Two new reviews today, for The Two Primas by Chieko Kobayashi and Smallbug Comics #9 by Charles Brubaker. Probably no reviews tomorrow, then two again on Thursday if all goes well. Yeah, it’s a weird week…
Kobayashi, Chieko – The Two Primas
October 20, 2015Website (where you can order the comic)
The Two Primas
One day, I would love to learn the origin story for the “action lines” that are in manga comics/anime. You know the ones, always in a scene with something dramatic happening, where suddenly everybody in the panel/on the screen look shocked, but they’re completely static while the lines behind them show… tension? Motion? I know in some of the older cartoons they were used to help portray action while not needing to animate it because of their tiny budgets. I’ve never fully understood it, but by now they’re a completely accepted part of the genre, so I should probably just shut up about it. Anyway, how about this comic? It’s the story of an accepted ballet star taking in an old friend who has had trouble fitting in at other ballet troupes in the past. This seems to be because this other lady got into ballet not because of any love of it, but because she has a rare form of athlete’s foot that is only alleviated while in ballet shoes with her toes pointed downwards. It turns out that this group is in danger of losing their funding, and it’s also revealed that there’s a nefarious plot underway to kill it entirely, which I probably shouldn’t get into here. Chieko admits in the afterward that she made up a lot of ballet stuff, but it all seemed accurate to me. Granted, I also don’t know that much about ballet, so don’t get mad at either one of us if you’re an expert and find this comic to be filled with factual errors. I wish there was a bit more time to flesh out these characters, but other than that it’s a solid enough story, with not a single image of athlete’s foot if that sort of thing grosses you out. $5
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Posted by Kevin
Brubaker, Charles – Smallbug Comics #9
October 20, 2015
Smallbug Comics #9
Aw come on Charles, don’t sell yourself short! Your comics are delightful. Yep, that’s right, I’m starting off the review by talking back to the comic cover. That can’t be a good sign. This time around is another collection of short pieces (almost exclusively focused on cats, meaning I’m on board) and one longer piece. The longer piece started off slow but won me over with the page that I’m using as the sample, even though it may just slightly spoil a bit of the proceedings. Basically the gang is flying low, one of them says maybe they shouldn’t fly so close to chimneys in case the broom catches on fire, which naturally means that the broom catches on fire. This shouldn’t a huge problem, as they can just use magic on any old broom to fly home, but they have unfortunately managed to land in a town of hobos. These are stereotypical old-timey hobos who are basically like Pigpen from the Peanuts comics, not actual real humans who don’t have homes. An important distinction in a funny comic! Anyway, these hobos don’t even understand the concept of cleanliness, so it’s not possible for them to get a broom, but they do hatch a plan to get the inhabitants of the town more naturally interested in cleaning themselves. It goes nowhere, a second (and more morally ambiguous) plan is formed, and that’s about as far as I can dig into it here. It’s a fun story, I will say that. As for the shorter pieces, they deal with cat questions such as what’s in their dreams, what’s their problem with water, where did the nine lives thing come from, why no love for Benjamin Franklin, what’s in that box, and why do you ask for belly rubs even though you clearly don’t want them. All solid questions, and all of interest to cat people such as myself. If you hate cats you’d probably still find them funny, but if you hate cats I can’t really put myself in your shoes, so I don’t know what goes on in that head of yours. It’s another solid comic all around, and still a deal at $2.
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Posted by Kevin
Update for 10/16/15
October 16, 2015New review today for Mindfulness Comics by Jon Drawdoer. Happy weekend everybody!
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Posted by Kevin
Drawdoer, Jon – Mindfulness Comics
October 16, 2015
Mindfulness Comics
Is the world too much with you? Do you know that you need to step back and appreciate your life but lack the means to do so? Well, short of ordering every self-help book on the market and hoping for the best, this comic is not a bad place to start. Not that I’m saying that Jon has solved all of the mysteries of the universe and/or the best way to quit craving nicotine, but what he’s doing sure seems to be working for him. To sum up briefly and not at all exactly, Jon has been trying to live the current moment to its fullest at every available opportunity, and this comic is a selection of stories about that process. This time around he was nice enough to put a little symbol (indicated in the intro) at the bottom right corner of the pages once a story is over and, since he is living so much in the moment, it was crucial to understanding exactly when one revelation ended and another was beginning. Stories in here include the simplest way to bring yourself back to your self (and probably the hardest for some people), the insights he gets into himself and others when he’s out running and happens across people who are faster than him, his journey through the “hole” in his sternum and his conversation with his dead father in that hole, and his dedication to always going with the healthy option when possible and his master plan to cut all cravings of nicotine from his life. I can be dismissive of plenty of elements of self-discovery and spirituality, but the methods that Jon is using are what I consider to be doing it right. Make of that what you will, but simple is always better than spending piles of cash that you don’t have on charlatans that are after your money more than your well-being. Give this comic a shot and see for yourself, but it could end up doing you some real good. $5
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Posted by Kevin
Update for 10/15/15
October 15, 2015New review today for Pages to Pages by Lai Tat Tat Wing, another one from the mini kus pile. Speaking of mini kus, I’ve seen very little evidence that you shouldn’t just be buying these as your default setting, as I don’t know of another place where you can get mini comics from artists all over the world on a regular basis and have almost all of them be high quality books. Well, there goes the mystery of my review for today…
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Posted by Kevin
Wing, Lai Tat Tat – Pages to Pages
October 15, 2015
Oh silent comics, never stop making me look stupid by trying to describe you. This one is the story of… let me just say right off the bat that it’s wildly open to interpretation, especially if I’m wrong in my own interpretation. That being said! This comic starts off with two people hanging out and reading comics. One of them stops to point out something funny to the other person, they make some jokes with it (and with the malleable nature of their own faces), and then they go on with their day. But one of them (let’s just call him Blue and his friend Pink to avoid at least a little bit of confusion) sees a Kindle or whatever is the current digital method to read comics. He takes this home to pink and shows him some of the features, expecting Pink to be impressed and to recognize this a revolutionary, but Pink isn’t having any of it. He clearly prefers regular old comics and doesn’t see a reason to change. He goes back to his old comics and find that they have been altered, while Blue goes on a rampage after his discovery goes unappreciated. He transforms into what I could only call a giant two-handed monster, which sounds odd, as what’s the big deal about having two hands, but you’ll see if you read it. There’s a confrontation, the obvious one out of the two prevails, and we’re even given a brief moment of hope when one member of the public who’s watching this battle goes back to basics to describe the fight. It’s a thoroughly engaging and entertaining book, and I’ll freely admit to being one of those people who is stubbornly sticking with only reading comics when they’re physical comics, so I have a clear side in this one. Your side, especially if you’re younger, is probably the other side! And there’s room for the both of us, even if your side is slowly but surely pushing my side right into the trash. But we’re only dealing with the here and now, and in regards to that, this is a great comic that you should read.
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Posted by Kevin
Update for 10/13/15
October 13, 2015New review for Mile High: Adventures in Colorado Medical Marijuana Book One by Mister V. Which reminds me, get out and vote in November, people of Columbus (and Ohio in general)! If you want legal marijuana here, that is. Or if you don’t, vote against it. Weirdo.
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Posted by Kevin
Mister V – Mile High: Adventures in Colorado Medical Marijuana Book One
October 13, 2015
Mile High: Adventures in Colorado Medical Marijuana Book One
Hey look, it’s one of those rare occasions where the subject of the book I’m reviewing is topical! Well, for me, anyway. Ohio is voting in a few weeks on whether or not to legalize marijuana, and this book is entirely the story of a young man as he takes his first steps to getting medical marijuana after Colorado legalized it in 2000. Still, the legalization process was a mess, as it was still illegal in the rest of the country and the federal government was still eager to jump in and close down dispensaries whenever possible. Anyway, Matt (the hero of the book; possibly Mister V, possibly not) catches his niece smoking in his garage late one night. She’s smoking an e-cig or whatever it is that lets people smoke THC oil and not the plant itself, but as he’s letting her have it for smoking underage she catches a whiff of something and ferrets out his own pot stash. They take turns smoking using each others preferred method, which leads Matt to go into the story of how he got started. His basic problem was simple: Irritable Bowel Syndrome. This would cause him all sorts of digestive problems, and he takes some time going through the methods that he’s tried over the years to get it under control. He eventually discovers that smoking weed is the only thing that settles his stomach and gets him hungry enough to really want to eat, so he starts looking into the process of getting legal weed. The rest of the book is a descent into various levels of shady dispensaries, countless legal forms, waiting in lines, not being sure at every turn whether or not he was being scammed (spoiler alert: he was a few times). This is the first book out of three, so there’s clearly more to come in this story, but this volume tells a solid and complete story all by itself. If you’re against the concept of medical marijuana and think the “medical” aspect of it is a joke, you really need to read this to see one of the many ways in which it can legitimately be used to help a sick person. If you’re already on board with the concept (medical, recreational or both) then there’s plenty to love here, including his early stories of trying out the edibles in the absence of any indication on how much he should eat or how strong the food was. Everybody who’s ever had an edible has been there, and Matt came out of it better than most. Anyway, I almost said this was highly recommended, then I realized that there was a pun in there, so never mind. It’s just plain old recommended. $9
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Posted by Kevin
Update for 10/12/15
October 12, 2015New review today for What’s Your Sign, Girl edited by Rob Kirby and featuring a gaggle of artists with stories in it. A gaggle is the correct term, right?
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Posted by Kevin
Kirby, Robert (editor) – What’s Your Sign, Girl?
October 12, 2015
Full disclosure time: I think astrology is nonsense. Relatively harmless nonsense, but nonsense nonetheless. It’s fortune telling but made for everybody who was born within the listed month, as if every human in every 12 month period shares the same characteristics, but told in such a way that it could apply to just about anybody regardless. I have occasionally given a sign other than my own to somebody who asked me (at a party or bar, usually) and have delighted in their going on and on about my various characteristics that fit me perfectly while belonging to a completely different astrological sign. I just wanted to make that perfectly clear before I started discussing this book, which is edited by a person who does get a lot of enjoyment out of astrology. 12 cartoonists also offer their takes on their signs, with only a few of them being even slightly skeptical. I could have used more of that, but it’s already pretty clear that I’m biased, so I’ll move on. Rob starts in the introduction with his own history with astrology and what it’s meant to him over the years, but he’s also clear that he doesn’t expect everybody to buy into it and encourages opposing viewpoints. He also provides a detailed description of the various signs and some of the other qualities associated with them, in case you were curious and/or needed context. So now that that’s out of the way, how about the stories? The highlights for me included Whit Taylor’s tale of the struggles of being a Gemini, Tyler Cohen eventually coming around on being a Cancer, Cara Bean (with my favorite piece) of Aslan coming down from the heavens to explain being a Leo to her, Rob Kirby going into specifics about being a Virgo and his experiences both with it and discussing astrology with other people, Rick Worley as one of the few skeptics in regards to being a Libra, Aron Nels Steinke on leaving a movie early (and also how his being an Aquarrius mixed with his wife being an Aires) and Marnie Galloway on being a Pisces (and the most righteously skeptical of the bunch). If you are interested in astrology, even a little bit, there’s a lot to love about this book. If you’re not even a little interested in it, like me, there’s still some great artwork, a few skeptics and an insightful peek into the minds of people who take all this seriously. And if you’re short on money, at least you get an awful lot of comic for $10.95.
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Posted by Kevin
Update for 10/9/15
October 9, 2015New review today for Sky in Stereo Book 1 by Mardou, as I managed to sneak in a review at the end of the week. Things should be back to normal next week, and if things go really well I’m going to try to double up on the reviews for a bit to catch up. If things don’t go really well, at least regular reviews will be back, right? Happy weekend everybody!
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Posted by Kevin
Mardou – Sky In Stereo Book 1
October 9, 2015
There are times when I regret that running this website for the last 14 years has changed the ways that I find and read comics. In the old days, back when I was reading comics just to read them, I would have probably heard of this series as it came out and followed it that way. Since I constantly have a stack of review comics to get to I rarely have the time to go searching for new series, so this ended up being completely new to me. Which isn’t a bad thing, as it works incredibly well as one half (ish) of a whole story, but it would also have been fun to see it evolve and change over time. Eh, if that’s my biggest problem right now that must mean that I’m leading a pretty trouble-free life. Anyway, hi comic! This is the first volume (of two) of Mardou’s series about a young girl growing up in northern England. It’s mesmerizing, as that period of life for most people is chock full of stories and events, and Mardou navigates them all brilliantly. I’m assuming that this is fiction until I hear otherwise, but things start out with Iris’s (the main character) stepfather inviting some Jehovah’s Witnesses inside, basically to mess with them. They come back when he’s not home and end up legitimately converting her mother, who then does her level best to convert Iris, who, at 16, is content to go along with it for a little while so as not to make waves. But it’s also around this time that she discovers Sartre, which gets her questioning the point of everything, which gives her the courage to tell her mother that she’s no longer interested in this religion. That particular blow-up is raw and sadly much too realistic, as everybody knows that recent religious converts are often the most fanatical. From there Mardou gradually comes to a kind of peace with her family (her stepdad thinks the whole thing is funny, mostly, although it clearly gets on his nerves at times) and Mardou is growing up and moving on to college, although still living at home, which is always problematic. This is a case of the journey being the whole point, so I’m not sure how much more I should dig into here. She gets into drugs a bit, but is indifferent to it until one specific case of it working as well as she could have hoped. She gets her heart broken, but sets her sights on another boy, kind of, and that goes about as smoothly as your average teenage relationship. And the last chapter is insidious in the way it convinces you that everything is fine with her, that she has come to some serious realizations about the world, before… ah, see? Shouldn’t really get into it. I’ll just say that I can’t wait to see what happens in the next volume, although I guess I could always seek out the comics instead of waiting for a review copy. Either way, I recommend this first volume unreservedly. If the biggest problem with a book is the fact that I didn’t like that it ended, I’d call that a success. $17.95
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Posted by Kevin
“Update” for 10/6/15
October 6, 2015Looks like not as much work came in as I was afraid of, but there’s still a hefty pile of work to do in the next couple of weeks. What that means for this website is that I’m probably too busy to post reviews this week, but maybe not! Maybe things will get done sooner. If not, by the middle of next week at the latest is when the reviews will start pouring in again. Yep, keeping it vague. Sorry!
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Posted by Kevin
Update for 10/5/15
October 5, 2015New review today for Birthday by Theo Ellsworth, another one from the mini kus pile. As for further reviews this week, today was the close of voter registrations at work. If a bunch of them came in and I’m stuck working a lot of overtime, reviews will continue to be scarce for another week or so. If that didn’t happen, I’ll go back to regular reviews this week. I’ll post some kind of update either way tomorrow to clarify things.
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Posted by Kevin
Ellsworth, Theo – Birthday
October 5, 2015
This is the highest compliment I can give: Theo Ellsworth is gradually becoming the Jim Woodring for this generation. Not that the current Jim Woodring is out of steam, and Theo (or any other human) still has some work to do before fully capturing that mantle, but he’s well on his way. If you’ve read Theo’s work in the past, you can agree or disagree, but at the very least you should be able to see where I’m coming from. This is also the first time (that I know of) where Theo’s comic is in full color, and it’s as glorious and disturbing as you would imagine. This is the part where I try to describe the comic, and on that count I am going to fail miserably, with the parts I get right mostly coming from the description on the back of the book. This is the story of a very nervous young man right before his “Inner-Space Birth Ritual.” See, I took that right from the description, as I had very little idea of what was happening before reading that. Anyway, keep an eye on the backgrounds throughout your reading of this comic, as there are little touches and/or creatures all over the place. Anyway, our hero finally gets a globe placed onto his head and the ritual begins. culminating in a final page that makes total sense in context, but try showing that to anybody as a single image. Anyway, it’s about rebirth, resistance to change, peer pressure, and I’m just making stuff up now. It’s a visual adventure through the mind of this young man as he undergoes an intense metamorphosis, how about that? It’s a fantastic book, with none of those pesky words cluttering things up, and it’s well worth your time to hunt it down.
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Posted by Kevin
Update for 9/28/15
September 28, 2015New review today for Jerry’s Journal #3 by Neil Fitzpatrick. Looks like this might be another one of those weeks at work, so this might be it for reviews until next week. I’d love to be wrong, and if that’s the case I’ll put up a few more reviews. I certainly still have a pile of comics to get through, it’s just that free time is at a minimum…
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Posted by Kevin
Fitzpatrick, Neil – Jerry’s Journal #3
September 28, 2015
Jerry’s Journal #3
I can already tell that this review is going to be confusing, which is probably because I’m of two minds on this comic. See, a few years back Neil and his girlfriend had an exceedingly unpleasant breakup. I know this because a couple of his comics dealt with it in the modern comic tradition of being vague about everything because EVERYTHING that is said about anybody anywhere gets back to them through some form of social media. But it was clear that he was profoundly hurt, and working through it at least partly through his comics, which is also a traditional form of therapy among cartoonists. Well, about half of the strips in this one are also about that breakup, and at some point such strips stop being therapy and start being self-indulgent and more about wallowing in misery than working through it. This is not the case if he’s had another breakup since then, or if this comic (that came out in 2014) was from the early part of that year. But (and speaking as a champion person who wallows in bad breakups) you just have to move on eventually. I said I’m of two minds about this comic, which is because the other half of this book was hilarious, insightful, depressing, or some magical combination of all three. In other words, the exact type of stuff that has made Neil one of the greats in the mini comics world for more than a decade now. Subjects in those strips include God taking an honest look at his creation, Jerry’s constant hijinx (which have moved more to mental pain than physical pain), and ruminations on life and what about it is worth living. Maybe your tolerance for wallowing in every aspect of a failed relationship is higher than mine, or maybe you’re going through one yourself right now, in which case I’d recommend this unreservedly. If not I’d still recommend this for the other half of the strips and because those solid black eyes will never be anything but mesmerizing. As for Neil and relationships, sometimes the cliches work: getting back on the horse (so to speak) is key, as is the realization that anybody capable of causing you that much harm is not worth dwelling on, as that’s exactly what they want, assuming that they’re as terrible as you’ve come to believe. $5
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Posted by Kevin
Fitzpatrick, Neil – Jerry’s Journal #3
September 28, 2015
Jerry’s Journal #3
I can already tell that this review is going to be confusing, which is probably because I’m of two minds on this comic. See, a few years back Neil and his girlfriend had an exceedingly unpleasant breakup. I know this because a couple of his comics dealt with it in the modern comic tradition of being vague about everything because EVERYTHING that is said about anybody anywhere gets back to them through some form of social media. But it was clear that he was profoundly hurt, and working through it at least partly through his comics, which is also a traditional form of therapy among cartoonists. Well, about half of the strips in this one are also about that breakup, and at some point such strips stop being therapy and start being self-indulgent and more about wallowing in misery than working through it. This is not the case if he’s had another breakup since then, or if this comic (that came out in 2014) was from the early part of that year. But (and speaking as a champion person who wallows in bad breakups) you just have to move on eventually. I said I’m of two minds about this comic, which is because the other half of this book was hilarious, insightful, depressing, or some magical combination of all three. In other words, the exact type of stuff that has made Neil one of the greats in the mini comics world for more than a decade now. Subjects in those strips include God taking an honest look at his creation, Jerry’s constant hijinx (which have moved more to mental pain than physical pain), and ruminations on life and what about it is worth living. Maybe your tolerance for wallowing in every aspect of a failed relationship is higher than mine, or maybe you’re going through one yourself right now, in which case I’d recommend this unreservedly. If not I’d still recommend this for the other half of the strips and because those solid black eyes will never be anything but mesmerizing. As for Neil and relationships, sometimes the cliches work: getting back on the horse (so to speak) is key, as is the realization that anybody capable of causing you that much harm is not worth dwelling on, as that’s exactly what they want, assuming that they’re as terrible as you’ve come to believe. $5
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Posted by Kevin
Update for 9/24/15
September 24, 2015New review today for Facility Integrity by Nick Maandag which, as of SPACE in Columbus this year, was John Porcellino’s favorite comic of the year. Or possibly one of his favorites. Either way, when I asked him what I absolutely had to have, he pointed me to this without hesitation.
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Posted by Kevin
