April 24, 2010
Website
Stories of Kiwi Strips
Well, the good news is that James Kochalka has inspired a lot of people to do daily strips. The bad new is… that James Kochalka has inspired a lot of people to do daily strips. I kid! I kid because I love. Well, maybe not love, but I do like this book. 60 different strips about mostly different things, primarily responses to a question of silly gag strips. And there are the ones that make no sense to me at all. Not sure if those are supposed to be funny or not, but I’m going with “yes” and assuming that I just don’t have the right experiences to make it funny for me. That’s called “the benefit of the doubt”, in case this is the first review you’ve ever read. They aren’t all great, but there are enough good strips in this to make it worth a look. Go to his website, learn more!
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Posted by Kevin
April 24, 2010
Website
Stories of Kiwi #2
For those of you looking to order his books, I should just warn you that apparently he calls most of his series “Stories of Kiwi”, as this one isn’t the issue before the one that I had previously reviewed. I mostly picked this one for one to review for one reason:
There’s a quote, from me, covering his naked crotch. I’m not sure if I should be offended or overjoyed, so I think I’ll just go with “slightly creeped out” and leave it at that. This issue is about everyone at a comics convention. Yes, it’s been done a million times, but it’s always funny when the main guy gets beat with a bat in a bathroom. The art’s looking great, I still have a problem with his spelling and grammar, but such is life. He has a new e-mail address and I’m liking his comics more and more all the time, except for the “odds and ends” issue, of which I will speak no more.
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Posted by Kevin
April 24, 2010
Website
Stories of Kiwi #3
This is kind of the adventures of a floating kiwi, except for the fact that it’s mostly the adventures of his friends. They’re all odd looking in some way or another, and that’s about all the information we get about them. This issue deals with one of the characters suddenly turning into a vampire and the complete lack of concern by his friends when he starts killing people. You’ve all read me complaining about grammar in these mini comics at some point, and you’ve all read about me bitching about the improper use of “you’re” and “your”, “there” and “their”, things like that. Well, in #0 (no, I’m not going to review all the issues. I didn’t think much of it, and it’s my discretion we’re going with here) he mentions that it’s done for the sake of an inside joke, which is all well and good, as mini comics are the most insider jokiningest things out there. Here’s the thing, and maybe there’s a nice way to put this… ah, screw being nice. It makes him look like a moron. That thought crosses my mind when it happens once or twice, when it’s constant I start to wonder if the guy has an education at all. All that wouldn’t make that much difference if the story was engaging or entertaining at all, and there wasn’t much to latch onto in the first few issues. Maybe I’m just in a pissy mood because I’ve had a cold for the better part of two months, but I really didn’t come away from this feeling like I’d gotten much out of it. E-mail him if you like or send him money at: 1092 E. U.S. 10 Scottville, MI 49454. I liked the art though…
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Posted by Kevin
April 24, 2010
Website
Laundry Day
This year at SPACE I bailed out on my usual “der, which issue did I read last?” confusion and just went with a stand-alone issue. This one is about a man named Jordan having a hard time getting over the loss of his love, Elle. He’s able to see Elle (after a long journey) but resolving thing between them is a different matter. A good chunk of this is taken from the Orpheus myth, or is at least Justin’s interpretation of said myth. I mention this purely so I can sound more literate, of course. Also, I know it’s financially impossible for most people, but if you can ever get the money together to put out a book in full color, do so. This book is absolutely stunning, in no small part due to the coloring. $5 for a quick read might seem like a little much, but this is the kind of thing you’d want to leave out on a coffee table to show off. Well worth a look.
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Posted by Kevin
April 24, 2010
Website
The Waiting Sun
OK, he wasn’t published by one of the “big” companies, but he finally put out a self-contained giant book. This one is a hefty 135 pages and doesn’t seem to have any binding problems, which is nice. It’s all about a couple, Matt and Jess, and their lives together and apart. Matt goes off to college and leaves Jess behind, but decides eventually that he needs to try and get her back. The rest of the issue is about how things are never quite what you’d expect, certain changes can’t be predicted and friendship is a damned important thing. Solid work all around, and it was nice to be able to read one of his books without being confused as to what had gone on before. There’s also a constant underlying problem with the sun, as it’s trapped in a state of eternal sunset, and it does play a role in the story eventually. I’m currently a sucker for all romance stories, so maybe I’m biased, and there probably was some hokey dialogue here and there if you’re as cynical as most people. Most of it rang true to me, and that’s all I can base these little rambles on. How he has time to keep his comic going on a regular basis and put out something like this is beyond me, but I think the comic world is a better place for it. Contact info is up there, but here’s an address if the website is down or something: 708 Birch Street Baraboo, WI 53913.
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Posted by Kevin
April 24, 2010
Website
Happy Town #7
So there I was at SPACE, trying to remember which issues of this series I already had laying around. I panicked and just got the latest issue, knowing that I couldn’t have that one… but I missed a lot of the story that leads up to this. Not to worry, there’s a graphic novel coming out from Justin in the summer and I can only hope that everything gets collected in there. In this story the town has been in the middle of a blizzard for three days and tempers are getting frayed all over the place. People are floating for no reason, the flight to Saturn has been postponed and there are more characters than you can shake the proverbial stick at. I won’t try and pretend to understand most of what was going on, but the bits with making robots and their creator being recently out of prison were great. Phenomenal art and a story that’s quickly turning into a saga, this is a book to watch out for in the next couple of years. Mark my words, he will be published soon (assuming that his graphic novel isn’t published by someone other than him) and I’d recommend seeing what he’s all about here so you can see what there is to see. Contact info is above, check the descriptions of the issues so you don’t get the wrong ones and end up lost like me…
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Posted by Kevin
April 24, 2010
Website
Happy Town #5
Uh…. oops. This is a story in the middle of a long story arc and, while the recap at the start was helpful, the truth of the matter is that I have very little idea of what’s going on here. There’s real life conversation over here, there’s a man with a metal arm chopping the head off a demon over there… What I can tell you is that I love the ear for dialogue that this guy has, and there’s something about the look of his characters that just makes them endearing. Don’t worry, when I get my next batch of USS Catastrophe stuff, I’ll get caught up on this series, and I’ll be able to tell you what’s up. Until then, try to start off with an earlier issue than this so you’re not as lost as I was, OK? Contact info is above, and you already know where the USS Catastrophe page is, don’t you? Oh, fine, it’s right here.
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Posted by Kevin
April 24, 2010
Website
World’s Greatest Dad: A Happy Town Tale
Anybody who picks this up thinking of the Mr. Show skits involving World’s Greatest Grandpa and expect to be laughing out loud at this has a big surprise in store. This is a genuinely moving tale of a father looking for his missing daughter years after he has given up hope of ever seeing her again. Justin does an incredible job of making you feel what the man is going through, and what he’s been going through in the years since her disappearance. It’s $2 and not on his website that I can see, but that’s probably because he hasn’t updated in a while. I’m sure if you e-mail him that he’ll scrounge up a copy. In the meantime, get some copies of his Happy Town books. I’ll probably get around to reviewing more of them one of these days when I’m not so lazy, but he really has a command of his craft that is rarely seen in minis these days. Might have something to do with the fact that he’s been doing this for years. Anyway, this story could ham it up or fail in several ways, and it’s rare to see something succeed this completely. Did I mention yet that you should buy it?
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Posted by Kevin
April 24, 2010
Website
Breathers #1
Cheers for a new series from Justin, one that I have a serious chance of keeping up with! Jeers for Justin also putting out a #0 of this series, meaning that this isn’t technically the first part of the series and, seeing as how I haven’t looked for #0 in a series since the early 90’s, I’m already behind. Ah well, it’s Happy Town all over again, although it looks like Justin is finally putting that story into collected editions, letting all of us absentminded types catch up on that saga. This first issue has all the makings of a story I can really get into: a vast array of characters, with more coming next issue, all with their own problems, all put together in one as yet vaguely defined situation. In this case it’s a town of people living in a world (or maybe just a town) where a breather is required for walking around outside, as apparently the air is fatal to anybody who breathes it unassisted. There’s a single mother who’s desperate to get the money she needs to take care of her little girl, the little girl who has an imaginary pet dragon, a crooked detective who’s busting the local drug dealer (who puts the drugs in the breathers) just to take his drugs, a shy guy at a coffee shop who is able to get a phone number, and a young woman who can, mysteriously, breathe outside without the aid of a breather. Justin clearly knows a thing or two about pacing and setting up a story, and I’m hooked already after one issue. This time around I’ll keep better track of this, maybe even pick up some issues outside of SPACE. It’s $5 but it’s a hefty book, well worth a look.
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Posted by Kevin
April 24, 2010
Website
Ochre Ellipse #3
Can we get those “science fiction” stickers for all comics? That and “auto-bio”, “western”, etc. For me, the raygun on the cover gives it away, but I like the idea. This is, after a couple of issues of bits of randomness and things that were open to interpretation, a pretty simple story. There’s a solitary and unhappy adult who remembers his childhood fondly, as then he was solitary and happy. Determined to find out where he went wrong, he signs up for a time travel trip, goes back to his childhood (where he is invisible and intangible so as not to mess up the time stream) and discovers something important: he used to rule a vast imaginary kingdom and would have all sorts of adventures. The adult quickly becomes obsessed with this “kingdom” and repeatedly visits the same time period, silently playing along with the boy and slowly building up the number of invisible and intangible duplicates that are all in the same time/spot. We see the humdrum of his daily life and take an extended trip into his childhood fantasy life, but never get a lot of specifics. They’re not really needed, as any adult can relate to happier times as children, but few can really pinpoint why that was the case. It’s a genuinely inspired story, told without casting judgment either way. He’s three for three on these little mini books, although I have to imagine most of you are already aware of that fact by now. Check it out already. $4
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Posted by Kevin
April 24, 2010
Website
Ochre Ellipse #2
Is it wrong that I get the impression that Jonas is just toying with us? After reading the first couple of issues of this series I get the impression that he has a ridiculously firm handle on the “rules” of making comics and is trying to nudge those rules in subtle but different directions. This comic starts off with a young man who goes into a grocery store on a regular basis (but never actually buys anything) because he’s obsessed with the clerk. He has her schedule figured out, but has never worked up the nerve to talk about her, preferring to imagine the things she could be doing instead. Jonas then uses a concept that I first saw in a Concrete story but that’s still visually striking: the idea that a person leaves a trail, a collection of images of themselves in motion, wherever they’ve been. This is the first half of the comic, the second is when things start to wander a bit. We see our hero from the last issue (regular size, and he sure seems to be a stand-in for Jonas) entering the same grocery store and chatting with the clerk. He winds up on a bus with our hero from the first half of this book, chatting about the story so far and moving on to a theory of evolution. Not THE theory, but it’s too complicated to get into here. Read Stephen Jay Gould, that’ll help it make sense. This returns us to the clerk, who has to decide whether or not to find out some potentially troubling genetic information. All this leads to a sweet and open-ended finale, which I won’t ruin here. As a reader, I’m a big fan of endings where we don’t know exactly what happened next. Well, generally speaking, anyway. My reasoning is complicated and probably contradictory, which means that it must be right. This was up for a couple of awards (and won one of them), and deservedly so. $4
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Posted by Kevin
April 24, 2010
Website
Ochre Ellipse #1
First issues are generally a time to work the bugs out, to get everything in their proper order for better future issues. Jonas gets right out of the gate with a fantastic first issue, and it sounds like #2 was nominated for all sorts of awards, so it only gets better from here. Theoretically, anyway, as it’s possible that the Ignatz people suddenly lost all taste in comics. This mini has a few different stories that could all be distinct, but Jonas ties almost everything in nicely. Things start off with a man talking about the migratory habits of birds and moving on to a race of tiny men and their tiny horses. The next story only has a tangential connection to that, as it’s about a bird-like human who grows out of his apartment and keeps right on uncontrollably growing. This is the heart of the book and it’s the human touch that sells it. The bird man doesn’t know what’s happening and awkwardly tries to navigate through these changes, with mixed results. This leads to another young bird creature (normal size this time) riding an airplane and fantasizing about riding his bike along the clouds. The clouds feel the need to chat with this young boy about this theory, which is great fun for the other passengers. Finally there’s a text story called Lorbrulgrud, an excellent capper to the comic, as it starts with a few people trying to hide from a giant peering down at them. We gradually learn more about them, but less about how exactly they got in their situation. It’s an excellent comic, and I’d be saying that even if I didn’t know that there was more (and quite possibly better) comics to come. $3
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Posted by Kevin
April 24, 2010
Website
Family Tales #5
This time around Janice only has one story to tell: her seeing Johnny Cash in 1958, when she was 12. This comes up after she goes to see I Walked The Line, the Johnny Cash biopic from a few years ago. I think I got the title right anyway, these things are occasionally hazy to me. Anyway, she leaves the theater wondering why they didn’t show the part where he collapsed during his set, and goes on to tell the whole awkward tale of getting dragged there by an older sister and having to endure a blind date. Did I mention she was 12? It’s a great story, as they were right next to the stage and taking that whole scene in (as he was playing in a pretty seedy bar) from her childhood perspective is definitely a new take on the man. The trouble is that the art seems more and more rushed to me. She seems to nail it on certain panels and/or pages, but those backgrounds often just don’t look good. I know, I’ve said many times that people should try to put some backgrounds in their panels just to flesh things out a bit, but it often looks like barely organized doodles in the background. With storytelling this great and the concept of this being part of her journals of the last 30 years it’s still worth checking out, but I’m still not sold on the art. Of course, it could be abstract art and I’m too stupid to notice, so be careful to pay too much attention to what I say here.
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Posted by Kevin
April 24, 2010
Website
Family Tales #4
Here I was, thinking I was at least vaguely qualified to opine on all these books due to the sheer volume of comics that I read, when I saw in the note attached with this comic (and #5, which should be up here shortly) that this is a graphic novel (spread apart, obviously) from the journals that she’s been keeping for 30 years… that have been accepted to the permanent collection of The Smithsonian Archives of American Art. If you can ignore that horrendous run-on sentence, please note that I am out of my league here. I am intrigued as to where this series started, as #4 picks up with the introduction of her journals, meaning #1-3 were about…? Regardless, when I hear that somebody is starting a graphic novel based on 30 years of personal journals, that’s instantly fascinating. This issue details a trip she took when she was 14, her memories of the trip and the way she described it in her journal. She also talks about the concept of flashbulb memories, how her journals help her teach and how the telling of this story landed her in the hospital. OK, there were other factors, but she still mostly blames the art. The only trouble is with the art, as it occasionally looks sloppy and rushed. Looking over her website I can see that she might have trouble sticking to depicting literal reality (I can relate), which is NOT something that has to be a detriment in the making of comics. Either way it’s a minor quibble, and it’s not going to do a thing to dull my interest in the making of a graphic novel based on 30ish years of a life. No price but this is nicely put together… $4?
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Posted by Kevin
April 24, 2010
Personal website
Brown Day Bag
That may be the best cat image I’ve ever seen in a comic, and there have been a whole bunch of cats in comics over the years. Something about it perfectly captures the inherent sphinx-like quality of a lot of cats. The comic inside is great too, even if it has nothing to do with cats. It opens with a quiet story of Jeff going to school a few hours early and killing time at a library and grocery store. He stops to really take in all the sights, wondering who lives in the house with all the odd aquarium lighting and noticing how the sight of the college itself can dominate the town from many different spots. He follows that up with a futuristic tale of being stuck in the forest for 18 days with a woman, told in a series of single panel pages. Next up are a few unrelated pages (and hey, why not leave those a mystery for anybody who actually picks up the book), then the story of his brief time with what sounds suspiciously like a modern hippie commune. Or maybe I’m biased and thinking that anybody who voluntarily craps in a bucket must be in some sort of commune, who knows? All told it’s a pretty solid mini for the league average price of $3.
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Posted by Kevin
April 24, 2010
Personal website
Big Little Comics
My constant quest to get everybody out there doing mini comics onto one website continues, but I wouldn’t be able to have gathered nearly as much as I have (if I had to guess, maybe 5% of the people who make minis. MAYBE) if it weren’t for people like Jeff who just send their books in. Maybe once I find that first million dollars I can travel the world, looking for the local culture spots where people make minis, but for now this is still the best way to do it. The bulk of this comic is an awkward conversation between two young women who see each other again randomly after years apart. Roe meets Jen Jones on a remote island minutes before a giant tsunami hits, and conversation is awkward because Roe hated the woman. The conversation finishes, Roe spends a minute or two alone… and then it’s all over, and Roe is stuck there, dead and all. There’s also a brief story about balloons and two guys fighting that flew right over my head, but that’s bound to happen. The bulk of the book was still fascinating and I have another mini from the guy to review in the next couple of weeks, which always helps with forming a more complete opinion. No price tag, but it’s one of those big minis, so… $3?
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Posted by Kevin
April 24, 2010
Personal website
Pockmarked Apocalypse #1
You can always count on me to enjoy a good tale about the end of the world. The key is that it has to be a GOOD tale, not just one of many cliched, derivative stories out there about the subject. One issue of anything is too soon to make a definitive judgment, but I like the look of this one already. This takes place 40 years after the end of the world, after (as the back of the book says) “peak oil, global warming and war”. OK, granted, that sounds like it could go into hackneyed territory, but then you see the bombs that blew up large parts of the world, and it’s immediately obvious that Jeff is making his own mark on this genre. This first issue deals mostly with an older man, living by himself, cutting his heart pills down (to make them last?) and reminiscing about a time when cars and big trucks actually drove by on the highway. He’s also obsessed with a long lost love, or perhaps just the one that got away. In other words, there’s a lot still to be revealed in this series (projected at 8 issues), but this is damned promising start. One minor complaint: the end of the book, a six panel page, has three panels of story and then three panels of acknowledgments and contact information. It was jarring and looked damned ugly. Just my personal opinion and all, and it’s not like it detracted from the story or anything, just an odd aesthetic choice. No price again, but it’s a big thing, so… $4?
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Posted by Kevin
April 24, 2010
Personal website
Sam ‘n Dan
If I could just grab my soapbox for a second before I get started on this wonderful comic… listed below this review is Pockmarked Apocalypse #1, the first in a projected 8 issue series, and I reviewed that last issue almost a year ago. Assuming that my review was at all timely, that makes a year between issues of an ongoing series, with only the first issue out, and that’s just ridiculous. Not to pick on Jeff or anything, as it’s a very common problem (hence my soapbox), but please: if you’re going to put out an ongoing series, PUT OUT AN ONGOING SERIES. Ahem. You can tell I’m serious because of all the capital letters. Still, that isn’t meant to take a thing away from this self-contained issue about Sam and Dan. Sam (the skinny bear) and Dan (the fat cat) decide to leave the county and, needing money to do so, decide to rob a bank (after the bank won’t give them any money for free). While on the run Sam makes a motion like he’s going to kill Dan but instead shoots the sun, driving it out of the sky and bringing on the darkness. This also brings out a creepy doomsayer who tells them (in ryhme) that Sam and Dan have to kill each other before the day is out to bring back the sun. Meanwhile the grandfather of the creepy doomsayer reveals that he’s the brains behind the whole thing and instructs his grandson to give the cat a gun. The rest of the comic is spent with Sam and Dan trying to figure out what’s going on, and without giving anything away, yes action fans, there is a big ole gunfight. What I particularly love about this comic is how horribleness of every creature involved. Sam and Dan in particular should be adorable, what with their giant gloves and boots, but Sam’s dead eyes ruin that effect and the sheer cravenness and cowardice of Dan makes him hard to sympathize with as well. Hell, even the bank teller in the opening scene is more than a little terrifying. I also love the ambivalence of the whole thing. Are those immensely creepy manipulators actually the good guys trying to get the sun back in place? Or are Sam and Dan meant to be the heroes of the piece? Either way it’s another solid comic from Jeff, and just to make my previous rant clear, I want to see another issue of Pockmarked Apocalypse because I enjoyed it and want to see what happens next. That’s a good thing, right? No price, but let’s say $5, and even though it’s not available (that I can see) at either website at the moment, I’m sure it will be soon.
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Posted by Kevin
April 24, 2010
Website
Chiaroscuro #6
If you’ve read a bunch of these reviews, well, then this is just going to be another one with me praising the comic. That’s just to save you a few minutes if you’re only scanning this to see if I hate the book now or something. The strength of this series is that every issue that I’ve seen so far has existed perfectly well on its own, yet adds beautifully to a much more impressive whole if you read them in a row. That’s what this is supposed to be at its core, I think, and he’s doing an incredible job of it so far. And for all you lazy (or poor) folks out there, this is #6, so a graphic novel probably isn’t too far away, if there’s any justice in the world. This one is all about Steve, basically just going about his day. It sort of reintroduces a character I thought was only there for a brief spell anyway, but you get no more than that out of me. If you haven’t checked this out yet, I’ll say this until I’m blue in the face but check it out already!
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Posted by Kevin
April 24, 2010
Website
Chiaroscuro #4
Yes, I just might review every one of these that comes out. Why do you ask? It was obvious with the ending of the last issue that things were about to heat up, and this issue laid the groundwork for what could be a real comics epic. We get to see an interrogation of the main character and find out that we know even less about him than we thought. After I read #3, I thought that I should probably go out and get #2 to see what I’d missed. After reading this one, getting that has moved to the top of my priorities list for after my move. He’s keeping his schedule and everything about the book is thoroughly entertaining so far, so what not buy the first couple of issues and see what you think? Actually, if he keeps this up there should be a collection out by next year, so maybe you can catch up on the whole thing then. If you don’t you’re missing out…
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Posted by Kevin
