April 26, 2010
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Salvager Kain #2
Dribs and drabs, that’s the way you want to build up a regular series like this. In this issue we get to see Kain finally run into somebody on the outside that has their act together, somebody who knows that you have to take food where you can get it, even if that means dead people. He briefly takes Kain under his wing, but everything in the outside seems to have a price. We also get our first look at some of the creatures living here in the outside world. For my money the anorexic Big Bird was the creepiest thing around, or least it was until those flying skulls came out of the woodwork. In the meantime we still have little to no idea of who Kain is or exactly what’s going on around here, and kudos for that. I may just break my “only one review per creator on the main page” rule and get the next issue up here in a hurry just because I’m thoroughly hooked and can’t wait to see what happens next. $3
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Posted by Kevin
April 26, 2010
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Salvager Kain #1
Aspiring comic artists, take note: if you’re looking to make an impression, you could do a lot worse than to follow in the footsteps of this guy. Scroll down this page and you can see me review the first issue for a couple of series, one of which lasted 8 issues and one four, then today in the mail I got the first three issues for this series. These were all done over the last half dozen years or so which, in the small press world especially, is a ridiculously productive pace. And there’s the minor fact that there’s noticeable improvement from series to series, which is even more impressive when you consider that he wasn’t bad at all to begin with. Kudos to the man, that’s all I’m saying. Well, how about the comic? That whole diatribe would seem pretty silly if I hated it, now wouldn’t it? What we have here is an excellent setup for a series. We see a big wall, behind which is a kingdom, theoretically at least. We’re introduced to the main character right away, as he’s indignantly dragged out and sent into exile. As a precondition to his exile (and to the exile of more people that we see soon enough) his mind is wiped, leaving him with no memories and no idea of who he is. Once he’s out he meets a few of the options in his new world. He can stay by the wall (out of fear of heading into the unknown forest), get eaten by cannibals (who live in said forest) or join up with a seemingly together group of people who are arming to take the kingdom by storm. Or not, as he figures out soon enough. The name “Kain” comes from an odd set of sticks the man sees, and in this entire first issue we’re given very little to go on in regards to the inhabitants of the kingdom and the main character, just bits and pieces of life outside the walls. All of which is a great setup to a series, as what keeps people coming back for more faster than multiple mysteries? As for the art, it’s tremendous. Paul has a serious lock on facial expressions (useful for illustrating what are essentially a bunch of blank slates trying to figure out the world) and the whole thing is just gorgeous. I can only guess that he keeps himself chained to his drawing table, as what else explains this impressive productivity? Like I said, I have two more issues to get to in the near future, but from the first issue this looks like something well worth checking out. $3
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Posted by Kevin
April 26, 2010
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Worrywart
Well, apparently “Wednesday Week” is on the back burner at the moment, so to anybody who was looking forward to a regular series from Katie (like me), you’re just going to have to wait on that one. Still, at least she’s still putting out little stand-alone comics like this one. There are three short stories in here, all from her childhood. In the first she agonizes over what to do after she thinks her teacher might have heard Katie call her a bitch, the second is from the first time she managed to get cigarettes from a convenience store, and the third is about the first time she heard about STD’s and overestimated the likelihood of her getting one from kissing. Good stuff again and it never hurts when it’s cheap. $1
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Posted by Kevin
April 26, 2010
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Wednesday Week #1
It’s been entirely too long since I’ve seen anything from Katie, so it was great to see not only this new issue, but the part in the back of the book where she mentions that there are at least two more issues of this series coming out this year. What’s it about, why should you be so excited? Well, I guess it’s not going to end world hunger anything, but she has an art style that lends itself to being completely adorable at times without going over the top, and that’s a balancing act that’s hard for anybody to pull off. This is about a girl named Lundy, her roomate, her new cat and her daily goings on. Yes, you’ve probably seen something like it before, but isn’t it always good when it’s done well? Lundy is trying to find a normal boy to date (after a slew of freaks) but finds herself drawn to the freaks anyway. And that dream sequence is worth the price of admission by itself, even if I don’t have any idea what it was about (yet). Let’s say this one is $2 and well worth a look, if you like these sorts of things…
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Posted by Kevin
April 26, 2010
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Accident
What do you know, there are funny three panel strips out there! Sorry, I know there are a few, but it’s always worth noting when another one comes along. There’s some great ridiculous, absurdist humor in here, which is the best kind when it’s done right, and this is done right. It’s hard to describe this stuff, but I’ll give it a shot. In here are strips about rat mind control, giraffe sex, implants, guillotines, naked animals, a floating head, a bath with grandpa, graverobbing, and Sylvia Plath, among other things. If you think this is your kind of thing, well, it is your kind of thing, so stop arguing about it. And it’s only $.50Â How can you go wrong with that? Website!
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Posted by Kevin
April 26, 2010
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Synthetic Visions #1 (edited by Katie Skelly)
Yes, it’s an anthology, but it still goes on Katie’s page. Why? Because she’s the one who sent it to me, and you can get copies through her. There are four different fantasy and science fiction stories in here, and have I mentioned how excited I am that that’s the direction Katie seems to be headed? First up is Chompy by Tim Vienckowski, the story of a giant creature from another world who enjoys chomping on everything it sees. Next is Hodo by Drew Gardner, dealing with a man, a car and a hot dog… ok, this one was mostly lost on me. Next is Katie’s story, Hunter, and if I didn’t know any better I’d say that the small flying creatures from Nurse Nurse make an appearance here. Other than that it’s about an underwater woman who hunts for food. Her heart of gold is apparent when she rescues a baby whale after an attack on the mother, and if I’m not mistaken the little guy manages to shed a tear or two underwater. Finally there’s Ultra-Showdown by Taline & Shant Alexander, which is all about a war between Unicorns and Pegasi. Not to throw out any spoilers or anything, but, well… zombie unicorns. There, I said it. It’s a pretty interesting bunch of stories, and if I had one wish in the world it would be to have somebody cranking out fantasy and science fiction anthologies on a regular basis. For anybody out there interested in this sort of thing, Katie is looking for contributors, so click that link on the top of the page to send something her way. $4
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Posted by Kevin
April 26, 2010
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Nurse Nurse #1
This comic reads like a wish list of things that I had wanted to see in Katie’s comics without even being consciously aware of that fact. A continuing series? Check, with at least four more issues planned. A science fiction story? Check again, with this one being set in 3030. Katie spending some serious time and effort on backgrounds and imaginative settings? Nailed it again. This issue tells the story of three nurses trying to get a permanent job on a human settlement on Venus, which is the happening place to be at the moment. Only two of them can get the job, so the two friends (Junny and Nina) set up the other nurse (Gemma) to oversleep in her chryogenic stasis, giving off a bad impression right off the bat. This issue only has time to introduce us to the characters and establish Venus a little bit, and things end off with Gemma just getting to meet her first patient. I’m intrigued, I’m excited to see more, I’m thrilled that Katie is putting out so many books these days, and it doesn’t hurt a thing that the stories are all over the place. In case you were wondering where all the good mini comics are these days, you might want to think about looking in this direction… $3
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Posted by Kevin
April 26, 2010
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The Legend of Countess Saddenbrau
Oh, the troubles of two loners falling in love. This is a cautionary tale of just that situation, as the Countess enjoys her time to herself very much and isn’t interested in love. The same thing is true of the Duke, a man who enjoyed his simple pleasures, but always enjoyed them alone. One day they met, and fell instantly in love. How do two solitary people deal with such a thing? The book looks great, all gothic tones, either done in charcoal (my guess) or crayons and then copied. Well worth a look, especially for the content loners out there who wonder “what if” when it comes to love… $3
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Posted by Kevin
April 26, 2010
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The Lone (Red) Ranger
Haters of 24 hour comics take note: there’s a giant warning for you right there on the cover. I love the concept, it’s the execution that often kills it for me. Really though, the bar is set pretty low: throw together an entertaining story and try to make the art as decent as possible. Phillips succeeds admirably in both counts. This is the story of a rejected Power Ranger, called Oomph Rangers either due to legal concerns or because it’s a genuinely different thing, I don’t know enough about them to be sure. This Ranger, after getting essentially banished, runs into a frog man, a brutal player of spoons, and several Pobbles, which are either killing machines or the victims of mistaken identity, it’s never made clear. The book does everything a 24 hour comic is supposed to do: it’s a fun book and it makes me want to see what else the guy has done. And, of course, it’s only a measly $1.
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Posted by Kevin
April 26, 2010
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Boom Fantasy! #1
OK, granted, I have seen better titles, and in most cases if you’re trying to court the literate you might not want to throw a “4” in place of “for”. Just had to get that bit of nitpickery out of the way. The actual comic is entertaining enough, and that’s all that really counts. First up is the bulk of the comic, dealing with the two creatures on the cover who are on a seemingly endless space flight, one of whom is trying to compose his own music and is having a tough time of it. Oh, and they have a brief dance contest until one of them gets bored. Next is Cheese Solar, a paranoid captain of a space ship (no relation to the last story), probably the best piece of the bunch. Then you have the story of Skele-Ted, a new superhero who is sent out to fight a giant creature. I kept thinking this was a parody of superhero comics but really, it reads like a straight up action story. Up to you whether or not that’s a good thing. Finally there’s a brief activity corner in which the reader is encouraged to examine the last page of drawings and make a song out of it. Hey, I’m at least mildly curious what Phil got in the emails. $2, nothing spectacular maybe but a decent enough comic.
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Posted by Kevin
April 26, 2010
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Jessica Farm
The good news? This is huge and quite possibly my favorite comic that Josh has done. The bad news? It won’t be done until 2050. Seriously. He’s doing one page of this a month so, assuming we all live so long, that’s about when he thinks he’ll wrap this story out. Ambitious, to say the least, but I hope he at least has the decency to throw us another one of these big books every five years or so. This is the story of Jessica Farm on Christmas Day, waking up to learn that there’s a pile of presents waiting for her downstairs. This news is blunted somewhat by the fact that her father, who is portrayed as a shadowy monster, is waiting for her and things aren’t going to go well for her when she does open those presents. So she drops completely into a fantasy world of her toys, a tower and a lover, and the creepiest closet I’ve ever seen. Christ, every bit of this, from the reluctant guardian of a closet, to a mariachi band that seems to exist only to serve her, to her lover who wants more than she’s willing to give, to… well, I’ve already probably said too much. There’s no rush to get this if you’re looking for any sense of closure, obviously, but I really think that he hasn’t done a better comic than this. $4
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Posted by Kevin
April 26, 2010
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All About Fuckin’ #10
It’s the last issue of his anthology comic about fucking, and he’s certainly put together a nice final issue. All sorts of folks with pieces in here including Caesar Meadows, Nick Jeffrey, Mike Diana, Jeff Brown, Jennifer Sleepwalker, Zack Soto, Thomas Herpich, and plenty more that I hadn’t heard of. It’s 80 pages long, so there’s a lot of fucking to see here.. This is much more diverse than the other issues that I had seen, which makes it a much better comic. Josh has a series of “Little Known Sexual Practices” that’s worth the price of the book right there, but there’s a ton to see here. I’m guessing it’s around $5 because it’s so huge, but you might want to find out from the man himself. Contact info is up there, and I think everybody reading this knows that they have to be mature to read this…
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Posted by Kevin
April 26, 2010
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All About Fuckin’ #9
Geez, that cover was creepy enough before my scanner decided to turn it into a rainbow. This is one of those cases where the title says it all: it’s all about fucking. It’s a collection of art and pictures from various artists with messages about all manner of fucking and all kinds of violence that is associated with fucking. There’s not much to it besides that. Maybe one comic story in here, and none of the pictures are exactly intended to titillate. It’s an interesting concept, for those of you who want to see sex made as ugly as possible in some cases, but some of pictures certainly made me think. E-mail the man for info, he puts these together on a fairly regular basis…
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Posted by Kevin
April 26, 2010
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Happy #4
Here’s the last issue of Happy (he’s concentrating on putting one big book out a year instead, as most people seem either unable or unwilling to keep any kind of a regular series going), so enjoy it! In here is the last part of the Cirkus storyline, which has kind of an anticlimactic ending, but I can’t see how else it was going to end. More incredibly odd and/or offensive things happen, a visual smorgasbord, if you will, and then it’s over. Next is a series of monster pictures, showing how they’ve lost all power in the modern day. Then you have a tract about females in general, which I thought was a rambling piece that didn’t touch some of his previous rants, although a few good points were made. Finally you have a short story about dental floss (sort of) and another, better rant about how comics are the best thing in the universe and everybody who reads/writes comics is much better than everyone else. His tongue was just slightly in cheek for this one, in case you were wondering. So it’s $3.50, these issues are all going to be collector’s items one day (assuming that people are reading anything at all in ten years, but then maybe they’ll be collectors items as one of the last examples of naked people anywhere!), so buy them while you can!
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Posted by Kevin
April 26, 2010
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Happy #3
For those of you who hated his mini a few years back about his time traveling with a “circus” (scroll to the top of the page to see what I’m talking about), well, this is a continuation of his travels, so don’t bother. For those of you who thought it was all too confusing to keep up with, I think he does a much better job in here of putting everything together. Hey, it is a story about a wide array of people doing a variety of things, you know, and he has to try and squeeze in a reaction or two of his own here and there. ots of the things you’d expect a traveling show to encounter are in here. Venereal disease, licking a dog’s butt, Sasquatch, a clown, pies, fights, and a lot of drinking. Which only scratches the surface, really, but why go on? If this is the kind of thing you’d want to read you already know it, and if you hated the other mini you probably won’t give this a chance no matter how much I tell you to (although you really should pick it up). I liked it, so should you! $3.50, contact info is around here somewhere…
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Posted by Kevin
April 26, 2010
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Happy #2
Is it too much to hope that eventually comics will gain widespread acceptance? See, there are probably plenty of people who just don’t care, and I’m usually one of them. But I was struck last night by the fact that this is exactly the kind of comic that has all the potential to be read by all kinds of people and loved but just doesn’t quite pull it off. I should make one thing clear before you start to draw conclusions: I loved this comic. Absolutely thought it was one of the best things I’ve read in months, a whole lot better than the first issue. That being said, his 7 page intro to his autobio tale about a day at the baseball park with his Dad was sure to turn off everybody who didn’t have an in-depth knowledge of autobio comics. Does that matter? Should anybody ever cater to the possibility that non-comics people might pick up an issue? No, pretty much never, in my opinion, but this is just the kind of thing that cements the fact that comics are going to keep their tiny audience and probably go no farther. I don’t want to spoil anything because everybody should really buy this, but I think this issue by itself should establish Josh as a name in comics, whatever that means. I laughed out loud more than a few times. He raised a lot of good points about how self-absorbed autobio comics are, but… well, decide for yourself. Helping Hand was the highlight of the book but, again, I’m not going to tell you what it’s about. And no, it doesn’t have anything to do with a elephant, bunny or chicken. Read it!
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Posted by Kevin
April 26, 2010
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Happy #1
This is what is known as a “mood comic”, at least in my own personal dictionary. I still think that there will be a time and place when I enjoy this comic quite a bit (or even a time, a few hours or a few days from now, when I laugh at loud at something in this), but I’m writing this review right now, and right now I’m disappointed. Hey, it just didn’t strike me as all that funny. Blame the fact that I just woke up and am too sober to appreciate it if you want, but there you go. This is the single happiest goddamn book on the planet, that much is true. The first story involves the happiest planet in the world with all the happy rabbits who live on it, the second has a high school student get up and explain why the dorks aren’t popular but that they’re OK too, and the third one has two people in love basically talking about that fact. If you think this all sounds funny, maybe you’re right and I just wasn’t reading it right. And there’s more to all the stories, obviously, but I’m not going to give anything away. It’s an OK book, basically, but I was expecting more after the last thing I saw from him. Still, e-mail him if you want or order this from Top Shelf. If you e-mail him he might have some other stuff available too, so go with that. If I change my mind about this in the next few days I’ll tack something on to the end of this, OK?
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Posted by Kevin
April 26, 2010
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Cirkus New Orleans
Remember how everybody was doing autobiographical stuff a few years ago and most of it was just plain dull? It’s hard to write about yourself when you have a boring life, after all. Well, Josh Simmons doesn’t have that problem. This is auto-bio done by a guy who knows some extremely interesting people who have a variety of outrageous habits. Oh yeah, and they’re in a traveling “circus”. Kind of like the Jim Rose Circus Sideshow, except he talks about things that I’m pretty sure were never done by those other guys. This is one packed book… layers of artwork and words all over the place. You could probably read this three times before you get everything he was trying to say here, and even then you might not get it in the order he was trying to say it. I read on one of the message boards that this was one of the better books of the year, but I don’t know if I’d go that far. Well, I guess it depends how long the list of best books is. If it’s ten books, hell yeah this is up there. If it’s five books it might have a hard time cracking that list, but it’s still a damned good read. Interesting real life stories are hard to come by in comics outside of Dennis Eichorn, so take advantage of this while you can. Before I get any e-mails, yes, I am aware of the works of Chester Brown, Joe Matt and many others. Most of these people who do those stories well have moved on to fiction, so that doesn’t apply to them any more. Stop arguing with me, just buy the damned book. Get it from Top Shelf or e-mail Josh to see what he has around.
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Posted by Kevin
April 26, 2010
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Cerebus Volume 12: Rick’s Story
Who else never expected to see Rick again? I’d have to think that most people thought he was gone for good after the events in Jaka’s Story. Honestly, it might have been for the best if he had stayed gone, because this ends up being the most forgettable of all the books so far. Guys had Cerebus in a bar, sure, but it was funny because of all the other characters that kept popping up. Here you have Cerebus and Rick talking about stuff and it becoming increasingly apparent that Rick has a few mental problems to work out. If this was just a chance for Dave to talk more shit about women, well, that’s what the letter’s page and the Notes From the President sections are for. Don’t get me wrong, there were funny parts in this, and I guess you can’t technically skip it because a few important things do happen… you know, scratch that. Go ahead and skip this and see if you really miss it in the larger context of the story.
Want me to get into specifics? OK. The parts where Rick is writing a Bible according to Cerebus are impenetrable. No other word for it. It would have been hard to deal with anyway, then he went and wrote it all in Olde English style (or something like that. I don’t know what it was and I’m not about to research it). First thing I had to skip in the course of the entire storyline, and that’s saying something. Then there was the head wound that Rick mysteriously received. If that was supposed to a comment on how the women parasites tapped his brain (from his famous remarks in #186), then it was just nonsensical because he wasn’t even dating anyone at that point. Throw in a an almost completely useless and gratuitous cameo by Dave himself, and what you’re left with isn’t much. There are positives in the book, of course. His natural knack for dialogue makes it impossible for there not to be. Cerebus’s internal dialogue at times, especially after he realizes that Rick is crazy, are priceless. The return of a character that I didn’t think we’d see again after the events of Mothers and Daughters was a nice touch too. Overall, if you have to read this, skip the Bibley parts. Trust me. It’s just not worth it…
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Posted by Kevin
April 26, 2010
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Cerebus Volume 11: Guys
Take this book for what it is (a bunch of characters from Cerebus sitting around a bar talking) and you’ll love it. If you’re expecting Cerebus to storm Cirin’s stronghold or something after the events of Mothers and Daughters, you’re in for a rude awakening. I think I laughed out loud during this book more than I had during any of the other ones, and that’s saying something. Still, I had a few problems with it. He went a little crazy with the xerox machine in an issue or two. It helps you get the book out on time, granted, but all of these are (in theory) going to have long shelf lives, and you should really focus more on getting as much as you can in each issue as opposed to just making sure that it’s sitting on the shelf when it’s supposed to be. My humble opinion, but there you go. And I loved the parts with Eddie Campbell, Rick Veitch, Bacchus, the hunchbacked guy from Starchild and some other folk, but any casual fan wouldn’t have any idea who those people were. I think his theory is that only comics people are going to be reading his work (and he might be right after his rant in #186, because this is no longer a good book to show to a girlfriend unless that girlfriend has an extremely open mind), but I don’t know how true that is. There aren’t any other books that have 13 volumes available right off the bat, so I think that a lot of people who wouldn’t ordinarily read this might get it just for that reason.
Anyway, the story. There isn’t one. Cerebus is in a bar after the events of Minds, along with Bear, Mick, Boobah, and a whole cast of characters. If you’re looking for a good laugh in this series, this is it. He takes a different turn after this (I’ll get to that when I read them), so enjoy the light-hearted frivolity while you can. Actually, this is one of very few books that I can honestly say would be good for anyone to read, whether or not you’d read any other part of the series. How much history do you need to know for a bunch of guys sitting around and getting drunk? It’s not exactly all ages stuff, but that’s about the only thing that would prevent anybody from liking this, and they’d have to be pretty uptight, now wouldn’t they?
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Posted by Kevin
