So I don’t have a working scanner at the moment. There are still a few things I can ramble about, like one of the few things left unreviewed at the Optical Sloth store: Hoax #1 edited by Karl Kressbach. If anybody has any suggestions for tomorrow, I’m all ears…
Update for 4/1/10
April 1, 2010
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Posted by Kevin
“Update” for 3/31/10
March 31, 2010Try to contain your surprise, but the scanner doesn’t seem to be working on my new, cobbled together computer. Shocking that everything didn’t work just fine the first time I booted it up, but there you go. In another couple of weeks I’ll be settled in the new place and everything will be going swimmingly, and I still have high hopes that there’s a relatively easy fix for this scanner and will have reviews back up and running tomorrow. If not, know that I am still working constantly on that secret project associated with the not-so-secret project (the comic rentals), so it’s not like I’m being a total slacker over here.
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Posted by Kevin
Update for 3/29/10
March 29, 2010New review for another old mini, this time Get Bent #7/Unshaven Chi #3 by Ben Steckler. Tomorrow is when I try out the scanner on my “new” computer (meaning “assembled from parts of my old computer and parts of newer machines), so there may be delays. Of course, there’s also the possibility that it’ll start up just fine and work like a charm, in which case please ignore this message entirely.
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Posted by Kevin
Update for 3/28/10
March 28, 2010New review for a very old mini, this time Super Growths: Strange Growths Sampler #1-6 by Jenny Zervakis. At least this time around the artist in question has a brand new mini (the first one in 6 years!) newly available, so there’s some point to the old review…
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Posted by Kevin
Update for 3/26/10
March 26, 2010New review for another old mini, this time There Is Nothing! by Marc Bell. Has he been doing much in the way of comics over the last 5-10 years or so? Let me know if you know of anything, I haven’t seen a new thing in that time…
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Posted by Kevin
Update for 3/25/10
March 25, 2010New review for a new anthology: Gin Palace #1 edited by Rob Jackson. I’m spending many hours a day fixing this place up, in case you think the lack of updates recently is a result of my laziness. You won’t see any of it here until April 22nd, so you’ll have to take my word for it until then…
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Posted by Kevin
Hawley, Geoffrey – Nepotism
March 23, 2010E-mail (possibly)
Nepotism
You know, I get all kinds of random comics submissions for the site these days. I can usually find something positive to say about almost all of them, as the sheer level of will in putting a comic out usually lends itself to some positives. Still, it’s rare that I get something that’s as well put together as this, and I think it’s Geoffrey’s first book. Half of the book is The Labyrinth, a story that was one of the highlights of the SPX 2002 book. It’s a story about Jorge Luis Borges, one of two that I’ve received this week, in one of those odd cosmic coincidences. The second half of the book is split into three different stories with three different artists, all written by Geoffrey. The first one, called The Question, is drawn by Janet Alexander, and it’s a silent tale about a cute little thing asking questions all day long that never get answered. The second one is called Fought Over. Drawn by Russell Hawley, it’s a nature tale about two males fighting for the right to mate with a female with tragic results, but probably not the ones that you might think. The last one is called The Birthday Boy; Marc Raab draws one hell of a creepy tree. The boy in question asks the tree how he can tell how old he is, and I think you can guess where it goes from there. All of these artists bring something to the table. Janet has adorable characters with densely layered backgrounds, Russell’s depiction of the animals is incredible on all kinds of levels, and Marc, like I said, draws a great talking tree. But Geoffrey doesn’t need the help drawing. His minimalist (sort of) style is perfect for the tale that he’s telling, although the sheer range of talent on the other stories helps bring the whole comic together. This is the best first effort I’ve seen since Lumakick, and if you haven’t seen the SPX 2002 anthology The Labyrinth is worth the price ($3.50) by itself. Buy it now so you can tell people (in a few years, when he’s rich and famous) that you got the first comic that this guy ever put out. Oh, and check out the website for samples and stuff…
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Posted by Kevin
Update for 3/23/10
March 23, 2010New review for an old mini, this time Deep Girl #2 by Ariel Bordeaux. If you have a calendar by your desk, mark April 22nd and put an “Optical Sloth” by it. Things around here are going to start to change on that day, barring some major calamity. Details will be forthcoming, but yes, this does have to do with that comics rental project I keep talking about…
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Posted by Kevin
Update for 3/22/10
March 22, 2010Sorry, I’ve been out of town looking for places to live. The good news is that I found one and will be moving in a couple of weeks. The bad news is that I’ll be moving soon, so there may be more days without reviews and other disruptions. As always, I’ll try to keep that sort of thing to a minimum. New review today for a new mini, Was That Supposed To Be Funny by Lauren Barnett.
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Posted by Kevin
Update for 3/17/10
March 17, 2010New review for an old mini, Life of a Cartoon Artiste #1 by Colin Upton. Sorry about the reruns lately (my term for when I review an artist again before their previous review has left the front page), but I grabbed a stack of these things before I moved and am working my way through them. That and as I’m heading out to look at apartments I wanted to load some of these reviews up for the week, so if you have sent anything recently I’ll get right to it when I get back…
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Posted by Kevin
Update for 3/16/10
March 16, 2010New review for another old mini, Ramadan by Tom Hart. I still have plenty of these old minis laying around, in case you were curious, so they’ll keep appearing here until I get a pile of new minis either through the mail or at SPACE next month (last weekend of April, mark your calendars).
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Posted by Kevin
Hart, Tom – The Ditch The River The Sea The Snake
March 16, 2010
The Ditch The River The Sea The Snake
The cavalcade of reviews for ancient (at least you could call it ancient in a culture with no attention span) mini comics continues, as I was appalled to notice that there were no minis at all from Tom on this site, just graphic novels. And it looks like the man never did put all of these into one collection, because he very clearly hates the people who enjoy his work. That’s my theory, anyway. Another one is that as most mini comics folks seem to hate their older work, maybe he just doesn’t want any of this older stuff seeing the light of day. Well, too bad! This particular issue is a 24 hour comic (if memory serves, and the fact that there’s only a single date on the back cover (5/5/96)seems to back me up) and, well, it doesn’t look all that great. Hey, that’s what 24 hour comics are! The story is fairly simple: there’s an old man who digs a ditch for his town, as they need water. He goes off to complete a ritual that will allow him to fill this ditch with water, but when he leaves his brother takes over the town and starts making demands. When the old man comes back with an immensely bloated snake (as he’s full of the sea), his brother and the hungry townspeople see a giant pile of food instead and attack. Tom manages to put a pretty decent moral at the end of the story, as one of his main skills was being able to make the reader think about any number of things. I doubt if you can find this anywhere (my copy is from Spit and a Half, John Porcellino’s old distro), but all of his old books are worth picking up if you do see them. $1.50
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Posted by Kevin
Update for 3/15/10
March 15, 2010New review for another old mini, Jape #4 by Sean Bieri. To everybody out there who would like their new comic reviewed: there is currently no waiting. I’m still living out of boxes, sure, but the postal system does still work just fine and I will get your comics if you send them. Just sayin’…
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Posted by Kevin
Update for 3/14/10
March 14, 2010New review for another old mini, this time Narcolepsy Dreams #4 by Jaime Crespo, who actually has a working website with new comics for sale, in case you thought all these old reviews were completely pointless. Why a review Sunday evening? I just finished up a couple of big projects, so why not? All background stuff, so probably not anything you guys will notice. That work is coming later…
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Posted by Kevin
Update for 3/12/10
March 12, 2010New review for an old mini: King Cat Classix #2 by John Porcellino. Still looking for new comics to review, still happy to go back and read the old ones again.
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Posted by Kevin
Update for 3/11/10
March 11, 2010New review for another old mini, this time The Wonderful Year #2 by Rebecca Taylor. Sorry about the missed update yesterday, but I am working on random things for the rental project (like weighing comics, which will be vital once the rental project gets going), so it’s not like I’m a total slacker or anything.
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Posted by Kevin
Update for 3/9/10
March 9, 2010New review for The Signifiers by Michael Neno, in which I’m reminded that I wish Micheal put out comics on a more regular basis, as I seem to always enjoy them. Um, spoiler alert, and this is a brand new comic if that wasn’t completely clear.
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Posted by Kevin
Update for 3/8/10
March 8, 2010New review for a new book: The Complete Ouija Interviews by Sarah Becan. About time this series got the “graphic novel” treatment…
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Posted by Kevin
Update for 3/6/10
March 6, 2010New review for one more old comic, this time Famous Bus Rides #1 by Colin Upton. I’m going to try and find some new minis this weekend, but I’m heading to Champaign and the pickings are always a little slim in that area. Wish me luck…
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Posted by Kevin
Update for 3/5/10
March 5, 2010New review for The Most Powerful Gate by Tom Hart, a 24 hour comic from 15 years ago.
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Posted by Kevin
