April 27, 2010
Website
Problems With Solutions #2
Dammit! Here I am, all set to start off the new year (2008, in case you’re reading this years from now) blasting away at mediocrity instead of being so wishy-washy, and the first comic I pick up out of my pile has a set excuse for being so-so: this is a continuation of the first issue of the series, which I haven’t seen, and these piece are “B-sides” from that issue. So there are instantly lowered expectations and not much of a standard to strive for. Oh well, better luck tomorrow. If the first issue has the best of these stories, then this could be a worthy companion piece. If they’re all like this, it’s a fairly mediocre comic. Stories in here include Ian working in class, getting a grade back on a Shakespeare paper, watching a friend play Mario 3, bemoaning the state of free radio, chatting with friends, “dressing up” for Halloween, and a long, extended story at the end about the general state of voter apathy. I’m ignoring the stories that are just long walks with song lyrics as text because dude, that’s cheating. Like I said, it’s OK overall, the art is a little sloppy but decent and the lettering could use some work, but as a collection of B-sides it works. Of course, the fact that the website hasn’t been updated since right around when this comic came out isn’t a good sign… $1
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Posted by Kevin
April 27, 2010
Pacho Clokey
Wow. I was starting to think that all these Robot Publishing books were going to stay right around the mediocre to good level, and this one blew the rest of them away. It’s a critical analysis of the late work of a dead cartoonist. Using rough pencil sketches and dialogue that was probably just temporary, Nate deconstructs this guy and the main character, Pacho Clokey. The only problem with that is that I’m pretty sure that this Cesar Spinoza guy (the creator of Pacho Clokey) is fictional, which makes this comic all the more fascinating. Looked at from that perspective, it gives a lot of the older, stereotypical comics a haunting self-awareness of what happens to them in any given week and the futility of struggling against it. A unique and fascinating work. I have no idea where this guy is (no contact info in the book), but you can order it for a couple of bucks from the fine folks at Top Shelf.
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Posted by Kevin
April 27, 2010
Website
Are We Having Fun Yet?
I’ve never been able to articulate my thoughts about Zippy, which probably explains why I’m just now putting this stuff up on the page when I’ve had it since I started. Here goes: I like the stuff, really I do. It’s just… it’s the kind of thing that I like a lot more in theory than I do in practice. Kind of like that horrible new movie with Sean Penn playing the retarded guy. I want to believe that all he needs is love to raise his daughter, but I know that he’s retarded and all the heart-wrenching music in the world won’t change the fact that he’s incapable of it. Maybe that’s a bad analogy… Anyway, this is still one of the best daily strips running, if you can find it anywhere. It is, for reasons unknown, something that I don’t pick up when I see it sitting there in a comic store, and I don’t order it when I see it on the preorder page. The couple of things I have were purchased on incredibly cheap deals, otherwise I wouldn’t have any at all. What this says to me is that, no matter how much I protest to the contrary, I just don’t like it all that much. I liked his old Griffith Observatory stuff a lot, and there are a lot of genuinely funny things in here, don’t get me wrong. It’s just always left me kind of cold. I know I’m in the extreme minority on this one, so go on without me. Here’s his webpage, where you can find all kinds of samples and various other Zippy-related things. This book has Zippy turn into a beatnik, carve Jack Palance into Mount Rushmore, and talk to Ernie Bushmiller (the guy who started Nancy). You know, I wonder if I would have had the same opinion about this guy if Fox had approached him years ago instead of Matt Groening. I don’t know why I say bad things about this guy. Reading his stuff has obviously set my brain in a different direction that it usually goes…
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Posted by Kevin
April 27, 2010
E-mail
Many Mammals
I’ve been doing this website for almost five years now and I still have no idea how to review a sketchbook comic. It’s not pretentious at all, as it’s called “Many Mammals” and it consists entirely of sketches of mammals. Monkeys, dogs, a giraffe, a tiger, a deer and a couple of more complete looking images are presented here, along with a few of the DC female villains like Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy. I’m intrigued by some of the more polished artwork (like the one I sampled), but have no idea if she has any other comics out there. Maybe this was a diversionary thing for her or maybe it’s just practice, but about 95& of sketchbooks get a “meh” out of me, and that’s pretty much what this one gets. She obviously has some serious artistic ability and I’d be curious to see other comics though…
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Posted by Kevin
April 27, 2010
Clutch #2
What makes a good diary comic? For that matter, what makes a bad one? Honestly, the people I’ve seen who get around to drawing a comic about every day of their lives generally see things about their days that most people miss, making their comics important for everybody to read. That’s the case with Clutch. Greig doesn’t do much, really, unless you focus on the little things, in which case he’s busy all the time. I got the first three issues of Clutch and thought that #2 was the strongest, probably because it was the biggest one and it all just seemed so fresh. #3 started to feel a bit repetitive to me, honestly, but it was still worth reading, especially because it starts right after #2 ends, so you can follow every day of his life. #1 was different in that it was more of a joke strip. Some of them were extremely funny and all of them were at least worth reading, even if the art looked awful at times. Anyway, I’m supposed to be writing about this issue, right? It’s 40 days in the life of Greig, from 8/30/01 to 10/8/01. There are a couple of profound comments about 9/11, but it isn’t talked about that much. Get these as they come out, that’s my advice to you. He’s got a great sense of humor and he seems dedicated, which are both great things to support in the comics world. Send him money (you can send him $5 and some postage and get all three issues) at: P.O. Box 12409 Portland, OR 97212.
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Posted by Kevin
April 27, 2010
Website
Just a Matter of Time
You know, this isn’t usually how I read and/or review minis. I usually get a pile of them, read them all and then go back and think about them. This time I’m only reading one or two a day so I can keep up with this “one creator a day” business, and I think it’s the way to go. It gives the individual issues a lot more time to sink in. This one is an autobiographical tale of when the author was asked to go on a train ride with some diplomats and draw their portraits. A very understated and slightly surreal art style, and it turns out that the only people he cares about when it’s all over is the happy French couple he saw randomly on the train. A nice piece of work, and one more thing to convince me that I’m going to have to throw a lot of money at the fine folks at Stripburger pretty soon to see what I’ve been missing…
E-mail him and see what he has lying around, won’t you?
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
April 27, 2010
Website
Musetopia
A technical note: the website listed above is for J.’s boyfriend Gareth Brookes, as that seems to be the only place where you can get this comic at the moment. I hate to have that as the only link due to the generally transitive nature of relationships (not that I’m cynical about that subject or anything), but what are you going to do?  This is a collection of one panel gag comics, unique in that most of these are actually funny. The sampled image will, as always, tell you a lot about the book. Is that funny to you? No? OK, read it again and think about it for a minute. Is it funny now? Have you tried reading it aloud?  If none of that worked, it’s probably best to move on. If you smiled slightly or chuckled, you’re going to love this.  Most of the jokes here are homophones, which means I learned something today, as I thought they were all homonyms. Well, according to Wikipedia anyway, but they do seem to have a lot of brightly colored charts, which must mean they’re correct. You also have images of spoons spooning, donuts at a gunfight, hot potatoes, and I really have to stop myself there. What’s the point of my ruining all the fun by blandly describing jokes? The only thing you need to know is that there’s a pretty decent pile of funny in this comic, and it’s worth checking out. While you’re at it you should also get a pile of Gareth’s books and have a marathon of funny. No price, but let’s say $3.
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Posted by Kevin
April 27, 2010
Website (for her band, anyway)
Little Sophie
What a cute little mini. There’s not much to it, sure, but it’s a neat little story. It’s basically the tale of a little girl who loses her kitten and the babysitter who loses her. The idea to start with talking, go to a silent format and then end with talking was kind of odd but it worked for me. Cute, simple art, and it’s only $1. Send Marla an e-mail and ask her if she’s done anything else too…
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Posted by Kevin
April 27, 2010
Website
Magic Hour #1
Crap, here I am a few weeks too late for this to be a proper Halloween comic. Oh well, those are good all year round, right? There are two stories in here, with an even smaller comic inserted in the middle that expands on the first story. The first story deals with a group of kids talking about another group of kids that went into the yard of the gorgon and, oddly, never came back. The mini mini shows exactly why this may be the case, not to give anything away or anything. The second half of the book deals with the possible origin story of a neighborhood boy called Black Eye Eddie. What’s with that family of his anyway? This is sparse book, as the first story is told all in single panels, but it manages to strike the proper creepy/funny balance for me. This is just for me, mind you, as some people prefer a lot more creepy and a little less funny or vice versa. Worth a look either way, unless you hate all things Halloweeny… $2
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Posted by Kevin
April 27, 2010
Website
The King of Persia
What the hell ever happened to this guy? I’m well aware that this book has been around for a while now, and it doesn’t make any sense to call him a “new” creator. Still, another reason this web page is around is so people like him don’t fade away from our memory completely. Am I wrong in thinking that he hasn’t done much of anything in comics since then? Please, someone, fill me in if that’s the case. When I first read this book a couple of years ago I thought it was OK bordering on pretty good. This time around, it blew me away. I caught a lot more of the little things that I missed then, I guess. It’s the story of a King who falls in love with a girl who can talk to the animals. She spurns him, but eventually agrees to marry him if he can find the emerald for her that she saw in her dreams. He goes on a quest with his faithful camel, and adventure ensues. Sounds pretty typical, right? WAY off. His knack for dialogue, especially that of the crusty old King, is amazing. He sticks with the story after the usual “and they lived happily ever after” too, and it makes the story completely unique. If this one slipped by anybody (and I know it slipped by me until I saw it for cheap a couple of years ago), do yourselves a favor and get it. It’s less than $5 on the Mars Import page and it’s fantastic. I laughed out loud a couple of times and wasn’t expecting that ending at all. Just buy it, and if anybody out there has Walt’s ear, make him get back to the drawing board, will you? You’d be doing the world a great favor…
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Posted by Kevin
April 27, 2010
Website
Odd Jobs
Warning! If you haven’t played any RPG or turn-based adventure games, it’s OK to skip this. Seriously, go read Rafer Roberts, he has a nice full page of rambling to keep you busy. Because while this is a fine comic on its own, chances are this won’t make any sense to you unless you’re at least a little bit of a dork in the video game sense. This is the story of a sorcerer and a zombie who are looking for work, and the best they can do is to be the monsters some guy beats in a random encounter meant to boost his experience. The catch is, though, that the monsters have to lose. All sorts of in-jokes here, funny stuff if this sort of thing has sucked out huge chunks of your life like it’s been known to do to me from time to time. No price, but I would have to guess a buck or two…
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Posted by Kevin
April 27, 2010
Website
Lil’ Dude #1
I’m tempted to just stop talking about collections of 4 panel comic strips, which is obviously what this is. After all, it’s not like I usually have anything nice to say about them. Ah well, as long as everybody gets going in that the 4 panel strips have a lot of work to do to win me over, then no harm done. This one was so-so, which places it above most of the panel strips I see. There were a few funny moments mixed in with a fair amount of stuff that wasn’t so funny or was groan-inducing, as these are sometimes required to be due to the “punchline” nature of the last panels. However, this is also apparently something that Randolph is new to. If he’s just looking to break into newspaper strips and live a long and happy life raking in the big bucks, it looks like he’s on the right track. That’s not always a bad thing, but it’s also not something I look for in my reading material. Check out the website and make up your own mind with the samples, what do I know? I think this was a buck at SPACE…
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Posted by Kevin
April 27, 2010
Website
The Legend of Johnny Rocker
All past divisions of people, the things that keep them separate and fighting, should be thrown away, as Beth has proved a new way to tell people apart: whether or not they like a good old fashioned mini comic rock battle. I say this because, really, once you read that you’ll know where you stand. Is the image of one rock god competing with a wannabe rock god via awesome guitar and bass licks your idea of a good time or not? There is no middle ground here, people. The small town of Bramble is terrorized by Blitzkrieg as he descends from the clouds and plays his awesome bass, using it to control the weather, until the town is almost flooded. There’s only one man who can stop Blitzkrieg, and he challenges him with his equally awesome guitar: Johnny Rocker. People who appreciate this type of thing, and frankly I don’t understand you if you don’t, may or may not explode with joy after seeing a two page (mini) spread of their duel, as shooting from their instruments comes unicorns, candy, geese, balloons and kites, all while they are both rocking on a cloud. Beth also throws in some excellent dialogue from the terrified townsfolk and has an excellent grasp of trash talk between the two rock gods. Depending on where you fall on this spectrum you’ll know immediately whether or not this is for you, but if it is this thing is damned near golden. No price, but let’s say $3.
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Posted by Kevin
April 27, 2010
Website
Cusp
I’m going to go out on a limb and guess that this is the first comic that Thomas has done. Not that it matters, I guess, I just like to note things like that. It’s a mixed bag in here. I don’t think any of the stories were longer than 4 pages and a lot were only one page long. He dealt with… no, I don’t know if I’ll be able to sum it up this time. I haven’t used “you have to read this to really understand it” in a while, have I? Good, because it’s true. There’s a leaf, a failed mystic, a squirrel, some rapists, werewolves, vaginas… Any idea that it’s impossible to for me to describe this yet? If this is his first book the look of it is incredibly polished. The art is great, although there was a story here or there that didn’t make much sense to me. Whether or not that’s because I’m an idiot or because they just didn’t work is open to interpretation. It’s $3.95, well worth a look so you can try to figure out what the hell is going on and you should e-mail the guy to see what else he’s up to.
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Posted by Kevin
April 27, 2010
Website
Innocent: The Sword #1
I’m using the sample below for one simple reason: anybody who sees that should have an idea right away if they’re going to like this comic. For me it’s not really my cup of tea; it reminds me way too much of the awful, awful Rob Liefeld comics, right down to the scar over the eye. The comic itself is mostly one epic battle between an angel and a demon, followed by the angel being discovered, near death, by a tribe of people who are still pretty much a mystery. This is the first of a six issue limited series, and it would be easy if I could just say that this isn’t for me but maybe other people would like it and move along but… Well, it’s obvious Shawn has done a lot of research for this story, and what he talks about before and after the comic is fascinating stuff, but none of that makes it onto the actual comics page, at least not so far. All we get is one cliche-filled battle and a few pages to meet this tribe. Of course, this is only the first issue, so it could get a lot better from here, but I honestly don’t know what to make of this. I don’t like the art, although it seemed to sell well enough the first time it was around, so what do I know? The story seems to have the potential to get a lot better though, so I guess I’ll have to wait and see… $3.50
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Posted by Kevin
April 27, 2010
Website
The Haunt of Horace #1
How seriously should one take a book that’s essentially a good-natured take on vampires and their daily life? On a very simple level this can be a fun comic, with a few good lines thrown in here and there and the wonderful concept of a vampire unicorn. But if you take any part of it too seriously, or even try to hold it up to basic logic, it falls apart. It’s only the first issue, so these things can be ironed out, but there was plenty not to like about this book. It’s the story of Horace, who moves with his vampire parents to a new town. There they find constant harassment and death threats, yet the concept of moving away is never mentioned. The parents seem to hate Horace, as they feed him crap for weeks at the start of the comic and are always punching him or trying to kill him in some way. Maybe this has something to do with the fact that he was bitten by a vampire bat and probably isn’t their real kid It was never explained, so who knows. Then there’s the vampire unicorn, a great concept that isn’t done well at all. Something about a flying horse that says “poop pee kill kill” doesn’t work as either a scary creature or a funny creature. How about the fact that there’s a mammoth pile of crap behind the plywood facade of their new house? Apparently vampires now live in crap, or at least love it enough to have a gargantuan pile of it behind their “house”. Or maybe this was a joke that just fell completely flat. My favorite scene, though, had to be when a group of kids tied Horace to a tree to torture him. They strip him, pull his pants down, we get a close-up of a kid about to do… something, then Horace crying, then it moves onto the next scene. So, um, was he scarred for life? Castrated? Meanly teased? Maybe I’m nitpicking at little things here, but there are so many nits to pick, and they all add up to a mediocre comic. At times the art is fantastic, and at other times it looks rushed and sloppy. Maybe things get a lot better from here on out (there’s already a second issue available), as there is certainly potential here, but you might want to wait until they get their act together before checking this out. $2.95
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Posted by Kevin
April 27, 2010
Website
Escalator
Plenty of comics are completely random these days, so that seems like an unremarkable thing to start a review off with. Still, this book is completely random. Sumo wrestlers setting off by the hundreds looking for adventure, a young man fleeing his apartment after accidentally selling his soul, sneaking into a train yard to make some art, alien porn, trying to escape from murderous school girls, and a few other things that make even less sense than that. This is a feast for the eyes, with most of the panels in here having obviously been the result of some serious hours of work. Little background things, big, complex foreground things, the man likes a busy panel and there’s not a thing wrong with that. If you like your stories short and random but also like some bang for your buck, look no further, as they say. This is $12.95, available through Alternative Comics, or go to Brandon’s website, if this review didn’t make much sense to you and you’d like to see what the hell I’m talking about for yourself…
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Posted by Kevin
April 27, 2010
Link to buy collected edition
E-mail (maybe)
Myspace page
Happy Ivot #2
Ah, I love the random minis from Quimby’s with no indication when they were made. The listed website for this is dead, which is a shame as this is a collection of one page strips, perfect for easy consumption on a functioning website. I posted all the links I could find up there, as this really is searching out for those with a bit of free time. That cover image only deals with one of the stories in here, other stories include running a bus with the power of smell, game shows ruining the economy, suing the makers of muskets, how the Loch Ness monster is actually an owl, how the Austin Texas music scene collapsed, a study showing no decline in ugly people, what to do once you’ve made a clone of yourself, the difficult life of a courtroom artist, the President demanding a new contract, and how serial killers are actually stupid, among many other strips. Almost all of these are well thought out and at least mildly amusing if not downright hilarious, and the man has a knack of nailing the absurd facial expressions of his characters. Which makes it all a damned shame that this doesn’t appear to be an active strip as of 1/31/08, but what can you do? Here’s hoping somebody reads this, gets in touch with the man and motivates him to start putting these things together again. $2, if you can find it…
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Posted by Kevin
April 27, 2010
Website
Amelia Rules! #6
I was really hoping to get a decent scan or two from the website, but it looks like it’s not up right now and I can’t find another one (anybody have any ideas?), so you’ll have to put up with my scanner and its unique interpretations of color scans. Sorry. As for the comic, I’m pretty sure that this was the Day Prize winner at SPACE this year, so I had pretty high expectations for this all ages comic. “All ages” seems to mean in comics “intellectually insulting and puerile”, and I was thrilled to see that that wasn’t the case here. This comic (which I don’t think follows the regular storyline too closely, judging from other comments I’ve seen) deals with Amelia’s Aunt Tanner, who gave up life as a rock star some years back and has no desire to go back. A magazine puts one of her albums on a “best of” list of the past decade and all kinds of people try to find her to get her to play again. It’s all told through the eyes of a child who’s suddenly popular at school because of her famous Aunt and doesn’t understand why she doesn’t want to sing any more. It works on both levels. I think that a child would get the basic idea behind all the happenings in the issue and an adult (and when did I become that exactly?) can read between the lines of the adults comments to see Tanner’s dissatisfaction with fame and having to compromise to record companies. Whimsical art, wonderful sense of realism with the children’s dialogue and Peanut’s eyes make this a solid comic. Read it, then let your kids read it. I’m curious to see what they think. E-mail the guy, or just check out the website…
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Posted by Kevin
April 27, 2010
Website
Deadpan #1
If anybody out there is keeping score, Chicago has a solid bunch of folks making comics. This is another great one from Chicago Comics. A bit expensive at $3, true, but it’s nicely put together. Two stories in here. One is about David’s family and his experiences following a relative’s death, one is about two people that David has dealings with. Vague enough for you? Good. Both stories were great, although I thought the mixing of the two people in the second story could have been done a little bit better. Not that you’re going to have the slightest idea of what I’m talking about unless you’ve read the story, but I thought it was flawless right up until the last page. As for the art, I don’t know what he uses for shading, but it gives the book a distinctive feel. It almost looks painted and then shrunk, I don’t know. Well worth the $3, and here’s hoping that there’s more out there soon. Website!
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Posted by Kevin
