April 24, 2010
Website
Watusi the Talking Dog #23
Wow, there’s been a slight gap in coverage of this book over the years, wouldn’t you say? I’m instantly impressed when a book gets as high as #23, even if, in this case, Dale is more of a ringleader than the sole force responsible for putting the book out. OK, he is the one who does that, but his main job is to get people to finish their panels and get everything back to him. All of these are four panel strips, Dale always has one panel (usually the first one to get the ball rolling), and in this issue Tom Cherry gets the last panel. In between you get Mark Morehouse, Larned Justin, Chris Garrett, Jennifer Hachigan, Michael A. Carroll, Matthew Corrigan, Dan Lauer, Keith O’Brien, David McGhee, Drew Boynton, Steve Willhite, Greg Gildersleeve, Owen Egan, Ryan Curran and Joyce Curran. Topics in here include inventions, China, late night, time travel, a barking contest, the lottery, Watusi’s sister, aliens, a flood, and health food. Tom only goes to the “it was all just a dream” well once, which is good, but overall this thing is more than a little uneven. Hey, it’s a jam comic, I think it’s supposed to be uneven. There are a few funny moments, even more unfunny moments, and a whole lot of confusion in between. Still, what Dale is doing here is admirable, and some of you artist types reading this should try putting together your own Watusi strips with a couple of your friends and see what happens. I doubt that it’s as easy as it looks… $1
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Reviews | Tagged: Dan Lauer, David McGhee, Drew Boynton, Jennifer Hachigan, Joyce Curran, Keith O'Brien, Larned Justin, Matthew Corrigan, Michael A. Carroll, Owen Egan, Ryan Curran, Steve Willhite, Tom Cherry | 
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Posted by Kevin
April 24, 2010
Website
Watusi the Talking Dog #2
OK, this isn’t your traditional comic (whatever that is), but it’s a good enough idea that I wanted to mention it on my page. It’s your traditional 4 panel gag strip, basically, with a twist: it’s a jam comic. Meaning that Dale usually writes the first panel, sometimes the last, and lets other people fill in the rest of it. The results in this book ranged from cute to stupid, but I wanted to let all the comics people who read this site (not that there are hundreds of you or anything, but whoever happens to catch this) know that there’s a jam comic out there. Sure, a talking dog might seem like a silly concept to a lot of to work with, but make it your own! It doesn’t matter what you think of that first panel, make the rest of it your own. That’s the whole point of this type of thing. E-mail the guy or submit some work to: P.O. Box 442612 Lawrence, KS 66044.
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Posted by Kevin
April 24, 2010
Website
Watusi’s Doghouse Funhouse (edited by Dale Martin)
I’m not allowed to review this one. Why? Because it’s not a comic! It’s something completely different, and something that is meant purely for children: an activity book. Remember those from being kids, where you’d fill in the mazes, do the word puzzles, check which images were exactly the same, those sorts of things? That’s what this is. Oh sure, there are comic stories in here by a variety of folks, but this one is really meant for the kids, and I’m far too much of a childless curmudgeon to do it justice. Stories in here include a family coming up with their own endings to a movie when their DVD player craps out (by Dale Martin & Tom Cherry, and remember when VHS tapes would skip until they stopped? They didn’t? Oh yeah. Huzzah for modern technology!), Mark Morehouse showing different snowmen, Dale & Ivan Martin with the highlight of the comic (a short piece about the cyclical nature of time travel), Drew Boynton’s tale of some kids trying to find information on Bigfoot, Bill Hook & Mike Sullivan’s Thunderdawg, and assorted short pieces. If you have a kid who likes this sort of thing, you should pick this up. It’ll train them at an early age to appreciate comics (and the soon-to-be-extinct concept of paper), and there really is a ton of activities for them in here. For us crusty old adults who just prefer a good story, it’s probably best to move on to something else. Or I suppose lightening up is an option… humbug! $3.50
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Posted by Kevin
April 24, 2010
Website (down as of 4/1/10)
Planet Named Desire #9 Now Available! $2
Getting up to #9 in comics these days is no small achievement, and you can tell just from looking at this that Joe has his shit together. It’s artistically solid and the whole packaging just looks great. There are a few stories in here. The first, about a greedy monkey, is either about an old morality tale or it should be. Great story, and you can never go wrong with a monkey. The second is about an old rock and a tree and bunch of people trying to figure out what they can do with them. The third is the most moving of the bunch, about a bird that’s dying and trapped in the wall. Then there’s one last story that I’ll leave as a surprise because, hey, I’ve already convinced you to give this a shot, right? Seriously, I never have a problem with comics that are all about telling you to slow down and enjoy what you have, and this comic has all kinds of that. I don’t know about the back issues (maybe he peaked with this one or something) but you can’t go wrong with #9. Check out the website, learn more about this and decide for yourself.
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Posted by Kevin
April 24, 2010
Website (down as of 4/1/10)
Planet Named Desire #7 Now Available! $2
I’m a sucker for a good autobio comic; I’ve said it time and time again. I’m especially a sucker for the ones that are by people who usually write fiction, as it’s a rare glimpse into their personal life. There are three stories in here, all about Joe and what makes him tick. The first one is about how he draws bigger women because when he tries to go skinny they look sickly (and he goes on about how women are smarter than men), the second one is about how he doesn’t own a TV or VCR and prefers nature, and the third one is about the birth of his new son. He manages the difficult task of not being preachy really well, as it would have been easy for him to condemn people who don’t appreciate the outdoors or don’t agree with his viewpoint on women. It’s a good issue, he should try rambling like this more often. He also sent a few more back issues with this one, and I’ll get to them one day, but he has a diverse array of back issues, and that’s only in the few I’ve seen. It’s always good to see somebody who’s not afraid to experiment. These are cheap comics too, it’s worth ordering a few. Contact info is down there…
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Posted by Kevin
April 24, 2010
Website (down as of 4/1/10)
Planet Named Desire #6 Now Available! $2
Who wants to know how the world began? Or, well, at least an excellent theory on how the world began? Joe answers that timeless question with this issue from way back in 1999 (kids, ask your parents). Essentially, things started, some life forms made it, some did not, and the gods and goddesses took care of everything. The earth goddess was especially competent, things essentially ran themselves, which left plenty of time for her to have sex with, well, everyone. Still, she ran out of gods and goddesses to have sex with soon enough, and happened across a lonely monkey boy. You can probably guess what happened next, and that led to human life on earth, but probably not the way that you’ve heard it. Great stuff from Joe, a little raw maybe compared to his later work, but a solid issue with a self-contained story. Well worth a look, as is pretty much everything else on this page.
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Posted by Kevin
April 24, 2010
Website
We Have Big Plans Part Two (Bland Like Water #3)
Hey, what happened to the pictures on the page? Oh well, I’ll fix it some other time. Seriously! This is the dramatic conclusion of the saleman trying to sell safe sand. Well, sort of, anyway. If you’ve ever wanted to see a long sales pitch in action, this is the comic for you! That’s selling the book a bit short, but that is what goes on for most of the comic. His panel composition is still tremendous, and he manages to make what (in theory, anyway) should be a pretty dull story thoroughly entertaining, so it’s obvious that there’s some serious talent at work here. It’s $2, contact info is up there and if somebody comes to this page in a few months and the pictures aren’t fixed, feel free to berate me for it…
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Posted by Kevin
April 24, 2010
Website
We Have Big Plans #1
I was hoping that I’d see something from this guy sooner rather than later. He actually sent me this more than a month ago, I’ve just had other stuff that had to come first. This is the first part of a two part story, and it looks like the general idea is that there’s a salesman who’s trying to sell sand in the desert. Not just any sand though, quality sand! It’s a neat concept, although it’s a bit hard to tell if he’s going to be able to pull it off just from the first part. Shades of Seth’s latest work on Palookaville, what with the salesman thing going on. I still love the art and the fact that the panels are all over the place. I’d say to wait until the whole thing comes out to check it out, but it is a neat little story all by itself. It’s $2, contact info is above…
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Posted by Kevin
April 24, 2010
Website
Bland Like Water
Ah, where to start. This book looks great. I love the sparse style of drawing that this guy has, and I’ve already said that I’m a big fan of the solid blacks. The story is broken up into a lot of little stories, I guess, but none of them have a title so I can’t really break them up and talk easily about them for you. It doesn’t matter, everything comes back to the beginning in the end and makes sense. It has kind of an early Chris Ware feel to it in his placement of panels and just the way that parts of the book move. A theme of constant searching pervades the book, as well as a strange canonization of conformity at times, but I might be making that up. Regardless, there’s a lot more going on here than what you see on the surface, and it bears repeated readings. This from the man who just bought this, but I think it’s true. This guy has a chance to be great if he keeps putting out minis (or books of any kind) like this, so why don’t you send him a few dollars and support him?
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Posted by Kevin
April 24, 2010
Website
Runoff #5
Watch out, the Sub-Mariner is on the loose! OK, not really, but man, are they similar. In this issue Mr. Teeth is back, but this time he’s hanging out with the cute floating alien guy, and they’re leaving a bloody trail of bodies behind them. This issue is the first one that’s really all action from start to finish, as the FBI gets to town and it’s Halloween night, meaning that there are a ton of potential victims wandering the streets. I can see where the format might possibly turn people off, as it’s giant and smudgy a hell, but check this series out. You could get the first five issues for a measly $10 right now and you’d have a hell of a story to read if you did. Why won’t you believe me? Haven’t I always been there for you? Sure, I’m generally positive towards things that I review, but how many times do I beg you to check a book out? Look, I’ll even put the website here so you don’t have to scroll up. Look how easy it is!
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Posted by Kevin
April 24, 2010
Website
Runoff #4
I finally managed to find the rest of the issues of this series and if anybody out there is wondering, they are really worth seeking out. Other things that are established in the series (without giving anything away, as usual) is that people can enter town and nobody can leave, nobody can figure out what exactly was killed by that truck, and a man called Mort Carver is the best hope the town has of figuring out what’s going on. If I’m vagueing this up a bit too much, well, read it yourself. I’m hooked. Oh, and it looks like (judging from the last time the website was updated, anyway) that he’s having trouble putting the book out and he’s looking for a publisher. If my recommendation is worth anything, somebody who publishes this type of thing at least read the book and see if it’s worth your while. I think it would be and you have one subscriber in me, if that’s enough to sell you. Contact info is above, check it out, if I haven’t mentioned that enough already.
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Posted by Kevin
April 24, 2010
Website
Runoff #1
I mean this in the best possible sense, but what a clusterfuck. Here’s what I know for sure about his issue. It has the cutest alien (I’m guessing at that) ever and many people are killed in a brutal yet mysterious way, Yep, that just about covers it. Does that mean that I hated it? Hell no! For one thing, Tom said right on the back that he just didn’t want to explain it because it would give things away. In other words, this is his story and we can follow along and figure it out or not. That took guts and it made me even more curious to see the rest of the story than I already was. One thing I was worried about was whether or not there were more issues, as this was done in 2000 and people have a habit of abandoning stories in the independent comics scene. No worries there though, as his website clearly shows that 3 more issues are done with another one on the way this month. About the only complaint I had about this was that it was a bit hard keeping the character straight, but that’s probably something that’ll get easier as the series goes on. Oh, and the many different panel styles, along with the 4 panel newspaper strip thrown in a few times, was kind of jarring. Again, he says he has a master plan, and who am I to doubt? Check it out if you haven’t heard of already, it looks like a really unique project.
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Posted by Kevin
April 24, 2010
Website
Isn’t It Beautiful? Now Available! $6
This is one hefty pile o’ strips for six bucks. It’s essentially one year of Manley Days (1/17-05 to 12/31/05) and having these all in one place does the whole thing a world of good. I wasn’t completely sold on it after the first mini collection (if that’s what you’d call it) but I am now. Yes, it does get a bit schmaltzy at times, or possibly I’m just too damned cynical and it’s really heartwarming. Either way, he really hits his stride somewhere towards the middle of the book and it just flies from there. My previous grammatical bitches are completely gone, and the only problem with the book aesthetically are the occasional smudged pages, but that’s rare and it’s a printing problem, not Jeffrey’s fault. If you bought the previous book this one does contain all of those strips, so there are repeats here, but I think it’s smart to have a whole year clumped together like this. A big part of it is dealing with a pregnant wife and new baby, and this diary strip is different from most others in that Jeffrey isn’t even in some of the strips, as he devotes plenty of time to his wife and kids. He obviously dotes on them, or at least doesn’t show us most of the bad stuff if he’s really a horrible father/husband although, having met him a few times, he sure hides that evil side well in person too. His website or the previous book will give you a taste of the strips if you’re not sure of it, but if you are sure this is a pretty good way to spend an hour or so on a lazy afternoon.
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Posted by Kevin
April 24, 2010
Website
Manley Days
Hey look, it’s more diary strips! Not to belittle it or anything. Here you have the life story of Jeffery and his wife going through their days from 1/17 to 4/8 of this year (2005). Sometimes it gets more than a bit schmaltzy, but I think that’s allowed when you have a pregnant wife. If that’s not a time for some sentimentality then when is?You have some funny days in here, some busy days, some slow days, and some days that probably shouldn’t have been put in here at all, but that’s kind of the nature of the beast when you run a daily strip. Sometimes there’s absolutely nothing to say and (this goes for all the diary strips I know, I’m not just picking on Jeff here) it shows. Still, the whole picture here is what this is about more than a collection of parts. Subjects in here include poverty, pregnancy,Shaun of the Dead, meatloaf, Beck, smoking, farting a bit too hard, shaving, taxes, and too many more things here than I can mention.Hey, it’s a pretty big book for $3, what do you want from me? Anyway, mostly good stuff, although by now you probably know if you like the diary strip style, so make up your mind based on that. If you like it you won’t be disappointed, or at least I think you won’t, but I’m also a guy who reads way too many comics to be taken seriously. This is also available in the online store and it’s $3…
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Posted by Kevin
April 24, 2010
Website
Small Press Parody
Well, if you don’t know who Tony Consiglio, Andrew Robinson, Mike Dawson, Chris Radtke and Donovan Cater are, chances are this book won’t do much for you. If you do, however, I think Jeffery pretty much nails everybody in here. It’s a tiny book, only about 8 pages, but it’s a nice tribute to Mad Magazine and all the artists in here. Worth a look if you know the people involved in here. Oh, and I think Jesus is in here too, but don’t quote me on that…
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Posted by Kevin
April 24, 2010
Website
Punked Now Available! $1
Ah, the 24 hour comic. The quality of these rare creatures varies wildly, as sometimes it’s a freeing exercise for an artist, not letting them dwell too much on making everything just right, which can lead to some profound insight. Sometimes it’s just a total rush job, something for an artist to do to say “look everybody, I did a 24 hour comic!”. Jeffery manages the former, even if he is a bit ham-handed at times getting there. This is the story of a young man trying to relate to his father. He takes advice from his evil side, chats with his other siblings, and finally everything works out OK (spoiler alert) with one of the creepier endings I’ve seen, or at least one of the creepier ones where it’s supposed to be sweetness and light. I was impressed by the art here though, as if he can make it look this good while rushing through a comic (and this was done in 2004), he should have a vast library of work available by now. For some reason Jeffery decided to alternate the page colors, which is a bit disconcerting, if only a minor gripe. As far as the story goes, it’s a bit simplistic, sure, but the bit of misdirection with the trash bag was a nice touch, and it’s too damned heartwarming to say much bad about it. If you like his other work this is definitely worth checking out, unless you’re too cynical to accept anything with some sort of a happy ending. $1
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Posted by Kevin
April 24, 2010
Website
Joplin, Wyoming: Volume One
You guys know that I like Jeff, right? I’ve made that pretty clear with a bunch of other reviews on this page, I think. So, I did like this book, but I have more than a few criticisms about it. First off, for those of you who don’t want to scroll up a bit, this is the story of Jeffery (I mean “Miner”) meeting and courting his current wife Alexis and dealing with the opinions of her family members. It’s a touching story at times, and I still think that his artwork gets better every time I see it. And I didn’t even notice too many things grammatically wrong with it, which was a pleasant surprise. BUT (you knew it was coming)… it had a few problems. For one thing, the story was all over the place. First he has a big argument with Alexis about God, then suddenly (although years have passed chronologically) he’s praising God himself. Then they’re married and slightly bored with the routine, which makes the ending kind of anti-climatic. Not sure how I would have changed it to make it more clear, and it did help to break up a story that’s basically just about two people, but it seemed kind of messy so far. That’s the key part of this. the “so far” bit. He plans on doing at least a few more of these, and it’s entirely possible that he has a grand master plan and this review is going to look pretty stupid in a few years. Oh well, it wouldn’t be the first time. Also, some of the shading looks crappy, and that’s not something that I usually notice. Looks like he’s inking in things with a marker that’s almost out, which would be fine for a mini, but this is a graphic novel for Christ sakes, so take your time! I also really thought that there would be more with Alexis’s family from the preview mini, but they were barely in here at all. Anyway, it’s still a great book overall, I just have a few minor problems with it. It’s only $6 for a pretty big book, and there are more coming, so check it out!
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Posted by Kevin
April 24, 2010
Website
Jeffery J. Manley’s Tour Guide of Joplin, Wyoming Now Available! $1
There’s not a whole lot to be said for your average graphic novel preview, as it’s only going to be a tiny fraction of the story. This one is about Miner’s girlfriend accepting the wrath of her parents and staying out late with him, Miner’s new haircut and his girlfriend’s reaction to it, and the neighbor’s reaction to Miner’s penis. It did look good and I’m intrigued by the thought of a huge book with these characters, so I guess the preview did a good job. If I can make one request though: PLEASE get an editor for a graphic novel. Have a couple of friends read it or something, just to get rid of the obvious spelling mistakes if nothing else, “truely”. Although I seem to remember him saying that he did that on purpose, I’m pretty sure most other people don’t get the joke and it just doesn’t look good. It’s $1 and it has me wondering. And, as the book won’t come out for another year or so, this might be the only look you get at his stuff for another year. Contact info is up there, check it out!
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Posted by Kevin
April 24, 2010
Website
Miner Distractions #1
One of the most gratifying things about this “job” is watching comics creators develop. I’d say this issue is the biggest single leap for Jeffrey since… well, since I’ve been reading his stuff anyway. That being said, you might find it hard to believe me when I tell you that the whole issue is about dog poop, but it’s true. The cast has been trimmed considerably, down to Lexi (his wife, basically), Miner 59er (himself, basically), Kiwi and Bat, which makes for a much simpler book. Or maybe it’s simpler because it’s all about crap? Well, whatever the case, his art continues to improve by leaps and bounds (and it wasn’t bad to begin with), and he manages to throw in cameos by all sorts of comics folks, as is explained by Tony Danza at the back of the book. Hey, I’m not making this up. The crap in question is being left by a neighbor’s dog, which leads to the conflict in the story. Good stuff, funny ending, the only thing I could suggest improving about it would maybe be to put a little sound effect in at the end. I’m not going to say what kind of sound effect, as that would give away the ending, but I know that some greeting cards use the technology, and in my opinion it would have made the comic one of the best things ever. Still, even without sound effects, this is well worth a look. It’s $2, I’m sure contact info is somewhere on this page, as it’s sure not in the book…
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Posted by Kevin
April 24, 2010
Website
Stories of Kiwi Strips #3
Looks like Jeffery has given up on the whole “diary strips” idea, as this one is basically some of his cast-off characters asking people if they think they should still be around. So does this mean he’s going to focus on autobio? Has he given up on comics altogether? Or is this just, what do you call it, a story in a comic book? Time will tell the answer to that one. In the meantime, this is $.50 and has a few laughs in it here and there. To prove it, here’s Jeffrey making fun of those wackos who think that the President should have a reason and, I don’t know, proof before he goes to war. Communists!
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Posted by Kevin
