Herr, Luke & Tenney, Joseph – Legion of Peace House

December 11, 2015

Website

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Legion of Peace House

Here’s a problem I’ve never encountered in all my years blathering about comics: how do I review a kegger? Because this comic is basically an illustrated kegger, featuring characters I don’t know but who mostly resemble more famous comic characters. There’s the guy who talks really fast and must be the Flash analogue, the guy who’s Clark Kent but as a teen… and I guess that’s it. There’s also a walking keg, but it isn’t mentioned if he dreads keggers (because wouldn’t they kill him?) or love them, but I’m guessing from the tone of the comic that he loves them. Then there’s the lady hero, who becomes gigantic to more quickly take down a keg. And that’s about it, really. There’s also mention that them doing this has broken the time stream, which might make sense if I knew more about these characters, but I don’t, so it doesn’t. Six pages doesn’t do a lot to introduce a team, but that’s mostly my fault for not having the money to buy all the books from all the tables at SPACE this year. Wait, that doesn’t make sense. Anyway, this comic was fine. I can see it being funny and clever in a stretched out setting, or I could also see this being about as good as it gets. No way of knowing without more information, so check it out at your own risk I guess?

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Posted by Kevin

Update for 12/10/15

December 10, 2015

Two new reviews again today, this time for Jason Part 3 by Bonesteel and Poseur by Adam Pasion. If my luck holds, two more reviews tomorrow!

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Posted by Kevin

Pasion, Adam – Poseur

December 10, 2015

Website

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Poseur

Oh high school, will you ever run out of story subjects? Granted, it is a rich area for telling all kinds of stories, as so much of what seemed so crucial back then looks rightfully ridiculous and overwrought with the benefit of hindsight. The cover ends up being a solid indication of what to expect here (with the evolution of a student), but there’s a lot more to unpack here. Things start off with a young boyfriend and girlfriend going through the records of her Dad and opening up her boyfriend to bands he hasn’t heard before. Jethro Tull comes up, which naturally leads to them deciding to try weed, but they make a pact that they can only try it for the first time together. Boyfriend “knows a guy” (he works at a fast food place), so he makes the arrangement to get some weed. As anybody who has ever bought weed knows, it’s pretty much impossible to get out of that transaction without smoking yourself, so boyfriend ends up in the awkward position of giving a speech in Spanish class while high. This is immediately obvious to everybody in the room, which wouldn’t necessarily be so bad, but his girlfriend is outside his classroom and notices the same thing. This leads to a talk that remains awkward throughout your life, but especially so in high school: the breakup. I’ve probably already said too much, but that’s what I do here. Other subjects include latching onto various personas in an effort to find out who you really are, getting called out on the superficiality of those positions, and learning a valuable lesson about stereotyping a guy based on his record collection. There’s a lot of recognize here from your own high school days, unless you were that mythical creature who always knew exactly who you were (“I was listening to Fugazi when I was 10!”). Check it out, travel back to those awkward/exhilarating/excruciating days. $5

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Posted by Kevin

Bonesteel – Jason Part 3

December 10, 2015

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Jason Part 3

I’ve never figured out if it’s a better idea to put my major criticism at the start of a review (implying that my overall opinion of a book is negative for readers with short attention spans) or at the end (where said people with short attention spans never see it). Instead of deciding, I’ll keep up with my current policy of changing it up every time, pleasing no one. This book has way too many spelling errors. Yes, for many people that’s a minor thing, and if you’re one of those people, feel free to skip ahead a few sentences, because I loved this comic other than those errors. But for a book like this, that was funded through Kickstarter, to have so many spelling errors just baffles me. Sometimes it’s things like the wrong usage for “their,” which is annoying but understandable. But putting “hapry” instead of “happy” implies a complete lack of any sort of proofreading, and I don’t get that mindset. Grumpy rant over, so how about that story? If you haven’t read any of these Jason comics from Bonesteel before, they’re the product of a delightfully demented mind. Jason from the “Friday the 13th” movies is real, and lives in the same section of town as Freddy, Pinhead, and Michael Myers from the “Halloween” movies, among many other guests. Honestly, half the fun is figuring out which horror movie bad guy that is in the background who goes unnamed; I must say that I do alarmingly well in this regard. Anyway, this comic covers Tuesday through Saturday in the life of Jason, starting off with his taking questions at a horror convention that really helps us get into his mindset (for example, he has a “spidey sense” that lets him know if anybody anywhere near him is having sex). From there we see Jason working out at the gym (including what he listens to while he works out, which you’d never guess), having a chat with Satan, answering his fan mail, going on a spending spree at a hardware store, chatting with his roommates and taking his dog for a walk. It’s hilarious, especially if you’ve seen the movies involving these characters, but I think it would even hold up if you only had a slight idea of who these “people” were. Oh, and I’m offering a free service where I read pages from comics creators before they publish them and tell them which spelling errors to fix. Any takers?

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Posted by Kevin

Update for 12/9/15

December 9, 2015

Making up for lost time a bit today with two new reviews from the mini kus pile: Mathematical Solutions for a Global Crisis by Jesse Jacobs and Remember This? by Disa Wallander. If all goes well I should have time to double up on the reviews for the rest of the week, then next week it gets back to being dicey again. My apologies, but work has been a little brutal lately.

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Posted by Kevin

Jacobs, Jesse – Mathematical Solutions for a Global Crisis

December 9, 2015

Website

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Mathematical Solutions for a Global Crisis

There have been many, many times when I’ve wanted to post a simple “this comic speaks for itself” as a comic review, and I’ve probably cheated a few times and come pretty close to it. But damn, that title really does say it all. Jesse has come up with a scientific way to solve basically all of the problems of humanity. Granted, he doesn’t know the actual science of it, or if he does he’s keeping it a secret, but he has still figured out how to fix everything. And it’s so simple! Ready? Your life will be changed forever, and if you’re a scientist or an eccentric billionaire, get on this: every human born from this point on will be roughly the size of its parent. Then the kids eventually born from that child will be half its size, on and on forever. Jesse does a fantastic job of going through the implications of such a program, with a single drop of oil powering whole cities, the need for war disappearing as territory opens up for everybody, eventually even shrinking so much that all of the possible predators wouldn’t even notice us. Sure, the science part of it a pretty big stumbling block, but it sure looks like this would genuinely solve all of the problems of humanity sooner or later. It’s a damned intriguing comic, so if you’ve ever wondered how humanity could be saved you should very much give this a look. If you’re a total nihilist and don’t care either way, well, maybe this will cure you of some of that.

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Posted by Kevin

Wallander, Disa – Remember This?

December 9, 2015

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Remember This?

Have you ever stopped to think about how much of your life you’ve forgotten? How does your brain know which memories to retain and which ones to let slip away? Does you brain really work that way or are your memories just random snippets of your life and not actually the most important or relevant moments? If that’s the case, how do you even know who you are? Welcome to Remember This, a comic that will mess with your head in significant ways. Or, as part of the back of the comic says in its synopsis, “Disa Wallender’s story will confuse you, perhaps it’s best not to think about it?” I don’t subscribe to that, as thinking about this kind of stuff it’s what makes life worth living to me, but if that’s not the case for you then perhaps the back of this comic has a point. Subjects introduced in this comic are how smells can conjure memories (or something only the fact that you know a memory is associated with this smell but can’t place it, leaving you in a worse spot than before you detected said smell), and how this is basically Disa’s note to her future self and that she wonders who that person will be. It’s another genuinely great and intriguing addition to the mini kus pile, which still has a remarkable success rate as far as I’m concerned.

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Posted by Kevin

Update for 11/24/15

November 24, 2015

New review today for Don’t Cry Wolfman Chicago by Nate Beaty. And, as usual when I don’t post regular reviews for a bit, I feel like this one is lacking something, so maybe just check out his comics on his website to decide for yourself. As for the rest of the week, I may or may not get a review up tomorrow, then that’s it for the holiday week. Happy Thanksgiving everybody!

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Posted by Kevin

Beaty, Nate – Don’t Cry Wolfman Chicago

November 24, 2015

Website

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Don’t Cry Wolfman Chicago

Clearly all of these comics I’ve talked about over all of these years are all starting to blend together, as I could have sworn I had more of Nate’s comics on this website. But I haven’t talked about anything from him since 2010, and a lot of those dates are even misleading because that’s when I proofread and reposted all the old reviews. Anyway, who cares? I’m assuming regular readers have long since trained themselves to skip over my introductory bullshit to get to the actual meat of what passes as a review from me. This is a collection of (mostly) daily strips from December of 2010 to April of 2014. It comes in chunks, and I have no idea if these were the “best of” as picked by Nathan (they all originally came out on his website) or if those were just the chunks of time when Nate was dedicated/had the time to do the daily strips. Because the vast majority of them are pretty damned funny and/or insightful. Dammit, I gave away the review ending. Ah well. Subjects in here include panic about aging, alarm clock cat, becoming a real adult with boots, exercise, doing stupid shit, a day in the life, a silent but hilarious conversation with a polite motorist while on his bicycle, finding a weird growth in his mouth and then freaking out about it by looking at the internet, getting stuff stuck in his throat (but not choking), and various pillow arrangements for the single man. He also has several strips that have nothing to do with his daily life (like imagining life as a wookie), in case you’re one of those people who hate all autobiographical comics. If that’s the case you should really get over it, as they’re clearly not going anywhere. This is a hilarious and hefty collection of daily strips, so if you’re like me (i.e. one of the few holdouts who still prefers physical comics), then you absolutely won’t regret checking this out. If you’re too poor or cheap to buy this, go to his website to look at what you’re missing, then check under the couch cushions to gather the spare change necessary to buy this.

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Posted by Kevin

Update for 11/19/15

November 19, 2015

I was all set with two reviews today to make up for some lost time, but then I got home and realized that I already wrote a review for one of these comics. 14 years in, I guess it was bound to happen eventually. But hey, there’s still a new review for Bangs & Beard Diary by Aaron Whitaker and Melinda Tracy Boyce. Possibly more tomorrow, possibly not until next week. What can I say, my work is still much busier than I would have thought it would be by now.

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Posted by Kevin

Boyce, Melinda Tracy & Whitaker, Aaron – Bangs & Beard Diary

November 19, 2015

Aaron’s website

Melinda’s website

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Bangs & Beard Diary

Yay, a flip book! Since these are so rare, I’ll give a little description: one artist does half of the book and another one does the other half. Simple enough! But in this case it’s flipped around, so all of the strips of one artist are upside down until you turn it over. Don’t worry about having to work for it, as the halves are neatly split up. To give you some idea of how long I’ve been reading comics, the first flip book I remember seeing was with Joe Chiappetta and John Porcellino, and I don’t think Joe has drawn many comics in at least a decade now. Which sucks, as Silly Daddy was a fantastic comic. Kids, know your small press comics history! Anyway, this flip book is unique in that it features two halves of a couple, with roughly half of the diary strips being their different perspectives on events that happened that day. That’s something I don’t remember seeing before and it’s done really well here. Aaron maybe goes for the bigger laughs at the end of his strips, but Melinda’s were more effortlessly funny overall, although that opinion is clearly completely subjective. As are all opinions, so never mind. I would be curious to see more comics in this format, as I know a fair amount of couples have come together because they’re both comics artists. Pick a month and go to town, couples! It’s easy. Oh, and subjects of these strips include reflections on the homeless, going for a walk, accents, accidents, bug bites, insomnia, comfy hair, setting unrealistic reading goals, looking good while working out, having a good soul, and having a short attention span while watching tv. I added that last bit, as apparently it’s normal to watch shows while simultaneously on your laptop, but I’m a cranky old man on the subject, so don’t mind me. Anyway, it’s funny and just kind of neat to see their slightly different perspectives on certain events, and their wholly unique perspectives on the things that only happened to them. $5

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Posted by Kevin

“Update” for 11/12/15

November 12, 2015

Guess what I forgot to do! That’s right, I neglected to mention that it’s election season, which means I’m too swamped at work to post any updates for at least a couple of weeks. Currently working 12 hour shifts including the weekends, so you try to find the free time in that to write about comics. Anyway, I might be able to get at least a few reviews up next week, but it’ll still be quiet this week. But hey, luckily there are 14+ years of archives for you to go through if you get bored, so try that for awhile. Pick out a random comics person or go nuts with the search bar and see what comes up.

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Posted by Kevin

Update for 10/29/15

October 29, 2015

Technical difficulties yesterday, but that means there are two reviews today: for Left Empty #1 by Alan King & Jamie Vayda and The Monkey’s Paw by Ryan Holgersen.

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Posted by Kevin

King, Alan & Vayda, Jamie – Left Empty #1

October 29, 2015

Website

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Left Empty #1

I’m a big fan of letting a comic/book/movie/show speak for itself, generally speaking. The creators of that thing are the ones telling the story and I’m just along for the ride. But the internet is just right there all the time, and I was curious about whether or not this was based on a true story, so I peeked. And, sadly, it is. This is the story of the time after Alan’s wife died, apparently quickly and with very little warning. We don’t see that event in this comic, and we only see brief snippets of the events leading up to it in this issue. Mostly what we see is a broken man who is drinking all day every day, with brief glimpses of his dog, doing that thing that dogs do of either lapping up the sadness or the joy that’s going on around them. If you don’t own a dog, trust me, that comment makes sense. Anyway, most of the first 2/3 of the comic are silent, and we see in detail just what a hole Alan has fallen into with this loss. It’s an utterly heartbreaking story, as it’s clear that Alan loved this woman completely and that her loss has shattered him. We get a few more details towards the end of the book, including one specific thing she said to him towards the end that has haunted him ever since. He now seems to have the perspective to realize it was probably just a sentence said that he would have forgotten about years ago if she hadn’t died, but because of that it’s stuck with him ever since. This is also a bit of a change of pace from the true life stories that Jamie usually draws, but the man can handle utter despair with the best of them. It’s a really solid and powerful comic, and I recommend it highly if you can handle a little gloom in your life. OK, a lot of gloom. But it’s good to be reminded on a regular basis of just how temporary everything in life actually is.

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Posted by Kevin

Holgersen, Ryan – The Monkey’s Paw

October 29, 2015

Website

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The Monkey’s Paw

Sure, there are days when I feel like there’s no point in going on with this rinky dink comics review website, where I have to (out of necessity due to work or real life) vanish for days or even weeks at a time. Sometimes 14+ years of doing this seems like plenty. But then there are days like today, when I get a comic from Ryan, who even mentions in the note that he hasn’t sent me a book in 10 years. And, as long time readers know, there’s nothing like better than checking in with somebody whose work I loved back in the day but haven’t heard from in years. What can I say, it just makes the whole thing worthwhile to know that people are still doing mini comics who were around when (or before) I started. Anyway! I’m assuming that everybody reading this knows the story of the Monkey’s Paw? Maybe not the original short story, but at least the basic concept? If not, here it is: the main character discovers, usually through a mysterious store that disappears as soon as they exit, a monkey’s paw. It usually has three extended fingers, and they give the person three wishes. These wishes almost always go very, very wrong, and the fun in the story at this point is guessing how (or whether) the main character is going to get out of it. Our hero this time has a very simple wish: a new gaming system. I should also point out that the wishes were made by the robot friend of our hero, who may or may not have a soul, to let our hero avoid the consequences of his wishes. Well, that little trick doesn’t work at all, as he gets the gaming system… as a result of a genuinely awful event that I shouldn’t spoil here. I also liked how Ryan skipped the usual bit about the third wish either fixing everything or leaving it irrevocably broken, and left that up to the second wish (and the robot) this time around. It’s a fun comic, and it’s great to see that that cat is still the hero all these years later. Check it out, or you could even check out some of his older comics from my store, which I amazingly still have in stock. What can I say, that store is basically a time capsule at this point…

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Posted by Kevin

Update for 10/26/15

October 26, 2015

New review today for In The Crapper by Chris Carlier. Yep, perfect comic title for a Monday.

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Posted by Kevin

Carlier, Chris – In The Crapper

October 26, 2015

Website

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In The Crapper

Oh, the life of a bathroom attendant. If you’ve ever seen one in real life (or even in a movie), chances are you’ve thought about what life must be like for them, how they ever ended up in such a job. Well, this one doesn’t get into any kind of an origin story, but it does paint a grim picture of what life is like for one fictional bathroom attendant. If you’ve never even heard of such a thing, the cover does a good job of showing the basics. It’s one gentleman, impeccably dressed, who’s on hand to offer towels, mints, and cologne after you finish doing your business. Ladies, is this a thing for you too, or does this only happen in upscale men’s rooms? Just curious. Anyway, the list of rules for our hero is simple, and mostly involve keeping everything stocked and clean. There’s also the frankly inhuman rule preventing him from using that bathroom, instead forcing him to use the employee bathroom. While also never leaving his bathroom unattended. Yeah, it does seem specifically designed to break the guy. Anyway, he puts up with all sorts of indignities throughout the day, only getting through it via his rich (if disturbing) fantasy life. It’s a darkly hilarious book, and if nothing else reading this should guarantee that you leave a tip for the poor guy if you ever see one of these attendants in real life. Their life is hard enough already, the least you could do is throw a few coins onto their tip plate/jar. $5

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Posted by Kevin

Update for 10/22/15

October 22, 2015

New reviews today for Snake in the Nose (another from the mini kus pile) by Tommi Musturi and Blink: And Now, This… by Max Ink. Chances of a review tomorrow are roughly 50/50, just in case there’s a single human being out there who sets some kind of schedule by such things. If you do exist, I apologize profusely…

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Posted by Kevin

Ink, Max – Blink: And Now, This…

October 22, 2015

Website

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Blink: And Now, This…

Everybody out there who has HBO (or who has access to an HBO Go password) is watching John Oliver’s weekly show, right? In case you’re not, shame on you, but the title is in reference to that. And for all my complaints about the lack of political comics these days, here’s one right up my alley. It even makes explicit on the cover how blood-soaked the Confederate flag is, although I guess Max could always correct me and say that somebody spilled wine on it. But I doubt it! Anyway, this one opens up with the gang watching Oliver’s show and laughing about Starbucks and their ham-handed attempt to start a conversation through race via coffee cups. They all enjoy the big, go on with their lives, and the scene shifts to a few months later, after that asshole shot up a historically black church in Alabama. If you’re reading this in the future, check around June 2015 to narrow it down, as it’s clear the gun massacres are going to keep right on happening. Anyway, they chat a bit about what’s going on, with Sam being the most cynical of the bunch, and we even get a peek into the history of the two friends. It’s a short comic so I don’t want to spoil any more than that, but this was a really engaging comic, and I think it could educate a few people who have a superficial (at best) sense of the history of race. He even gets into the assassination of Martin Luther King and includes the remarks Robert Kennedy made the day after he died. It was a great speech, but it only made the whole thing more depressing, knowing as we do that Kennedy was assassinated himself short after that. I don’t have any answers, although I will say that 100% of Republicans are against even common sense gun control reforms, so if you’re happy with all these massacres, vote Republican! I can’t say that voting Democratic will end them, but it seems to be the only chance we have right now. Max made this a “pay what you want” comic, so maybe send him a few bucks? Or one buck. It’s up to you, really.

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Posted by Kevin

Musturi, Tommi – Snake in the Nose

October 22, 2015

Website

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Stuck in the Nose

It’s cheating to just cut and paste the synopsis from the back of comics, right? It must be cheating. But the back of this comic is so fantastic, I have to include at least a taste: “Some would call this humour, but that’s a bit doubtful.” Much funnier in context, granted, but I’m trying not to paste the whole thing here, remember? Anyway, this is the story of an asshole. Usually stories have more ambiguity than that, and yeah, this guy does maybe take a step or two towards becoming slightly less awful, but it’s still the story of an asshole. Things start off with a lady (who, granted, looks maybe a bit snooty) enjoying a cocktail by the pool. We see a slow dripping of yellow liquid drop onto her hat, which then becomes a downpour. We then look see the source of the “rain,” in a full page spread of the dick of this guy. Who gleefully yells down at her that she’s lucky that he “didn’t feel like pooping.” From there we see this asshole living his life in his apartment, get sick of all his stuff, dream of various ways he could die, yelling more things at the people below him, and finally have an extensive dream sequence. If you’re into nothing but the highbrowingist of highbrow humor, this one probably isn’t for you. But if you can laugh at an asshole and want a deeper peek into what motivates one of those people, this book is damned near essential.

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Posted by Kevin

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