April 24, 2010
Website
Untitled #2
Here’s another issue of this sketchbook series from Jeff. One minor complaint: he has a listing at the start of the book indicating where all the drawings are from. That’s fine, but he lists pages for all of that, and then doesn’t put page numbers on the actual pages. A minor thing, as you can figure it out without too much trouble if you can count to 40, but I’m a lazy man and I want it all itemized! Dammit. In here he has drawings of airports, jazz musicians, and basically just all kinds of little things he saw in his travels and daily life. Interesting stuff, but I’m still a bigger fan of the stories. Contact info is up there, $2!
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Posted by Kevin
April 24, 2010
Website
Untitled #1
One of the great things about Jeff is that his style is always changing. Sometimes its clear straight lines, sometimes it’s more realistic, and sometimes it grimy (I mean that in the best possible way) like this. It’s a book of pictures, from the looks of it little snapshots of his apartment and all the stuff he has laying around. It’s not my favorite thing he’s ever done, but I like most of his stuff a lot, so take that however you’d like. He has a new website, which I linked to a few times up there, but here you go in case you don’t feel like scrolling. I still think everybody out there should buy all of his comics right away. I guess I was looking for some dialogue in his book (why I was looking for anything is beyond me, but there you go), but this is still a great, quiet look at the orderly chaos that is the average apartment. I’m guessing this is $2, it’s on his website!
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Posted by Kevin
April 24, 2010
Website
Watching Days Become Years #4 Now Available! $5
More quiet tales of Jeff’s life in issue #4, and he even gets briefly political this time around. I’ve also often wondered how most people in the country are able to so completely disassociate themselves from the violence that is done in our name all the freaking time. Other subjects in here include a lack of time, the value of being awake versus sleeping, a quiet day at home out of the heat, trying to get calmness from trees, the incremental nature of profit sharing at work, and one awesome punchline that I’m not going to ruin here. There’s also his drawings and impressions of places and trying to be content with the little things, and as usual it’s a tossup as to which is his better work. He’s a master of the one page “diary” type strip, but there are also few people out there better able to document the little things about places. The inevitable conclusion, as I’ve been saying from the beginning on this page, is that everyone should still order all his books and give him as much money as humanly possible. I’d love it if I was able to help him, in even a tiny way, get the gift of more time. $5
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Posted by Kevin
April 24, 2010
Website
Watching Days Become Years #3 Now Available! $5
Again with the long gaps between reading his comics! Full disclosure: I “grew up” reading his stuff, from his Destroy All Comics magazine to No Hope to all the little minis in between. Of course, “growing up” in this racket means that he helped form my high opinion of this medium in my late teens/early 20’s when I was making the transition away from superhero stuff to actual quality work. Not that there’s not SOME quality superhero stuff, kind of… OK, I’ve gone off the rails. This comic, as is the case with most of his work, defies reviewing. Jeff seems to wander around town, finding things to do on his days off (or happily deciding to do nothing at all), and documenting in very specific detail what he’s seeing. What’s often missing in his books are other people, as he’s more than content to document his surroundings, the growing pile of books and DVDs at his apartment, and his personal thoughts. Oddly, although he mentions in this issue that he’s had the same job for 7 years (as of 2006, judging by the dates on the strips), I’m not sure that he’s ever mentioned exactly what he does. It’s just not important enough in the grand scheme of things to warrant mentioning in his comics when there’s so much (or so little) else to talk about. My quest to make this guy rich continues, so buy his stuff, show some love for a genuine artist. $5
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Posted by Kevin
April 24, 2010
Website
Watching Days Become Years #2 Now Available! $5
It’s been entirely too long between my Jeff Levine fixes, although one look at his website tells me that he’s put out 5 issues worth of strips from his website. Turns out that there’s all kinds of new stuff available, I’m just not looking in the right places. Anyway, on a purely personal note, it’s been fascinating to me to watch how my life parallels his, or at least when it does on those occasional long and pointless nights, when it seems like the whole damned thing is a waste. This is a great book to read the next time it’s three in the morning and you’re thinking all kinds of deep thoughts, because a whole bunch of them are mirrored right here. And I can’t help but notice that in spite of my pleas for everybody to buy all his books and make him rich and famous, that still hasn’t happened. Or maybe everybody who looks at this site already has bought all of his stuff and it made him $10, I don’t know. All I can say is that there are few people I look forward to reading more than this man. Oh, you want to hear about the actual issue? Jeff captures a few quiet moments, take a trip to San Francisco to see a jazz legend, and saves the world from elephants. One of those things is quite possibly not true… $5
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Posted by Kevin
April 24, 2010
Website
Watching Days Become Years #1 Now Available! $4.50
For anybody who’s not sure about how I feel about Jeff’s work, scroll down and read the other reviews. It was one of the first reviews I did for the page because I wanted to make sure that everybody who hadn’t heard of him would at least see him here. I think a bunch of these have been put up on his website over the last few years, so chances are you’ve seen some of them, if you visit his site on a regular basis. Trust me when I say that the whole is better than its parts. Not that the parts were bad at all, but there are also a few new strips in this. I’m of the opinion that Jeff can do no wrong, so if you’re looking for an unbiased review, you might want to stop reading now. Maybe his work will start sucking when he becomes fat and happy later in life, I don’t know, but for now he’s doing some of the best comics around. They’re all about simple things. Walking down a road, spending a day off of work doing nothing at all, sitting around feeling lonely, just little things. He has an amazing ability to slow everything down in his world and capture it on paper, which helps everybody reading to think about their own life and where it’s going. Turns out that it’s OK if it’s not really going anywhere, as long as you’re still able to stop and enjoy the little things. It’s great to see him getting published again and I think everybody should buy a copy of this. I have selfish reasons, of course, as I really want to see what kinds of comics he would do if he was rich and famous. This is $4.50 and worth every penny. I’ve already mentioned this, but a lot of these comics (and many others) are up on his website.
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Posted by Kevin
April 24, 2010
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Crash of Metal #1
OK, to tell you the truth, I’m not sure if this is #1 or just a preview of #1, but does it matter? Didn’t think so. Anyway, Mike seems to be looking for the most negative quote he can get from every review, so how about this: Even Jesus couldn’t love this abortion of a comic. That’s not how I actually feel about the book, but it’s a pretty good negative quote. More of the same misery here that you could see in #0. Ways that Mike could die, why girls don’t like him, why everything is so shitty… You know, I’d love to see him put together a happy-go-lucky story about moonbeams and unicorns. Sure it would probably suck, but a little bit of variety might help his growth as an artist. As for the content, it’s pretty good for what it is, although good luck reading this without finding something in it that’ll depress you. I chuckled once or twice, proving my morbid sense of humor, I guess. This is probably a buck or two (any more than that and you’re getting ripped off, there’s not much to it), contact info is up yonder…
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Posted by Kevin
April 24, 2010
Website
Super Whiz #1
It’s a damned shame about this book. I really, really wanted to like it. Rainer has a fairly unique take on the punchline, with it often blowing up into a grand spectacle in place of what would probably be a fairly cliched finale. The trouble is that it’s often the same punchline and/or joke: poop. Poop in various forms can be funny; everybody knows this by now. But when you feel the need to throw it in constantly, at some point I have to start thinking that Rainer doesn’t have much more than that to say. This is a collection of gags and short strips, the funniest being the adventures of Tuxedo Bandit, mostly because he does nothing but harass an evil professor. Even that degenerates into constant poop jokes after a few adventures though, sadly. If this comes across like I’m some puritan who can’t stand scatological humor, wander around the website a bit, it should be fairly obvious that that’s not always the case. And I did laugh out loud a few times while reading this, always the sign of a successful comic, or at least the sign that there’s some serious potential here. I guess what I’m trying to say is: try harder next time, dammit! $3
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Posted by Kevin
April 24, 2010
Website
Tuxedo Bandit #3
According to Rainer it’s been about a year since he sent the last issues of this series and, not to be mean about it or anything, but I can’t see any reason why this took so long. The bulk of the book is just Tuxedo Bandit and Dr. Klaw talking; I wouldn’t be shocked to learn that Rainer has cut and pasted the images of their faces over and over again. Then you throw in the couple of pages that are solid black (the power had gone out), and this is definitely the least visually interesting issue of the series. Then again, the writing has certainly improved and he even manages to draw lips on a few occasions, so it looks like the art has gotten better as well. It’s hard to be sure when these two are trapped in their apartment most of the time. There’s a pile of stories in this one, but they’re mostly connected by a central idea: these two come up with increasingly ridiculous ideas and get increasingly large piles of money from Hollywood for them. Other than that you have Bandit planning a surprise party for Dr. Klaw (with Klaw standing right there), Klaw denying his love for The Rock (the wrestler/actor, not the movie), the British Knights car, blind rowboating, 3-D potato chips, and Bandit finding a cat in the trash. Still plenty of poop for you diehards (if there is such a thing as a poop diehard), and still plenty of funny bits. A little more variety in the visuals would have been nice though. Price is still a mystery, I’m sticking with $4.
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Posted by Kevin
April 24, 2010
Website
Tuxedo Bandit #2
It’s pretty much always a good sign when the second book in a series takes whatever criticism I may have had of it and disposes of it in the first story. My complaint was “too much poo” for the first issue and, don’t get me wrong, I’m not claiming that I had anything to do with this change, as these two issues came together and I really hope I don’t have that kind of power to influence the creative types anyway. Ever, I mean. I’m a guy with a website, people, let’s keep that in mind. My only “qualification” to do this is the fact that I’ve been reading comics for 20 years or so, and good ones for about 12. Clear? OK, anyway, the first story in this issue deals with the fact that Tuxedo Bandit is constantly crapping on Dr. Klaw. Dr. Klaw finally reaches his breaking point, a therapist is called in, and Rainer manages to hilariously dispose of all the crap jokes in one four page story. All of the pieces are longer this time around, and Rainer manages to go for the cheap laughs all over the place, making this is a much better overall comic because of it. There’s a story about the two of them trying to make some money selling an Alan Arkin autograph, Tuxedo Bandit going on a blind date after getting caught masturbating, Dr. Klaw getting fused with a suckling pig, and Tuxedo Bandit becoming a poet. At the very end there’s also one last poop joke but, as it’s at the end of the book and not surrounded by a hundred other poop jokes, it’s pretty damned funny. So overall I’d have to say to pick this one up over #1, as this one actually fleshes out the stories while maintaining the funny. Of course, if all you’re looking for in a comic is nonstop poop jokes, chances are you’re going to feel like Rainer “sold out” a bit on this one and with that he would go back to his funnier stuff. There’s just no pleasing some people. Again with the no price tag, again I’m guessing $4.
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Posted by Kevin
April 24, 2010
Website
Tuxedo Bandit #1
Well, I said it in my earlier review of Rainer’s work: the bits with the Tuxedo Bandit were the funniest in the book. So how does as entire book of Bandit adventures hold up? Eh, maybe best left in smaller doses. I still think that Rainer has serious potential, and, as at least a few of the stories in here were also in Super Whiz #1, I still have a whole other issue in my comics pile to see more of his work. I love the completely random observations and the bits of pure meanness on display (like the page I sampled). The trouble is, well, every strip ends pretty much the same way. Tuxedo Bandit abuses Dr. Klaw, physically and mentally (honestly, maybe it would be better to read the whole book as a repressed gay love story), then either convinces or forces Dr. Klaw to eat his shit. Mildly funny once or twice, after that a new punch line is needed. Again, it’s the random observations that save this comic. The last strip of the book involves Dr. Klaw falling for a woman at a scientist convention, and Tuxedo Bandit has some priceless conversation with the woman before Rainer wraps things up (and four whole pages with no poo!). The best bits of this comic almost always involve them getting out of the house, as those are the stories where shit doesn’t have to be the fall back punchline. Still, the image of the Tuxedo Bandit showing up for dinner with Dr. Klaw holding flowers is pretty hard to top. As I seem to be going around in circles here, what’s the verdict? Plenty of funny here and it’s worth a look, but you’re likely to get a bit bored with the repetition before it’s all said and done. No price but that’s one fancy cover, so let’s spin the “guess the price” wheel… $4!
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Posted by Kevin
April 24, 2010
Website
Explode
Who loves gag books? Well, if you don’t, this is going to be kind of anti-climactic. If you do love them, this book is for you! It’s teeming with gags, and while some of it may seem a bit dated (Jar Jar Binks being brutally murdered in many different ways, the trials and tribulations of Hanson), it’s mostly a pretty funny collection. In here you have the longest strip ever made about the quest of a young child to have a cookie before dinner. Well, if not the longest strip, definitely the most violent. There are also comics about a vanity ass, the biggest zit in the world, letting the terrorists win, an old woman trapped in a car, Insane Joe, wacky old people, all of the ways that television has affected us throughout history, and a 63 year old pregnant lady. Oh, and it’s all completely disgusting. Seriously, there’s all kinds of nasty crap in here, so don’t blame me if your kid sees this laying around and ends up scarred for life. Keep this stuff away from the kids! What kind of parent are you? Anyway, it’s funny, it’s jam-packed full of stuff, and it’s $3. Contact info is up there, what are you waiting for?
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Posted by Kevin
April 24, 2010
Website
Doc Smith #1
This one is a whole lot better than the book of gag strips. It’s mostly about a clueless dork, which maybe isn’t the most original thing in the world, but it’s done really well. It’s an incredibly wordy book, as it took me about 20 minutes to read it (it’s 37 pages), so it’s up to you if you like that sort of thing. His art is solid and Dean’s a pretty funny guy at times. The story here is basically a wandering mess, but that’s OK. It starts with Doc being abducted by aliens, who release him because he has too many keys. Then he gets home to find that cockroaches have taped Howard Stern over his Battlestar Gallactica tape, then he spends the rest of the issue going on about his trouble with women. Who would have guessed that a stereotypical dork would have trouble with women, eh? Anyway, this is a dense tome, worth the effort if you’re you like books that are mostly funny with some groaners thrown in. Contact info is up there, and if you’re going to check this guy I’d recommend this one. $2 maybe? No price listed…
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Posted by Kevin
April 24, 2010
Website
Tacklebear and Barko the Stickdog #1
Here’s a book of mostly one page gag strips with a few longer stories thrown in. It often follows the standard gag strip formula of setting something up for the sake of a mostly lame punchline, but it does veer into more entertaining territory here and there. It’s the story of a bear and his guard dog (and yes, he does deal with why a bear would want a guard dog) as they deal with rain, ghost stories, a malfunctioning magician’s hat, “Footbig”, and the “stop hitting yourself” game (come on, you all played it when you were kids). The book suffers from a lack of timing, as a lot of longer stories go on too long and some of the shorter ones could have used a bit more. Still, there are some funny moments here and there and, despite the simplicity of the characters and the general lack of backgrounds, you can tell that Dean has some artistic talent when he uses it. He sent another book along with this that I’ll get to probably in a month or so. I’ll have a more complete idea of his work then. Until then, this has a few moments wrapped around a bunch of so-so stuff. Send him an e-mail or send him $3 if you want to check it out at: Dean LeCrone C/o Sourdirt Comics P.O. Box 502074 San Diego, CA 92150-2074.
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Posted by Kevin
April 24, 2010
Website
Strip Joint
To be totally honest, I pretty much only read political strips. I don’t know why I have the prejudice, as I read pretty much everything under the sun when it comes to regular comics, but with weekly strips I stick to stuff that has a current political message. That’s why this book comes as such a great surprise. There’s all kind of relevance here, it’s just not the kind that comes from yelling a viewpoint from a soapbox. The premise here is simple, and obvious to everybody who’s been reading this for years, but bear with me: Carol sets up a premise every week, makes a story out of it and brings that story to a conclusion, usually in 12 panels. The stories are about all sorts of things, but the one thing that brings them all together is that things are always brought out to their logical conclusion, even when that conclusion isn’t very nice. Overpopulation, good, evil and love are some of the more consistent themes. The best part about this strip is that she avoids ever being preachy, which is a difficult thing with her wide range of topics. Looks like I have another strip to read every week on Salon, which brings my total up to three out of five. Maybe I should give the other two a chance, as they seem to have pretty good taste. Check out her website, all kinds of strips to convince you with there…
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Posted by Kevin
April 24, 2010
Website
The Big Skinny
That’s right, I’m reviewing what is essentially a diet book. I’ve come to terms with that, you should too. Actually, Ms. Lay would probably have a problem with this being referred to as a “diet book”, as what it actually sets out to do is show how easy it to to lose weight and keep it off for years. The intro to the book is excellent: Carol, at a dinner party, is asked by the hostess what her secret is for looking so good (Carol, by her own description, has been at least 30 pounds overweight for most of her life). She replies honestly “I count calories and exercise every day”. And, well, that’s really all there is to it. The rest of the book is her proving that counting calories isn’t as difficult as most people think, how exercising can be incorporated into the schedule of even the busiest person, how you can do those exercises at home (more or less for free once you get a few basic things), and how the only way for this to work in the long term is a sincere desire to change. She describes how people have to have a moment when they decide they’ve had enough: a certain photo mercilessly shows how you really look, a small child asks you why you’re so fat, some sort of trigger makes you want to change. Roughly equivalent to an alcoholic hitting rock bottom, I suppose. She also makes it clear that it is still possible to go nuts on rare occasions and eat things that aren’t justifiable under your new standards, as long as you take care to make up for it in the coming days. I don’t want to give away all her secrets here, as anybody interested in this sort of thing (which, judging from the sales numbers of diet books, is just about everybody) should buy the book. Speaking as somebody who is trying to eat healthier (I really mean it this time), this is a damned near perfect way to approach things, chock full of common sense, and it even has a series of recipes in the back along with links to calorie counting websites. It really isn’t as hard as everybody makes it out to be, and there’s a very simple reason why people want to gum up the works as much as possible here: how else could they convince people to buy every book about the latest miracle diet plan to come along? This is one of those rare books that actually could change your life, even if you only take some of the suggestions out of it. Take all of them (and no, you don’t have to completely give up cheese), and you’d have a hard time not being a healthier, fitter person. $18
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Posted by Kevin
April 24, 2010
Website
Infandum #2 Now Available! $1
Humiliation! Now there’s a fun theme for a comic. First up is the delightful strip I sampled below, about how to deal with getting dumped by a guy. Not sure if it would work if the genders were reversed but ladies, this is perfect advice if you want to torment the dumper. Next up are a couple of stories about baseball players who are remembered, even after long, mostly successful careers, for one big play they botched. These stories are from 1908 and 1912 respectively, as Molly seems to have a fascination with this era. Fine by me, it’s something I’ve been curious about for years but never bothered to go back and research. The best of the bunch is next, a story about humiliation at grade school. Molly was something of a teacher’s pet back then, but decided to spice things up a bit by following the lead of a fictional idol of hers and puts on a pair of homemade rabbit ears for a few days. This, oddly, goes mostly unnoticed by the class… until her mom decides to come in wearing the same ears. I believe “scarred for life” fits here. Finally there’s the story of a Molly deciding to train for a marathon with a friend, who lives miles away. They were supposed to both be training at the same time, except for the minor fact that, months later, the long distance friend still hadn’t begun running, while Molly was hobbling herself on a constant basis trying to get in shape for a marathon. Great stuff all around here, it’s hard to get more quality material for a buck than you’ll find here. $1
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Posted by Kevin
April 24, 2010
Website
Infandum #1 Now Available! $1
Intoxication! Now there’s something we can all get behind. Or something that we’ve all worked towards at one time or another, in one form or another, and yes, I’m talking to you super religious types who “get high on Jesus” too, assuming you people would read a site like this. This is a very short comic, but it does have one essential story about a young man walking home with his laundry at night when he happens upon the town Jesus Van. Chances are you’ve seen something like this in your town, and he thinks it would be the best idea in the world to smoke a bowl in said van, and, well, there’s a lesson to be had somewhere in that. Also in here is a strip about the basics of Catholicism as told by a talking bird, the story of the death of a drunk baseball player over a hundred years ago, and a tale about the virtues of drinking heavily after an intense workout. Great stuff again, and don’t be too fooled by the size, as Molly has a tendency to draw tiny panels, so she still has space to pack in a good story…
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Posted by Kevin
April 24, 2010
Website
Great Moments In Baseball #1 Now Available! $1
Molly does the impossible here: she makes me care about baseball players from around the turn of the century who are, in most cases, long dead. Who knew that Ty Cobb was a nutcase who quite possibly killed a guy? Some of the other stories have been scattered around her other comics, but they’re all in one volume here for people who are interested. There’s the story of the last day of the Washington Senators (in 1971), Big Ed Delahanty’s mysterious death, how the “best” double play combo in history got into the Hall of Fame, and how a respected manager was ruined after catching a grapefruit dropped from a plane. If you’re curious about that last one, well, lucky you, as that’s the sampled page. It leaves out the fact that this manager was trying to beat a player who had caught a ball that was dropped out of the Washington Monument, as apparently balls falling a long distance was a big thing back then. I think this is fascinating stuff even for people who don’t care about baseball, although I have my doubts that anybody who hates the sport is going to pick up something called “Great Moments in Baseball”. Then again, what do I know? $1
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Posted by Kevin
April 24, 2010
Website
Raven’s Children #10
Did I say last issue that the conflict between Jained and Jemer was resolved? OK, that was completely wrong. This issue deals with the consequences of Jained “killing” his sister in #9 and a bit more of the politics at play in the whole general scheme of things. I still think it’s pretty close to impossible to review what it essentially a chapter of a long book, but here I am, trying anyway. This story is really shaping up and I’ll bet there’s a second graphic novel out by now, or if there isn’t there will be soon, so you can be totally caught up. It’s $2, try and find the contact info, I dare you…
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Posted by Kevin
