April 27, 2010
Website
Panel #7: Luck
Yes, I do intend to go back and fill in the Panel blanks, but this is the most recent issue, so why not review this one? Once again it’s a solid anthology, and I think three solid ones makes a pattern. Before I get to the comic, kudos on the production value and the intro and bio pages. It starts with a fake chain letter type thing, typos and all, and ends with astrology signs for all the creators that had me laughing out loud a few times, and you can’t beat that. I particularly recommend the Gemini entry about Craig Bogart, if you happen to have a copy in front of you. First up is Luck Pusher by Sean McGurr & Tim McClurg, about the dangers of trying to buy luck off the street from a dealer. Next up is The Ineffables: Dumb Luck by Craig Bogart, which contains the best argument I’ve heard yet against advanced humans from the future coming back and killing the asshole currently in the White House before he damages everything beyond repair. No Such Luck by Dan Barlow is a wordless tale about luck, crime and karma all in one. One In A Gazillion by the inimitable Matt Kish tells the story of the journey of a seed thoughout the universe and its chance of survival. The System by Tony Goins & Tom Williams is probably the strongest of a very strong bunch of stories, about a man in the future whose every move and thought is closely watched by the government and their futile attempts to bring him constant happiness. The Twilight Order: Thief Of Fortune is a futuristic story of drugs and luck, and the effect one has on the other. Seriously, for an anthology, there’s not a bad piece in here, and I continue to regret crapping on some of these people in earlier reviews as it sure seems like they have their collective acts together now. Oh, and it’s a measly $3, available up above or yearly at SPACE, which is one of the better cons in the country and something more people should consider attending…
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Posted by Kevin
April 27, 2010
Website
Panel #6: Music
Well, here it is, the last of the Panel books. For those of you who read webpages like normal people (i.e. down from the top), this obviously isn’t the last of the Panel books, just the last one that I’ve gotten to as the designated rambler about such things. So, no new Panel reviews until 2008, when there will be a new one (right guys?), loosely held together by another mystery topic. Once again, the presentation for the book is fantastic, as this one is packaged like a record (kids, ask your parents. They were kind of like a DVD, but bigger and more resistant to scratches). First up is Muted, a story by Tony Goins and Dan Barlow dealing with a young woman trying to get used to being suddenly deaf who gets a chance to try to physically see music. Next up is Effigy by Tom Williams (if my crappy memory is correct, I think he’s in all of these books), in which a young woman tries to come to terms with an old, lousy relationship with a musician. Andy Bennett has Jackie Plays Piano next, a piece about a blind woman who plays the piano to feel. Craig Bogart breaks up a book that’s starting to feel maudlin with the next story about homeland security trying to deal with a plane that’s sure to crash due to the excessive number of musicians onboard. Dara Naraghi has a piece with text and pictures next about an outdoor techno music festival, which sounds roughly like hell on earth to me, but Dara manages to make it seem fun. Finally Sean McGurr and Tim McClurg have Man In The Mirror, a cautionary tale about bringing dates back when you have to deal with a roommate. Overall I didn’t think it was the strongest Panel of the bunch, but it’s up against some pretty tough competition and there’s still plenty here to recommend it, particularly the first and last stories and the Craig Bogart piece. $3
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Posted by Kevin
April 27, 2010
Website
Panel #5: Myth
I don’t think a scanner can adequately convey how great that cover is. That rip you see is an actual rip in the cover, which leads me to believe that these were either a huge pain in the ass to produce or they’ve found some way to easily tear the covers of all the copies of this issue. Either way kudos, and we’re also treated to different interpretations of the cover inside by all the artists. This issue deals with something I spent a fair amount of time with in the ancient days when I was in school: mythology. Craig Bogart sets the bar pretty high with the first story, a whodunnit it involving Jesus, Hercules and Odin all as suspects as to who murdered a very annoying bird. Next up is The Sun-Mother’s Home by Dara Naraghi & Andy Bennett, detailing a journey by a group of people who have been cast out of their home and the legends they tell along the way about the origin of the earth. Tony Goins follows with a story called America, abiout our future wars, what we have to do to get out of them and how we’re doomed to repeat the same stupid mistakes we’ve been making for years. Glenn Brewer’s story about the origin of the seahorse is gorgeous, although a few of the finer points might have been lost on me (it was one of them there silent stories, all kinds of room for interpretation). Matt Kish has the visual highlight of the book next with what is essentially a series of giant trading cards with various characters from his own Spudd 64 mythology. Tom Williams is then kind enough to wrap thiings up with a story about a guessing game among the gods. Oh, and in case you can’t tell by the scan, this issue is huge, magazine-sized. All in all, once again they’ve put together a solid anthology on another interesting topic.
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Posted by Kevin
April 27, 2010
Website
Panel #4: Home
One of my favorite types of comic is the anthology, the problem being that’s it’s sp rarely done well. The average anthology has a few stories that you like (if you’re lucky), a few you don’t and a bunch somewhere in the middle. Panel, from what I’ve seen so far, is all about the stuff that you like. First up in this one is a wordless story about the average afternoon of a cat by Andy Bennett, which is wonderful unless you’re one of those weird “dog people” I keep hearing about. Next up is a story by Tim McClurg about Chubby, a horribly ugly new restaurant that must pay for existing, or at least it must pay if a bunch of drunk young men can manage it. Then there’s Matt Kish with a wordless tale about the last moments of a dying astronaut, done only as Matt Kish can (those of you who read Spudd 64 know what I mean). Craig Bogart, in probably the best piece of the book, confronts his wasted potential after reluctantly returning home after his father is murdered. Sean McGurr & Dan Barlow tell the story of Sean adopting a baby from China and the fears he has about her growing up, wondering which is her “home” country. Finally there’s Tom Williams, who seems to have too much talent for his own good, breaking up some of the more somber tones of the book with his tour of his apartment, MTV Cribs style, featuring a homeless Sebastian Bach and Tom desperately trying to kill squirrels. Great stuff again, and I have two more issues of this to come to test my theory that these people really have their act together with the concept of the anthology. $3, plus $1 for postage on any of these, but you can see that for yourself by clicking on that website up there…
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Posted by Kevin
April 27, 2010
Website
Panel #3: Space
That cover is a whole lot cooler if you can see the woman whose arms are wrapping around the cover, but what are you going to do? This is an anthology from creators in Columbus Ohio with a loose theme of “space”. That can be taken many different ways, and is in a wide variety of stories. Dara Naraghi & Tom Williams have a fantastic story of the juxtaposition between space exploration and war. Glenn Brewer has a good shortie about, um, well, read it for yourself. Sean McGurr & Steve Black take Zeno’s Dichotomy Paradox and run with it (literally). Tony Goins & Andy Bennett have the highlight of the book with a story about a random hookup at a party and what happens when you run into that person randomly the next day. Or at least what happened that time, but it’s just a frank and honest take on the whole thing that it became my favorite in this book. Craig Bogart has a giant smashy alien, and Dansen Stahl & Tim McClure have a wraparound for many pages about unintentionally interlocking conversations on a busy city street. Really the perfect anthology, as nothing was anything less than interesting, which leads to a great reading experience overall. Check it out, they have other anthologies from past years available too, and I’m curious about them now. I think I was kind of harsh on at least some of these people in their individual comic, but now I feel compelled to pick up some other issues and give them another chance (everybody should know by now that I’m always willing to read other issues from people I previously panned, as that’s the only way I’m going to have an informed opinion about anybody, as it’s impossible to discard someone based on one book). OK, ramble over, here’s the website, it’s $3, check it out!
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Posted by Kevin
April 27, 2010
Website
Panel #2: Architecture
Damn, and here I was hoping that this was the first Panel, but one look at that website shows me that this one is, in fact, #2. #1 only had a print run of 300 issues and it doesn’t look like it’s been reprinted since, so so much for that one. Everything else besides #3 looks like it’s available on that website though, for the curious. So how does this one hold up, seeing as how I’m just now getting to it for this website? Pretty well, all things considered. The first piece deals with putting the horrors of the past behind us, in a dark and atmospheric piece by Andy Bennett. Next Dara Naraghi and Adrian Barbu have a nice little piece about figuring out every last angle of a heist… or almost every angle. Then the book veers suddenly into humor (and three cheers for all anthologies that keep the reader on their toes like this), as a series of unfortunate events, chronicled by Dara Naraghi and Tim Fischer, leads to the extravagant home of an intergalactic porn star getting burned down. Next up, Tony Goins and Steve Black have a futuristic story about a crappy future world where everybody gets by on giant suspended bridges and there are constant bombings. The text piece, by Dansen Stahl (with a few illustrations by Tim Fischer), is the biggest misstep in the book. Text pieces are always tricky, but if you’re talking about what is essentially a Revolutionary (that is, American Revolution) group of heroes, isn’t it a much better story in a comic anthology if it’s, you know, a comic? Tom Pappalardo proved to me recently that text in comics can be done well, but I think these two missed a chance for a great comic here. And finally there’s a piece by Tom Williams in which he debates going back to Columbine for a reunion years after the school has been demolished. This is still a pretty solid group of stories, even if it only got better from here. Worth a look if you’ve been following this series and/or these people and want to see what their stuff looked like when they were only relative babies at this business…
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Posted by Kevin
April 27, 2010
Website
Panel #1
Well, here it is, the missing O.P. (original Panel). It seems silly to review this in the conventional sense, as this is the definition of a labor of love, probably taking years to complete. What good does it do to poo-poo this early work, especially when practically everybody in here has gone on to do better work? Instead I’ll just talk about the contents, as plenty of people will probably never see this in its current form (although there are maybe, possibly some plans to post this issue online). All the stories in here are followed up with pretty thorough bios about the creators, or at least they were thorough at the time. There’s also a script, which is always interesting for people who want to see how the sausage is made. As for the stories, there’s an untitled story by Steve Black which is a hodge-podge of seemingly unrelated words and images, a preview story of a wacky university with robots and teenagers by James Hanrahan and Tim Fischer, one oddly placed panel by Dansen Stahl, the story of a classic con by Andy Bennett, a brief story about the future by Tony Goins and Steve Black, a lovely text piece about a local wrestling show by Tony Goins, a heartbreaking story about getting old by Tony Goins, the perfect way to regain fame by Dara Naraghi and Tim McClurg, and (this is how I can tell that this must be old) a series of surprisingly unfunny strips by Tom Williams. Just in case you were like me and thought he must have always been awesome. In future issues the art is better and the writing is crisper, but there’s only one first issue of any series. Oh, and there wasn’t even a theme that year! A minor thing maybe, but it sure seems odd now.
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Posted by Kevin
April 27, 2010
Website
Mauled! #3
And this behemoth of a page just keeps getting bigger and bigger. One of these days I’ll pare it down, etc. etc. excuses excuses. So, once again, you can see that cover, right? You already read the first two issues of this series and chances are that you’ve been waiting for more for quite a while, and here it is! A few of the artists involved: Stan Yan, Josh Frankel, Lonnie Allen, Peter S. Conrad, Fredo, Jenny Gonzalez, Kate Allen, Adam Suerte, and Dave McKenna, among many others. What sorts of tragedies at sea are they talking about exactly? You have snapping sea turtles, a giant eel, various shark attacks, a whale trying to jump over a boat, horrible storms, and at least one swordfish living up to its name. Great fun to be had here as always, although I was less than impressed with the stories that were told in poetry form. I’m here for the mayhem dammit, not iambic pentameter! $4.50, please keep buying these so they keep making them, next up is “Mauled by Machines”… Website
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Posted by Kevin
April 27, 2010
Website
Mauled! #2
There’s very little reason for me to write a review after you get a good look at that cover. You either think the idea is morbidly hilarious or you don’t. Well, in case you need any convincing at all, I’ll tell you what’s in here. There’s a woman who has a scalpel in her chest cavity, a man who loses a leg through prolonged incompetence, a small boy who loses his penis at an early age, and more stories about people screwed out of their rightful piles of malpractice money because of all those “anti frivolous lawsuits” bills that the Republicans have been passing for years than you can shake a stick at. That’s a long sentence, take a breath and read over it to make sure it made sense. Good? Good. If I could make a suggestion, I think the next one should be about people who put a variety of things in electrical outlets. Come on, we know the stories are out there! Here’s the talent that I knew: Neil Kleid, Mike Dawson, K. Thor Jensen, and Dave McKenna. Good stuff all around, it’s $3.75, send an e-mail!
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Posted by Kevin
April 27, 2010
Website
Mauled! #1
In case you can’t read the cover, it says “True Stories of People Attacked at the Zoo”. With that being said, how much convincing could you possibly need to check this out? Here’s a partial list of the people involved: Danny Hellman, Jenny Gonzalez, Dave McKenna, K. Thor Jensen, and Brian Musikoff. Those are just the people who are already on this site, but there are all kinds of stories in here of very stupid people being mauled by animals who have every right to take a chunk out of them, as far as I’m concerned. Let’s see, what animals are involved: monkeys, a polar bear, an elephant, tigers, and a panther, among other things. I love stuff like this, so if you don’t feel the same way, you probably shouldn’t bother to check it out. If you do like this stuff, you can get copies through Brian for $3.95.
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Posted by Kevin
April 27, 2010
Website
Stripburger #18
Anthologies are, invariably, a tricky proposition. How do you recommend something that has 3/4 great stories, but 1/4 of it sucks? Or how about if that number is turned around and 3/4 of it sucks, but the other 1/4 of it is so amazing that you think everyone should read it? Well, that issue can be dealt with another day, because this book is almost all at least worth reading, if not great. It’s an anthology of handicapped people from Europe and it’s something else. Yugoslavia, the Netherlands, Russia, Slovenia, Croatia, Switzerland and France all had people contribute to making this book. Chances are you haven’t heard of most of these people, unless you follow the scene in other countries. I was happy to learn that there are so many other issues of this series available. It’s up to #20 now along with a few special issues, and most of them are anthologies with a theme of come kind. Once I move out of my current place in Champaign, I’m going to send away for as many of these things as I can afford and see if they’re all as enjoyable as this one.
What kind of stories are in this mini? Well, there’s the man with no arms who has to find a way to take a piss, an impotent bigot wandering around town, two people in a convalescent home who can’t get sexual satisfaction, and a wheelchair race in hell. As I look through this again, maybe I was being too generous in saying that the whole thing worked. There’s not a bad story in the bunch, which is saying something, but a couple of them aren’t much past average. And if that’s the worst thing that I can say about a book, that has to be a good thing. I also expected more of a sense of anger at the non-handicapped world. I don’t know why I thought that would be the case, and there are hints of it here and there, but it’s not anywhere near as pervasive as I thought it might be. If you’re at all curious to see what the scene is like in Europe, this is the best place I’ve seen to start looking.
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Posted by Kevin
April 27, 2010
Website
Stripburek
One of these days I’ll figure out how to do a review for an anthology. I liked the vast majority of it. Lots of familiar faces, either from other anthologies or just things that I’ve come across, like Alexsander Zograf and Jakob Klemencic. I’ve mentioned before that I think Stripburger puts out some of the best anthologies going, right? Good. This is over 200 pages and has a great insert with samples from all of the cartoonists and contact information for everybody. Damn you, finite amount of money! Anyway, the stories here are about all sorts of things. Vague enough for you? Life, love, work, futility, time, zoos, rebellion, dreams, hunger, suicide, Hitler, hostages, trolls, elves, oblivion, family, trickery. and death. There, who says these things have to be complicated? This one is about a year old (as of 2/16/03) but they have a new anthology available for preorder from Top Shelf. Come on, aren’t you getting sick of all these American comics?
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Posted by Kevin
April 27, 2010
Website where you can buy this
Sentence
Anybody out there curious what the British comic scene is like these days? No? Then shame on you, there’s nothing for you to see here. For the sane members of the viewing audience, read on. There are eight artists in this, four of which are on this site somewhere: Gary Northfield, Nick Abadzis, Tom Gauld and Dave Shelton. The concept of this anthology is simple: each creator gets to work with one sentence, and one sentence only, of their choosing. Then they have six pages to tell that story, only using the words in that sentence, if any. Here are the sentences: I want your body and soul; Walk towards the light; What could possibly go wrong?; You’ve gone up in my book now your grandad had a hook; Like a bird-call, but harsh and distorted, like sounds in a cave; Be a happy, healthy dog; Heavens to Betsy, Miss Wickerstaff, have you no shame?; and If I stumbled from your party at three in the morning, would everything turn out fine? There’s not a single bad story in here. My favorite of the bunch changed almost every time I read a new one, which makes this nothing short of a phenomenal success in my book. The price is a bit steep at $12.50 but this is a rare chance to see creators from “across the pond”, as they say, all in one place and getting the chance to really shine. Here’s the e-mail address of the publisher and I really think this book should get some attention…
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Posted by Kevin
April 27, 2010
Website
Sorry
The kids are building a comics army. Don’t panic though, that’s a good thing. I have to admit, I haven’t thought a whole lot about what happens to all these people taking classes at places like the Center for Cartoon Studies after they graduate, but luckily for the rest of us it looks like they have it all figured out. That website listed above has about a dozen whippersnappers, freshly graduated and ready to make some comics, with plenty available from just about everybody listed. This is the first of 4 anthologies, done mostly to defray the cost of going to conventions, and it’s great to confirm that yes, it sure looks like this medium does have a promising future. First up is probably the highlight of the anthology, Mermaid Monster Blues by Caitlin Plovnick, a disturbing yet highly plausible retelling of the mermaid fable by Hans Christian Anderson. Next is Bluejay the Imitator by Colleen Frakes, based on a native story of the bluejay trying to find his place in the world. Next, well, I take it back: Monkey Bars by Mario Van Buren has to be the highlight, as it goes into detail about why it’s a bad idea to distract kids climbing on the monkey bars. Finally there’s Burn by Emily Wieja, the silent tale of a pyromaniac. While there will probably always be people just randomly putting out mini comics, it looks like in the future there will also be a substantial pile of people who are professionally trained putting out mini comics. Over the long run this should have the effect of raising the bar for everybody else, and three cheers for that. $6
Comments Off on Various I Know Joe Kimple Anthologies – Sorry | Reviews | Tagged: Caitlin Plovnick, Colleen Frakes, Emily Wieja, I Know Joe Kimple, Mario Van Buren, Sorry | Permalink
Posted by Kevin
April 27, 2010
Website
Trivial
Huzzah for another anthology from the I Know Joe Kimpel crew! Crap, did I give away my reaction already? Oh well. This is, as the title suggests, the depiction of 4 trivial events, often wrapped in far more dramatic events. Well, five, as Sean Ford has two short pieces. First up is a piece by Alexis Frederick-Frost about the second expedition to the South Pole (and no, I have no idea if this is fictional or not). He narrows in on an ongoing discussion among the group members about various dishes they’re inventing, continuing their arguments even while facing death. Next up is a creepy piece by Alex Kim which deals with the lead character relating his dream of his hands becoming giant sized and essentially going on a rampage. The piece by A.L. Arnold is my runaway favorite of the anthology, as it depicts a wordless struggle (unless you count grunts as words) between the last remaining protector of the earth and a particularly stubborn meteorite. The utterly thankless nature of the job, the grim resignation of the protector and that tremendous ending all make this a wonderful thing, and makes me wonder why I haven’t seen more from this guy. Or girl, as A.L. could be anything. Finally there’s the two pieces by Sean Ford, who everybody around here already knows as the man behind the series that is taking the small press world by storm, Only Skin. These pieces don’t reveal any of the mysteries of that series, as they’re just conversations between the ghost and Clay, as the ghost tries to get Clay to poison a girl (due to his own hatred of the world) and reminisces about times he’s never had drinking in a cemetery. This is another solid anthology, and I’m still mildly surprised when anthologies don’t have at least one weak piece in the collection. So it’s great and they managed to keep it at an affordable (for the impressive packaging anyway) $5. Hard to ask for much more than that.
Comments Off on Various I Know Joe Kimple Anthologies – Trivial | Reviews | Tagged: A.L. Arnold, Alex Kim, Alexis Frederick-Frost, I Know Joe Kimple, Sean Ford, Trivial | Permalink
Posted by Kevin
April 27, 2010
Website
Graphic Classics: Edgar Allen Poe
There’s probably not a single author out there more responsible for my sense of wonder as a human being as Edgar Allen Poe (with the possible exception of Tolkien). It probably had a lot to do with the fact that we were taught genuinely horrific stories in grade school about being buried alive, murder, plague and torture. It’s obvious, right from the gushing introduction from Joe Lansdale, that this whole book is a labor of love. All of the favorites are covered here (although there are plenty that aren’t, as there just aren’t enough pages in the world to do this man justice and still have the book be less than $100), and even the story of The Raven is redone in an interesting way, something that I didn’t think was possible after seeing tributes/rip-offs from all manner of media over the years. If there’s some way that you’ve made it to this point in your life without reading any of Poe’s work, check this out, as it’s only $9.95. I read it at work, in broad daylight, while listening to country music (hey, I don’t have control of the radio station), and I’m still creeped out and jumping at random noises. Buy this, but also check out his prose work, as I’m going to try and find a decent collection of his for the next thing on my reading list. Contact info is up there!
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Posted by Kevin
April 27, 2010
Website
Graphic Classics: Mark Twain
I love the fact that nobody spent any time in this interpreting The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. Clemens (that’s his real name, as a tiny bit of my schoolin’ is clinging to my brain) had pearls of wisdom and quirky little short stories that have probably never been equaled, and that’s what everybody here focused on. The Mysterious Stranger, The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County, A Dog’s Tale, P.T. Barnum and the Cardiff Giant, and A Ghost Story are a few of the stories in this book. I’d only heard of two people in this one (Rick Geary and Mary Fleener), but it’s obviously a lot more fun than the Bram Stoker volume. It is worth your time to actually seek out some of his books, but this is perfect to introduce children to his work or just a great collection of his stories. It’s still only $9.95 and everything I’ve seen of this series so far shows me that it’s a blast. Website!
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Posted by Kevin
April 27, 2010
Website
Graphic Classics: Bram Stoker
Oh, what an awful scan. What’s new, right? Anyway, I’d heard of this series but hadn’t seen it before. It’s a great idea, having some really talented people interpret stories from various literary figures. They also have Jack London, Ambrose Bierce and H.P. Lovecraft (I’d love to see that one), which all begs the obvious question: where’s Edgar Allen Poe? Just curious. Here are the names in this that you might recognize: Jeremi Onsmith, Hunt Emerson, Spain Rodriguez, and Richard Sala. Various stories from Bram Stoker are interpreted here, some as pictures accompanying text and others just as illustrated versions of stories. Certain artists would take chunks of stories too, as a few different people did parts of Dracula (with the Hunt Emerson illustrated “strengths and weaknesses of vampires” being my favorite. Basically if you like the Big Book series from DC or like the work of the author in question, they’ve done a great job with this book. Well worth a look, especially considering that it’s only $9.95 for a fat book. Check out the website, why don’t you?
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Posted by Kevin
April 27, 2010
Website
The Bizmar Experiment
“Bizmar” stands for Bunny Insect Zombie Monkey Alien Robot, and the idea here seems to be to cram in all six things into a two page comic, making this the best idea for an anthology in the history of anthologies. Some names you might recognize from this site: Ben Snakepit, Tod Parkhill, Tom Manning, Stan Yan, George Tautkus, and Brian Morante. There are more people here (check out the website for ordering info and the complete list), but I want to talk about the comics! There’s a wide and completely absurd collection of stories, including all six things working in a pizza shop, a zombie becoming president, Ben going to see Gwar (yes, he does manage to fit everything in), A giant robot that is made up of 5 smaller pieces ala Voltron, renting movies for Halloween, bizarre sex confessions, a surprise party for a zombie, and even more stuff that I’m not going to ruin for you. Look, this is a brilliant idea that’s pulled off to perfection. What more do you want? $3!
Comments Off on Young American Comics Anthologies – The Bizmar Experiment | Reviews | Tagged: Ben Snakepit, Brian Morante, George Tautkus, Stan Yan, The Bizmar Experiment, Tod Parkhill, Tom Manning | Permalink
Posted by Kevin
April 27, 2010
Website
Red Curtain #4
This series is officially hurting my brain. I’m going to stick with it until the end though, mostly because there’s only one more issue to go. Whether or not I can manage to read all five of them for the next review is in doubt, as I’m not sure that I could take it. It’d be a weekend thing, some time when I can just lounge and try to make some sense out of this. Honestly, I mostly did this review so I could post the sample below, as I think it sums up everything you need to know about this series, and whether or not it’s something that you think you should be reading. In this one more of the characters die, the flower gets a new pot and any semblance of a story has completely vanished, at least to me. It’s a buck and I continue to insist that these guys do some good work on their own and you should support their other stuff. As for this one, eh, I’ll keep you posted…
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Posted by Kevin
