April 22, 2010
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Bighead
It’s easy enough to forget at times, in the midst of my gradually increasing “meh”-itude to Jeffrey’s relationship comics (“meh” being somewhere in the middle of the range of possible opinions, obviously), that his non-relationship stuff is constantly the shit. Seriously, if you can find I Am Going To Be Small or any of his non-personal stuff, it’s enough to restore your faith in the concept of comics as being capable of making you laugh out loud, sometimes to the point of tears. Bighead is a collection of all the Bighead minis and various places the character has appeared over the years, and it’s a wonderful, wonderful thing. Here’s the origin of Bighead: repeatedly taunted by schoolmates, Bighead became emotionally scarred, causing his head to swell with power. If that’s not something you can get behind, move along please and leave the funny to the rest of us. Every part of this book is some degree of awesome, from the usually boring page with all the legalese to the last page of Bighead fan art. In between Bighead battles all sorts of villains, ranging from ninjas, a group of his most powerful villains, The Brit (who marries the love of Bighead’s life), Crabby, and The Puncher, among many others. There’s also the unpublished and incomplete Bighead graphic novel, and from the looks of it it’s a damned shame that one never got finished. I’ll leave it there, as it’s no fun to analyze humor to death, but this is just about required reading to any fans left of this genre. $12.95

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Posted by Kevin
April 22, 2010
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AEIOU: Any Easy Intimacy
I think Jeffrey sums it up best in his afterward: “Although based on actual events, this book leaves so much unsaid that you may as well consider it to be fiction”. This is the story of his third significant romance, so if there are any continuity nuts who wondered why I didn’t get to his second girlfriend first on the site… nah, never mind, nobody is that obsessive. As in Clumsy, this starts at the beginning, when a friend tells him about his girlfriend’s new roommate and how they would be good together all the way to the inevitable end of the relationship. At least, I think that’s what happened. Look, if you hate spoilers I’m going to let loose here, so avert your dainty eyes. The book ends with his girlfriend (no idea if they were still dating at that point though) coming for what seems to be a happy visit, then it ends, and in the afterward it seems pretty clear that it all blew up, as they’re not on speaking terms. This sort of thing always mystifies me, because why dig into all the gory details about a relationship and then leave so many things so nebulous? Don’t get me wrong here, this is Jeffrey Brown we’re talking about and about 95% of the book is his typical wonderfulness, dealing with the quiet moments in a relationship that fly right by most people. It’s invaluable that all this stuff is catalogued here. The thing is, it’s hard to feel a ton of sympathy for the guy. When he starts dating someone he gets insanely jealous by the littlest things and can’t seem to go more than a few hours without talking to his girlfriend. This, naturally, smothers the girl, who slowly leaves, as even the great guy that Jeffrey mostly seems to be can’t make up for the complete lack of independence. I have no idea if this is still going on with the guy (this was a story about 2002, published in 2005), but if it is, well, back off a bit. This is, of course, coming from somebody who has no business in the world giving relationship advice to another human being, so please take that with the appropriate bucket of salt. All in all, if you like his other stuff (and who doesn’t?) then you’ll probably love this too. It’s just when I get that voyeuristic peek in the window of his life, I want to see all that happened and not be left wondering about some of the most crucial bits. $12

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Posted by Kevin
April 22, 2010
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Every Girl Is The End Of The World For Me
My opinion about Jeffrey’s relationship books seem to vary across this page, but let me make one thing perfectly clear: they’re always good comics. Even if I’m annoyed about bits that are left out or Jeffrey’s seeming inability to deal with women he’s dating, his ability to catch that perfect quiet moment or that perfect line said to a loved one in the middle of the night is unmatched. No ambivalence here though, this ended up being possibly my favorite “relationship” comic of his, although I haven’t read Clumsy in years so don’t quote me on that. It’s the story of Jeffrey’s life from 12/26/03 to 1/15/04 and that title sums it up beautifully. It’s all about the women in his life, sometimes just friends, sometimes exes and sometimes people that he would like to date. Things seem clear enough when Allisyn, Jeffrey’s girlfriend in Unlikely (the one that somehow got away as far as this page is concerned), contacts him after years apart. Things seem to be building up to them getting back together, but it turns out that she’s just a horrible human being and “cheats” on him before things really even get going. There are all sorts of other women in here who may or may not be interested in him, and a few that try to set him up with friends, but what sets this apart from his other work is that it’s not a relationship comic, it’s more about the time in between relationships, and that’s something that’s been sorely lacking to his work. It’s also probably a great epilogue to the events in Unlikely, something that I’m going to have to pick up soon. Really great stuff here, I can’t recommend it enough. $8

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Posted by Kevin
April 22, 2010
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Funny Misshapen Body
It’s odd to be saying this after the guy has already put out a half dozen or so graphic novels (and there wasn’t a terrible one in the bunch), but I think he’s finally made his masterpiece. This shouldn’t be taken in any way as a slam on any of his other projects, as they all have various things to recommend them, but this thing just stands out. This is, essentially, Jeffrey’s origin story. It details his growing up, how drawing has been with him every step of the way, and just about everything else you ever wanted to know about the man. He even has a brief FAQ at the end, answering the only real question I had (why does everything happen out of order?). The book is divided into chunks, and by the end of it I appreciated the fact that it wasn’t in exact chronological order because I knew that if there was something major left unsaid from a story, he was going to get to it further down the line. Chunks include (hey, I’d call them chapters if he did) a brief introduction into why he draws, his time as a fat kid (and what got him to start exercising), his introduction to comics (what appeared to be an issue of the X-men, around #190, and how a helpful comic store clerk steered him in the right direction), a devastatingly honest depiction of a major art critique of work (luckily he seemed to have taken away the important thing from this – critics aren’t always right), his stomach pain and learning that it was Crohn’s disease (and his painfully embarrassing depiction of everything involved with surgery and a protracted hospital stay), slowly learning to see the value in art history, his early adventures in serious intoxication, his first stab at self publishing, all his years spent working on wooden shoes, his brief journey with pot, poetry readings and hosting drunken parties, getting some direct (and necessary) advice from Chris Ware, stories about an old and crappy apartment, and how he eventually managed to self publish Clumsy. Whew! And that’s only scratching the surface of this book, as he paints an absolutely captivating picture of learning through mistakes as he’s growing up and being nudged in the right directions at (more or less) the right times. It’s a hefty book at 300 pagesish, and if you only pick one of his books to read, I’d start here. Sure, some are funnier, and some of the books about heartbreak are maybe more universally relatable (unless you’re the one person who’s still with your high school sweetheart), but this is really his masterpiece. So far, anyway, if we’re lucky he’ll be making these things for years to come. $16

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Posted by Kevin
April 22, 2010
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Man Man and Friends #4
It’s a testament to Gareth’s skills that he’s able to keep this series fresh and interesting. I mean, a stick figure man and his friends, talking about life and relationships, and managing to never get preachy of annoying? That’s takes talent. Once again I had a hard time picking out just one sample, and once again I laughed out loud more than a few times. Stories in here include the shitting ghost getting startled, man man deciding to make woman woman instigate sex for once, a couple of hilarious bits about things his mother said when he was a kid versus what she says about the same things now, trying to meet up outside a mall when they all look exactly the same, ra man “saving” a party with weed, Mr. Shit, unhappy lawnmowers, and one of the pitfalls of speed dating. There’s also a page where Gareth draws things that are not stick-related (it turns out he’s quite good at it) and quite possibly the highlight of the strip: the vicious triangle of alcohol, work and women. At this point I’ve been talking up this series for years, so at least a few of you have already checked out his work, but for those of you who haven’t: send the man some money and buy some of his comics. It’s stuff like this that made me want to do the website in the first place. He also sent along a couple of “regular” mini comics, which I’ll be getting to in the coming weeks. They can’t possibly be as funny as these minis… right?

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Posted by Kevin
April 22, 2010
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Man Man and Friends #3
Nope, I’m officially not even close to being sick of this book. I laughed out loud at something on almost every page in this issue, something I can’t remember doing with a comic in years. Man Man and Woman Woman still make their appearances, but the highlights of this issue go to the “friends”. We get the origin story of the prudish lightswitch, the shitting ghost gets misunderstood, the Mere Trifle’s disillusionment with politics and lack of faith in his sex appeal, Ra Man’s miserable (because it’s drug-free) trip around the world, and the origin story of the uncompromising compass. Single Man Man (not to be confused with Man Man) is a sad and lonely figure, chatting up a woman with a boyfriend and checking out women on escalators. Meanwhile Man Man and Woman Woman have their share of adventures, but I’m on the verge of telling you everything in this issue. It’s either the strongest of the bunch or it’s just been a few months since I’ve seen one of these and the humor is fresh and new again, although I’m almost certain it’s the best one yet. Check out the website and seriously, send the man a pile of money. A few of the jokes get lost in translation (like Man Man’s evolving record collection over the years, filled with groups I’ve never heard of), but overall it’s nonstop funny.

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Posted by Kevin
April 22, 2010
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Man Man and Friends #2
Another issue of stick figures and other assorted items. Has it gotten tiresome yet? Well, in my usual wishy-washy fashion, yes and no. There’s still plenty of funny in here, and we get to see a bit more of the “relationship” between Man Man and Woman Woman, an unpredictable paper clip, Ra Man, an unpleasant spoon, a prudish lightswitch, a shitting ghost, and a horny rubber band. The pathetic but happy life of Ra Man was one of the highlights, as was watching Woman Woman figure out why she was still with Man Man. Another few issues of this and the novelty will probably be pretty well gone, but Gareth has other sorts of books to go with these, so no worries there. Still worth a look if you enjoy funny but minimalistic comics, maybe you could get some sort of a deal for #1-3 and go nuts with the stick figures.

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Posted by Kevin
April 22, 2010
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Man Man And Friends #1
Any of you comics folks out there who are convinced that what you’re doing is as minimalistic as it gets, please take note of Gareth Brookes. In this comic you will find a series of brief conversations and/or jokes, usually between Man Man and himself, Man Man and Woman Woman, or an electric plug with either itself or the wall socket. There are no backgrounds, no facial expressions (or, conversely, faces), and very little at all outside of the basic lines necessary to make objects. Luckily that’s not a bad thing in this case, as pretty much the whole thing is funny. There’s something in here for everybody, whether it’s the secret shame of making fun of a fat lady to impress your friends, trying to reach that magical “drunk enough to have sex but not so drunk that he/she’ll get sick all over the place” threshold with a date, showing no fear to a dog, or shattering the dream of being a pornstar. Gareth sent me a hefty pile of comics with this so my opinion will become more informed over time, but for now there’s always room for one more insightful, funny guy in the world of comics. It’s from the UK so I’m not entirely sure on the price, but judging from the way the dollar is going I’d say just send him a pile of money and hope for the best. Or you could just check out that handy website linked above…

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Posted by Kevin
April 22, 2010
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Woman Woman #1
From the pages of Man Man and Friends, it’s Woman Woman in her own series! For those of you who enjoyed Gareth’s depiction of unsightly male behavior, you’ll be happy to know that he has an equally keen understanding of the female mind. Or at least he seems to to another male; I’m sure the ladies will be able to find issue with some things. Gareth details the ongoing sage of Woman Woman telling her troubles to her gay hairdresser (who seems to keep most of this advice to himself), the death of chivalry, an ill-advised attempt to stop guys from staring at her, a battle of naming rights for the new dog, the awkwardness of an unsuccessful one night stand, getting dolled up so much that it leads guys to believe that they have no chance, getting hit on by a repairman, and trying to compete with a woman who is always surrounded by guys. Gareth has proven conclusively with his comics that you don’t need a thing besides stick figures to have a hilarious comic, as damned near everything I’ve seen from the guy has made me laugh out loud at least a few times. I have no idea on the pricing of any of these, but a good strategy would be to send the man a pile of money and see what happens. Oh, and request a few comics, of course.

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Posted by Kevin
April 22, 2010
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Mediocralypse
Hallelujah, it’s a Gareth Brookes that somehow ended up at the bottom of a pile of already reviewed comics! I’ve been wondering what his non-Man Man books were like, and I feel informed enough now to be able to say: still funny. This is a mish-mash of images and concepts, not a straight collection of random stick figures and granted, the whole thing isn’t perfect, but it’s pretty damned good. Subjects in here include the rude sounding countries of Europe, boring animals, bad jokes by small children, a piece of art explained for the novice, a delightful story found in a used book (written by hand, or just made up completely by Gareth, it’s still delightful), boring dreams, and a tiny (literally) history of the universe. More than enough funny here to keep even the jaded happy, pick this up along with a few Man Man comics if you need a laugh from something that even makes you think a little bit.

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Posted by Kevin
April 22, 2010
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The Manly Boys Annual (with Steven Tillotson)
Ladies, leave the room for this one. Granted, you could probably read this and get quite a few laughs out of it, but this is really for the guys who read Boys Life (or the U.K. equivalent) when they were growing up.  From that fantastic front cover to the fake ads in the middle all the way to the airplanes on the back cover, this thing rings all kinds of memory bells for me. The fact that it’s often hilarious doesn’t hurt a bit. Some of this, frankly, will be lost on the American audience, but there’s more than enough to make up for it. Case in point: the introduction by Major General Sir Henry George Gordon Neville Balfour II.  From there you go to a poem about Englishmen (and I, never a fan of poems, think this is the weak part of the comic), a word search (that actually looks legit), a fake ad trying to get young boys to enlist, a comic about a young boy who accidentally kills a tramp, a fake ad proclaiming that “Self-Touching is Bad!”, how to skin a rabbit narrated by… Phillip the Rabbit (one of the creepier/funnier things in the book), a comic about fishing and the language that fishermen use with their kids, how to tattoo yourself, a story that answers the question “What the devil do women want?” (“attack a fellow” being something that is always a good idea), a fake ad about how to hypnotize women (a requirement in these magazines as a kid), a maze guarded by Chinamen, a text piece about an escape from a jungle (with much more going on at home), and an A to Z of useless knowledge. There are also the Stupid Boy! strips that punctuate the comic, always ending the same way and yet somehow always funny, and a vision of your future involving your head being grafted onto a giant robot body.  In short (although it’s too late for that), this comic is loaded. You’ve already seen plenty of Gareth’s work on this site, and if you ‘ve enjoyed it chances are you’ve clicked through and read even more of his work.  This, as a whole, ranks right up there among his best. No price, but it’s probably somewhere in the neighborhood of $5.

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Posted by Kevin
April 22, 2010
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Can I Borrow Your Toilet?
Chances are that you’ve never wondered what goes on at a cardboard box factory. Actually, it would probably be called a recycling plant, as they smash cardboard boxes into little cubes and send them out, but the point remains the same. Gareth, with his uncanny ability to turn everything comics-related he touches into gold, manages to make a completely engaging story out of it. The story begins with Gareth taking in his surroundings, improvising for some breakfast (unless you think porridge in a stale ice cream cone is normal), and avoiding a conversation about football on the way to work. Once he gets there we need a list of the people he works with, and he doesn’t disappoint, telling us the stories of his three main workmates: Ticking Time Bomb Tom, Sleepy Roberto and Frightened John. From here Gareth also mentions other regulars that show up, the daily rituals that come from every mundane job in the world (like the daily eating contest, always involving the same people, food and winner, who always uses the same technique) and the daily appearance of the one woman who always walked by the factory at the same time of day. She was a plain woman, but most of the people in the factory had fallen in love with her anyway. It’s a thoroughly engaging “day in the life” type of story, as Gareth proves once again that he can make anything entertaining. The sample isn’t really representative of the style of the comic, as mostly it’s text on the left side and images on the right, but hey, this is a comics website after all, so I had to pick one that fit the “regular” comics standards. No price on this hefty thing, I’m guessing it’s around $5 US. And if you haven’t seen the rest of this page, you can’t move along without at least looking at Man Man…

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Posted by Kevin
April 22, 2010
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Publish You (edited by Gareth Brookes, Jimi Gherkin, Peter Lally & Saban Kazim) Website
If anybody out there is curious about the current state of small press comics in the UK (and shame on you if you’re not), this is as good a place to start as any. Gareth is one of many people involved in putting this thing together, but it goes up on his page because… well, I don’t have a particularly good reason. Mostly it’s just to draw attention to his comics one more time, as they are one of the genuinely good things in this world. So how about this anthology? It’s in color (except for the pieces that stuck with black and white), the pages are numbered and there’s a solid table of contents, so there goes any chance I had of bitching about the production values. This book is right around 80 pages but it feels longer than that. I believe that’s a compliment. Stories in here include the tale of angry freakish neighbors by Steve Tilotson, some of the lies we’ve always been told by Gareth, Edd Baldry finding out that walking to work in the snow is no better than riding a bike, Mickey Lam cramming the story of Falun Gong in China today into two pages, Zarina Liew with an adorable piece about mime speed dating, cheerful suicide by Enrico Ariis, Scott Jason Smith deals with old poisoned candy, Saban Kazim lays out the relentless side of peer pressure, Sina Shamsavari gets into the awkwardness of running into an ex long after the breakup (and what to do if they “don’t recognize you”), and Richard Cowdry proves that bringing up comics in conversation with the opposite sex doesn’t always result in them running off in the opposite direction. As always, I’m skipping plenty of stuff in this book that should probably be mentioned, but that’s where you come in. If you’re as curious as you should be you’ll check out that website, and if you’re even more curious you’ll just go ahead and buy the damned thing. This, of course, will mean that I’ve done my job, such as it is. The price is in that funny foreign currency that’s actually worth more than “real” money these days (as American dollars are powered by our imagination at this point) so let’s say… $13?

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Posted by Kevin
April 22, 2010
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Askari Hodari #3
Another one of the many completely random things I picked up at SPACE. This one is about a man (or maybe a team of men? Anyway, this one only dealt with one man) who are like a local watch, but with ninja powers and better body armor than anyone has ever seen. If that sounds a bit silly, well, it depends on how it’s done, doesn’t it? You have to either take something like this ultra-seriously, or you have to poke fun at it while you’re doing it. Taking it ultra-seriously only works if there isn’t anything about it that you could make fun of, and that’s not true of much of anything in my world. Still, this is done pretty well for what it is, and I wouldn’t be a bit surprised to see this guy become a pretty major name in gritty/realistic comics in the next few years. That being said, there’s nothing in here that’s too incredibly graphic, which is a nice change of pace. Way too many of these books try to sell you with different body parts being cut up in all kinds of ways, and Glenn seems to be going for story first and shock value second. Some of the dialogue is kind of dopey and I have no idea how the main character can kill so many people without them fighting back hardly at all, but I didn’t get the first two issues. I’m sure it was either explained there or it’ll be explained at some point in the future. All in all, not a great book but a fun read, worth a look if you’re in an action comics kind of mood. Check out his website for ordering info or just to find out more about the comic. I just went there to see if the link worked and found out all kinds of stuff about the comic that was only hinted at in the issue I read.

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Posted by Kevin
April 22, 2010
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Askari Hodari #2
OK, this one doesn’t do much to explain things that I wasn’t clear on (I’m doing this review on 4/23/03, about a year after I got #3), but it does make me like the series a bit more. It’s mostly action, sure, but at least it’s a fun book. I still barely have any idea of what’s going on in the big picture (guess I need to get the first issue from him for that), but it looks good. The only real thing I can complain about is that I don’t like typed lettering. Just seems to me that if you’re willing to spend a couple of days or longer on a page you could spend a few hours to make the lettering look good, and I have terrible handwriting. Still, word at SPACE was that Glenn got some kind of movie deal, so he might be done with comics anyway. It’s worth checking out for the mayhem value involved, although if you don’t like action books it’s probably not for you. Contact info is down yonder…

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Posted by Kevin
April 22, 2010
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Super #3 Now Available! $3
Another issue of Super means more Swag, and this one has a couple of stickers and my favorite button of the bunch, a picture of the inside cover (not scanned, sorry) showing a man shouting out his love. This is also his longest comic yet, and it deals with things like the death of his hamster, a gunfight, beauty, the man he killed, smoking, and eating in a time of war. Not sure why this is so much more expensive than the other issues (these must be expensive to produce, maybe he was just undercharging on the other issues), but it’s still a gorgeous book and very handy for people who love buttons and stickers. $8

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Posted by Kevin
April 22, 2010
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Super #2 Now Available! $3
If you’re the type of person who likes swag with your comics (meaning buttons and stickers), Kevin is your man. Once again the actual comic is difficult to describe, as it’s mostly a series of disconnected images. The main story, or at least the longest coherent piece in here, deals with the fact that Kevin is unable to turn off Dawson’s Creek. Past that you have various puns and disturbing images dealing with video games, space, pizza, the good old USA, and a super punch battle. Again, not the best thing in the world if you demand a linear story in your comics, but visually it’s damned impressive.

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Posted by Kevin
April 22, 2010
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Snapshot #5
Let me start this off by saying that Jeff LeVine remains one of the very few comic heroes of mine. Oh sure, I have a respect for a whole bunch of people, and I like the work of probably hundreds of artists. It’s not the same as somebody being a hero. He is for one reason: Destroy All Comics. The greatest magazine (I guess you could call it a zine, but it deserves a bigger name than that) about comics ever, I looked forward to this thing coming out more than most comics. Interviews with the small press greats, comics, rants, reviews, all done with an unmistakable love of comics. It’s the model that I’m setting up this page to be, and I know I have a long way to go before that’ll ever happen. After he stopped doing D.A.C., I lost track of what he was up to for a while. He also did the incredible No Hope for Slave Labor graphics for a few years, followed by Lust For Life for a few issues. They were both favorites of mine and I couldn’t wait for each issue to come out, but apparently I was in the minority because he either stopped doing it or it was cancelled and he fell off the radar. I should have known that he wouldn’t stop doing comics altogether and I found the latest work of his in the Paper Radio catalog (PO Box 254 Allston, MA 02134, send a couple of stamps and ask for a catalog), called Snapshot.
Snapshot #5 (and all of the issues that I’ve seen) isn’t really a mini comic, at least not strictly speaking. I don’t know what you’d call it though. Zine, maybe? Well, whatever it is, there’s nothing else like it that I know of. It’s part comics, part Jeff writing either about something that had happened to him at the time or earlier in the day, and part photographs. It’s mostly talk about his job, not knowing where he wants to be in the world or what would finally make him happy, and about his emotional distance from most of his family (except his brother). A problem I’ve had in a lot of these reviews is that I don’t want to give too much of anything away. There’s a fine line, I know that, but a lot of the joy that I get out of mini comics is the joy of discovering them. Not necessarily being the first person that I know to hear about them, just the joy of reading them without really knowing what to expect. With Snapshot, I could tell you what he says in every fucking essay in this book and you know what? It would be still be amazing. This is pure poetry and you’re only cheating yourself by not buying it. Shame on you! Here’s a little sample of what you’re missing.

Jeff’s home page
Jeff e-mailed me and told me that all the issues for this series are sold out. He has #1-4 up on his website, so I guess you’ll just have to live with that for now. He also said that he plans to have everything he’s ever done up on his site eventually, so you’ll be able to get as many samples of his work as you should need to convince you to buy his stuff.
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Posted by Kevin
April 22, 2010
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� 
Super #1 Now Available! $3
You may be thinking that that’s an awful lot of samples for two comics, and that’s true, it usually would be. Kevin, however, is not satisfied with a simple mini and makes these both fun packs o’ goodies. This first issue is in a little sleeve (pictured first) with two tiny minis inside, not to mention a couple of stickers and buttons. The automatically gets a high grade on my nonexistent grading scale for making these automatically impressive before you even open the damned things. Once you get to the actual comic, there’s no linear story to speak of, just a series of visual explosions. Topics briefly touched on here include ninjas, politics, drunks, regrets, listening, and hope. I would almost compare this to a sketchbook if the images weren’t so complex and fully realized. It’s not the kind of comics you see every day, that’s for sure, and well worth a look to people who are able to read comics that don’t necessarily go from a point A to a point B. $3

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Posted by Kevin
April 22, 2010
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The Titusville Geek Now Available! $3
I suppose context is important in reviews. If I were judging this book just from the perspective of any old mini comic, I’d say that it was an enjoyable enough little story. Judging it from the perspective of so many of his other minis, which are so often an absolute blast, I’d have to say I was a little let down. This is a campfire story told to a bunch of little kids about the old geeks in the circus. If you’re not aware of what they are, they were usually drunks who were willing to do anything for their booze, and they spent their time in a dingy cage, surrounded by their own filth, biting the heads off chickens and generally behaving like an animal. Pat seems to think these people were mostly stupid or actually retarded, which isn’t something I’ve heard to explain the geeks, but it’s not like I’m an expert on the subject (insert “Yeah, but you’re geeky enough to run a comics website!” joke here). It has its moments, to be sure, like when the geek sets off the town to destroy the circus by biting the head off a small child, but overall it just isn’t as good as some of his other books. Not the harshest criticism in the world, I know, but it’s the best I can do. My advice is to check out many of his other fine works displayed on this page and then circle back to this if that makes you love his work, which I would think it would have to if you have a sense of humor at all.

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Posted by Kevin