April 22, 2010
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Tegne #2 (anthology)
Just a note right off the bat: I’m not entirely sure that David is the editor of this book, but I do know that his publishing group seems to be the one putting this out, and he seems to be the one in charge of it. That’s a lot of assumptions to make, but if it’s wrong it’ll get its own page, OK? As I’m still making up how to review anthologies as I go, here’s a list of contributors: Helen Brealey, David Birchall, Afsoon Hayley, Malcy Duff, Reni Fahima, Zeke Clough, Nick Birchall, Mara Duchemer, Honeypears, Tim Gaze, Crippa Almqvist, Jethre Brice, Dr. Nightfield & Laima Jaunnema. Apologies to anybody whose name I got wrong, but man that type was a bear to read. Flipping through this book, it’s exactly what an anthology should be: a wide variety of visual styles. Once you dig into it in a bit more detail, while there are some excellent stories, plenty of it didn’t do a thing for me. The simple black images, the simpler black smudges: just not my thing. There are times, as well, where legible text is sacrficed for the sake of the art. That might be a better idea for the picture, but it doesn’t do me a lot of good if I can’t get across the point of the story. Still, it’s silly to disregard this whole thing just because I can’t get behind some of the stories. The strange mirror world of Malcy Duff was creepily engaging, I loved the three strips by Mara Duchomer (about work, a man who could pour coffee directly into his head, and mice getting back at a cat), and I think Nick Birchall’s Mr. Wiggins strip may have given me a seizure (I mean that in a good way). Like any anthology you have to take the good with the bad, and there’s just enough good in here to make it all worth it. Again, the price is a guess… $6!
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Posted by Kevin
April 22, 2010
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Blues-O-Rama (written by RR Schuler)
Who loves old blues music? I’m talking about the old scratchy recordings or people from the 20’s and 30’s here. This is a comic about two of those people. The first story, done entirely by RR Schuler, is about Robert Johnson. Robert had a tragically brief career, as he made too many enemies going from town to town and sleeping with various girlfriends and wives of other men and ended up dying in agony days after being poisoned. The second story is about Lightnin’ Smith and the tale of the night another young man came in and tried to upstage the old timer. I hadn’t heard of Lightnin’, but any information about Robert Johnson is a wonderful thing as he left such a small amount of music behind and so little is known about the guy. A great comic if you know of either one of these people, or if you’re just curious about where blues as a genre really came from.
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Posted by Kevin
April 22, 2010
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Free The Angola 3 (written by John Schuler)
If you’re not remotely a political person, I guess you can skip this one. How you can avoid politics altogether in this day and age is amazing, but whatever floats your boat, I guess. Anyway, this is the story of three prisoners, how they were framed and/or convicted based on suspect testimony and little to no physical evidence, and where they are today. One of them made it out, after years spent in solitary confinement, and he’s now working to free the other two. I don’t claim to have any idea of all the facts in this story (although you could go to http://www.angola3.org/ if you’re curious), but what they have compiled here is pretty damning stuff. Also the last few pages of the comic are given over to phone numbers, addresses and other contact info to everybody who could be contacted in this, from the prison warden all the way up to John Ashcroft (this was put out a few years ago). It even has the addresses of the guys in jail, if you wanted to contact them. I’m not going to make any judgements on guilt or innocence, as this was obviously done in the hopes of freeing these men, so any contrary evidence wouldn’t be presented. Either way, it’s a fascinating story and they do a pretty good job of laying it all out in the comic.
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Posted by Kevin
April 22, 2010
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How to Cook a Chicken in Your Underwear
Is it odd when the title of your comic is the significantly shorter story? Anyway, there are two tales in this one. The first one deals with two men (I’m guessing William and John) going to an Indian sweat lodge to have a vision quest. A neat concept and the journey to the lodge was well done, although the actual vision was only covered in the most generic, psychedelic way. Hey, maybe that’s all he saw, who am I to say? And it probably doesn’t help a humor comic along to have an intense personal vision in the book. Still, I want to see what he saw because I’m nosy. The other story dealt with an artist not showing up for a radio promotion and the mess that it caused. I don’t know a thing about the habits of comic “professionals”, but it’s a funny story and a bit sad to see that the organizer still had to kiss the guy’s ass after he didn’t show up because he didn’t want to risk alienating any other artists in the future. A short comic but it looks great and it’s funny. Send money to: Cocked and Loaded Studios 11828 Quivira Overland Park, KS 66210.
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Posted by Kevin
April 22, 2010
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From The Desk Of Business Chimp
That’s right, another tiny comic about business chimp. If possible it’s even funnier than the first, although again I can’t explain too much about the goings on or it would ruin all the jokes, so let’s just say that it’s hilarious and leave it at that. Oh, and that I might possibly be Business Chimp, or maybe that’s just all the recent mandatory overtime talking. If you can’t relate to the samples from either of these issues, chances are you should move on to something more suited to your interests. If that’s the case I commend you, as you’ve managed to avoid being stuck in a cubicle. For the rest of us, maybe we should buy multiple copies, tear them up and paste them all over our cubicles to show our co-workers what a funny comic looks like.
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Posted by Kevin
April 22, 2010
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Overtime For Business Chimp
Here’s a tiny mini from Sean, possibly something that was meant as an insert to one of his other comics that fell out and into my pile o’ comics, so it gets a review too. This is 8 pages of Business Chimp going through an average day of work, which would sound stupid as hell if you’d never read a Sean Bieri comic before. These are funny little observances from a cubicle slave and, as one of those myself, there’s some seriously funny stuff in here. Sort of like how I picture Dilbert would be if it were actually funny. Ah, there’s no need to convince somebody to check out a Jape-related book if you’ve already read his stuff, so just pick it up already with a whole pile of Japes. I’ll bet it’s not more than a dollar…
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Posted by Kevin
April 22, 2010
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Secret Aircraft of the Luftwaffe
I can’t believe it. I never thought I’d say that Sean Bieri did a book that I didn’t like, but there you have it. Sure, there are still a couple of laughs in here, but it’s Sean Bieri, for the love of all the holy babies. I should still be on the ground clutching my sides, not sitting here trying to think of the funny parts. OK, it was tiny, and OK, it’s at least 4 years old. This is a comic about the other types of aircraft that the Nazi’s developed after their air fleet was decimated, but funny. “Funny” and “Nazi” is a dicey proposition anyway, and it just didn’t do that much for me. There were a few really funny parts. The flying saucer bit was great. Still, I’d have to say that this is something you should get only if you’re a huge fan of Sean’s. For everybody else, it’s over before they can get the laughs. Contact info is above, at least it’s only $1…
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Posted by Kevin
April 22, 2010
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Jape Volume 2 #1
Let me make one thing perfectly clear before I start: I am completely biased towards Sean Bieri. Jape was one of the first minis I read when I got on the alternative comics crazy train 15 years ago or so and I think he’s consistently the funniest person to ever do mini comics. Yes, ever. That being said… this may well be the funniest comic I’ve read this year. From the first page (the sample I used) to the last, not one dog in the bunch. In here you have pirates, a stuttering zombie, a cat fight, nostalgia hatred, looking like Michael Caine, guy hugging etiquette, and a handy alphabetical guide to things you should avoid in life. Oh, and all sorts of one page gag strips that I’m not even going to mention so as to leave plenty of surprises, as there’s not one good reason in the world that you don’t pick up a copy of this right now. He’s “relaunching” the series with Volume 2 here, so maybe if he sells enough of this one of the main small press comics companies will finally wise up and sign the guy. Let’s say $2 for this one even though it’s probably less…
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Posted by Kevin
April 22, 2010
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Jape #9
Did I say before that Sean is better with longer stories? Well, this time around he’s better with one-liners, or maybe it’s just better all around. Probably about half of this is one-liners and the vast majority of them are hilarious. There’s also a conversation between two guys sitting around a bar talking about gay people, a zombie asking for loose change, two stories about grass (different kinds), and him making fun of Antiques Roadshow. I wish these things would come out more often than once in a blue moon, but it’s always a treat when they do. Still only $.50 too, contact info is up there…
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Posted by Kevin
April 22, 2010
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Jape #8
Remember all that praise from the other issues? Well, this one was just so-so. It’s a series of one-page strips and, frankly, his strength lies with his longer stories. Unless, of course, you already read this and thought it was the best one, so what do I know? Don’t get me wrong, there are still plenty of moments of Jape goodness. I’m just used to laughing all the way through his comics, and I only laughed at about 3/4 of this one. Makes it awfully hard for me to make this review at all negative, but I still think that a bunch of his other issues are close to perfect. Hey, it’s his own damned fault for being so funny. Stories include Sean in the future, a perfect world, zombie Hitlers, milk, Aesop, haircuts and babies. Random enough for you? Seriously, there are few people out there that you could send $5 to and be guaranteed some serious belly laughs, and Sean fits the bill.
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Posted by Kevin
April 22, 2010
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Fun With Zombies
I don’t know why I picked this one to review. Mostly so I could show you one page from it. I guess. If you haven’t gotten it yet, I think Sean is one of maybe a dozen cartoonists who are always funny. That’s hard to come by. You should be giving him all your money so he keeps his good mood.
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Posted by Kevin
April 22, 2010
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Panel 9 From Outer Space
That’s right, a 3-D front and back cover. Nothing 3-D on the inside though, so those of you who can never seem to get the 3-D to work (like me) don’t have to worry about missing anything on the inside. Also, kudos to the joke in the title, and to those of you who don’t get it, take heart: there is a level of dorkdom you haven’t yet achieved if the title is lost on you. The theme this time around is science fiction in general, and it starts and ends with fake news pieces about 1957 and 2057 by Sean McGurr & Tim McClurg. The 1957 piece is all about hope for the future, with nuclear-powered cars, peace in Israel, competent government relief efforts and the flash in the pan that was “The Cat in the Hat”. The 2057 piece, naturally, is about how crappy things have gotten since then. The second piece here is Donkey Punch by Tom Williams, a story about a corporate exploration team who crash lands on a planet full of angry ninja women. Dara Naraghi & Andy Bennett are up next with a silent tale about a little boy who finds an alien in the woods and helps free it from a collar… but was that a good thing? Octopeye, by Steve Black & Sean McGurr, tells the tale of our future giant octopus overlord and our attempt to pacify him with what appears to be one of his illegitimate children. Monster Trucks And Baby Mammas by Tony Goins & Craig Bogart is the least fantastical tale of the bunch, as it deals mostly with white trash people sleeping around and/or trying to kill each other. Or maybe it seems more fantastical to people who didn’t grow up around that kind of nonsense, who knows? Finally there’s a one page shortie by Dara Naraghi & Tim Fischer called Love Ninja 8 which is, naturally, about ninjas using their love techniques to fight. My favorite had to be the Tom Williams piece for the sheer mayhem involved, but once again this is a solid anthology all the way through. The lack of a Matt Kish piece is depressing, but it’s a testament to the strength of the rest of these people that that lack wasn’t even noticeable until after I was done reading this issue. $3
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Posted by Kevin
April 22, 2010
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Jumbo Jape
This is long overdue. I read his Jape and 5 O’Clock Shadow comics years ago, but figured that everything was out of print when I started up the page. Well, I picked this up over the weekend at FLUKE (I think it was at the Top Shelf table, so you can always ask them if they have any copies laying around), so it is in print, and it’s well worth the $3. This has stuff from the older books, mostly, but a few of them at least were new to me. Stories in this one include Jesus, The Savior Man, Hard-Boiled Hygenist, Jesus is Cool in Any Age, Cannibal Picnic, Star Trek: The Next Muthafuckas, and Good ol’ Conan the Barbarian. I thought this guy should have been rich and famous for this stuff years ago, and I see nothing to change my opinion in this one. E-mail him and see what else he has around, but definitely buy this one when you do. Unless you hate the samples, of course, in which case you should go here instead.
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Posted by Kevin
April 22, 2010
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Website for Broken Lines
Website for Famous Fighters
Famous Fighters #1 (written by Matt Smith) Now Available! $6
God bless Matt and Tom, and I mean that as nothing but completely sincere. So many people who do comics are happiest when it’s one big chaotic fight scene, so they decided to take most of the story out of it and we’re left with one big pile of fights. Which, if you’re feeling particularly cerebral today, might not be your thing, and more power to you. I rarely if ever sample the first page of a book, and that’s all I needed to know I was going to like this one. Barbarian Lord is a character who’s confined to single page stories, usually ending in decapitations, and always ending in a poem. Nothing but fun to be had there, and these are sprinkled throughout the book. There’s a Pong contest between a man and Satan, done entirely in verse. You also have Eclipso (a fat-headed kid who kills flowers), a zombie metal band and an extended kung-fu parody, also hilarious if you’ve seen more than one kung-fu movie in your life. Really, there’s not a single thing here to complain about. Tom (between this and the issue listed above) looks to me to be a giant among comics men, assuming he has more like these last two in him, and Matt was able to do plenty of this issue in verse (which I usually hate) and make it a wonderful thing to behold. Buy it and laugh, as there are few enough things around that’ll allow you to do that without trying to teach you some sort of a message. None of that nonsense here, just an awful lot of decapitations! $5
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Posted by Kevin
April 22, 2010
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Jape #4
You probably can’t tell from that scan, but this mini is so old that it actually has rust on the cover. At least I hope that’s rust… So, alas, my Japes are not in mint condition, and if the world at large ever discovers how funny Sean Bieri is, my fortune will not come from selling his old minis. Oh well, I’d rather not sell them anyway, so screw you world! This issue of Jape, as you can tell, starts off with a fantastic cover. That’s one thing I always loved about these old minis: he hit you with his sense of humor right off the bat, and if it was something you didn’t like (or that offended you), you knew it before you even opened the book. Stories in here include trying to find decent comics in a pile of shit (still an apt analogy for the world of comics), an artistic adaptation of “Hey Joe” (or at least I think that’s the name of the song, you’d know it if you heard it but the lyrics might not do you any good), his cat the physicist (in which he/she discovers that knocking things off a shelf will cause them to come crashing down), and a joke on the last page that was a lot funnier when I looked up the meaning of the punchline (episiotomy. Go ahead, Google has all kinds of horrific images). There’s also one more story, the highlight of the issue, dealing with open mic poets. Shouting, whispering, pregnant pauses, repetition, and above all bad acting, this story nails them thoroughly. You could argue that they’re an easy target, and that’s fine, but it doesn’t make the piece any less funny. So overall, except for that song adaptation (which I’ve never been a fan of), this is a hell of an issue. Please add it to your list of things to get if you ever have access to a time machine.
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Posted by Kevin
April 22, 2010
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Nerd Wars
This is another tiny one, a 15 minute comic, and there’s really only enough time with these to get a visceral reaction. This one is about two nerds playing some kind of hero clix game, apparently involving dice to determine terms (hey, I may have worked in a comics store part time for a year or so, but it’s not like I learned everything). It’s 8 relatively sloppy pages, as it was done in 15 minutes, but the important thing is that I laughed out loud when I saw the ending, and chuckled again when I was flipping through it again for the review. If you’re looking for meticulous linework and complicated plots, 15 minute comics aren’t for you. If you’re just looking for a laugh, you could do a whole lot worse than this. Contact info is up there, it’s either $.50 or $1.
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Posted by Kevin
April 22, 2010
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Jape #3
My own personal look back into the mini comics of yore continues, although I’m not sure if 1994 qualifies as “yore”. Hey, if they can play Nirvana songs on classic rock stations, I think this fits the bill. This is, as all Japes have been known to be, a funny comic. Not as funny as some other Japes, but still funny. The main reason this one gets bogged down is the big story of the comic: Hard Boiled Hygenist. It’s funny to begin with (being a Sin City parody, assuming Sin City was out by then (if not he was remarkably prescient) combined with some intense dentistry), but it does manage to go on for at least a few pages too long. On other pieces Sean is his usual flawless self, including a gag that was (sadly) unsuccessful at killing 50’s clip art jokes, Sean and a smoking Jesus in a coffee shop, a nerd being a little too clever at a museum around a jock, and instructions on how to use chopsticks. Again, this is another one that probably isn’t in print (although pieces of it are in Jumbo Jape), but would be in a just world. Still, contact the guy, you never know. Even if it isn’t available maybe you’ll be the last straw that nudges him into putting them all back into print…
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Posted by Kevin
April 22, 2010
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Jape #1
Ah, Jape. The little funny comic that always, always made me laugh, and still does whenever I see a new collection of comics. Which is far too rarely, but apparently all these people that got me into this business back in the day have real lives these days, or have just figured out that nobody gets rich making mini comics, which leaves the rest of us without that essential funny. One of these Japes reached a perfect level of humor rarely seen in the world, and I look forward to finding it in my trip back through these minis, but this one wasn’t it. Don’t get me wrong, it was still funnier than most things in this world, but it wasn’t that one issue that got lodged in my brain and never went away. Stories in here include a creepy true tale of mass transit, the fickle nature of women, having somebody else use the bathroom while you’re taking a bath (and lying about the, um, nature of their visit), making interviewees eat a bowl of shit to gauge their reactions, dating the naked model from art class, and reverse discrimination. I’m started to sound like a broken record, but it sure seems like most of these old minis were never collected, and I doubt if they’re still available. If they are there certainly doesn’t appear to be any easy way to find them. Hello Turtle people? There’s a vast pile of things that should be collected into graphic novel form just sitting around out there. Start with Jape! $.50
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Posted by Kevin
April 22, 2010
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Clearance Items Only
More randomness from David, as this issue is a collection of “clearance items”, invented or seen as he was walking along, who knows? Items in here include a used dildo, a dinosaur bone, cynicism, a used birthday candle, and many other fabulous items. It’s done in a loose sketchbook style, so if you like your art neat and perfect your delicate sensibilities may be offended. It’s a funny mini though, and what more can you ask for from the shorties like this? $1
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Posted by Kevin
April 22, 2010
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Tear-Stained Makeup #4 Now Available! $5
This may be as big as the last three issues put together. So if you’ve been reading these and wondering why certain characters were getting less attention than you may have liked, everybody gets dealt with here. And if you haven’t been wondering because you haven’t been reading this, might I ask what exactly you have against comics? How many really great character driven fictional comics are there out there to choose from at the moment anyway? The story in this one deals with Tildy and her afterglow, Dr. Wilson and his unhealthy obsession, Laura Dee and finding a reason to live, Eddie and his crush on Tildy, Aurora (Tildy’s friend) and her nudity, and more side characters than you can shake that proverbial stick at that you keep around to shake at things. Marcos had a great idea to put out this giant issue, as all sorts of the background people are actual characters now and not just walk-on lines. There was even an incredibly odd bit from 1903, although I have no earthly idea how that fits into the big picture. If you like this series you probably already have this issue, but if you’ve been waiting until there’s more available to dig in, well, you got your wish. Great stuff again.
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Posted by Kevin
