Bagge, Peter – Hey Buddy!

April 22, 2010

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Hey Buddy!

Finally, my big chance to read all the Hate stuff in a row. Is it as groundbreaking as everybody seems to think it is? How about just being one of the best series ever? After reading the first of the collected Hate volumes, I have to say… not really.

That’s doesn’t mean that this series is bad or hard to read in any way. And, to be fair, it’s a little presumptuous of me to say that all the hype is unwarranted after reading only one book. If my opinion changes on that point during my reading, believe me, you’ll be the first to know. I have no problem admitting that I’m wrong on something, and this will be no exception. But I’m judging this series by what the first book has to offer, and it’s only mediocre. Tales in this book: introduction to Buddy, getting to know his roommate George Hamilton III, dealing with his girlfriend, tolerating a visit from his brother Butch, and Buddy dealing with his girlfriend’s trendy friends. An enjoyable book, but he hadn’t really found his rhythm here yet. Which is hard to figure, because he had been doing great work for years before this came out in Neat Stuff and Weirdo. He had never really dealt with continuing characters before though… no, Buddy’s family is in Neat Stuff a lot. I don’t know, OK? It was strange to see Lisa and Valerie develop after knowing what they all go through in the course of the series though.

This is officially impossible to review. I feel like I’m reviewing the first five pages of a novel. And I still don’t know how I should be reviewing this: looking it as the groundbreaking series that changed comics forever, or by trying to ignore the historical impact this series had on everything and just trying to take it on its own. From now on, I think, I’m going to try to just take it as it is, not for what it did for the rest of comics. As for the historical side, and I’m only going to address this now, I still don’t see how this comic could be the main one that a lot of people tried to emulate. It’s a good series, even a much better than good series, but it’s not the “bees knees”, as the kids say. Or at least as they used to say about 60 years ago. Anyway, bottom line, don’t buy this book until you read some of the other ones that are much better. Which ones are much better? Keep reading these reviews, you’ll see…

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Posted by Kevin

Bagge, Peter – Everybody Is Stupid Except For Me

April 22, 2010

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Everybody Is Stupid Except For Me

If you’ll allow me to be pointlessly nostalgic for a minute, there was a large chunk of time throughout the 90’s where, in any given year, you were pretty much guaranteed to be able to see a few new books from Dan Clowes, Peter Bagge, the Hernandez Brothers and Jim Wooding.  Out of that crew only the Hernandez Brothers are still doing comics on a consistent basis, with Dan Clowes “going Hollywood”, Jim Woodring pretty much vanishing completely outside of the occasional anthology piece (according to the Fantagraphics site anyway, I haven’t seen anything new from the man in years) and Peter Bagge being content to put out the occasional annual of Hate.  Except, it turns out, for these strips.  These were done for Reason, a libertarian magazine that has gone a bit nuts over the past year with the Obama birtherism and some other odds and ends, but (full disclosure), they’re still closer to my political persuasion than any of the major parties, or at least they are after working closely with electoral politics for the last 5 years.  It was, frankly, a nostalgic blast of fresh air to be able to read a graphic novel of Peter’s again, even if this is a series of unconnected pieces instead of a coherent narrative.  This covers strips he did from 2001-2009 and doesn’t really make clear if this is a “best of” collection or a definitive listing of all of his strips from that period.  There are also all mostly autobiographical from Peter talking to the people involved in his theme of the strip, which is a marked change from Hate.  Subjects in here include a brief definition of libertarianism, the meandering anti-war protests (and Peter’s later guilt at making fun of them), the right to own a bazooka, swingers, the war on fornication, the nonsense that makes up modern art, Christian rock, malls, legalized gambling, monorails, taxpayer funded sports arenas, the general suckiness of Amtrak, the ridiculous war on pot (and the war on drugs in general), bums, his search for an honest Republican, his report from a libertarian presidential debate, and the general nonsense that we believe.  This doesn’t include any of the many single page strips, as you should get some surprises with this book, right?  The one minor complaint is that a book of strips from 2001-2009 should be legally obligated to have at least a half dozen strips breaking down why W. Bush was such an unbelievable fuck-up, but Peter only goes so far as to call the man stupid a few times in other strips.  Still, it’s hard to criticize somebody for NOT doing a strip about something when he was usually given topics to cover, and I still don’t know if they just left out the Bush strips in the ongoing cultural effort to forget that the man ever existed.  Anybody who read Hate back in the day already knows to pick this up just because it’s Peter, and for you kids today who never read Hate, this is a good place to start with the guy.  $17

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Posted by Kevin

Ayuyang, Rina – Namby Pamby #4

April 22, 2010

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Namby Pamby #4

Ah, the joys of having older reviews live on the internets forever. Sure, I could just go back and make myself seem a bit smarter, but what’s the fun in that? Any qualms I might have had about Rina’s abilities to draw well or tell a good story get blasted to pieces in this issue. Meaning that either she took a quantum leap from #2 to #4 (possible, I suppose) or I was too hard on her to begin with. Oh well. Right off the bat here Rina has a different take on the cute cat stories that many people throw into their mini comics. You see, Rina never really got the fascination people had with their pets, and the whole thing always seemed insane to her… right up until she got a cat. If you have a cat, good luck not being instantly won over. Next up is a “coming out” party by two mysterious people who admit their obsession with, and scientific study of, Murder She Wrote. Next up is Rina’s version of the life of her brother, told mostly through her observances, so it probably ends up being a bit skewed. Still hilarious though, and a bit fascinating that she could cram a life into so few pages. Finally she tells the story of drifting into and out of friendship with a neighbor, revealing at the end that she did it all lefthanded. Never would have known that if she hadn’t mentioned it, as it’s a dark, atmospheric piece, more about the story than the images. This is a thoroughly great mini comic, done as they should be, with a variety of short pieces, each one with something significant to offer. $3

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Posted by Kevin

Ayuyang, Rina – Namby Pamby #2

April 22, 2010

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Namby Pamby #2

Psychodelic scanner, go! Sorry, it doesn’t look that crappy, although the watercolor things still kind of bugs me, but it’s more because of its effect on the lettering than anything else. Really smudges it up and makes it hard to read, but the art is actually growing on me. This one is a lot quieter than the first issue. The bulk of the book is stories about diners and the people that eat at them, night after night. It’s the kind of thing that easy to forget if you don’t have a regular eatery of your own and can make you reminisce big time about high school, where a crappy place like Denny’s became a home away from home at times. She’s got some talent, that’s for sure. A little bit more work with the lettering and this could have been a really beautiful book, but it still looks pretty nice. No subscription info this time so maybe she’s backing off a little bit, but here’s hoping she keeps it up. The comics world can never go wrong with another quiet, meditative voice, contact info is above to see what else she has available or you could just go to her website…

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Posted by Kevin

Ayuyang, Rina – Namby Pamby #1

April 22, 2010

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Namby-Pamby #1

So is it best to start out negative and then point out the positive things, or vice versa? First off, I’m really curious to see #2. There was a lot of potential here and she can tell a story that keeps me interested. It’s just… well, the art is incredibly sloppy at times. I can’t complain too much about that for her first time out of the gate, but I can offer a few words of advice. I don’t know that much about copiers, but this would have been better served with darker copies, or perhaps without so much of the background filled in. It looks like she used watercolors of something and then copied it, which looks awful. The art beneath that is kind of cute, it’s just hard to see it. As for the stories, they held my attention. The first one, Counter Help, was interesting, but it was also the sloppiest visually in the book. House of Horrors, about her and some friends volunteering to work in a haunted house, was a great story, no problems there. That one filled up most of the book, leaving room for the mostly forgettable (and very short) Grin and Bear It and Here, There. Far from terrible, but nothing that sticks in my mind. So, overall, I’d say give her some time to grow as an artist.  She was possibly experimenting with a style with this one, I don’t know, but she can be a pretty good writer. E-mail her for subscription info (see, only people who are dedicated offer subscriptions, right?).

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Posted by Kevin

Ayo, Little Garden #2

April 22, 2010

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Little Garden #2

Remember my review for the last issue of this series? Well, it’s the same for this one, only moreso. What, you want more? OK, fine. You have the same basic setup here as the first issue, a word (or two or three) on the left side and a drawing on the right side. This one made even less sense than the last one to me, but I’m not entirely sure it’s supposed to make sense. The impressions I get from this are working, killing time, chatting and looking for reasons not to work. See? You probably would have been better off with the one sentence review I started this off with…

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Posted by Kevin

Ayo – Little Garden #1

April 22, 2010

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Little Garden #1

Here’s another one of those minis where it’s too short to get much more than a simple impression of the book, or at least that’s my cop-out way of dealing with writing a review of it. From the sample you can see that there is a few words of text on the left side and an image on the right side pretty much all the way through, dealing with working in the garden, stealing and playing. It doesn’t come together as much of a linear story in my mind, more like a series of postcards with the same characters on them. Here’s hoping that makes sense to somebody besides me. It’s too tiny to say much about without just repeating the whole thing here, but I will say that if you like his other book (like me), then you’ll probably like this one (like me). If you haven’t seen his other book, well, then just check that one out first and then come back for this one, if you want my advice. If you don’t, then why are you still reading this? Website is up there, this one is $1…

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Posted by Kevin

Ayo – 80 Gun #1

April 22, 2010

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80 Gun #1

Why aren’t there any political comic books? Or, for that matter, any comics at all that deal with events going on in the world, our place in it and where it might all be headed? Sure, there are plenty that are focused on where individual people are headed, and plenty more that are about characters who point you to lessons about the world in general, but where the hell are all the comics about the world? Sorry to go off on a rant there, but I was just curious. There are two stories in this one. The first is a story ostensibly about food and what happens to it every step of the way (getting it, eating it, digesting it), although it also veers briefly into how the US is capable of handing out food while we’re bombing the people who are eating it. The second story deals with television and the time-wasters that come with it, and how we can’t escape it in almost anything we do these days. If either of these sound overly preachy, somehow that’s not how they come across, which is the mark of a pretty successful piece of art, in my book. The writing and the art are sparse and effective, making this a pretty quick read, but something that sticks in your brain. Here’s a website with a little more info, I also have a few other books from this guy and I can’t wait to read more, as I was thoroughly impressed with my first look…

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Posted by Kevin

Aulisio, Pat – Quotidian

April 22, 2010

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Quotidian

Because I make such a mess of trying to explain these things coherently, here’s the intro from the author: “Meet Quotidian, a joyful gent who’s fond of an adventure or two. Join him in his everyday life of exploring the world, fighting off wild beasts, getting loaded, and rocking out with his band”. It’s a silent tale of Quotidian, a “gent” that looks sort of like the blob in a gorilla suit. He does the things mentioned above and even falls in love, or at least lust. Pat’s work has vaguely reminded me of Jim Woodring’s Frank stuff for a while, but this is the closest it has come to that work in quality. I wouldn’t say he’s there yet, but give him another 20 years or so at this (like Mr. Woodring) and he’s got a shot at it. I love how almost nothing in his books comes from the real world. It’s a joy to see something that comes this purely from imagination, even if the mind behind it is a bit warped. Hell, especially if the mind behind it is a bit warped. Oh, and Quotidian also shoots what looks like a laser beam out of his groin. And have I mentioned yet that the whole comic is a story, no sketchbook pages or shorties in there to mess up the flow? Excellent stuff, and the perfect book to introduce people to Pat, as I’m pretty sure there’s nothing to particularly offend in this one…

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Posted by Kevin

Aulisio, Pat – Vagary Syntax

April 22, 2010

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Vagary Syntax

Pat seems to be all over the place with his issue titles, which is fine by me (and the title here is wonderful once you read the definition on the cover), as he doesn’t seem to be going for a long narrative at the moment anyway. This one is another collection of odds and ends. There’s the one coherent story from Creatures Saying Foul Things, a wonderfully disgusting story following a mosquitoish creature that infects an ape, a fat rocker eating dinner, some violence to an adorable creature, and, of course, a trip through monster forest. Tucked in with all of this are many pages of sketches and other shorties from guest artists, and it all rounds out to a pretty solid issue. As always, kudos to Pat for keeping these things cheap and I for one don’t mind a bit watching him figure out new and interesting ways to creep me out every few months or so…

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Posted by Kevin

Aulisio, Pat – Creatures Saying Foul Things

April 22, 2010

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Creatures Saying Foul Things

Were you one of those people who, while reading past issues of Revolution With A Catchy Phrase, thought “Gee, these stories are fine, but what I really want to see are those grotesque creatures conversing with other grotesque creatures in full page spreads, with all the horrific details clearly visible?” If that’s the case, you’re in luck! All manner of horrors are in here, with the added benefit of being funny too. He does “ruin” it in the end by throwing in a three page coherent story, but I think that can be excused just this once. This is not for the squeamish or for the kiddies, but there’s some funny stuff in here, providing that you’re not easily offended.

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Posted by Kevin

Aulisio, Pat – Badassitude

April 22, 2010

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Badassitude (flip comic with Craig Coleman) Now Available! $1

Look out, it’s a flip book! OK, possibly nothing to get alarmed about after all. I wish more people would do comics this way; it’s a great way to see people that you’ve possibly never heard of. Pat has a couple of selections for his half. First there’s a silent tale with a rocking band, vomited from the very heavens to rock. Then there’s a shortie that you might have already seen if you’d ordered his stuff from the online store, as I was passing it out as a freebie, about a couple of, um, “guys” talking about a new hot chick at work while going about their business. Craig’s side of things is relatively simple: a whore gets shorted on her pay and takes it out on everybody near her, samurai style. Granted, the ending was something you could see coming, but it was nicely done. All in all, a pretty decent mix of stories for a buck.

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Posted by Kevin

Aulisio, Pat – Revolution With a Catchy Phrase #7

April 22, 2010

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Revolution With A Catchy Phrase #7

Pat seems to be getting tired of telling anything remotely resembling a traditional story. Of course, traditional storytelling is overrated anyway, so it doesn’t make that big of a difference. Even in his one “main” story here, involving people watching advanced aliens of all kinds have sex (until they eventually start having sex with them too, and then bad things are bound to happen), he breaks up the four page tale with a couple of asides. Then most of the rest of the book is simply images of various horrific creatures as well as a few one page stories about puking and a persuasive giraffe. Another OK issue but I prefer it with a bit more story. Purely personal preference, as it’s hard to look at that cover and not love this issue more than just a little bit…

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Posted by Kevin

Aulisio, Pat – Revolution With a Catchy Phrase #6

April 22, 2010

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Revolution With A Catchy Phrase #6

Who likes things growing out of places where they shouldn’t? Or a prostitute service where you get to eat the hooker when you’re done? Or Bananoid? This is collection of random short stories mixed in with a lot of sketchbook pages (or something that looks suspiciously like sketchbook pages), which is the kind of thing that usually annoys me as obvious filler, but in this case it lends to the overall creepy feeling you get when reading these stories, so it all works out in the end. Probably only half of this is “story”, but you won’t feel cheated on those sketches, I can tell you that. Sickened, perhaps, but if you’re looking for fluffy bunnies these comics aren’t probably the first place you would look. Although there are bunny slippers in this, and Pat manages to make even that look slightly deranged. Regardless, this is another good one, if you don’t mind a little bit of nastiness.

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Posted by Kevin

Aulisio, Pat – Revolution With a Catchy Phrase Collected Edition

April 22, 2010

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Revolution With A Catchy Phrase Collected Edition Now Available! $2

Who’s been saying all along that the comics are the best part of this zine? I think it was me, unless I kept those comments to myself, but I’ve been thinking it all along, I swear I have. Anyway, this isn’t a complete collection by any means, as those samples from the first two issues don’t seem to be in here, but all the good stuff from #5 and some other stuff that I’ve never seen is in here. There’s no way in hell that I can make this all make some kind of logical sense in a review, but it’s a blast and funny, so you could do a whole lot worse. Oh, OK, here goes: in here you have eggs, a recycled grandma, Boca, orange juice, and all the things I talked about in my review for #5. If that makes it sound like it’s not so complicated after all, that’s only because I’m not telling it right. Look, it’s a bit sloppy, granted, but this isn’t a story that you’ve ever seen before or will ever see again, which is always a plus in my book.

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Posted by Kevin

Aulisio, Pat – Revolution With a Catchy Phrase #5

April 22, 2010

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Revolution With a Catchy Phrase #5 Now Available! $1.50

Remember how my only real complaint with the first two issues of this series was the essays and things done by people other than Pat? Well, I’m not sure when it happened (missed a couple of issues in there), but it’s all Pat now, meaning that it’s all comics, also meaning that it’s all completely bizarre. Oh, and the art looks better too. Still not fantastic, but getting to be pretty good. Do I have to try to decipher this for a review? Oh man… OK, I’ll try. There are these three…um, beings. One is a knight trying to find a quest, one is an old man who happens to torture and kill things, one is a satyr who also kills things, and one is what appears to be mostly a regular guy, at least so far. They all meet in a bar, have some adventures… aw, forget it. You have to read this to get anything at all out of it. What I just briefly described was the bulk of the comic. Other than that you have a relentless quest for eggs, a searing hot french fry, serious bloodshed, Boca, a man with a gun in his back, recycled grandma and a faulty human mask. Any serious quibbles I had with this comic are gone now, and you could do a whole lot worse than to check this out. Unless you’re looking for a coherent story with a happily ever after or the wonders of page after page of angst, then there are other places you could probably go. Contact info is up there, this one is also in the online store, if you’d rather buy it there…

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Posted by Kevin

Aulisio, Pat – Revolution With a Catchy Phrase #2

April 22, 2010

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Revolution with a Catchy Phrase #2

OK, this one isn’t as good. The comics are hilarious, don’t get me wrong. They’re growing on me in a big way. This one is about an old man, a clown, a ninja, Scott Baio, some monsters, and LeVar Burton. I’m not even going to try and describe it, but I’d like four pounds of whatever he’s on, unless it’s just plain old human kindness, in which case none for me, thanks. There are also a couple of short comics by Simon Kugel, one of which is funny, and one of which mostly isn’t. Still, enough to spend a dollar on, as long as you don’t bother with the essays. There’s one by a newcomer, Justin Klugh, which might have been good (it was about video games), but the copy was screwed up and it cuts off the first few letters of every line. I tried, but it was just too annoying to deal with. Alan Ferich talks about his life and Simon Kugel talks about shoes. Neither one of those is as dull as I’m making them out to be, but they’re sure not as exciting as you might think. Still, the comics make this completely worthwhile, and I liked the other essays from these guys, so they could definitely put something good together for #3. $1!

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Posted by Kevin

Aulisio, Pat – Revolution With A Catchy Phrase #1

April 22, 2010

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Revolution with a Catchy Phrase #1

I’m almost positive that I already have something from this guy up on the site, but I can’t find it. How sad is that? Anyway, this zine is ridiculous, and I mean that in the best possible way. The only comic story is about zombies who come to life while some people decide that they want to try and steal Tom Selleck’s soul. Jesus comes down to help and mayhem and hilarity ensue. It looks like crap, mostly, but there’s a sense of fun here that hard to completely ignore. Worth a look if you like old horror movies and Jesus. Then there are a couple of essays by Simon Kugel (and I know he’s around here somewhere) that tell about why a revolution isn’t going to happen and stuff about Capitalism. Throw in one final essay by Alan Ferich about why Adam Sandler and David Spade are stupid and you have a zine! It’s OK, overall. Not going to set the world on fire or anything, but fun. Oh, and there’s an interview with the band This Radiant Boy, another indie band I’ve never heard or. You damned kids! Here’s a website, this is $1.

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Posted by Kevin

Aulisio, Pat – Boot Legs

April 22, 2010

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Boot Legs

Wow, this page is so old that I didn’t even have a spellcheck option.  Huzzah for clearing out ancient typos!  This is the first book I’ve seen from Pat in ages (and there were plenty more in the package), and he mentions in the letter that I’ve been reading his comics since he was 14 (he’s 23 now).  Yes, I am indeed getting old.  This comic is just what it looks like from that cover: a parody book of Marvel and DC heroes.  There are a few stories in here, all of which have at least something to recommend them.  First up is Spider-Man hanging out with Lizard, eventually getting MJ in on the action.  Next you have the X-Men (Gambit, Wolverine, Cyclops and Storm in this case) drinking, going to band practice and accidentally blasting a hole in the wall of the girls bathroom.  The story with Daredevil and Punisher ends up about where you’d expect it to if you’ve ever read the comics, as those two are so clearly in love with each other.  Next is my personal favorite: Ghost Rider versus Aquaman.  Ghost Rider has gone green, switching to a bicycle, and is almost run off the road by an inexplicably driving Aquaman.  A hilariously brief fight ensues.  Finally there’s a Batman story in which he tries to convince Superman to drink and smoke pot, gets Catwoman drunk and has sex with her on a pile of money.  It’s great to hear from Pat again, even better to get some good old-fashioned parody stories of Marvel and DC big shots.  No price on this but I’d guess a buck or two…

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Posted by Kevin

Aulisio, Pat – Pat Makes Drawings #2

April 22, 2010

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patmakes211

Pat Makes Drawings #2

Here’s hoping that Pat keeps up this business of making drawings, because he sure has a knack for it.  The images in this issue were consistently remarkable, to the point where I’m going to ramble about them in bit of detail, so be warned.  First, the cover is full color (obviously), and he takes advantage of that fact on the inside cover but, as you probably wouldn’t believe me if I told you that it was a drawing of flowers, I won’t mention it.  Then there’s another solid page of color in the middle, which means that there’s a full color centerfold.  Much as I hate tearing apart comics I might just have to pull this one out and put it on my wall, as it’s a smorgasbord involving what appears to be a sun (vomiting geometric shapes), a creature wooing a snake monster, clipped images of people dancing and laughing, and a hollow giant.  Or something like that.  The other color images are of a hairy man and his boombox and a jam session involving Teen Wolf, Mr. T and E.T.  He could have just left the rest of the comic blank and I would have been happy, but wait, there’s more!  You have the summit of the kings, elephant pants, flower eyes, a fire creature reaching the top of the mountain, and the Creature From The Black Lagoon sharing a tender moment with his child.  That still leaves plenty for you to discover, and I once again thoroughly enjoyed a comic without much of a coherent story.  That’s still a rarity, so it should at least slightly stand out.  No price again, but with the color pages I’m guessing $4 this time.

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Posted by Kevin

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