on a rail. Once he dropped dead all was forgiven. Baffling. Anyway, no googly eyes in the comics, just an excellent sense of comedic timing, some purty pictures and the untold history of ranch dressing. If nothing else you have to be curious about that, right? $3
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Posted by Kevin
May 2, 2010
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Man Enough
Look out! It’s the gays! Seriously, if you come to this site a lot and are homophobic… please grow up and/or find another place to read about comics. It freaks me out to think that anyone who has ever, in a non-ironic sense, owned a t-shirt that said “Adam and Eve not Adam and Steve!” would agree with me about anything, so please just shoo. Now, what about the comic? It’s an adorable little tale about the beginning of a romance (or at least I’m guessing that by the title) between a gay man and a transsexual who’s going from girl to boy and doesn’t have all the, um, parts installed yet. It has all the awkward moments of a first date and then some, and there’s no effort at all to preach about the plight of any peoples, it’s just a good little story. There’s also a great backup story (in color, no less) about working at a video store and learning way too much information about people based on their porn choices. OK fine, one minor complaint. The art in the bulk of the comic was pretty sparse, with mostly just the characters and little backgrounds. Of course, it could be argued that all you need for a love story is the character and their facial expressions, making my point meaningless. Well worth a look if you can find it. $3
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Posted by Kevin
May 2, 2010
Website
Scary Stories From The Bible
As somebody who was raised more than a little bit on the religious side (and who has renounced the whole silly mess, at least until an inevitable deathbed conversion to whatever my panicked. dying brain thinks will “save” me), it’s always interesting to see tidbits from the bible that I haven’t read. How they manage to pack so much information onto essentially 6 pages of story just impresses the hell out of me, I have to admit. First there’s various examples of responses from historical figures to the bible, then wonderful Jesus quotes to answer some of the religious nuts’ platitudes, followed by biblical typos over the years, then a quick introduction to Ralph Reed (and anybody who follows politics knows who this asshole is), and a couple of other pages that I won’t ruin, except to say that it’ll make you think twice about masturbation. Great stuff in a cheap $1 package, who could ask for more? I was also thrilled to see that they have a ton of stuff on the Poopsheet page, even if I can’t seem to find a proper website for either of them…
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Posted by Kevin
May 2, 2010
Website
Patty Cake: Sugar and Spice… Mostly Spice
If I’m reading this right, this is the book that collects #1-3, which are the ones that I read. If I’m not, well, let me make this easy on you. These books manage to pull off being cute without being obnoxiously cute, and that’s an incredibly difficult thing to do. They’re mostly about the adventures of Patty Cake and all her friends (and enemies) and, while it’s probably not the thing to be reading if you’re in the mood for some serious, life-changing stuff, it’s funny and frantic enough to put a smile on your face if you’re sitting around bored some afternoon. Kind of reminded me of back when Ren and Stimpy was funny, with the tiniest hint of a conscience thrown in. Not much of one, and the ad about the baby doll that has the breakable bones and splints is wrong in a few ways but hilarious, but he’s still clearly writing with the idea that kids will probably pick this up at some point. I thought kids only read X-Men? Anyway, the art is almost spastic in its insanity and the writing really is “all ages”. Well worth a look, and check out his website to see more samples.
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Posted by Kevin
May 2, 2010
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Drawn & Quarterly Showcase Book One
This is a tale of divorced parents, an estranged sister and menstrual bleeding. The parts never came together into a solid whole for me, so that’s just about the best I can offer. The backgrounds are phenomenal (mostly old, bizarre wallpaper). The art is solid in general, as I liked the wide-eyed people. It was just one of those stories that didn’t have a good ending. It ends in a “huh?”, which isn’t always a bad thing, unless you get the symbolism of the ending and still can only think “huh?”. Hope this makes sense, as I realize I’m getting into fairly nebulous territory, but that’s my opinion of this. This one is easily missed, although nice to look (not that you could tell from my scan, so just trust me on this one) at if you do pick up the book. It’s also half of a book with Kevin Huizenga, so check out that review too.
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Posted by Kevin
May 2, 2010
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Sucker Punch #1 Now Available! $3
Oh yeah, comics can be funny. Way too many minis seem to take everything seriously (sometimes for good reason, sometimes out of a bit of the old pretentiousness), so three cheers for anything that wants to make people laugh a little bit. This one isn’t all gags; far from it. It’s the story of a cast of characters, all 20-somethings: an “aspiring” writer, his female friend, her slutty roommate, a token indie rocker guy and an asshole friend. Oh, and the title of the ongoing story throughout is “Today is the day I wish they would hold a parade in my name”, which is a thing of beauty all by itself. The female lead, Frieda, takes great joy in smacking somebody back to reality when there’s any danger of things getting heavy or profound, which just makes me smile after reading so many comics that really and truly want to tell me something. It’s nice to read something occasionally that just is what it is. Oh, and the writing and art are both terrific, which makes exactly zero things I have a problem with here. $3
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Posted by Kevin
May 2, 2010
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Run, Damn You, Run
Right off the bat: that’s an excellent title. It’s impossible to read that, see the confusing, snowy image on the cover and not get at least a little excited to see what’s inside. Then once you open it up… well, it’s a mixed bag. O.E. doesn’t seem to be a native English speaker and some of the dialogue seems a bit garbled or nonsensical. There’s also the way that he or she puts exclamation points at the beginning and end of many sentences, but that’s actually something I wish everybody would do. The story is about two men at an outpost of some kind (never clearly explained, but they seem to be short on supplies). A stranger comes across them, they end up throwing the stranger out and hear horrible noises in the night. One of them goes to investigate, is told repeatedly to lay off, and, well, those things rarely end well. This reads like a first effort, or something close to that, but there’s clearly some talent at work here. The concept and ending were terrific, the dialogue and art were spotty at times, but the blow is softened by the fact that’s only $1.50. Worth picking up if you enjoy atmospheric horror stories anyway.
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Posted by Kevin
May 2, 2010
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Sinkhole #3
Not that I’m a guru or something, but here are a few basic things that I like to have clear in my comics: spelling, grammar (within reason, I’m not the best at it myself sometimes) and some clear message, however tiny, that one story has ended so you can move onto the next one without a huge degree of confusion. My biggest problem with this is that I’m still not sure if this was all one big story or a bunch of small ones. I’m going with the latter, because if it was one big story it would make no sense at all, but there’s nothing to help me know if that’s true or not. Other than that, I liked the art. The rabbit counting his money was kind of funny, as was the kidnapped man who was looking for his dog. Everything else was kind of chaotic. Worth a look if you’re a fan of puzzles, but there’s definite potential if he gets his organizational skills together a little (or abandons them completely, it depends what he’s going for). E-mail him and see what else he has around.
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Posted by Kevin
May 2, 2010
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Out of the Box
Here’s a fun little comic about a character who’s painfully aware that he’s a character and wants a little control in his “life”. It would have been really easy for this to be a really stupid comic, as that’s a concept that plenty of people have touched on at one point or another, so kudos to Chuck for keeping it interesting. The character starts off as a normal, healthy man, and things get progressively worse as he goes along. Remember Chuck’s name, I think he may have great things ahead of him. Provided that he’s interested in continuing, this is the only thing of his that I’ve seen and for all I know he just did it on a dare or something. It’s only $.50, so what’s stopping you from sending the man an e-mail and getting a copy?
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Posted by Kevin
May 2, 2010
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Daily Compulsion #3
Ah, god bless the random mini comics. Or Jesus, or Harvey Fierstein, or whoever it is that blesses these sorts of things. The art in this one is a little raw (as you can probably guess from the cover). but the the inside is full of good little stories. In here you have beating the crap out of a baby, a starving cat, 10 things that make Nathan want to jab a pointy stick in his eye, favorite words for vagina, debating if life is completely pointless, and random little three panel comics that are actually funny. Sure, it’s probably not going to win any fancy schmancy awards, but it’s a fun comic and it’s only a buck which, to me, if the way all mini comics should be.
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Posted by Kevin
May 2, 2010
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Karma?
If you go to the Actus Tragicus website, you’ll see that this book (and the other four in the series, which I’ll be getting to in the next few days) are all out of print. So why am I putting them up here? Well, for one thing, all these people have stuff in anthologies and in various places, and their names deserve to be recognized. And I think that if enough people buy their new stuff, the old stuff will be reprinted. Call it a crusade if you want, but I really like what I’ve read so far. This one is about a woman whose world collapses around her and she decides to devote her life to revenge on all mankind. The birth of her child doesn’t go according to plan when it’s a boy and not a girl, but she manages to ignore that biological fact. That’s all you get from me, you’ll have to bug either Actus Tragicus or Top Shelf to get the ability to get it yourself. This is the Victor series, meaning that every one of the five comics features a completely unique character named Victor. Check out the website and see what you’re missing. Trust me, this is good stuff.
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Posted by Kevin
May 2, 2010
Website
Banana Soup!
What a wonderfully bizarre book. There’s a submarine, a train, a Saint Android, a briefcase, an octopus, a blimp, and banana soup. How all these things go together is something that you’re going to have to figure out for yourself, as I’m not spoiling anything. There’s also a recipe for actual banana soup in the back. It involves jalapenos with bananas and it sounds kind of disgusting, but what do I know? If I ever have all the ingredients around I might give it a shot. Anyway, this honestly does kind of defy description. Most of it doesn’t make the slightest bit of sense until the very end, then it all comes together. Ideas come fast and furious in this book. There’s new stuff on every page and you can just feel his sheer inventiveness coming through. E-mail the guy to see what else he has around or visit his website, this one was well worth the $3.
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Posted by Kevin
May 2, 2010
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The Three Ravens
Here’s a tiny, gorgeous book. Shannon studied traditional Celtic knotwork designs and it certainly shows. I’m guessing that she has other comics available and I’d love to see them if they look anything like this. This comic is an adaptation of a traditional ballad coming from the British Isles, dating back as far as 1610. It’s the story of a slain knight and the creatures in the forest that come to help him. More to it than that, of course, but it’s so tiny that if I tell you anything else I’ll have given too much away. Seriously though, that artwork is otherworldly. I’d guess this one is between $2 and $3 (no price given), check out the website to see what other things she has available.
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Posted by Kevin
May 2, 2010
Website where you can buy this comic
Website for Henrik
Website for Lars
Daily comics for Henrik
Oatmeal II
There’s a very simple rule I try to follow with this website: if I’m going to talk about something, there should be a simple way for anybody reading this to get that comic. A website is best, an e-mail address is great too (I’m a big fan of making the attainment of said comic as easy as possible), but if all I have is a PO box or regular address, I’ll stick with that. Why am I mentioning all this? Oatmeal is, as far as I can tell, not available anywhere. I’m pretty sure I got this at SPACE last year (2008), so it’s still possible to find, and I’m breaking with tradition here because this is worth seeking out. OK, maybe it’s not if you don’t like clever, sprawling outer space adventures with a varied and ridiculous cast of characters, so if that’s not you there’s plenty of other things on this site to keep you entertained. The level of detail in the art here is tremendous, as there’s no wasted space at all. Lars uses every bit of the panels, even if it’s just to show various debris scattered on the ground. Kids today, take note: if you’re going for sprawling and/or epic, attention to detail like that is key. I should mention that this came out in 1996, maybe they just did things differently way back then. How about the story? Two young women set out (in space) to visit their aunt. There’s a crash, some space sirens, a brief time stranded on a planet, a strange genius with a clumsy assistant, and sorry but there’s just no way a capsule review is going to do this thing justice. Like I said, there’s no easy way to get this that I could find online. This is here more as a public service announcement, that if you do see this lying around somewhere then yes, it is worth picking up.
UPDATE: Mark Innes contacted me and provided me a link to his publishing house, which puts out this and all sorts of other comics, which you should maybe think about buying.
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Posted by Kevin
May 2, 2010
Website
Crum Bums Episode One
I know, this book is supposed to be out sometime this summer as a complete work, not just the little preview that I got. Still, reviewing the start of it should give you some vague idea of whether or not it’s worth getting, right? Episode one has 64 pages I believe (out of a projected 160 for the final book, so you’re still getting more than a third of the story) and is another one of those wordless comics, much like his previous work Cave In. I don’t know why, but I’d been avoiding the wordless minis and books up until recently. Some kind of ridiculous idea that if I’m going to spend my hard earned money than I at least want to do it on something that’s going to take me more than five minutes to read. And there’s something to be said for a mini that’s packed full of words like The Assassin and the Wanderer(there’s a review of that up on another part of my page), no doubt about it.
The thing about the best wordless minis is that they have their own unique charm. Sure, they could put word balloons and tell you exactly what is happening in every panel, but that takes all the fun out of it in cases like this. Crum Bums is basically the story of a boy who finds a harmonica in a post-apocalyptic (I’m guessing here) world. There’s also a little bit in the middle about a monkey wearing a backpack that I’m going to assume will make more sense in the finished product. Overall, honestly, I’m not sure I can recommend this book. Which is fine, because I’m not sure that you could get a copy of it anyway. BUT it did make me wonder what happens next and what a few things in the mini mean. The old man, the monkey, the street gangs, pretty much everything. The problem with a lot of the “big name” comics is that there’s no reason at all to read the individual issues. Eightball lately (although apparently the next issue is going to stand alone), Louis Riel by Chester Brown, Palookaville by Seth… I think the only reason anybody reads these books when they come out is that it often takes these artists six months to a year to get an issue out, and the people who do like their work are starved for it by the time an issue comes out. And it’s certainly good work, in some cases the best around. But if you’re not dying to see something new from these people, a little taste of the latest graphic novel, then you might as well wait. That’s where this issue falls. Interesting, compelling… and incomplete.
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Posted by Kevin
May 2, 2010
Website
My War With Brian
Everybody knows that Ted Rall is a dick, right? Not that I’ve ever met the guy, but everybody knows the story by now of how he’s suing Danny Hellman over a practical joke? I’m sure it’s possible that he’s a perfectly wonderful human being whose side of the story just isn’t being told here (to be fair, I haven’t heard his side of the story, but I can’t imagine how he could justify ruining another human being) but, really, it doesn’t make a bit of difference. Why? Because I still like his comics. Sorry, maybe it isn’t accepted to say that out loud, but I do. Haven’t kept up with his weekly work, although I do see a strip once in a great while, but I usually like what I see. This is supposed to be a review for this book though, not a character analysis, so I apologize. This is the story of the battles Ted had with a bully back in his middle school days. He tries to kill the kid on more than one occasion, which probably seems insane until you think back to any of the times that you were bullied as a child. What did you want to do to the person doing the bullying? Probably something along the lines of throwing bricks at his head or slamming his head in a locker a few dozen times. He’s painfully honest (although he does seem to have more than a little bit of an ego when describing himself but, again, it’s not like I know the guy and say that he’s exaggerating) but I never did think much of his boxy art. The dialogue more than makes up for it, but the point of this review is simple. If you hate Ted Rall because of what’s going on with him and Danny Hellman, fine, hate away. I still think he’s a gifted cartoonist who deserves to be read without focusing on his personal life.
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Posted by Kevin
May 2, 2010
Website
Desolate Funny Farm
Yes, this is one of those books that you can judge by the cover. If you like fart jokes, you’ll love this book. If you don’t (and I don’t, but I did just hit 30, so what do I know?), then you might be more than a bit bored by chunks of this. Specifically I’m talking about the main story, about a boy who’s been farting his entire life uncontrollably and just trying to fit in, and the story on the inside cover about how you make comics by farting. Like I said, the humor didn’t do much for me, but there was more to this book that just those two stories. There was also the wordless tale of trying to get a turkey at the last minute on Thanksgiving and the secret behind the chicken at one of the big fast food chains, both of which were pretty funny stories. What you’re left with here is a mixed bag. Jason says in the afterward that he thinks he has all the fart jokes out of this system, and I hope that’s true. Still, plenty of folks like the fart jokes in whatever form they come, and if you’re one of those people you could do plenty worse that this. Here’s a website, this is $2, check out his stuff!
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Posted by Kevin
