April 23, 2010
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Ramona & Imogene
And people say that can’t share any decent comics with their kids. This is the story of two mice who get tired of their life in the sewer and decide to visit a cousin in the city. Upon visiting said cousin, they discover a seriously swank pad and find themselves loving their new lives. Yep, just like that. No cynicism, no wicked twists, just a good natured and utterly adorable story. The art’s a little on the simple side but come on, it’s the story of two mice. Erin does do a nice job of things when the surroundings get complicated, but other than that less is more anyway. Well worth checking out, unless you’re one of those people who can’t stand to look at cute things for more than a few seconds. Actually, that’d be OK too, as this is a mini comic, after all. $3
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Posted by Kevin
April 23, 2010
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Cavities Comix Presents: Tales From the Tart 1992-2008
Yeah, I gave away the secret inner title. Spoiler alert! This is an absolutely wonderful comic detailing the dating life of Erin, starting with her in fourth grade in 1992 all the way up to modern day. And, to give you another spoiler, it does seem to have a happy ending, at least at the moment. In between she takes a few pages each on everybody who she dated or wanted to date, including people in her experimental phase at college and people where it didn’t seem to work out for even a little bit. She’s refreshingly honest in her break-up pages, telling them exactly why it’s not working out and why she’s moving on. Who knows if that’s what she actually said at the time, and who cares if she didn’t? There’s something in here for everyone who’s ever been dumped and for everyone who has done the dumping. It’s really amazing that she manages to accomplish all this without ever getting graphic or too personal with the people involved. In the end, this is practically as much of an “all ages” book than the one listed below, although with an entirely different subject matter. No price listed but it’s probably about $3, and it comes with a nice little bow that also serves as the binding for the book.
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Posted by Kevin
April 23, 2010
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Always Comix #4 edited by Erin Griffin & Sarah Louise Warhaftig
Once of these days I’ll settle on a universal standard for reviewing anthologies. Is it best just to list the talent involved and leave everything else a mystery? Or is it best to go through every story and one page image one by one, leaving nothing for a future reader to discover? 
How about splitting the difference. Here’s a list of the people involved, outside of the editors because duh: Falynn Koch, Jeremy Tinder, Will Kirkby, Josh Blair, Colin Tedford, Matt Wiegle, Alvaro Lopez, Colleen Macisaac, Amanda Kirk, L. Nichols, Ed Moorman, Box Brown, Alisa Harris, Josh P.M., and Joe Decie. As this is the Activity issue, there’s plenty in here to do, for the active comics reader. There’s recipes, a maze, even a mad lib. Specifically I enjoyed the guide to getting over your cat allergies by Sarah Louise Warhaftig (because any “how to” guide that ends with acheiving Nirvana is hard not to love), the attack of the clouds by Falynn Koch (not so much an activity but still funny), Amanda Kirk’s cut and paste page, Ed Moorman’s guide to inner peace, Joe Decie’s guide to fun with matches, and Box Brown’s “wrestler or tattoo artist” quiz. There, that still leaves plenty to the imagination, right? It’s a fun anthology even without all the practical tips and with them, well, what more could you ask for? $4
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Posted by Kevin
April 23, 2010
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Old School Funnies #1 Now Available! $2.50
Ah well, I don’t see Frankenstein here, so I’m obviously not going to like this one as much as the last one. It’s still a fun little comic, don’t get me wrong. This is basically a comic of the old Tom and Jerry cartoons, right down to the bit where one of the main characters pretends to be a mirror image of the bad guy to get him off his case. There’s a dog and a cat, see, and they both decide to take a job being a watchdog at a butcher’s shop. They are warned not to let anything bad happen OR ELSE, so of course as soon as the butcher leaves a couple of mice AND some huge dogs separately decide to rob the place blind. Hilarity ensues, or at least mild amusement, but then, I didn’t like the Tom and Jerry cartoons much after I hit my teens. Still a fun book, like I said, but you should check out the other one first if you want to see what Doug is capable of.
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Posted by Kevin
April 23, 2010
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My Freakish Love #1 Now Available! $2.50
Again, in the interests of full disclosure, it should be known that I automatically love all comics with Frankenstein, Dracula, Wolf-Man, or any of the other classics. You really have to go out of your way to get me to dislike your book after a cover like this one, and Doug didn’t manage to pull it off, as I liked this one a whole bunch. First you have Frankenstein forgetting his keys at home and stumbling upon a scene of betrayal by his wife, who happens to be having sex with a mummy. Then you have the circus strongman, after being thrown out by the fat lady, stumble his way back into the dating world. Following this is the most normal story of the bunch, about a man on a date with a girl who’s telling him about her dream, which only gets weird when the dog starts talking. Next up is a cautionary tale about why monsters and robots should never date, and finally a couple of one pagers, one of which is sampled below just so you’ll know if this book is for you. Like I said, I loved it, and you really can’t beat Doug’s brief intro to all of his past girlfriends on the inside front cover either…
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Posted by Kevin
April 23, 2010
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Complexificationstrategory: A Ten Foot Rule Suppliment
I’ll say one thing for Shawn: he’s the master of the ridiculously long titles. He says in the cover that he’s “sold out” to Dylan William’s Sparkplug Press, which is good news for everybody who hasn’t heard about Shawn yet, as now he might get into some comic stores. Beautiful, painstakingly detailed artwork mixed with entertaining and self-deprecating writing is what you’ll find in his comics. This one has a strip about his feelings on the world today, one on the mystery that is Portland’s fascination with Pabst, a guide to cheap eateries, and a few other random things. I can’t wait to see what he puts in his published comic. Here’s hoping that he gets successful and has some of his older stuff see print, as I’m curious to see what else he’s done (besides the best of, I guess). New address is P.O. Box 14185 Portland, OR 97182-0185, or just e-mail the guy to see what else he has or to order this for a buck.
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Posted by Kevin
April 23, 2010
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3.05 Metres: A Ten Foot Rule Primer
More often than I like I’ll get a comic where I know there’s more out there that could help me make up my mind about it. It’s always better to see a wider variety of a certain artist just to get the complete picture. Well, this issue is as complete as it gets, for better or worse, and I’m going to treat it as such. This is the creator-determined “best of” from the five previous issues of “Ten Foot Rule”. And a sample of his best is, well, pretty mixed. There are quite a few comics that are just mini comics by the numbers. Bad work experiences, dating troubles, punk shows, it’s all here. The problem is that while the quality of the art stays just about the same (it’s good), the quality of the stories don’t. The writing style stays the same, don’t get me wrong, it’s just that he doesn’t seem to know when something is just too boring to write about. One example is a four page text story all about a train ride that he takes. No, no story there really that could be considered all that funny or interesting, just four pages of travel details. In a “best of” book, that doesn’t bode well. Still, there are some real bright spots in here. The story about indie rock people and their hypocritical standards is great, as are the ones about the things that people have told him while trying to sell his comic around. About 2/3 of this is really solid, really worth checking out, and that includes one text piece about ibuprofin. For $2 it’s still definitely worth checking out. Actually, my only problem with it was that some of the stories seemed to me like they were too dull to be printed, and that’s obviously a completely subjective thing. Everybody else in the world might love the whole thing.
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Posted by Kevin
April 23, 2010
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Better Looking Than A Blog
You know, it ruins all the fun for me when somebody says right in their intro that their book has a few good moments but that’s about it. In this case he’s not nearly giving himself enough credit, but when they’re right I invariably feel like a doofus for pointing it out when they’ve just admitted it. This is a journal comic, and if that automatically sends a few of you screaming off of this page, so be it. Shawn decided that he needed more structure in his drawing schedule and if everybody else was doing it, why not him? His dedication is impressive, as I don’t think he missed a day for the first 3 months of 2007, or if he did he went back and did a strip for that day later. It’s not all formulaic either, as it’s mostly a three panel strip, but he’s not afraid to let it air out for several more panels of varying shapes and sizes if he has
a longer story to tell. Mostly this is full of stories about biking, being a vegetarian (but not in a preachy way, just pointing out meals and good places to eat), partying here and there, and everything else
you’d write about in a daily journal. For you biking aficionados out there, this goes into pretty serious detail about various biking events, zines and things that happened while biking. My eyes glazed over a bit
for those parts, but I’ll bet it’s fascinating to some people. All in all it’s a pretty solid journal comic, with a promise from Shawn about more “real” comics coming soon. It’s been a while since he’s put out a
comic, so huzzah for that news. Oh, and this is a hefty book for the cheap price tag of $2. Took me just under an hour to get through.
Shawn also bemoans the death of actual mail, so If anybody wants to check out his stuff, why not just send him a letter for it? I think that, rather than an e-mail, would make his day…
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Posted by Kevin
April 23, 2010
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Ten Foot Rule: When You Can’t Stand Yourself, Walk Outside
A note to any obsessive types out there reading this: the review for the Spring 2007 book was done today, 2/23/08, long after the review for the Winter 2007 book, which was done I believe in May of 2007. Any stupid things I say in that review about that comic being his first one in ages should be disregarded as I am occasionally a stupid, stupid man. This is from back when Shawn first started drawing every day, although he missed a few chunks here and there. It’s mostly about a trip around various parts of the country, hitting a few conventions, checking out the local biking scenes, and generally wondering (at least at times) if the whole comic thing was worth it. His conclusion seems to be “Yeah, but…”, which is right around where most people land on the whole idea. He also sent himself postcards from his various stops, which helps immensely to put some immediacy into the trip, even long after he’d returned. At the end of the book he has a long text piece on the virtues of Bikesummer, a sort of month long event dedicated to celebrating biking, something you biking enthusiasts should be looking into for this year. All in all it’s a solid journal comic, cheap and wordy, which is damned near the best thing in the world in my book. $2
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Posted by Kevin
April 23, 2010
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The Wee Days
So what’s the best way to judge something that proclaims proudly on the cover that it’s supposed to be funny? Does that mean that everything has to make me chuckle, or just smile contemplatively? Anyway, think about it, because I have no earthly idea. Only one of these strips made me laugh out loud, so it’s the one I sampled below. As for the other ones, Jai deals with sarcasm, punching, pot, beer, and disemboweling. There’s also a five page story in the middle here that takes WAY too long to set up a completely unfunny joke that’s only saved (slightly) by it being a visual gag instead of just told at a bar. His dream strips were probably the highlight to me, just because they were all over the place and genuinely fascinating. Oh, and of course the squirrel strip I sampled here, which was only mildly amusing until the punchline. As for what I thought, I may have to punt on this one until I see more strips. It’s a cop-out, granted, but I really liked some things (sarcasm, squirrel and dream strips), really didn’t like some other things (five pager, or at least most of it) and was somewhere between on the rest of it. Oh, and $4 is way too much for something this small. Why, back in my day blah blah blah you know the drill. Give me more so I can get off this fence!
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Posted by Kevin
April 23, 2010
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The Wee Days #2
You know, the good thing about the long wait between issues of most small press comics is that at least the artists involved take their time and get future issues right instead of just rushing them out. It’s either that or that people like Jai are so insanely talented that they can just crank out an issue in a few weeks after not doing anything with it for a few years, but that possibility hurts my heart so I’m discounting it immediately. This is another collection of short pieces with one long story, and the short pieces hold the whole thing together nicely. There’s the fantastically awkward The Transaction, dealing with a highly loaded deal for extra pudding. Then there’s the short pieces about the Russian sandwich shop/mafia front, an angry man with a moustache, taking the genitals out in the nice weather, teaching yourself poker, fitting the most G.I. Joe figures in your armpit, destroying weed for the good of the country, neutrality and amnesia as the result of severe head trauma. I’ll leave the dream comics alone as they’re better experienced than gabbed about by me, which leaves only the bulk of the comic, a story dealing with a crappy summer job spent excavating a stinky basement and inventing the filthiest phrases possible to keep said job sane. It’s a long way to go for an excellent punchline, but there are more than enough funnies thrown in to keep it amusing. It’s well worth checking out, probably around $5.
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Posted by Kevin
April 23, 2010
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The Wee Days #1 Now Available! $3
Well, I wanted more from this guy to make up my mind, and here it is! Conclusion: I really like his stuff. This is a mountain of a comic (at least in height), full of various one page strips and others that are slightly longer about all sorts of things. His dream strips are still great, dealing with watching a movie in the side of a theater and Star Wars: The Play. Many, many other strips in here (maybe he has a weekly strip that I haven’t seen?), including some fallout from Brokeback Mountain, a strip about his father, the sad story of Forest Whitaker, sarcasm (maybe the same one that was in the mini, I can’t remember), what word he is trying to think of, and getting locked out, among others. The longest strip in the bunch is Lara The Boring, going into minute detail about a girl getting stoned and hopping onto an instant messenger. This whole comic was either funny or insightful in some way, so I think that means you should buy it and check it out. Of course, I have no idea how much it costs, but I’d guess $5. How can you beat that cover? And you haven’t even seen the back cover yet…
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Posted by Kevin
April 23, 2010
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The Ciderview Project #3
Hey look, the lettering is better! It’s a minor thing, sure, but it always bugs me when it’s messed up. This issue starts with the funeral of a major character, nothing unexpected if you’ve been paying attention to the series thus far. Also in here is the hijinx of the bi-polar girl and the autistic guy, as they make quite the wacky couple. One minor thing: it seems like everybody in here has something very wrong with them. It makes for an interesting story, sure, but a few normal folk here and there wouldn’t hurt. Other than that, it’s chapter 3 of a large story, and I’ll have no idea how well a lot of this was done until I see the end result. It’s engaging and fascinating to me though, so I’m in until the end (assuming that Michael is kind enough to keep sending them to me, or I can find a comic store that sells it). This probably won’t be in graphic novel format until it’s done, but I’d recommend picking up a few of these at a time, as the story will make a whole lot more sense that way. $2.95.
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Posted by Kevin
April 23, 2010
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The Ciderview Project #1
Is a 12 issue, independent, full size mini series ever a bad thing? Well, yeah, but this one actually has quite a bit of potential. A minor quibble first: the lettering was kind of messy in places. I’ve never understood how somebody could spend days or longer on a page and then rush through the lettering, but it happens all the time. It’s not that bad, don’t get me wrong, but with a little care it could be a lot better, and it would add a lot to the book. There’s quite a bit of a story here. It starts off with a young woman (we learn in the intro to #2 that she’s a lesbian, although I don’t think that is ever so much as implied anywhere) waking up in a hospital after trying to kill herself, and it goes all over the place from there. There’s a man who’s dying from a brain tumor, a woman who used to date him, another couple that’s having problems, an old ex that comes back at the worst possible time… all kinds of stuff to keep track of but, from what I can tell from the first two issues, it’s worth the effort. The writing seems real, although a bit heavy at times. That’s to be expected from the subject matter though. The art’s good too, although there’s a bit of trouble with perspective once in a great while. All in all an intriguing series, I’m interested in seeing how all of these characters tie together. Check out the website, two issues are out so far…
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Posted by Kevin
April 23, 2010
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Pig’s Missing Poo Now Available! $3
Hey look, it’s one of those Robot Publishing guys! Always good to see more work from them, or at least the stuff I’ve seen so far. This is a collection of short stories, all what you’d call funny, and it’s hard to complain too much about that. Most of them are on his website too if you’re feeling cheap. They’re not all there though, so you will be missing out a bit. There’s one about a monkey and a crocodile, one about the seeds of grass, and one about two people who were destined to come together. Oh, crappy jokes, and you won’t be able to groan properly until you read the comic. It’s a bit steep at $3, but there’s some funny stuff in here. Not sure what the deal is with the guy with the bugs flying around his head, but it feels like there’s more to all the stories told here. It’s always good when the author makes you think that you’ve read more than you actually have. Does that make sense to anybody? Oh well. Check out the website, see if this is something you’ll like, you guys know the drill…
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Posted by Kevin
April 23, 2010
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Binibus Barnabus Now Available! $2
Man, these Robot Publishing books are quick reads. I don’t think any of them have taken me any longer than two minutes to get through. Not that that’s necessarily a bad thing, mind you. This one is about Binibus Barnabus (obviously) and how he falls in love with a creature he sees in the water. Odd and more like a fable than a traditional mini, but not bad. This seems kind of suppressed somehow, like he had a lot more to say but felt obligated to put it all in this small book. I’m getting that mostly through the casual asides that he throws out to flesh out the main character that never go anywhere. Strange how I’ve read two of these today and they’re both about a man falling in love with an aquatic creature. I got this one through Top Shelf too, and you could do a lot worse.
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Posted by Kevin
April 23, 2010
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Too Negative #12
Ah, love. It’s all over this comic. Well, that or lust, or reasons for or against love/lust. The bulk of the comic deals with Killbaby trying to have sex with somebody, first Akie (a fallen angel with mysterious genitalia) then Aaron Amoeba, as Aaron has the ability to change between male and female. The trouble is that Aaron is a chubby chaser, which leads Killbaby to some rushed, inadvisable lifestyle choices to fill that role. Then there’s one of the better titles you’ll see for a story: You’re Ugly and You’ll Die Alone. It’s only a couple of pages but it’s packed with absolutely useless advice for how to get and then keep a boyfriend. Hint: if they’re not stalking you, they don’t like you. This still leaves the short pieces, which I can’t into much without ruining them, but they deal with a Mormon vampire (willing to bite but not have sex until marriage), a Pac-Man diet plan, $1.25 per baby and the benefits of cutting your heart out. As someone who hates happy endings I always look forward to this series. I can always count on some hilarious despair and disastrously bad advice being followed. $1
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Posted by Kevin
April 23, 2010
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Too Negative #9 Now Available! $1
Ah, what’s more fun than making fun of backwoods hicks? Not a whole lot. The bulk of this issue is taken up with the story of Aaron Amoeba, who decides to climb a mountain in an effort to get out of his rut and actually have something interesting to talk about in his autobio comics. Aaron meets a horny hick housewife, and hilarity ensues. Also in this issue is Dahlia trying to break all seven deadly sins over a 24 hour period, and if you think there’s nothing funny to be found in that, you obviously haven’t been paying attention to this series. And if that’s the case, why not? $1 an issue too much for you, you cheap bastards? Ahem. Anyway, the last shortie in here is about a couple who both need to use their imagination to get ready for sex, with their fantasy images being much more similar than either of them realize. No troubles with the copy machine or anything here, and as such there’s not a thing for me to complain about. $1
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Posted by Kevin
April 23, 2010
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Too Negative #8 Now Available! $1
More fun from Jenny, even if this one seemed sloppier than the other ones. Or maybe I’m just projecting because she says in the intro that she’s rushing through it to get it out for a con, so who knows? In here she deals with side effects from antidepressants, being called an indy snob, the most ladylike part of her body, letters to the editor, bums, coke and a used and abused easter basket. The highlight of the book though (as with #7) has to be the biggest piece, in which “Won’t somebody please think of the children?” comes to a logical conclusion, as the government takes over and decides to take Springer off the air, thereby depriving a housewife of her most crucial programming of the day. Naturally, Jenny is called in to fight an amputee midget in a homemade version of Springer, and all is rightish with the world. One minor complaint: this is probably an issue more with the copy machine she uses than her drawing, but occasionally the text pieces were so faint that they were barely legible, which becomes an issue when the ensuing piece was a reaction to that text piece. So, um, fix all copy machines before using them! Somehow. $1
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Posted by Kevin
April 23, 2010
Website
Too Negative #7 Now Available! $1
Everybody here remembers the breast (singular) that destroyed America, right? Janet Jackson had a boob pop out at the Superbowl a few years ago for a second or two, and the entire country went crazy for a few weeks. Now that that national nightmare is over and the world will never again have to see a breast, Jenny was able to make a wonderful comic about how tits can, in fact, cause serious injury. While that’s the definite highlight of this issue, there are plenty of other goodies in here to enjoy. There’s the awkward concept of talking to children about a teabagging strip in the paper, taking a market research survey about a giant dancing tongue, biting the heads off of barbie dolls, babies as the most precious thing in the universe, proving heterosexuality by strenuous gay sex, hippies living off their parents, and an attention-starved lamp. So, once again, you have a mini that is packed to the proverbial gills with comics and even assorted goodies in the margins, all for a measly buck.
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Posted by Kevin
