New review today for The Audra Show #4 by Audra Stang, and if anybody is using all this quarantine time to make comics, send them my way and I’ll talk about them. Currently no waiting! Unless I find a stash of comics I missed and have to quickly review them to make up for lost time. Happy weekend!
Stang, Audra – The Audra Show #4
May 8, 2020
The Audra Show #4
Both stories are featured in this issue, with roughly half of the issue devoted to Oliver’s story in 2008 and half to Bea’s story in 1988. In Oliver’s tale we finally dig into just where those octopus arms of his might have come from, and he learns just how long it is that he’s been missing. Bea’s story has her getting increasingly sick of Jonah and his shenanigans and a long phone conversation between her and Owen. One of these stories actually got me to laugh out loud, which is always a welcome surprise, but I’ll leave it up to you to figure out which one. Maybe you’ll laugh at the other one, who knows? I do think that now is the time for Audra to maybe start putting recaps at the start of the book; four issues is about where I start losing track of what happened in the previous issues and missing some of the little bits. Of course, I also read comics constantly, so maybe most people don’t have that problem of retaining information. If so, just keep all the issues handy and reread them when the new issues come out, that also solves the problem. In a lot of ways this felt like a transitional issue, as we learn a bit about what happened to Oliver but not the whole story, and Bea is still feeling trapped in her life. Still, I’m fascinated by the Audraverse (yep, still using it, even if I’m the only one on Earth), and can’t wait to see what happens next. $5
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Posted by Kevin
Update for 5/6/20
May 6, 2020New review today for Exes by Dave Kiersh and Cole Johnson, also from 2013. Have you fallen into a time warp where it’s actually 2013 again? I don’t know, check out your window. Do you see people with masks walking around? If so, it’s still 2020. If not, then maybe! Or you might just live in a neighborhood full of assholes. Hard to say!
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Posted by Kevin
Kiersh, Dave & Johnson, Cole – Exes
May 6, 2020
Just so it’s clear, Dave wrote these stories and Cole drew them. In case anybody thought they went back and forth, as they’re both amazing artists. I went into this with the assumption that it’d be stories of their actual exes, as both have done some autobio comics in the past. Nope! This mini has three stories, and none of them feature an actual ex. Um, spoilers, I guess. First up is a piece about a grunge kid in the 90’s who’s debating whether or not he should dress up for his father’s wedding. His best friend Donny wears a suit every day, after all, and our hero has quite the crush on Donny, even though he knows it’s hopeless. Next up is the story of a woman who’s stopped on a bike path by a guy who says she’s the most beautiful woman he’s ever seen. Neither of them have a pen so they can’t exchange numbers, but at least in this story the woman has a boyfriend waiting at home. Finally there’s the story of a lost dude who has recently broken up with his girlfriend and whose friends are all married. He’s reached an age where he doesn’t want to hang out with relative kids any more, but he’s at a loss as to what to do with himself. And when a group of underage kids approach him, he has his own theories as to why that might be happening. This comic is steeped in wisftulness, so if you’re feeling nostalgic about any missed chances in your life, this would be a perfect comic to read. If not, there are still three great stories in here. Also this is currently (May 2020) listed as out of stock on the Spit and a Half website, so I might have bought the last copy in existence? If so, sorry, but it also might mean that you have to search a little harder to find it. The internet is your oyster! $2
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Posted by Kevin
Update for 5/4/20
May 4, 2020Sorry about that, it’s not exactly a great time to go dark on the website for a few weeks. I’m fine, just overly busy from the recently concluded Ohio election, so things should be back to sporadically normal around here. New review today for Samson by Kelly Froh!
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Posted by Kevin
Froh, Kelly – Samson
May 4, 2020
I try to keep up with the comics from the people I enjoy, I really do. But there are people like Kelly out there, putting out quality comics on a steady basis, and it’s just impossible. I mention this because this comic is from 2012 (it’s 2020 as I write this, roughly a few years before the U.S. breaks down into several nation states), and taking one look at Kelly’s website shows me that there are at least another half dozen books that I missed. Where oh where is my benevolent billionaire who’s willing to fund me making reading and reviewing comics a full time job? Ah well. Samson! As the title suggests, this is the story of Samson, a gorilla from the Milwaukee zoo who was a huge hit for 30 years. Kelly has some strong memories from when she was a kid, everything else in here is research or stories from relatives who were around longer. It’s not a particularly uplifting tale, although I should mention that I haven’t been to a zoo since I was a kid and am absolutely biased against the concept. Samson’s companion died young, they tried to put him with another female gorilla but they never really got along, he got really obese from lack of activity, and regularly bashed the glass walls of his cage. His death was sad, naturally, as was the way the zoo botched the handling of his body so it wasn’t possible to use taxidermy. There’s also one hell of a kicker at the end, but I’ll leave that surprise for the readers. It’s another great story from Kelly, and I clearly need to leave myself a reminder to catch up on all of her newer comics. You should too! $2
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Posted by Kevin
Update for 4/9/20
April 9, 2020New review today for Dodo Comics #6 by Grant Thomas. Hey, are there any web developers out there who suddenly have a lot of free time? Because I’d like to upgrade the website, and as one of the few people in the country who still has a job I could actually pay for it. Let me know at kbramer74@gmail.com if you’re interested!
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Posted by Kevin
Thomas, Grant – Dodo Comics #6
April 9, 2020
Dodo Comics #6
(Note: Grant’s website seems to be down at the moment, so I linked to his Patreon page instead. In case anybody was wondering…)
As far as origin stories for Medusa go, yeah, I kind of always figured it would be along the lines of a woman scorned. Again, I don’t know the actual story of her origin, if she has one and wasn’t always just a lady with snakes in her hair in the old tales. This issue picks up where the last one left off; no recap for those of us who read entirely too many comics and can’t keep this stuff all that straight, but you can pick it up from the context. She’s being led to a new source of water by a snake, finds said source of water and returns to her man, overjoyed. Then the image I sampled below happens, we see the frankly devastating first person transformed to stone, and we get the awful surprise of Perseus (as a Trump substitute) giving a political speech. It’s always alarming to see that ugly mug without a warning. So it looks like that story will continue, to which I say: recap before the next one please! A line or two will do. Things are starting to get complicated. The rest of the comic is a few short pieces about the Florida Everglades, both the animals in them and a brief bit about their history and preservation. It’s intriguing stuff; I didn’t know it and I’ve actually ridden around on one of those fan boats. Not that you become an automatic expert from riding on those boats, but you know what I mean. $3
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Posted by Kevin
Update for 4/7/20
April 7, 2020Sorry about the lack of updates, but I’m still “essential personnel” because of the upcoming election. Check out the archives if you’re bored at home, I’ve been rambling here for almost two decades now. New review today for Forever and Everything #5 by Kyle Bravo!
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Posted by Kevin
Bravo, Kyle – Forever and Everything #5
April 7, 2020
Forever and Everything #5
I’ve become a fan of Kyle’s method of taking exactly as many panels as he needs to tell each story (then just starting the next story in the next panel), but boy howdy does it make it tricky for sampling purposes. It’s almost like that’s not his top priority in making his own comic! This is another solid entry in Kyle’s personal story, and I laughed out loud quite a few times in this one, which is always a good sign. Odd, because a good chunk of this is about suicidal thoughts and depression, but there it is. My impression is that he didn’t come close to actually harming himself, but the thoughts were there; his concern was mostly the loss of options for himself in his life as he raised two children with his wife. And turning 40. Both natural things to be thinking! Other subjects in this issue include seeing a new therapist and getting new meds (then quitting said therapist and meds, then getting back together with the therapist and meds), lots of short pieces about aspects of depression, falling into old habits when he finally has a night to himself, his anarchist child, thinking about moving, installing a headlight and putting together a treehouse, noticing gradual improvements in his mood, getting his car broken into (and only having a phone charger and a book on making comics stolen), the instant rage he sees at noticing a Trump bumper sticker, making a damned odd sandwich, and a few more stories I’ll leave as a surprise. It’s another solid issue, and he talked about putting together a “best of” book with pieces from the first 4 issues, so if you missed them, maybe hold out for a bit longer and you can still get all the best bits. But that doesn’t include this issue, so give it a shot!
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Posted by Kevin
Update for 3/26/20
March 26, 2020New review for Square Head! by Jep. You know, it just occurred to me that I usually set these reviews to autopost at the start of each week, and if I got the ‘Rona I could pass away and still have reviews posting. Ew, creepy. Hey, if that happens, somebody get my mini comics to the Billy Ireland museum in Columbus. They’re bound to be able to find some use for the rarer books…
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Posted by Kevin
Jep – Square Head!
March 26, 2020
Square Head!
Jep’s true name has been revealed! But I’m keeping it a secret, just in case the guy is on the run or something. Hey, he didn’t specify, and if somebody uses a psuedonym that’s always my first guess. This is Jep’s first attempt at a long single comic story, and it’s safe to say that he nails it. This is the tale of his time as an exchange student with a French family when he was 13. The deal was that he spent some time with that family, then the kid of the same age would come spend time with Jep. At first he was thrilled, since he was a quiet kid at school and this gave him a new kind of social cachet. But once he arrived at his new home for the next couple of weeks, it didn’t take long for him to discover that this kid was a total asshole and that they had nothing in common. There were a lot of moments when this comic could have devolved into a cliche, and I’m happy to say that Jep pulled the story away from that direction at every turn. There were the beautiful sisters at his new home (potential sad unrequited love story), the fact that he could have wallowed in misery once he saw exactly what he was in store for with this asshole kid, the whole “fish out of water” thing with him only being able to understand a few words of French… this comic could have turned grim and depressing a number of times, and it would have made complete sense. Instead, Jep recounted his (early for his age) fatalism about the whole thing, how he knew that this was a finite trip and that he should take what he could get from the whole experience. The only moment of genuine panic is when he misses his flight back, and it’s completely earned. His depiction of the kid coming back to stay with him was much shorter, and it’s for a very simple reason: the kid pouted on the couch the whole time. Hard to make much of a story out of that! Even with the language barrier there were still a few poignant moments here, and I’ve spoiled enough already. I’ll just say that the guy knows how to write a compelling comic, and that anybody who had to deal with any kind of exchange student should give this a shot. Or anybody who was ever a confused 13 year old boy. That’s a pretty solid chunk of the population right there…
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Posted by Kevin
Update for 3/24/20
March 24, 2020What a difference a week off makes, huh? You might think that you’d be seeing more reviews from me, what with the country more or less on pandemic lockdown. Sadly, Board of Elections employees are considered “essential staff” (which sounds a whole lot nicer than “expendable”), so my work schedule is still normal. If that changes, I just got a box of comics from Spit and a Half and I’d be happy to ramble on about all of the comics. New review today for Sremmeh Fo Dog by Dustin Holland!
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Posted by Kevin
Holland, Dustin – Sremmah Fo Dog
March 24, 2020
Sremmah Fo Dog
There’s this thing I do at the start of reviews of comics I didn’t particularly enjoy, and it’s to find the silver lining to it and compliment what I can. What’s that? That’s a terrible trait for a reviewer to have? Yeah, well, that might explain why this is still a hobby 19 years after my first review. Anyway! This comic has a number of visually inventive touches, with some occasional subtle mixes of art and pictures of real objects. And… yeah, that’s about it. The best thing I can say for this comic is that I never got into it as a story, and it’s entirely possible that it’s on me. But the writing for this was damned near impenetrable, and I don’t think that’s entirely my fault. Do you remember those poetry magnets that people used to put on their refrigerators? They were just a series of unconnected words and phrases that you were supposed to put together to make your own poems. This book feels like nothing less than a complete volume of those poems. Go ahead, check out the sample page and tell me I’m wrong. As for the story, I legit have no idea. As you can tell from the title, this is about the god of hammers, and you can tell that because the title is “god of hammers” backwards. I just read a whole book about the dude and I couldn’t tell you what he does. There was plenty of violence, a character that also talked backwards (and that’s a terribly awkward way to read dialogue, especially when they’re talking in full sentences), and the second half of the book was almost entirely double page spreads of a place called Motorcycle City. Also he has more than a few spelling errors in here, which is death for a book where the dialogue takes a lot of work to understand to begin with. Look, this is the first comic I’ve seen from Dustin, so I don’t want this to seem like a thorough trashing. I did enjoy some of the imagery and that alone tells me that he definitely has potential. How about this: if you like your comics abstract, give this a shot. Otherwise give him another comic or two, then check back in to see where he’s at. That’s my plan!
P.S. (Yes, I know reviews don’t have postscripts. Bear with me.) Since artists often send me their own comics to review, chances are the artist also reads the review when it goes up. So I’d like to remind Dustin or anybody else just starting out: don’t let any reviewer make you feel like you’re not doing good work, or that it’s not worth the effort. If you’re making great art, the rest of the world will come around. If you’re making art and it feels like only you thoroughly enjoy it, there’s immense value in that too. Still, find a friend that’s excellent at spelling and grammar, and pass your book around to a few friends before putting it out into the world and see how they felt about it. Have them ask questions about the plot and story structure. If you can answer their questions and satisfy them, you’re on the right track. If not, take another pass, see if clarification really is needed. Um, also, eat your vegetables. Bye!
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Posted by Kevin
Update for 3/12/20
March 12, 2020New review for King Cat #79 by John Porcellino, the 30th anniversary issue! I already said I’d most likely be out next week for the election, but I’ll mention here too that you should buy what you can from John’s Spit and a Half comics distro as soon as you can, as the man is talking about retiring. Get them comics while you can!
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Posted by Kevin
Porcellino, John – King Cat #79
March 12, 2020
King Cat #79
30 years! This is the 30th anniversary of King Cat, and it’s yet another great issue. It’s packed with nostalgia, exactly as a 30th anniversary issue should be, and a fair chunk of it is relevant to me on a personal level, so I’ll most likely do my best to keep myself out of it and fail completely. Anyway! I put John’s comic origin story as the sample page, for those of you who are curious. I went to Record Service (in Champaign Illinois) dozens of times myself, but my comics origin story was at a different location… dammit. Didn’t take long to mention my own stuff, did it? Maybe I should stick to saying what the comic is about. Stories in this one deal with his time camping with the cub scouts (and the inevitability of his getting the worst burger when it was his turn), several stories about his time in school with the science club and their many field trips, a few illustrated poems, his patented (but not really) top 40 list, letters from readers, the story of his tamed squirrel and her kids, an old story about the kindness of his grandfather, and the mystery of the gravity hill. Look it up, it’s damned odd! Other bits in here include a story about John from Gabrielle Bell (who you already know if you know anything about comics) and an epilogue to his comics origin story that was somehow both inevitable and shocking. I know, I didn’t think it was possible for a thing to be both either! John also mentioned a couple of times that he’s planning on retiring in the near future. I really, REALLY hope he’s just talking about Spit and a Half and not King Cat as well, but 30 years is a long time to do anything. Speaking of his comics distro service, I just placed a big old order with them in case he closes up shop suddenly (and because I got a raise recently, and what else would I spend that money on but comics?), and I’d highly recommend that y’all do that too. A number of items were sold out, so get what you can while you can. As far as recommendations go, of course you should read it! It’s an issue of King Cat. Always get the new King Cat! $5
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Posted by Kevin
Update for 3/10/20
March 10, 2020New review today for Dr. Carl Willendorf: Psychoanalyst of Creatures, Monsters and Other Beasts by Grant Thomas. One more review this week, then it’s most likely radio silence until after the election. Vote!
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Posted by Kevin
Thomas, Grant – Dr. Carl Willendorf: Psychoanalyst of Creatures, Monsters and Other Beasts
March 10, 2020Website
Dr. Carl Willendorf: Psychoanalyst of Creatures, Monsters and Other Beasts
It’s election season around the website, meaning that I have a tendency to go for the shorter mini comics, knowing that I have limited time to talk about comics. I know, I hate it too! Anyway, Grant sent along a couple of his latest comics recently, and this one was tiny. This usually means that there’s not much time to form an opinion one way or the other; it’s generally a quickly amusing tale or something that comes and goes without leaving an impression. It’s just the nature of the beast when you’re talking about a comic with 8 panels; no disrespect intended to people who make such books. Anyway, I wanted to make one thing perfectly clear: I absolutely love this concept and hope that Grant makes dozens more books like this. Or bigger, so we can really dig into it. What’s it about? The title should make it obvious, but it’s a psychoanalyst talking to monsters. Or, for the purposes of this comic, one monster: the minotaur. It’s great! Insightful, funny, even a little alarming, all in 8 panels. There are a whole lot of monsters out there, so I hope Grant takes this concept and runs with it. Check it out, it’s a measly dollar and you’ll love it!
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Posted by Kevin
Update for 2/27/20
February 27, 2020New review today for Kids With Guns #2 by Alex Nall! Also I’m hoping to keep the reviews steady through the primary on March 17th (vote!), but if I vanish from time to time, that’s the reason. If that happens just dig through the archives a bit, you’re bound to find some amazing comic that you missed when I reviewed it the first time around…
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Posted by Kevin
Nall, Alex – Kids With Guns #2
February 27, 2020
The title starts coming into play this time around, and it’s as depressing and realistic as I figured. There’s a lot happening this time around, which I’ll get to in a minute, but there’s also the constant background noise of another school shooting being covered. As the comic goes on we learn more about what happened, who died, how even a former army veteran wasn’t able to stop the rampage… and nobody involved in the story bats an eye. Nobody acknowledges it, nobody seems to change their behavior at all, it’s just an accepted part of the background. Which is a damned accurate summation of the general American opinion on mass shootings in 2020, grim and hopeless though it may be. A lot of the rest of the comic is just regular life going on, so we get Milo going to visit his grandma and his (maybe mildly autistic?) brother, watching cartoons and eating dinner, while Melvin flashes back once again to his days in the war before trying to get out of speaking to a veteran’s group. Once again I feel like I’m not accurately conveying the complexity of what’s happening, but you’ve read some of Alex’s books by now, so you know what he’s capable of, right? He’s also gotten really good over the years at panel angles (is that a term?), of keeping a static scene looking dynamic through different areas of focus and perspective. Give it a shot, or if you’re lucky maybe if you wait a few years he’ll put this whole thing into a collected edition. Meanwhile, this one is $8.
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Posted by Kevin
