April 24, 2010
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Hillbilly Sex #5
Gotta love that scanner. Let’s see, how negative can I be about this. Fart jokes are boring! And, um, Robospy was only mildly funny. And where was Mick Foley at on the list of 10 best wrestlers of all time! As for everything else, well, dammit, there goes the negativity. His “interview” with Johnny Ryan was hilarious, Darwin’s Theory of Evolution was one of the stupidest things I’ve seen (it was also one of the funniest), everybody loves strips with midgets, and it’s about time Jeffrey Tambor got some recognition. If you don’t know who that is, well, yes you do, and isn’t it just going to kill you not being able to put a face to the name? Better buy this comic then. What else… Darwin Dong, in the longer stories, is starting to wear a bit thin for me. However, Darwin Dong in the shorter strips is really starting to grow on me. Paradox? Maybe. There’s also a few guest artists in this one: Mike Diana, Josh Simmons, Vincent Stall and J. Johnston-Kiesling. $2 is still pretty cheap for this much funny and his stuff keeps getting better. Buy all of these and put them in plastic bags and boards (but for the sake of all the holy babies don’t read them and ruin the value) because I think he’ll be rich and famous one day. Oh, and when I say “rich” I only mean as rich as people get in the comics world, so not very rich. And when I say “famous” I only mean as famous as people get in the comics world, which is to say not at all.
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Posted by Kevin
April 24, 2010
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Hillbilly Sex #4
OK, this is basically a review of #2-4, although I’ll probably go into more of the details of the individual issues when I have more time/when I feel less lazy. Reading three of these in a row is, frankly, an assault on the senses and I don’t have it in me to dissect three issues at once. Tastelessness is fine, going for the gross-out is fine, it’s just… after a while, wouldn’t it be funnier to NOT do the most offensive thing you can think of in a strip? Just make it bright and shiny to freak people out or something? Just a thought, but I’d love to see a children’s book from this guy to see some range, because there’s real talent here. He’s not anywhere near as bad as Jeff Johnston seems to think (the review is reprinted in #2) where he basically says that Nick is all that’s wrong with comics today. Not that I’m saying he’s the second coming or anything, but does it make me a total moron to find some of his stuff hilarious? At times he’s like a much less polished Ivan Brunetti, which isn’t his best stuff. His best stuff is his longer work, like the story where his character, Darwin Dong, confronts God (who actually turns out to be Burt Reynolds) and gets a lesson on love. Or there’s the story of Darwin befriending and eventually falling in love with a dog. Things I don’t like so much: most (but not all) of the four panel comics are stupid, but I mostly don’t like four panel strips, so take that with a grain of salt; same with most of the one panel gag strips. I like how he put the scathing review of his work on the inside cover and his biographies of various people (Lydia Lunch, Mike Diana and Gil-Scott Heron, so far) are short and informative. I’d say that #3 is your best bet if you just want to check one of them out, and #4 is probably the weakest overall. He also has a strange obsession with wrestling, not that there’s anything wrong with that. It’s $2 per issue, contact info is above.
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Posted by Kevin
April 24, 2010
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Hillbilly Sex #1
As you can see from the cover, this book is a treatise on the subtleties of the Middle East crisis… nah, just kidding. It’s a comic about squirrels being whores, killing children, hitting on anything with “grass on the field”, a video game about 9/11, Homeless Harry, old white ladies, Darwin Dong and some really silly superhero parodies. They’re in the minority though, so there’s nothing to worry about. Is it in good taste? No, not even close, but since when does something have to be in good taste to be funny? If you don’t mind being really grossed out by some things and even probably genuinely offended (hey, I’m sure it’s possible to make fun of 9/11 but the page strip in here was pretty tacky, unless you have thicker skin than I do, then it was hilarious), then this book is for you. I’m just gratified with the sheer number of funny mini comics I’m seeing these days. Keep them coming, poor cartoonist America! E-mail the guy to see what he has, there’s no address or website in the comic…
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Posted by Kevin
April 24, 2010
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The Short Term Now Available! $3.50
Is a comic successful if I have no idea what to make of it? If that’s the case, kudos to Nick. This is the story of the last few days or weeks of the life of Jack Sanders, somebody that was obviously close to Nick, or at least a friend. No idea how much of this is taken from reality and how much of it is sheer artistic license, but it’s a riveting book. Jack has very few priorities in life, and at the time of this comic he’s unemployed but making plenty of money, so he has a lot of free time. It’s also at this time in his life that he finds out his mother needs a liver transplant, or at least a piece of a liver. Jack offers his, but there are complications, and here I am telling the whole story. What makes this whole story so hard to figure is that it’s about nothing and everything at the same time. Jack is obviously having a great time with life, even as he’s dealing with an ugly breakup, getting mugged and a dead roommate. It’s easy enough to read this as just all about him going through his days, getting fucked up and never having anything amount to squat, but there’s also genuine searching here, a longing to live up the hopes of his mother, however faintly and briefly. Don’t take this the wrong way: your typical whiny, self-absorbed mini this is not. But I do believe that Nick has mastered nuance in comic form, and that along with his current mastery of humor and the ability to tell a good story makes him downright dangerous. $3.50
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Posted by Kevin
April 24, 2010
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Curio Cabinet #4
If you had told me years ago that one of my favorite things in comics would be the quiet, contemplative moments of Jason Voorhees from the Friday the 13th movies, especially when I never liked them to begin with (even as a teenager when I liked just about every other horror movie), well, I would have thought you were mildly daft. Then when you add the fact that they’re just a tiny piece of a whole comic of bizarre goodness, it’s a bit much. The bulk of the issue the melancholy life story of a miner, from a small child all the way up until death. It’s heartbreaking, even though we know how it’s going to end… except it turns out we have no idea how it’s going to end. Or should I stick with “I” statements? It’s not like you’re reading along with me, whoever you are. Next is Illustrations of the Passions and Episodes in the Life of the Wandering Jew, mammoth two page images that really get ruined a bit by the crease in the center of the page, but what else was the man supposed to do? They’d make nice prints though, if JB was interested in making such things. Finally there’s the slow motion showdown between a hunter and just about all the creatures in the forest, or at least that’s what it looked like to me until the surprise ending, but it was silent (like the rest of the book), so open to interpretation. That means, to those of you who are new around here, that I’m almost certainly interpreting it incorrectly. It’s another solid issue by JB, and it’s a shame his secret identity keeps him from making more of these, as they’re those rare comics that have a way of sticking with you long after the fact. That image of Jason floating alone on the lake, for one, is going to be in my brain for a long time…
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Posted by Kevin
April 24, 2010
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Curio Cabinet #3
Well, going by my completely arbitrary measure of how to tell that a comic’s creator has “made it” from my last review, it’s safe to say that John has now officially done so. Three incredible issues = admittance into the rare company of other people approaching comic genius, doomed as they are to a life of mostly unpaid artistic expression to a dwindling audience of diehard fans who are also increasingly unable to pay for such things. Hooray, my cheery thought for the day! Anyway, this comic is damned near a work of genius, and this is with me coming in with heightened expectations after the first two issues. First up is Human Again, the story of a suicidal hatchet (after his failed relationship with a teapot) and the unfortunate side effect of a hatchet leaping from the top of a tall building. Next is Silent Watcher, which would be a candidate for “story of the year” if this was 2008 already, and if I even remotely kept track of such things. Two friends are driving along the highway, rocking out, when the hand of god (or the hand of dog) reaches down and smacks one of the men out of the car. This, naturally, causes some confusion to the remaining man, and the effects on the smitten man are profound indeed. This ends in a final panel of such brilliance that it actually hurt me not to sample, but it just isn’t right to ruin a perfectly wonderful story because I feel the need to use that image as the sole example of the excellence of the work on display here. Next up are a couple of pieces about the quiet time of Jason Voorhies (yep, the guy from the Friday the 13th movies), involving him meeting a squirrel and “driving” a car. Then there’s Hatchet (no relation to the story about a hatchet), dealing with a boy who makes a little fort that he can see from his classroom. Finally there’s Hot Rockin, in which something resembling the Loch Ness monster comes onto land and deals with a land war in the only way he can. Seriously, in a series I can’t recommend highly enough, this one still manages to be the best of the bunch. No price tag, so…$3?
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Posted by Kevin
April 24, 2010
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Curio Cabinet #2 (with Christine Todorovich) Now Available! $2
So does it take two comics to establish a pattern with a comics creator or is it three? I can never remember. I guess you could say that if somebody has two really great comics that they just lucked out twice (although that’s incredibly pessimistic), but once it gets to three great ones they’re “in” and you can expect nothing but great things from them in the future. Well, John is 2/3 of the way there then. I’m mostly just defining it as such so I can avoid my usual gushing once somebody puts out two unique comics, this isn’t meant as an indictment of his work by any means. There are two stories in this one. The first is the story of an older man who gradually loses touch with reality. This is an incredible piece of work, down to the little touches of him sharing a quiet moment with his daughter before losing his grip completely and the constant smudgy shadowing. Next up is a few two-pagers about Jason (from the Friday the 13th movies) having some quiet moments at the lake. How he pulled off this much of a range of expression in a character wearing a hockey mask is beyond me, but there’s a genuine sadness in watching this brutal fictional killer dropping rocks in a lake and being unable to sleep at night. John is definitely somebody to keep an eye on, at least until he reaches his third great issue, then you just know that the rest of them are going to be great.
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Posted by Kevin
April 24, 2010
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Curio Cabinet #1 Now Available! $2
Before I get started, this is John’s first comic and he’s looking to get in touch with other comics folks, so if some of the “elder statesmen”would click on the link above that picture and get in touch with the guy, I’m sure he’d appreciate it. While I doubt that “elder statesmen” (whoever they are) even read the site, anybody that could offer advice would be appreciated. Not that I think he needs the help, as this is an incredible first effort. The first story in here (all wordless, or at least it doesn’t use real words) is about an old man hanging onto life, his blank, featureless child (?), and the horrors that are the rest of the family. Next up is a whole bunch of two page spreads, or “pin-ups”, as they were formerly called, at least for the type of person who would rip up their comics to put a two page spread on their wall.Anyway, the last story here is about a picnic and a creature that crashes the party. If these descriptions sound a bit droll to you, that’s my fault. There are some horrific images in here, the early work of what looks like a demented creative mind which, of course, I mean in the best possible sense. I’m guessing this is a couple of bucks, well worth a look if you like your comics a little bit odd…
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Posted by Kevin
April 24, 2010
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The Probe
Four years after the first Damian Jay book goes up on this website and I’m just now getting around to reading another comic? Cripes. Anyway, if you happen to be one of those people who likes funny, silent comics, this will be perfect for you. And if you don’t like funny comics, I think you’re missing the point of this whole “life” thing.rabbits, as a rabbit is the first thing it comes across. What follows is a hilarious series of Bugs Bunny-esque hijinx involving various carrots and attempts to get the rabbit to come out of his hole. Laughing out loud is always a good thing with comics, and that happened more than a few times in the short reading time of this one. One look at Damian’s website also shows me that there are plenty of comics that I’ve been missing out on over the years, something I hope to rectify before another four years go by… $2
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Posted by Kevin
April 24, 2010
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Plates Are Cult #2 Now Available! $4
There’s not a thing wrong with comics being methodical, and Damien seems to have that down. The first story in here is about Joey the Mancat. Joey spends days (or weeks, or maybe months) just sitting in the same place, watching life go by him. Trust me, it’s a lot more interesting than it sounds. The rest of the book is a guided tour on a deep sea probe, uncovering all kinds of odd things. The sheer earnestness of the two main characters makes this whole book a blast, from Joey’s laid back interest in watching everything happen to Shaun’s joy in every aspect of a deep sea dive. It’s a fun book and it looks great, what else needs to be said? These are $4, and I should mention that they’ll be on sale here as soon as the distro starts. Do you think I was too nice to it because of that fact? Looks like the same rambling, meandering review I usually write to me. Website!
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Posted by Kevin
April 24, 2010
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On The Banks Of The Mighty Croal
If you’ve ever been interested in taking a walk through a town in England, learning about its history along the way, but have lacked the resources necessary to go there, this comic is perfect for you. Rob takes a walk through Bolton, his home town, stopping to go into the history of various places along the way. The sheer range of years described here is impressive to me, a history-deficient American who would rarely be able to trace the history of any given town back farther than a couple of hundred years at most. He even provides directions, just in case you ever make it to Bolton, to follow along his path and see everything he describes. It’s a great book all around, and makes me want to get the hell out of this country for a bit even more. $4
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Posted by Kevin
April 24, 2010
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Random Journeys #3
Here it is, the exciting conclusion, and the whole issue is dedicated to the story this time. Who gets to keep that dagger? Is the Professor’s daughter going to get killed for it? This is told from the perspective of the Professor giving a lecture, so we know some of the things that aren’t going to happen right away. Let’s see, how should I talk about this stuff without giving anything away… Well, it’s the end of the series, so things are wrapped up in a more or less satisfactory way. We get to see one of the actual people in the Professor’s fantastic version of events, and he’s not happy with the way he’s portrayed. Oh, and a group of guards in the jungle are tricked into eating some psychedelic mushrooms. I thought things were wrapped up nicely, with the possibility of more in the future, but not so much that things are left dangling here. I’m liking the art more and more, and I love Rob’s version of sweaty nervousness. Worth a look for those of you who like archaeological stories mixed in with plenty of human errors.
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Posted by Kevin
April 24, 2010
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Random Journeys #2
Well, this should put to rest any doubts I had about this being an actual continuing series. The story of the archaeologists continues in this issue, and it’s even going to bleed over into the next one (at least). The team finds themselves trapped in an ancient ruin (although the escape is fairly anticlimactic), then run into another team that is even less ethical than they are. I enjoyed the characters more last time around; I guess at this point they’re supposed to be established so it shouldn’t bug me, but the character of Professor’s daughter seems almost wafer thin in this one. Still overall a good story, and it ends on another cliffhanger. Then there’s a wordless story called “The Swirling Vortex Of Doom” about, oddly enough, a swirling vortex of doom. We see the destruction rage through an underground cavern and suck up everything in its path, so if you like some good mayhem, well, here you go. Finally there’s a science fiction shortie that’s my favorite of the bunch. A man goes to a remote satellite to focus on his writing, and of course space madness sets in from there… or does it? I loved the subtle touches to make this seem otherworldly, like the pleasure planet (that looked kind of creepy) and the fact that the alien on the satellite drags around a cart filled with snouts and cakes. Another solid issue, and yet another case when I’m not sure how the currency settles into American dollars. $3 maybe? Let’s go with that…
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Posted by Kevin
April 24, 2010
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Random Journeys #1
Could it be that this is actually the start of an ongoing series? I hope so, for one simple reason: Rob is one of those rare people who does autobio comics that actually travels all over the place. Meaning, essentially, that there are always good stories to tell. The first half of this book is the story of an explorer, his daughter and a crew of vagabonds (which I say mostly because I wanted to use the word “vagabonds”) who go to try and find a lost city that was indicated on an old lost map. Great job here, as everybody has an established personality in the few pages they’re allowed and it even ends on an excellent cliffhanger, to be continued in #2, unless of course he’s just kidding about the whole continuing series idea. Also included in this are the strip I sampled about the birds, the story of Rob’s first day or work in South Korea and various tales told by various folks on allotments. Again, kudos on keeping the autobio stuff interesting (far better than plenty of the navel gazing stuff from this country) and art seems to be improving by the issue.
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Posted by Kevin
April 24, 2010
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A Km of Dummy Torpedoes
You’re not likely to see many comics that are more of a labor of love than this one. There’s nothing resembling a story, instead there’s 28 pages of random drawings. Some are in full, stunning color, other are black in white, with various stages of complexity involved. Every copy has the order of the images altered, with different ones thrown in, so every issue would be different from every other issue. I’m guessing that every issue isn’t hand-drawn (it just doesn’t seem possible) but this sure LOOKS like it was drawn on paper and pasted on the page. It’s impossible to review as there’s no story and whatever story there might changes with every issue, but it’s a truly gorgeous book to have laying around, I can say that much. It’s listed at 2.50 euros, so kudos to you if you know what that means in American dollars…
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Posted by Kevin
April 24, 2010
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Cafe Le Guillotine – The French Revolution
OK, I’ll admit it. I don’t remember much about the French Revolution. Typical American, I guess, but there you go. This is a recap of sorts that comes across as strangely breezy and light-hearted, considering the fact that I’ve probably never seen this many decapitations in a comic before. I’m not going to recap all of the historical data in here, as you either already know that or you don’t, and if you really want to learn it without buying this comic I’m sure you could find everything you need to know on at least one of the internets. The art remains a bit rough, but I’ll be damned if it didn’t charm me completely this time. The panel with Robespierre trying to talk with half of his face blown off in particular was priceless. So, if you like your comics to be fun and still have a bit of actual historical information, this is a pretty good place to start. I think this one is $4 (sorry, I have trouble converting from pounds), contact info is up there and he does take paypal, if you’d like an easy way to buy…
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Posted by Kevin
April 24, 2010
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To Nail the Killer With All Efforts
Well, at least there’s a really great title. The story isn’t bad in a lot of ways too; there’s an interesting story involving a robbery gang that’s buying vacuums for some reason (yes, it is made clear in the comic). The art’s still rough (check out the sample to see what I mean), and for some reason the main villain in this talks in rhymes, which is incredibly annoying. Still, it’s an engaging story, with all its flaws, although I’d really recommend getting his other book first and checking this out later if you like his stuff. Let’s say it’s $2, contact info is up there!
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Posted by Kevin
April 24, 2010
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Train to Shanghai
Here’s a great travel mini from England. Well, technically it might from Shanghai, but I’m not sure if this is from Shanghai or just from it. Does it matter at all? Anyway, this is the story of Rob losing his job in Hardin, China, and ending up deciding to look for work in Shanghai. This book is mostly about his train ride to Shanghai, as well as everything that was going through his head at the time. It’s a neat little story, although the art was a bit rough in places. Just looks like he needs to maybe study some anatomy, work on some of the more awkward poses and positions in the book. Hey, I have to throw a suggestion or two into these reviews every now and then to break up the rambling, right? Anyway, this is probably a buck or two and you can always send him an e-mail.
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Posted by Kevin
April 24, 2010
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Bog Wizards #2
I had a few doubts about this story coming out of the first issue, wondering a bit if it could hold up over the long term. All doubts have been smashed into teeny tiny chunks with this issue. First off, just look at that cover. That’s brilliant. Things pick up where they left off in the last issue, leading up to the second page of the story, and it’s the one I sampled below. Go ahead, take a minute to check it out. The reaction from the giant was hilarious, as was the reaction from our hero. The giant makes a deal with our hero in exchange for not eating him (even though this giant doesn’t eat people anyway), which causes our hero to remorselessly mess things up for everybody else to get himself out of trouble. So what gets him back on the side of right? The possibility of getting with the fairy queen, of course. From here we get some fantastic fight scenes, and here’s where Rob really shines: his depiction of the various monsters. Two full pages introduced the monsters a bit earlier (I particularly loved the vaguely Mr. Potato Head looking monster), and great glee is taken in taking these creatures out. There’s more, a lot more than you may think with a mini comic, but I’m gushing here, and I do have to save some praise. Why? Because this issue comes with a Bog Wizards board game. How is it possible to include a board game with a comic? Rob has broken the game down into two large color pages, along with three pages of cards to use in the game and a page of characters. If you wondered about the names of any of the monsters from the comic, the mystery is solved here (my favorite is called Yogblog). All of this comes in a plastic bag with simple instructions, ending with the following disclaimer: “Have cautious fun. Don’t expect too much.” I think the man’s selling himself short. This whole thing goes for about $6, and the arbitrary pricing system in my brain says that is just barely too much for a comic (even one that’s this good), but is a steal when you factor in the board game. He didn’t skimp on the details for it either, it looks gorgeous. Buy this from the man, we should all do our part to make Bog Wizards a phenomenon.
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Posted by Kevin
April 24, 2010
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Bog Wizards #1
I do believe that this is Rob’s first attempt at fantasy, in this case the story of a young man, a curse, a fake wizard, a demon and some bad bargains. Things start off with the father of the young man dying a slow, painful death, and telling his son about an awful thing he did years ago, something that he’s still paying for, something that caused a curse that only the son can remove. From here the story is full of zigs and zags, as most of the attempts to fix things make matters worse. I’m keeping this as vague as possible to avoid giving things away, as per usual, and because of the simple fact that Rob kept me guessing throughout this story, always the hallmark of a good fantasy story, or a good fiction story in general. Oh, and Rob describes this as kind of like a 24 hour comic, but done over the course of a month instead. Good stuff, unless you hate all wizards, demons and curses, in which case everything else on this page is probably a bit more realistic and more to your liking. $1.50
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Posted by Kevin
