New review today for Mile High Book Two by Mister V. Wow, I really shouldn’t have changed the background of this site. Now I can’t settle on anything that I really like. Well, outside of that new banner image by Cailey Tervo; I’m still just trying to find a background template to tie the whole thing together.
Mister V – Mile High Book Two
January 9, 2017
You know what has long been missing from any conversation about legalizing marijuana? Nuance. That’s a societal (human?) failing on many issues, like gun control, abortion, climate change, etc. For most of these subjects there’s SOME middle ground to be had, but because of the political environment in this country honest conversations about these topics are impossible. And by “political environment” I mostly mean “Republicans;” let’s be real here. Anyway, this comic is about marijuana and I’m drifting into a political rant, so don’t mind me. What Mister V has done such a wonderful job conveying in these two volumes has been the nuances of the debate. In the first volume V (or do I call him Mister for short?), desperate for some relief from his irritable bowel syndrome, finally went with medical marijuana and dipped his toes into his options for staying supplied. Frankly, he could have used a “previously in volume one” summary somewhere; it’s never a good idea to count on the long term memory of stoners to stay fresh on all the details from a previous volume. Stereotype alert, I know, but it’s a good idea for all comics series. Anyway, in this volume we get to see our hero as he tells the parents of his wife about his pot use (always fascinating to see former hippies become moral scolds on the subject now), his misadventures in trying to get medical marijuana, the hoops he had to jump through to renew his license, and his journey to finally becoming more or less a pot connoisseur. Most stories I’ve seen about legalized weed tend to end right about when it gets legalized (at least for medical purposes), but V shows that that is not remotely where the story ends. He also tells the tale about a former co-worker who worked for her company for 20 years (and was demonstrably one of the best people on staff) and was unceremoniously fired after a different co-worker complained about this lady smoking pot. For her own medical situation. In a state where such a thing is legal. So yeah, there’s a long way to go before we can claim to be remotely civilized about this subject as a society, and we just elected the most famous con man in the country as president, so it seems likely that things will get worse before they get better. In so, so many ways; maybe this is why I’m on the constant verge of a political rant these days. Still, leaving all that aside, this is a thoroughly engaging and thought-provoking tale of a guy who is just trying to get some relief in his life and the various ways that his life throws up roadblocks to keep that from being remotely easy to do. He even managed to end this volume (the second of three) on a cliffhanger, one that leaves more questions than answers, so I’m very curious to see how he wraps all this up. Even if you’re not a fan of weed you could learn a lot from these books, and if you’re one of the moral scolds in question there is really a lot you could learn from these books. $10
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Posted by Kevin
Update for 1/6/17
January 6, 2017New review today for Future Space by Mark Velard. So whaddaya think, is 2017 better or worse than 2016?
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Posted by Kevin
Velard, Mark – Future Space
January 6, 2017
Future Space
Ever get the sense that you’ve already and reviewed a book despite a complete lack of evidence that this ever happened? No? Just me then. I guess it’s an occupational hazard of 15+ years rambling about comics. The weird thing is that this is a thoroughly unique book, and I still get that sense. My own mental issues aside, this is a mostly silent comic about a guy just trying to have a good time/lose himself for a bit. He has already had a lousy day, as he burned his food and couldn’t get his elevator to work properly, when he sat down by the futuristic equivalent to the television, scrolled through his choices and decided to take a virtual trip to the moon. Even this only seemed to slightly improve the mood of our hero, but then he decides to read the history of the place and discovers what’s coming right at him. Yep, I’m leaving out the conflict for you to discover. You all know my policy on spoilers, even for comics that I’ve already reviewed in an alternate reality. This comic was a treat, and Mark was nice enough to send me a few of his books, so we all get to see more of his stuff over the coming weeks. And I think this was his oldest comic, for what it’s worth. No price listed, but $2 maybe?
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Posted by Kevin
Update for 1/4/17
January 4, 2017New review today for New Flyer by Tim Brown. Hey, you know what would shut this site down for good? If anybody ever put out a comic called “new review today for [insert title here] by [insert artist here].” Reality would fold in on itself as I tried to introduce it and that would be the end of Optical Sloth. Of course, it might also be the end of reality itself, so maybe don’t try it.
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Posted by Kevin
Brown, Tim – New Flyer
January 4, 2017
New Flyer
Technically this one is more of a zine than a comic, as Tim tells this story by using drawings he’s done of bus passengers over the years while telling a text story alongside them. Which makes me think, yet again, that I don’t spend nearly as much time here on zines as I should, but there’s not enough time in the world to deal with all the mini comics in the world AND all the zines. Anyway! This is basically the story of Tim’s history with buses. As a child he rarely had to use them, so only knew what they were in the abstract and that was mostly because of one neighbor who waited for the bus every morning. As he got older Tim found more reasons to use them, and he gradually grew to appreciate their beauty. Or, if that’s not the right word, at least their uniqueness and the peace that he (usually) got to experience on the bus. He also goes into detail about a few types of people to ride the bus, the reaction he would sometimes get from people who realized they were being sketched, and how the bus ride in Austin changed after the refugees from Katrina hit Texas. I almost said “flooded into,” but that seemed like poor taste. So yeah, this is a nice, quiet, observational book, telling the story of a group of people that can be completely invisible to you if you never ride the bus. $9
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Posted by Kevin
Update for 1/3/17
January 3, 2017Happy new year everybody, I changed the layout again! Yeah, after spending lots of years with the last setup now I can’t decide which one I want to use. And yes, of course that’s the most important thing I should be worrying about this year, so leave me alone about it. New review today for The Fuzzy Princess #3 by Charles Brubaker.
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Posted by Kevin
Brubaker, Charles – The Fuzzy Princess #3
January 3, 2017
The Fuzzy Princess #3
Does Charles have a regular newspaper comic strip gig yet? If not it seems like it’s only a matter of time, as the guy has the perfect sense of timing for it and is more than prolific enough to keep up on the grueling schedule. This time around we have Jackson and the Princess looking for a gift. They go into a bookstore, we see the differences in reality for the Princess in how she refers to comics, and we end up back in the Princess’ room where Jackson goes through her dolls, looking for the perfect gift. One of the dolls has a surprise inside, which leads to the conflict that we get for the rest of the comic, so I should probably leave it a mystery. There are also a few single page strips at the end of the book, because Charles clearly abhors blank page, so we get to learn how cars mark their territory (it’s not what you’re thinking), the bureaucracy of the tooth fairy and a master class in blowing bubbles. It’s another pile of funny from one of the hardest working guys in comics today. I mean, unless you don’t like the humor, I guess. Which is what websites are for, as you can just go to his, look at the samples and find out for yourself. You guys already know all that though, so I’ll shut up now. $5
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Posted by Kevin
Update for 12/30/16
December 30, 2016New review for the last book of 2016, Snow Cone City #1 by Joseph Hewitt! Since I’m writing these reviews in advance, I assume that 2016 still has one more celebrity death to crap out before the year is up, so I’ll guess… Betty White? She seems nice, which makes her a perfect finale to this crappy year. Here’s hoping for better things next year!
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Posted by Kevin
Hewitt, Joseph – Snow Cone City #1
December 30, 2016
Snow Cone City #1
Sometimes, over the course of running this website, a comics artist sends me their entire back catalog of comics. Usually it’s like in this case, where there’s roughly half a dozen comics to read. Some might suggest to start with the most recent comic, as that’s the best representation of what kind of work they’re doing right now. But me? I’m a super nerd; this should be obvious because I’ve been running this site for 15 years. As such, I go back to the beginning and work my way forward. The point of all this rambling is that if this particular comic is not representative of what Joseph is doing right now in late 2016, well… oops. This also sounds like I’m leading up to crapping all over this book, and that is not my intention. This is the story of Pokemon (or the generic pocket monsters of your choosing) existing in the real world. Or at least a version of the real world that has Power Rangers/Voltron pilots keeping the peace. The monsters have been getting loose and disturbing the peace, so the crew investigates and finds the source of these monsters. Along the way Joseph gets really inventive with the odd background monsters that the nerdier among you will delight in identifying, which helps to elevate the fairly standard story about good guys coming together to beat the bad guy. It’s a fun book, is what I’m trying to say, and I’m looking forward to reading through the other comics that he sent my way to see how he’s evolving as an artist/writer. And the three books in this series are a measly $1 each!
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Posted by Kevin
Update for 12/28/16
December 28, 2016New review today for Raccoon by Marie Hausauer. Is anybody who went into work this week actually doing any work, or are you just killing time reading websites like this? Discuss.
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Posted by Kevin
Hausauer, Marie – Raccoon
December 28, 2016
Raccoon
Is it sad that I find it odd that Marie only has an Instagram page (that I can find) and nothing else for an online presence? Isn’t that plenty? I guess I’ve gotten used to having three or four websites to link for contact information for every artist. Says the guy who doesn’t even keep up a Facebook page or any other sort of website outside of this one. Ahem! This is the story of a dead raccoon. Well, mostly it’s the story of the reactions of different people and groups of people to said raccoon. We don’t get to see how it died (one person said it died snarling, but death does funny things to faces) and are left to confront how other people handle a dead raccoon body. There’s an older couple who is mostly baffled that “somebody” hasn’t done something about it yet, there’s a group of young kids who pressure the outsider of their group into sticking his hand into the gaping hole in its belly, and finally there’s a lady who uses it as a backdrop for her poetry on her social media page. I found the reaction of the kids to be the most sympathetic, as each of them reacted in genuine ways to the body and what happened when they upset the body. Maybe it’s too close to the election of Trump (future people, assuming the printouts from this website survive, yes, we did know how bad he was), but the old people wishing somebody else would fix the problem mirrored reality a little too well for me at the moment. And yes, this is reading something into this that isn’t there, but you can’t tell me how to read/interpret comics. And you? How would you react to seeing a dead raccoon in the woods? Would you walk on by? Poke it with a stick? Post it to your social media page of choice? Or would you go in a completely different direction with it?
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Posted by Kevin
Update for 12/26/16
December 26, 2016New review today for Music of Changes by Daria Tessler, the last of the current batch of mini kus comics (and #45 in the series, if you were keeping track, which you don’t really need to because they’re all self-contained. But you be you).
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Posted by Kevin
Tessler, Daria – Music of Changes
December 26, 2016
Is it ever possible for randomly produced art to be genuinely random? Are even coin flips truly random when looked at from an objective distance? What happens when art is mass produced using these methods and protesters are added to the mix? Those are some of the questions you’ll be asking yourself while reading this, or at least you will if we share a brain. Otherwise, don’t let me tell you how to react to art. This one starts off as a tour of the facility where these artworks are being produced and we get to see the great lengths that are followed to ensure that the art is a random as possible. From there the protesters are introduced, and their contribution to the artwork is devastating. From there I don’t want to spoil the whole thing, but four drink recipes are included, so even if you’re a soulless monster who gets nothing out of this comic, at least now you have four new drinks to try! As for me, I was engrossed by this story and think it had quite a bit to say about order, chaos, and the benefits/drawbacks of both. I’ll just leave you with a quote from a disgruntled protester that says it all: “Blast! We increased the amount of uncertainty on the Earth again.” $6
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Posted by Kevin
Update for 12/20/16
December 20, 2016Happy holidays week of reviewing! That means that this is the only review of this week, but it’s for a pretty great book: I Thought You Hated Me by Marinaomi. If all goes as planned I should be back to a regular schedule of reviews next week, but if not (holidays being what they are and all), then definitely the week after that. It’s not like anybody else is really working for these next two weeks anyway.
Send review comics to: Kevin Bramer 2405 Meadow Spring Circle Columbus, OH 43235
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Posted by Kevin
Marinaomi – I Thought You Hated Me
December 20, 2016
I probably wouldn’t have thought it possible to boil down a 35 year friendship through a relatively short graphic novel, but I would have been very wrong. Marinaomi introduces us to three young girls at the beginning (the story starts when she’s 8): herself, her best friend Harmony and the “competition,” Mirabai. Harmony gradually fades away as the story progresses (if there was any dramatic reason for this I missed it entirely), and the rest of the story is told mostly through single page stories depicting an event from a certain period of time. There are little bits from early in her schooling (including her trying desperately to get Maribai to like her by agreeing with whatever she said, not understanding that she might be testing her), her gradually getting accepted, Maribai standing up for her at a slumber party, her first experiences with booze, and watching as all of her guy friends fell in love with Maribai and not her. From there we see some time gaps as the two communicated less and less, although I’ll let you find out the reasons why for yourself. OK, I’ll spoil one tiny thing, mostly because it happened to me too recently: if there’s anybody in your past who you once loved very much (friend, I mean), and you’re not talking to them now because you assume that they hate you… maybe call them? It might turn out that they thought the same thing about you and that the whole thing is one big stupid waste of time/misunderstanding. Or I guess maybe they really do hate you, in which case you can go right back to not speaking to them. Win/win, really. Anyway, this is a great example of an enduring friendship, one that goes right back to normal after years apart, and all the little things from the past that make up such a friendship. It’s a phenomenal book, and if you’re estranged from any long time friends you really could learn something from this. $9
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Posted by Kevin
Update for 12/15/16
December 15, 2016New review today for P-FE/FRAF by Ville Kallio, which is a fun title to say out loud. Go ahead, try it!
Send review comics to: Kevin Bramer 2405 Meadow Spring Circle Columbus, OH 43235
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Posted by Kevin
Kallio, Ville – P-FE/FRAF
December 15, 2016
Baffled by that title? Yeah, I was too until I read the book. And I could tell you what it means, but what’s the fun in that? This is a story that really needed a synopsis of what was going on right there on the first page, and Ville delivered on that front. Basically it’s 40 years in the future, fascism is on the rise and whole sections of the world are getting wiped out. But the people are as relentlessly shortsighted and stupid as ever, and internet slang has become part of the way that people communicate with each other in real life. It’s a strange, terrifying future world of bright colors, odd creatures and giant robots. It’s also a book that I’ve already read twice and feel like I should read at least one more time before I come close to getting all the nuance that Ville packed into it. Speaking of, is that a… yep, that’s a unicorn in here. Huh. Somehow I missed that the first time around. So yeah, there’s a lot going on with this mini comic, and it could probably teach us a lesson or two about maybe avoiding our own fascistic future… nah, we blew that chance on the most recent election. Oh well, at least those of us that survive will get to see giant robots.
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Posted by Kevin
Update for 12/14/16
December 14, 2016New review today for Finding Harmony by Carlo Carino, and it’s too cold out for me to even try and say anything clever here today.
Send review comics to: Kevin Bramer 2405 Meadow Spring Circle Columbus, OH 43235
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Posted by Kevin
Carino, Carlo – Finding Harmony
December 14, 2016
It’s always nice when a book impresses me the more I think about it, and this is definitely one of those comics. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed reading it, but going back over the subtle details in my head has been equally rewarding. For example, this is the story of an investigator who is looking for a missing person. He also has vague psychic (sort of) abilities, in that he can’t help but sense the emotions of the people around them, and the is affected more depending on the number of people around him and the severity of these emotions. Carlo explained all this neatly on the first page while our hero was on a flight experiencing turbulence and was offering chocolate bars to the panicked passengers (because chocolate soothes anxiety). We also learn that our hero can learn a lot more about somebody by physically touching them, and while this could easily turn into an easy win for the character every time, Carlo shows it as a series of vague images and impressions, so basically it only really helps in showing the investigator who he should question next, but not exactly why he should question them. Great work all around, is what I’m saying, and it goes on from there, but if I mentioned that stuff I’d really be getting into spoilers. I can say that the investigator isn’t the only one looking for Harmony, that our hero may not be the only person of his kind around and that even the mindless hordes of enemies are explained when it’s all said and done. I haven’t seen anything from Carlo before, but after reading this I’m curious to see what he comes up with next. $5
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Posted by Kevin
