New review today for Billy Demon Slayer: The Complete Series 2 Collection by Hayden Fryer (check past reviews of the series for sample images because my scanner couldn’t handle it today for whatever reason) and the “Reviews by Author” page is finally fixed! If you’re having trouble getting any other pages here to load, please let me know. Except for the store. I know that thing’s a mess, I’m just trying to find the time to build a new one…
Fryer, Hayden – Billy Demon Slayer: Complete Series 2 Collection
June 7, 2016
Billy Demon Slayer: Complete Series 2 Collection
It’s a little hilarious to go back through my old reviews of this series, note how many times I said I was going to go back and read the series in a chunk (as I reviewed the issues more or less when they came out and forgot a lot of the details between issues), and then somehow I never reviewed the final issue. Or I never got it? Nah, I’ll go ahead and blame me for dropping the ball on that one. Anyway, I was right: this series makes a whole lot more sense when it’s read all at once. Which is the nature of serialized comics, and most people don’t read as many comics as somebody who reviews them does, meaning that they have an easier time keeping all the little details straight. Anyway! For those of you who haven’t read this series (or those reviews when they came out a few years ago), this is the second series, meaning things start off with a recap of what happened in the first series. It was pretty comprehensive, and the only thing I really felt like I was missing out on was some of the more obscure cameos. In this complete volume we start off with a flashback to a couple of swords that are obviously going to be crucial later on, then jump back into life that has more or less gone back to normal after the events of the first series. But things don’t stay normal, as we get a killer hamster to start off with and it’s quickly followed by a mysterious (and, in a hilarious recurring gag, obviously stinky) fog envelops the town and turns almost everybody evil. We even lose our hero for a bit there in the middle, although I’m not going to spell out what that means exactly. Things get pretty dark in this series, but there are quips throughout and (from the afterward) it’s clear that the first series was much more lighthearted and this one ended up darker because that’s just where the story was naturally headed. Buffy and the Evil Dead series were obvious influences, but those are two pretty great influences to have. If you enjoyed those two universes, you’re going to find plenty to love in here. My only complaint is that the two friends of Billy were barely characters at all, which lessened some of their struggles, but again that’s most likely on me for not reading the first series. Other than that I pretty much loved this book. $25
Leave a Comment » | 
Reviews | Tagged: Billy Demon Slayer, Hayden Fryer | 
Permalink
Posted by Kevin
Update for 6/2/16
June 2, 2016New review today for Drawing Under the Influence by Derek Baxter & Brian Canini. Since I have to go to the dentist tomorrow that’s probably it for the week, so happy weekend everybody!
Leave a Comment » | Site News | Permalink
Posted by Kevin
Baxter, Derek & Canini, Brian – Drawing Under the Influence
June 2, 2016Website
Drawing Under the Influence
Is it possible for a really great collection of comics to be undermined by its premise? That might not make any sense, so let me try again: this comic collects a bunch of strips that Derek and Brian did for their website when they realized that it had been left without being updated for ages (I can relate). In the interests of getting a bunch of strips up quickly, they decided that Brian would do a number of simple stick figure drawings to keep things regularly updated. But by the time this plan came together they had more or less abandoned the stick figure idea and had come up with a few dozen mostly full color strips, sometimes one page long and sometimes longer. And those are almost universally great! But there’s a large chunk in the middle of this book called The Adventures of Bugman that looks awful and drags the rest of the book down. But (extra but) it’s the only chunk of the book that literally looks like it was drawn under the influence. So if you’re looking for authenticity, go straight to that story! If you’re looking for stories that will get you literally laughing out loud (and getting odd looks because you’re reading it at work, at least if you’re me) then I can highly recommend the rest of the book. Subjects include the origin of the Drunken Cat (and, in hindsight, it’s hilarious that they thought this origin would be an epic tale), recurring strips about the smartest caveman learning that it wasn’t a good time to be all that smart, recurring strips about a maggot giving advice to kids who didn’t understand his ulterior motives, recurring strips of Big Puff and his unwelcome advice about being better people, the tragic tale of peanut butter and jelly, Drunken Cat and his adventures (that rarely end well, although I would think all the booze would help him better tolerate a lady who says “like” all the time), the redshirts finally getting their revenge on Kirk, and a longer story about the importance of air, told in old timey special speak. Like I said, overall it’s pretty damned great, and it’s hard to bitch too much about the sloppiness of one long drunken comic in a book where that is literally in the title. $16.99
Leave a Comment » | Reviews | Tagged: Brian Canini, Derek Baxter, Drawing Under the Influence | Permalink
Posted by Kevin
Update for 6/1/16
June 1, 2016Sorry about the radio silence, it’s been a busy week. New review today for Sick by Gabby Schulz, theoretically more reviews to come this week?
Leave a Comment » | Site News | Permalink
Posted by Kevin
Schulz, Gabby (aka Dahl, Ken) – Sick
June 1, 2016
Once again I’m going to cheat a bit and quote directly from the disclaimer on the back of the book: “This book is not recommended for children or the self-satisfied.” That might seem to be a confusing description about a comic dealing with a sickness, but boy does it ever make sense after you read it. This starts off as the story of Gabby (aka Ken Dahl) as he deals with a sudden illness. He starts off with the same plan as everybody with no health insurance: wait it out, drink lots of fluids and hope for the best. But his illness keeps getting worse and worse, so he finally breaks down and heads to the local emergency room (despite that same emergency room being recently sued for letting somebody die in their waiting room after leaving them there for 24 hours). 22 hours into his stay he gets in to see a doctor… who doesn’t help him out even a little bit. From there he goes back to his original plan of waiting it out, even though it had clearly gotten pretty terrible for him to head to the hospital in the first place. But as the days went on and he didn’t get any better, he started pondering the reasons for living, and what was or wasn’t worth fighting for. From there he thought of all of human history and the delusions that we all must tell ourselves to enjoy our lives in a place of such rampant corruption, disease and hopelessness. He came away with a damned near irrefutable case against humanity in all its forms, unless you were willing to stick to that plan of willful ignorance, but you can read this yourself to see the case that he made. Granted, his mind was in a sick and dark place when he thought all this through, but I defy anybody to read this without agreeing with a good chunk of what he said. If you’re content in the bubble that you’ve made of your life and have no interest in seeing if anything could break through, stay away from this book at all costs. If you can accurately see your surroundings already and want to live as closely examined of a life as possible, there are few books better than this to help in that task. $21.95
Leave a Comment » | Reviews | Tagged: Gabby Schulz, Ken Dahl, Sick | Permalink
Posted by Kevin
Update for 5/24/16
May 24, 2016New review today for Shioya Reko by Graeme McNee, and I’ll try to put up a few more reviews this week but things have picked up a bit at work, so no promises.
Leave a Comment » | Site News | Permalink
Posted by Kevin
McNee, Graeme – Shioya Neko
May 24, 2016
Shioya Neko
Local comics often have a deeper meaning for the people in the area covered, and that is certainly the case in this book. This comic is the silent story of a cat on its travels through Shioya, which is a small town near Kobe, Japan. Several local stores and buildings are featured, and Graeme was nice enough to include a letter with his feelings on those locations to help me along a bit as a reviewer. It’s clear that they’re near and dear to him, but if you’re one of the people reading this who aren’t familiar with the location (and I’m guessing that’s most of you), you’re in luck! It’s also a completely adorable story about a cat wandering around the city and its interactions with the local animals and people. It starts with its casual escape from its home (it was unclear if it was escaping or just an outdoor cat), as it follows a bird, then a bug, and the stumbles across an ominous larger cat. Not to worry though, no violence here, as it then moves along to a charmed (and sleeping) construction worker, an indifferent smoker and a cranky old man who’s just trying to rake some leaves in peace. I’ll leave the rest of the journey for you to discover, but it’s never anything less than thoroughly charming throughout. If you ever find yourself in this part of the world I’d recommend taking this book and do a little walking tour, as it sure looks like Graeme did his research. I should also mention that this originally started out as an exhibition requested by the city, as they wanted a way to showcase the town, and he (wisely) added the cat (which is “Neko” in Japanese) to it. Hey look, you learned something today!
Leave a Comment » | Reviews | Tagged: Graeme McNee, Shioya Neko | Permalink
Posted by Kevin
Update for 5/19/16
May 19, 2016New review today for Alien Beings from Laura Kenins, which is #42 (!) in the mini kus series of comics.
Leave a Comment » | Site News | Permalink
Posted by Kevin
Kenins, Laura – Alien Beings
May 19, 2016
Somewhere out there (assuming comics like these are still even sold in physical stores), somebody bought this thinking they were getting an alien abduction story. Too bad, suckers! Instead you got a comic about the slow dissolution of a marriage as experienced through the eyes of the young daughter of the couple. Oh, and some unexplained lights. Those lights were a really innovative way to start the book, as it was a typical ride home with the kids in the back seat and the parents in the front (singing along to the radio, so clearly they weren’t always unhappy). Suddenly they saw lights floating above the car, causing them to stop for about 10 minutes (as remembered by Laura, assuming this is autobiographical). From there things took a sharp turn at home, with the parents increasingly arguing with each other until they eventually take the kids aside and tell them that the father is going to rent an apartment alone. All along the way this is taking a toll on Laura at school, as she kind of likes a boy at school, but not as much as the music her parents were listening to would indicate. As the marriage falls apart she also concludes that all love is hopeless anyway, so there’s no point in liking that boy anyway. Laura develops a fascination with all things related to aliens and also tries to come up with a plan to get her parents back together, all while getting constant “helpful” books from other friends and family dealing with how to cope with divorce. Laura going back and asking her parents about those strange lights they saw before the divorce is the kicker, but you can find out how that went for yourself. It’s a perspective on divorce that you don’t usually see, and it was a story that was very well told.
Leave a Comment » | Reviews | Tagged: Alien Beings, Laura Kenins, Mini Kus | Permalink
Posted by Kevin
Update for 5/18/16
May 18, 2016New review today for Cats and Witches #1 by Charles Brubaker.
Leave a Comment » | Site News | Permalink
Posted by Kevin
Brubaker, Charles – Cats and Witches #1
May 18, 2016
Cats and Witches #1
OK, I guess technically this isn’t false advertising, but I was expecting a cat-heavy issue this time around. And sure, there several “ask a cat” strips, but the rest of it is all about witches with no cats involved. Yes, this is my fault for expecting such a thing, so there’s no reason to blame Charles. The bulk of this comic is about Koko and her brother Jodo and their various adventures. They crash land (with a funny bit about them trying to decide the softest thing to land on while they’re falling), end up sleeping in a “cave” (you might figure out this gag before they do), and head off into town to do some shopping. They then meet a frog who says he’s a prince that needs to be kissed by anybody willing to say that they’re a princess, so the rest of the story is their search for that person. Some funny bits for sure, but it’s obvious that I was hoping for more cats. Which makes me biased and therefore a terrible reviewer, but I never claimed objectivity. Subjects for the “ask a cat” strips include the reasons for their hatred of water, why they have so much attitude, why they ask for belly rubs when they clearly don’t want them, why Ben Franklin is considered one of the main sources of evil, the merits of long haired and short haired cats, whether or not a cat would make a good superhero and to please stop leaving dead mice in shoes. It’s another solid comic from Charles and this time around there’s even a full color cover, so give it a shot. Unless your heart is also set on an all-cat comic, in which case check his back catalog. $3
Leave a Comment » | Reviews | Tagged: Cats and Witches, Charles Brubaker | Permalink
Posted by Kevin
Update for 5/17/16
May 17, 2016Two new reviews today, for Ikebana by Yumi Sakugawa and Can’t Lose: A Friday Night Lights Fanzine edited by Melissa Mendes and featuring a bunch of artists you already know and love.
Leave a Comment » | Site News | Permalink
Posted by Kevin
Mendes, Melissa (editor) – Can’t Lose: A Friday Night Lights Fanzine
May 17, 2016
Can’t Lose
I’ve read plenty of anthologies over the years that I’ve been writing reviews here, but very few of them could qualify as a love letter. This comic here? That’s exactly what it is. This is 20 of some of the best artists going right now, and they all have one thing in common: an obvious love of the tv show Friday Night Lights. If you’ve never heard of this show, or if you dismissed it out of hand because “it’s about high school football,” all I can say is that you missed out. There’s still time to fix your mistake, as it’s still on Netflix as of May 2016; just watch the first few episodes and try not to get hooked. Or maybe the fact that so many great artists came together for this project will clue you in to how great of a show it was, I don’t know. Does it seem like I’m not reviewing the stories? Yeah, I’ll get to that. I’m just trying to convert the last few decent people in the world who haven’t already seen this show. Frankly, I remember most of the stories as giant hearts on the page, so it’s tough to write anything mildly intelligent about that. OK, I’ll flip through this again. Highlights include the Tim Riggins cut-out doll as the centerfold (comes with different outfits!), Tim Riggins in the year 2050, a story about young Billy Riggins, the conversion of a skeptic into a fan of the show, how the team playbook got leaked to a rival, a growing rage of somebody trying to convert friends as they get increasingly sleepy while watching the show, and Coach Taylor sitting on the Iron Throne. Seriously, if nothing else, just look at that list of artists and give it a shot for that reason alone. Or do it the right way: watch the series, then go back and enjoy this fanzine. I’m not going to close with the team motto right here, but know that I am thinking it.
Leave a Comment » | Reviews | Tagged: Can't Lose, Charles Forsman, Dan Zettwoch, Denis St. John, Derik A. Badman, Friday Night Lights, Gretta Johnson, Henry Eudy, Jeff Lok, Jesse Lucas, Jon Shaw, Jonas Madden-Connor, Julia Gualtieri, Laura Beck, Lucius Wisniewski, Mark Miyake, Melissa Mendes, Minty Lewis, RJ Casey, Sam Spina, Sean Ford, Thien Pham | Permalink
Posted by Kevin
Sakugawa, Yumi – Ikebana
May 17, 2016
Ikebana
If you’re wondering if you have difficulties connecting to things emotionally, read this comic. If that ending doesn’t effect you in some way then I have some bad news for you. This is the story of Cassie, a young art student whose senior project involves an “organized bio-painting/ritualized movement piece.” It starts off with her standing in a small dish of water, naked except for flowers over her breasts and a pair of underwear. She also requests complete meditative silence for the piece, which is almost immediately disrupted when one of the students starts to criticize one of her choices. From there she leaves the bowl of water and walks out of the classroom, leaving the students confused as to what to do next. They finally follow her as she walks through the city and tries to ignore the stares and catcalls she gets from people on the streets. Eventually all of them, even the teacher, give up on her project and leave her on her own… except for one other student who is fascinated by what’s going on. This could have turned into a gimmick fairly easily, or it could have been played for laughs, or it could have even ended up salacious. It ended up being none of those things and instead is one of the better cases for the purity of artistic expression that I’ve ever seen. It looks like Yumi has a few other books available, and after reading this I am very curious to see what else she’s done. Artists of the world and anybody who has ever been ridiculed for sticking to their guns, this is required reading. $5
Leave a Comment » | Reviews | Tagged: Ikebana, Yumi Sakugawa | Permalink
Posted by Kevin
Update for 5/13/16
May 13, 2016New review today for The Index #5: The Scrolls by Caitlin Cass. Happy weekend everybody!
Leave a Comment » | Site News | Permalink
Posted by Kevin
Cass, Caitlin – The Index #5: The Scrolls
May 13, 2016
The Index #5: The Scrolls
Don’t mind the weird discoloration in the upper corner; that happened on my end somehow and not from Caitlin. This one ended up in a random corner of my apartment, so I apologize for the lateness of the review. But since this series is amazing I thought a review was still a good idea, and it’s not like a bunch of the reviews on this website are all that topical anyway. Caitlin does an amazing job with the recap in this issue, as she somehow sums up the madness of the past four issues on a single page of text. Yes, you should still read the other issues, but the recap can get you by if you haven’t. This time around John has gone off to look for food and/or an exit, while Susan has realized that they’re in a psychological landscape and that she can eat whenever she wants. As she’s eating she chats further with Diogenes, discusses what exactly he is and learns that the many scrolls in the library are all books that she’s already read. And, as nobody remembers books word for word, they’re only the most important bits of those books, or the parts that she studied and underlined in school. Meanwhile John is freaking out and looking for help from the scrolls, but the only help there is in the form of literature. There’s still obviously more of this story to come, but it doesn’t look like it’s gone on past this book according to her website (unless her website hasn’t been updated in awhile). Maybe she’s putting it together into the first volume of a graphic novel? Here’s hoping, as this needs to be seen by book lovers everywhere.
Leave a Comment » | Reviews | Tagged: Caitlin Cass, The Index, The Scrolls | Permalink
Posted by Kevin
Update for 5/12/16
May 12, 2016Only had time for one review today: Drawing is Hard by Adam Meuse.
Leave a Comment » | Site News | Permalink
Posted by Kevin
Meuse, Adam – Drawing is Hard
May 12, 2016
Drawing is Hard
At this point you could almost call “comics about how hard it is to draw comics” a genre of its own. Did the daily diary strip start that trend or is that just where they tend to show up the most often due to deadline pressures? Either way, this is one of the better examples of the genre that I’ve seen. Things start off with Adam’s brain pulling up a chair so that he can have an honest conversation with Adam about art, the futile pursuit of perfection even with constantly increasing skills and how it’s easier to thrive on potential than it is to risk that potential on actual art. It’s a fascinating conversation, with both sides making some really great points. Adam is still unconvinced by the wisdom of the brain, which is when his heart comes into the picture to share his opinion. It doesn’t say much, but what it does is devastating (which is what makes that ending so much more perfect). If you’re an artist who has ever doubted him or herself (or, in other words, an artist), this comic will speak to you in a big way. Any doubts you have about leaving a mark, or making a great work of art, or just being good at your craft are addressed here. If you’re not artistically inclined, it’s always fun to step into their heads for a few minutes, right? $5
Leave a Comment » | Reviews | Tagged: Adam Meuse, Drawing is Hard | Permalink
Posted by Kevin
Update for 5/11/16
May 11, 2016New reviews today for Theth by Josh Bayer and The House in the Wood Part One. The SPACE pile from this year is getting a bit thin, with the exception of one guy that I’ll most likely dedicate a week to pretty soon.
Leave a Comment » | Site News | Permalink
Posted by Kevin
