April 23, 2010
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Slam Bang #1 Volume 2
Note to comics people who parody those old ads in the back of comics: it’s hopeless. Chris Ware did it however many years ago in Acme Novelty Library, and he did it brilliantly. Anything after that is just a waste of time. In my opinion anyway, and I’m just some schmuck with a website. A couple of the parodies were funny, most of them just sort of meh, but I still think that particular form of parody has been done about as well as it ever could be. Oh yeah, and there was a comic somewhere here too, wasn’t there? The first story, by Anton Bogaty, is about a monster self-help group that helps them deal with life after they’re no longer scary. Pretty funny, and three cheers for all the unmentioned cameos. Next up is a little illustrated poem/song called Darby O’Spudnuts by Mark Martin, a so-so shortie with a great title. Then you have a couple of shorties by Christina Wald called Slacker A.C., about a teenager who’s supposed to be the antichrist but who is too consumed by video games and girls to care about this true calling. My favorite of the bunch, this one could be seriously funny as a regular mini… or it could fizzle out and get old quick. Hard to say, but I think it’s worth a shot. Kevin Hanna has a couple of newspaper sized strips with some really stupid punchlines. Maybe he has better stuff on his website, but I didn’t see anything here to impress me. Next is a story by Sygnin called Spanky the Ouija Monkey, about a frantically violent monkey who desperately wants to be spanked. Finally you have a short sample of Last Kiss by John Lustig, where he takes old romance comics and inserts his old dialogue. This one left me mostly indifferent, but I have more from the guy that I’ll be getting to soon, as it’s a great idea and I want to see more before I pass judgment. Oh, and this is the first issue in 13 years, which probably isn’t the best sign in the world. Here’s an e-mail address, this one is $3!
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Posted by Kevin
April 23, 2010
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Tragic Relief
In case anybody out there still had doubts that the Center for Cartoon Studies had a great program, capable of teaching the aspiring cartoonist all sorts of useful things, here’s one more piece of evidence in their favor. There’s already a pile of stuff accumulating, granted, but it seems to be getting more impressive by the week. This is Colleen’s first graphic novel, but she’s still putting out issues of the Tragic Relief comic on a regular basis (as least judging by her website). This is the silent tale of a young man who’s living with his mother and his tendency to find love in the oddest of places. A mermaid, a genie and a harpy (I may be completely off base on that last one) all play a part, as does the profoundly overprotective mother. One of the many impressive feats of this book is that I’m still not sure whether the mother was malicious or just cluelessly “lucky”, although that won’t make a bit of sense to anybody who hasn’t already read this. As for the art, few people have done so much with so little. There are no backgrounds to speak of, many of the images are deceptively simple, and yet damned near every one of them moves the story along, often with the subtlest of glances or shrugs. It’s obvious, after looking at the work coming out of graduates from the comic college, that the future for comics is brighter than it’s been in years. At least, it is in terms of the quality of the work being put out. Whether or not any of these poor kids are ever going to make a living at this remains to be seen. I should also point out that this hefty thing is a measly $7, as it’s on recycled paper.
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Posted by Kevin
April 23, 2010
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Nibble #2
Crap, it looks like I’m reviewing a comic about Valentine’s Day after all. What can I say, Tom sent me a fresh pile of comics and this one was on top. There’s a simple premise here. A young man (apparently named “Baby”) made his mom a giant valentine. On his walk home, he’s startled by a cat, sending said valentine up into a tree. After attempting to get the valentine and failing, Baby is left wondering what he’s going to do… until he gets an offer he can’t refuse. For me this might just cross that line of being too damned cute for words, but different people have different lines for that sort of thing. Either way it’s still only $.25 and goes nicely in my pile of other Nibbles.
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Posted by Kevin
April 23, 2010
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Tempo Lush #5: My Half Term Holiday
Richy has managed to keep his perfect record intact (in terms of this set of ten minis) with this mini, and that officially makes half the set. I also feel compelled to point out that full color minis are rare enough, putting together a set of them (with the exception of #4 so far) should kill any lingering doubts about the cost of this set. This mini is told from the perspective of a small child turning in a school project about what she did on her holiday. “Jodie” says that it’s boring to start, so she decides to make a spaceship and go to the moon. The whole comic is told with asides from the teacher, grading this as she goes and making little suggestions to the child, and it’s at this point that the teacher worries that this is going to be “another of your silly stories”. Indeed, it does seem to be heading that way, especially after Jodie’s father comes to see his daughter with a spaceship of his own and they go off on an adventure. The teacher is in for a bit of a shock when Jodie throws in a panel about seeing her teacher “giving a special hug” to the headmaster, and I have to stop with that or give the whole thing away. Let’s just say it’s wonderfully awkward and Richy manages to nail both the naivety of the small child doing a mostly innocent report along and a teacher becoming increasing alarmed with the tone of said report. He also does a nice job of making the art childlike but not awful, as it’s a fine line to walk. I’m clearly biased as can be in favor of this set of minis (which is $16.50 and comes in an adorable teddy bear case), but hey, I am usually biased towards funny and imaginative comics, as I’m just old-fashioned that way.
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Posted by Kevin
April 23, 2010
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Woman King
Here’s another excellent graphic novel from Colleen, and it’s further evidence (as if any were needed) that the Center for Cartoon Studies is doing some excellent work with its students. This is the story of the uprising of the bears against society, as one bear in particular (the one on the cover missing an eye) smells some fish being cooked, wanders innocently into a camp to eat them, and it attacked for his troubles. He vows then and there to take back the forest, and soon runs into a little girl (age 3) who isn’t afraid of him. Taking this for a sign, he gives her armor and puts her in charge of the first attack against the humans. Obviously she doesn’t know a thing about fighting, but the bears prevail and decide that they need to take back all the forests in the world, which brings us to the rest of the book. It details her growing up with the bears, killing all the humans that they find, and it shows her general ambivalence… until she sees up close how humans live. I’ve said more than enough already, but this book really is remarkable. It somehow manages to be, at the same time, a story about growing up, about myth and animal society, about right and wrong, the use of force and when fighting for the sake of fighting leaves all rationality behind. Colleen deftly displays these contradictions by showing a good human who only wants to paint the quiet scenes between battles (and is killed for his troubles), a stag who only wants her to learn and a young boy who, if this were a Disney movie, would be an obvious love interest. She does an excellent job with the “love interest” by keeping the story going firmly where it should go, so kudos to her for that. It’s such a damned near perfect book that I feel compelled to at least complain about one thing: the missing eye of the lead bear. Not to get all technical on you, but if a character in your story loses an eye, the same eye should be missing for the whole story. The lead bear has his missing eye drift back and forth from the left side of his head to the right and back over and over again, to the point where it was an unnecessary distraction to the rest of the story. Not enough to ruin it, or even seriously damage it, just enough to get me to wonder how such an obvious mistake could have gotten through. Eh, after two excellent books I’ll give her the benefit of the doubt and assume she was going for the old timey cartoon look, where things like that would happen all the time. This graphic novel is also only $7, is still on recycled paper, and is still a real bargain.
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Posted by Kevin
April 23, 2010
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Tempo Lush #7: I Hate David Samson
It’s rare that I’m a fan of an artist going from gorgeous, colorful detail to stick figures and sloppiness, but Richy manages to make it all right. Again, all by itself it might be annoying, but as part of this ten issue whole it’s just perfect. This is, as you can probably tell from the title, an angry diatribe against David Samson, who I can only assume is a fictional character. He delivers mail in the office, but Richy (I’m just going to call the unnamed lead character Richy to avoid confusion) is convinced that David is after his job. There’s his evil extension number, the coded messages in his greetings, how he delivers mail with errors and yet it’s somehow not his fault (like a misspelled or folded letter), and all the horrors in the world for which David is clearly responsible. And that’s all the stuff on the front page, the back deals with all the ways that Richy has innocently tried to get back at David and how David ruins good music just by listening to it. This comic is a great example of how pettiness takes over in a hurry in the workplace, and really, what’s so bad about pushing a guy down the stairs in good fun? Funny stuff, and I should point that it’s not like the whole comic is in stick figures, Richy just uses a looser style than usual to depict the mildly crazy rantings of the narrator. If you’re eagle-eyed enough to see unrelated writing in the sample, that what it’s all about. It’s $16.50 for the set, and I’m still waiting to find the weak link in this box o’ comics.
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Posted by Kevin
April 23, 2010
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Tempo Lush #3: Govinda the Meditating Rabbit
Well, this one certainly wins the truth in advertising award, if there were such an award for small press comic titles. While events change around the rabbit, he is a constant in his position, which goes to show you how great he is at this meditation thing. There’s not much of a linear story here (and I already told you about the title, so how much of a story did you think you’d be seeing?), but events in here include other students playing a practical joke with a tree, Govinda practicing several different methods of meditation, and his utter nonchalance at being interrupted by a featureless green blob. It’s cute, it’s funny, and it’s tiny. And it even has the benefit of ending the same way all of my serious attempts at meditation have ended, and if that’s a mystery to you then you have clearly not seriously attempted meditation. As mentioned before, this is one of many minis, and the set goes for $16.50.
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Posted by Kevin
April 23, 2010
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Good-Bye
When is a comic simply not reviewable? It’s not like that has ever stopped me from rambling before, but this one is seven pages long with one panel per page. Oh, and it’s silent. Don’t get me wrong, it’s gorgeous, as it’s all in color and that feller sure does know how to draw, but I’ve never been the best person to interpret these things. In this comic there’s a man who’s walking along until he sees a break in the wall. Through this break he notices a woman in a pink mass, getting further and further away. Gorgeous, like I said, and I think it has something to do with loss (although I might just be cheating and getting that from the title), but I’d start with some of his other work (I Love You in particular) and then head back for this once you already like his work.
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Posted by Kevin
April 23, 2010
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I Love You!
Ah, it’s too bad that Valentine’s Day has come and gone for 2006, as this is the perfect mini for that special someone. After all, where else can you profess your love by scooping up the puke of the person you love and forming it into a crust on your body? Or eating your own skin so the puke and your outside join into a better whole? Or… well, it’s short, you should see it for yourself. It’s absolutely heartwarming though, that’s for sure. The best part of it is the fact that the female has no interest at all in the situation until her suitor, um, leaves the land of the living. After that she couldn’t possibly love him more. Let’s say that this one is a buck too, and like his other books is worth checking out if you, you know, like funny stuff. And/or undying love…
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Posted by Kevin
April 23, 2010
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Cay… The Night Huntress #3
I think I’m finally starting to get a feel for these comics. I was a little bothered by them at first because they’re so short that they offended my delicate, pre-conceived notions for what a comic should be. Now I see them as somebody sending me a couple of jokes in a little pamphlet with a short story holding it together. This marks (what looks like) the end of the Cay series, as Cay confronts the living piece of collage art and the two zombie vampires. This smudgy art has really grown on me as I’ve seen more of Brian’s work. The smudgy lettering, however, has not, although I do appreciate the occasional filled-in word. It’s $.50, like most of his comics, and you should probably get the lot of them, as it’s an ongoing, complete series. You’ve been here often enough now to find the contact info, I expect…
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Posted by Kevin
April 23, 2010
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Scat! … the Scaredy Cat #2
This man puts out the tiniest books ever! Not in terms of actual comic size, as Caesar Meadows holds that record I think, just in terms of the number of pages. I feel bad putting two pages up for sample here, as that’s about half of his book (you probably think I’m joking), so go ahead and send him a couple of bucks for some comics to alleviate my guilt. This is a tiny comic about a cat who’s too afraid to fall asleep and gets help from a rat in a very odd way, which you can see from the sample. It’s only $.50, meaning that you can get 6 comics like this for $3. What a deal! A funny book, mostly because that’s one of the better cats I’ve seen in comics. Oh, and Brian was kind enough to inform me that he uses prismacolor pencils for his comics, as inspired by Bill Plympton. Not a bad man to be inspired by, and I have to admit it looks damned good in this issue, it’s just that sometimes (what with the small pages and all) it gets downright messy.
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Posted by Kevin
April 23, 2010
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Earth Minds Are Weak #8 Now Available! $3
First, a translation: Kaiju are the giant monsters in Japanese movies, and a Jugoruma is a giant bullfrog monster. That being said, this particular issue doesn’t have much to do with either of those things, but hey, it’ll probably be useful information down the line. Why? Justin has decided to do another continuing story, and he threw the first four chapters together in here. He’s never been afraid to take his mini comics (although this “mini” is 43 pages) in wildly different directions, and this issue is no exception. Some influences, listed from his afterward and in no particular order: Moebius, 2000AD reprints, Veronica Mars, old Warner Bros. cartoons, ABC Warriors, The Cosby Show, and Blue Velvet. If you’re not curious after that listing, there’s no hope for you. This is set in a futuristic world and we’re still, to this point, only seeing glimpses. The bulk of the story follows a man (in his flying car) trying to run errands, but his plans are thrown off by a moustached man, following a mid-air gunfight, landing on his hood and putting a gun to his head. We get to see the huge differences in lifestyles for people from different sectors of town and the obvious resentment that would come from the people who weren’t able to get a flying car. I have no idea if this is turning into a giant, sprawling epic or if this is going to fizz out in a few issues, but for now it’s great to see Justin taking some serious chances and trying something completely different. Futuristic sprawling epics are fine by me, so here’s hoping he keeps this up for a while… provided he still brings the funny in various other mini comics, of course. I’ll leave you with my favorite quote from the book, as he always has at least one quote that sticks in my head: “I’m gonna whittle his textbooks into spikes and stab learning into his skull.” $3
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Posted by Kevin
April 23, 2010
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Earth Minds Are Weak #7
In case you’re wondering about all the samples, there’s a simple explanation: Earth Minds Are Weak #7 comes in an envelope, inside of which are three distinct comics. So you get the sample of all three covers and the usual one sample from the inside, because if I sampled all of them things would get crazy around here, and this site is already hard enough to see for the people without the greatest internet connection. It’s my favorite of the series so far by a long shot, and that’s saying a lot when I already mostly liked the other issues. There are three themes here, although they all seem to rely a bit on reminiscing. First up is the story of a woman who gave up everything in her life because everything reminded her of her ex. Next is a yearly conversation at a bar between a group of old classmates, where they take turns drinking and telling personal stories. Finally there’s the bit about God, in which he is portrayed as a lonely and frightened old man, with an all-too-human reaction to the death of his son. It’s hard to pick a highlight here. There’s the dull hopelessness of the woman from the first part, or all the wonderful stories based on remembered smells from the second issue. While he could have milked this and put it out as a few separate minis, these work well combined. My biggest confusion here (as opposed to some of the older issues where I was lost at sea) is simple: how on earth is this only $2? Three distinct comics, two of which are in color, and it’s $2? Maybe the man owns a printing press. Either way, this is the perfect comic for anybody who has ever felt nostalgic or anybody who has ever had an old memory kick them square in the face due to an anonymous smell. Which, I imagine, is just about everybody… $2
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Posted by Kevin
April 23, 2010
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Earth Minds Are Weak #6
Huzzah for full color! Sure, it costs a bundle, but it sure does make a book look pretty. Especially when the story is something like this one, involving a man shrinking down into a (temporarily) shattered head in an attempt to heal a damaged mind. Justin’s mind, to be specific. All sorts of visual doodads and gewgaws in here, and you can never go wrong with a twirly moustache. Another great issue from Justin, and it’s probably the most easily accessible of the Earth Minds series so far, so maybe you can get one for your Grandma for Christmas or something… $2.50
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Posted by Kevin
April 23, 2010
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Elm City Jams #3
These two (Mike and Isaac) are the mad scientists of the mini comics world. The great thing about that though is that they focus a lot more on the “scientist” part and a lot less on the “mad”. What they’re doing might seem insane, but they know exactly what they’re shooting for seemingly at all times. They might not get there every time, but they’re sure going to give it a shot. That being said, I’m supposed to be talking about this comic, right? Well, it’s a jam book, so other people are involved. Specifically Tom O’Donnell, Jeff Seymour, and people named Shana and Harry. The story behind this issue is that there is one central idea for each comic, which only takes up a single page. Individual panels can be passed along to different people, and they were kind enough (on almost every page) to tell the reader who did which panel and under what constraints they were operating. Examples include having a duck or a monkey in every panel (but not both), having one inbred character, getting hot liquid thrown in somebody’s face, ethnic stereotypes, not being allowed to have robot, human or animal characters, stealing the layout from a page of Fantastic Four #1, and having a comic within a comic within a comic. Look, every single panel of every single page isn’t a masterpiece, but the vast majority of the stories here are a blast. And the best thing about these two is that while you have no idea what you’re getting from issue to issue, you at least know that they’ve put a whole lot of thought and effort into the concept. Well worth a look if you love comics and what they’re capable of being.
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Posted by Kevin
April 23, 2010
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Earth Minds Are Weak #5: Lincoln Isn’t The Awesome
Ok, first things first: go here and check out Carl is the Awesome, because if you’re not familiar with that book you’re not going to get the point of this one even a little bit. Of course, if you’re a fan of comics at all you already know all about Carl is the Awesome and anything I say about it here will just insult your intelligence. But this isn’t about Carl! This one is all about Lincoln, a pathetic porcupine (?) who, sadly, has none of Carl’s natural charisma or charm. He lives in a pathetic place, he was born in prison, and ladies make him pay for cab rides with Carl. Honestly, if you haven’t read Carl is the Awesome, this isn’t going to make much sense to you. It’ll still be funny, but you won’t get the larger context here. Check it out either way, if you want my two cents on it…
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Posted by Kevin
April 23, 2010
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Earth Minds Are Weak #4 Now Available! $1.50
Well, here it is, the dramatic conclusion. I should mention that this series is subtitled “The Story of Suave Prospects”, because once you know that and you read the whole thing it all makes perfect sense, but if you’ve come here expecting me to spoil it all for you you’ve come to the wrong place. There’s a backup story in here with words, which killed my theory that only the wordless stuff was incomprehensible. As for the story itself, the last character to come out has a chat with a creature who reveals the great secret to him and things get a little crazy from there. I will say that it’s a satisfying conclusion, but I won’t say any more because most of you probably haven’t read the previous three issues and whatever I say specifically about the deeper meanings of this series will just prove how little I get it. I think it’s worth a look, but I also think I should have had a lot more alcohol when I read it, or possibly picked up a psychodelic drug habit of some kind.
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Posted by Kevin
April 23, 2010
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Earth Minds Are Weak #3 Now Available! $1.50
What is it with my relentless quest for meaning in these wordless minis anyway? What if it’s all completely meaningless, maybe the author just liked a particular sequence of events and put them together in comic form? Well, who knows, but I’m having a blast reading this series regardless, so who cares? This one deals with the last person out of the giant vagina (hey, that’s what happened) exploring the candle above the happy casket instead of the casket itself. Then another man comes out, and he seems to be a bit more playful with his surroundings than the other people, which invariably gets him into some trouble. Oh, and Jesus comes back and saves us all from the monsters. Or maybe I just made that last part up and threw it in there randomly, but I guess there’s just no way for you to know for sure, now is there?
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Posted by Kevin
April 23, 2010
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Earth Minds Are Weak #2 Now Available! $1.50
Issue #2! This is usually the point in series where all that hard work setting up characters and events in the first issue starts to form into a coherent whole, or at least it is when you’re doing these sorts of things “by the book”. Here, eh, maybe not so much. In here you have a man trying desperately to get a hatch open (which appears to have an upside-down woman in it), a bar inside of a whale, and the birth of another of the children. Oh, and he revealed some of the great mysteries of the universe but I was too dense to catch them. An interesting series so far and I’m looking forward to seeing where it’s headed, if anywhere…
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Posted by Kevin
April 23, 2010
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Earth Minds Are Weak #1 Now available! $1.50
Oh, I do love the wordless comics. Why? Because they give me a chance to try and analyze them in a review, of course, which must be hilarious to you guys, as I usually have no idea at all where the story is going. This is (from the looks of it, I haven’t read the whole thing yet) a four issue silent series, and I’m going to try and review an issue a week so I can keep the whole thing fresh in my brain. These are also all available in the online store, so you know what to do if these images tickle your fancy. As for the first issue, well, you can’t beat that title, so at least it has that going for it. This is the story of a giant pregnant woman who decides to have her babies outside of a temple where some worshipping is going on. We get to briefly meet a man who is trapped in her belly and sees four fetuses (one for each issue?). One of them pops out, fully clothed and regular size, and he discovers a woman in the happiest coffin I’ve ever seen, and if I say any more I’ll ruin the story, or at least the story as I see it right now, which is admittedly pretty damned murky. So… stay tuned, I guess. Damned if I know if this is going to be a good series, or if my opinion on whether or not it’s “good” should have anything to do with you checking it out. It’s unique, I can tell that much already…
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Posted by Kevin
