April 7, 2015
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Collector
Oh abstract comics, you put me on the spot every time. Sometimes I feel compelled to
try to analyze every little bit of it, sometimes I throw my hands up in despair and
leave it entirely up to the reader, and either way I feel like I failed. Ah well.
Anybody who comes here for detailed, intellectual analysis went to the wrong corner
of the internet and somehow never left, so that’s kind of on them. This is the story
of, well, a collector. The cover gives as to what type of collector this person is,
and the back cover makes it even more explicit, but I like mystery, so I’ll leave it
up in the air. What this comic details is the process of collecting these subjects,
what they see and imagine, and eventually how it all ends up. It’s not as ominous as
it sounds! Unless it is and I lied to you right there. Ah, now you’re intrigued! If
so, good. After all, don’t you want to be able to say that you have a complete set
of the mini kus series of Latvian mini comics? As somebody who has mentioned them
out loud to regular humans, I can attest to the fact that it’s an automatic
conversation stopper. Anyway, it’s an intriguing comic, with a sometimes mesmerizing
and sometimes baffling story. Is that a recommendation? It’s up to you to parse that
language!
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Posted by Kevin
April 2, 2015
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Smallbug Comics #4
Well, it’s finally happened. I seem to have reached peak cat. For today anyway; chances are I’ll love all cats just as much as always tomorrow. But this comic tested the limits of my tolerance for the adorable nature of cats. As always, your opinions may (and probably will) vary! The bulk of this one is taken up with a mostly silent story involving a witch and her search for a particular cat. This is where words would have come in handy, as I wasn’t entirely sure what was going on here until going back and looking at it again. She can’t find this cat, but she does find a different cat, which was completely unacceptable to her. For reasons that I don’t understand, as in real life almost all cats are equally adorable. Anyway, this cat hitches a ride on her broom and returns to her home (?) with her, where this cat immediately makes a favorable impression on her roommate. It’s possible that I should remember the names for these characters from previous comics in this series, but I do not. Anyway, the cat is taken away for some reason (again, words would have been helpful here), the roommate is very sad, and the rest of the story involves her attempts to make it right. Not a bad story, but not particularly compelling either, and as I’ve already driven the “it could have used a few words here and there” point into the ground, I won’t mention it again. Other short stories in here include a funny piece about a guy who made a living putting cat videos on the internet and his comeuppance, another one of the reliably amusing “ask a cat” entries, and a back cover that I’ll leave a complete mystery just because. As the main story takes up so much of the comic I’d call the whole thing fairly so-so, but I did thoroughly enjoy the short pieces. $2
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Posted by Kevin
April 1, 2015
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The Unmentionables
Do you like wrestling? If so, you’re going to love this comic and could save yourself some time if you just went ahead and bought it now. If not, hey, it’s a free country and all, but this comic is still a pile of fun and you’ll be doing yourself a disservice if you don’t at least look into it a bit. Hey, let me help you with that! So this one starts off with two lady wrestlers in the ring. The good guy is Lizard Woman and the bad guy is Vulturella. Eh, let’s just go by “face” (good guy) and “heel” (bad guy), OK? There, now you learned something about wrestling terminology, which sometimes also works very well in real life! Anyway, as these two are fighting the face learns that the heel is fighting for real even though the face has been scripted to win. She’s breaking out of holds, punching much harder than she should be, and ignoring all of the usual cues to play along. After a lengthy battle the face wins the match and heads backstage. At this point there’s just the promoter and one other wrestler around, as it’s the end of the night, and the promoter actually thanks the face for putting on such a good show. While they’re chatting they learn of a crime going on: a crew of heel wrestlers has robbed a bank and, as they are basically superheroes, the cops are unable to put them down. The face, the other wrestler and the promoter all set out to confront them, and it occurs to me that I have told you enough about the plot. From there it’s one big fight scene, ending with a pretty great scene of the “team” picking a name. It’s a fun book from start to finish, has plenty of respect for wrestling while still not being stupid enough to think that it’s for real, and has a distinctive cast of characters that could certainly be explored more fully in future issues. Assuming that there will be future issues? There’s no “#1” on this that I can see. Still, I live in hope, as this was a blast. $6
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Posted by Kevin
March 30, 2015
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Little Hilma
Oh mini kus, I do love how I never know what to expect with your comics. Granted, they’re done by all sorts of people, so it would make more sense to praise the creators individually, but who has the time for such things? This one is all about a man who only wants to pick up some cigarettes. Along the way his children demand that he read to them, his wife wants chocolate and for him to take out the garbage, and an injured monkey is discovered under the sink with said garbage. Our hero gets a phone call, and that’s where Little Hilma comes into the picture. On a rooftop, dropped off by a biplane, of course. I shall say no more, but that helmet (and the triumph of our hero when he finds it) was fantastic, and that finale is damned near impossible to top. It’s an odd book, if you’re worried about such things, but people need more “odd” in their lives. It was also a good choice to leave the comic without panels, as it helped show off the sprawl and mess of the house (there are small children living there, after all). It’s a good comic and you should read it!
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Posted by Kevin
March 27, 2015
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Slime
So, how would you handle it if you woke up a slime monster? Because if that does happen to you and you’re having a crisis, I’d recommend reading this book to get some good ideas. Assuming that you still have hands to grip the book, but it seems like this guy manages OK. Anyway, our hero wakes up with no memory of the night before and sees that he’s a slime monster. He takes all this in stride and decides to go out and face the day regardless. As his day progresses he notices that he’s seeing things a bit differently, noticing things that he never did before, and his body is going through some alarming (and occasionally disgusting) changes. The book is basically this slime guy coming to terms with things, even though he comes to terms with it on the first page. Huh, that doesn’t make any sense. Well, then let’s say that he’s really experiencing other people coming to terms with his new look and using his new “abilities” to impress the ladies. Although, seeing as how we don’t see the reaction from said lady, I do wonder how that trick with the beer went over. This comic is a fun little read with more than a little bit that may gross you out, but hey, toughen up! If you ever do see somebody pushing bits of glass into their slime face in real life, this comic will have you ready for it. $4
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Posted by Kevin
March 25, 2015
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Doing the Dishes With Batman
OK, a quick test to see how well we would get along in real life. If you saw a comic on the shelf (or, more likely, the internet) named “Doing the Dishes With Batman,” would you immediately stop what you were doing to read it, or would you move along to other comics with barely a glance? If you picked the first option, we could possibly be friends! If you picked the second option, you are dead to me. So hey, about this comic. It turns out that a good chunk of it is actual instructions on how to do the dishes if you don’t have a dishwasher. It’s practical advice! Damned near unheard of in a comic, but if you have questions about the process, there’s a solid chance that this could help you out. Of course, that leaves out the Batman aspect of the comic, and that’s where it gets interesting. Batman, you see, has never really done the dishes, what with Alfred around all the time. And Batman doing the dishes opens up a whole new world to his mind, and it’s a new world with a pretty great payoff on the final page. So to sum up: this is an informative comic about washing dishes, an often funny comic with Batman in it, and it has a solid ending. I’d say it’s worth a look! Unless you own a dishwasher and hate Batman, in which case it might not do much for you, but who both owns a dishwasher AND hates Batman? It seems unlikely.
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Posted by Kevin
March 18, 2015
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Troubled Teen
This creepy world of Desmond’s is really starting to come together. Granted, I got a bunch of his comics all at once and have no idea what order they were supposed to be read in (if any), but this issue features an appearance by both Scumbag and the Uncles. But enough about them, this is all about our hero, Troubled Teen. This gentleman was discovered in a trash can (“like most folks”) when he was a baby by a group of Uncles. The Teen, in the manner of most characters in this universe, aged to maturity over a span of a few weeks. This would imply that his species tends to reproduce quickly, and this is confirmed when we get a close up look at one of the many zits on his face only to see a tiny Troubled Teen beginning to form. Our hero has his own unique form of population control, which shouldn’t come as a shock to anybody that knows any actual teenage boys. Scumbag is somehow his brother (best not to dig too deep into the logistics of that one), and Troubled Teen delights in tormenting Scumbag whenever possible. The rest of the story deals with a possible origin story (specifically who dumped him in that dumpster), but that’s all we get this time around. Assuming that there are more issues coming, which I have no information about one way or the other. In theory Desmond could build an even more expansive universe out of all this. If the only thing holding that back is an unwillingness to creep his audience out even further, I say bring on the creepiness!
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Posted by Kevin
March 17, 2015
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The Rule
OK, this one is going to be exceptionally tricky to talk about without giving away any spoilers, as the last 10 pages or so are fantastic. But hey, that’s out of a 30 page book, so technically that still gives me 2/3 of the book to talk about! That’s right, I’m breaking out some math to stall a little bit. This is all about this one guy who finds “It” on a beach. What this thing actually is is never firmly established, and we never do get a good look at it, but it’s clearly an object of great importance to the world. Or at least to the creatures that he meets. Anyway, this guy takes “It” to the oldest museum in the world and the woman at the desk is able to take a picture and pass along the image to undefined specialists. One of them responds (it’s not one that has ever responded before), and our hero is sent down into a dark and foreboding cave. It’s not clear whether or not he tries to get away to avoid going down, but the door slams shut as soon as he gets inside and it’s a moot point. Down there he runs into…. I don’t know what to call those things. They reminded me of gingerbread men, but less expressive. Basically they just unfolded themselves from the cave wall to talk. They tell our hero some cryptic hints about “It,” but all the while the “Director” of this museum has been running towards our hero, and that confrontation is where the last 10 pages or so of the book come into play. Basically the title of the comic refers to “It” being able to establish any rules for a confrontation with this director, and our hero sets those rules up magnificently. This one is a lot of fun, and clearly I loved that ending, so you should give it a shot. And I just caught something from the image on the back cover that I didn’t notice before, and it all makes even more sense to me now. Check it out, is what I say. $5
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Posted by Kevin
March 16, 2015
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Smoo #8
Smoo has either been on a break or I just haven’t been getting the comics, but this is the first new issue I’ve seen in a while. And it is just about as stripped down as a comic could be and still be considered a comic. This is (if I have the gist of it correct) about Simon’s time both with and without a girlfriend, or possibly just a very good friend. Everything is told in a few lines, and you can tell from that cover that the title figure barely qualifies as a stick figure. It still somehow works, as the bare bones of what he went through during that time are more than enough to carry the story. The relationship talk in particular is an explosion of a conversation that quite literally shatters his view of the world, and there are a lot of quiet moments following this before the eventual reconciliation. All of this is told with as few words as possible, but most of us have been in positions like this before and can see what’s going on even in the most simplified terms possible. It’s another solid issue, and it proves that you can identify with characters that barely even look human if the content is universal enough.
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Posted by Kevin
March 13, 2015
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Monkey Squad One #13
How about that cover, huh? It looks like a big mess of nothing, and it’s not possible to make out the one tiny thing that might be a landmark. Until you actually open the book, where you see that it’s the tombstone for Doug, and it all makes sense. In case I haven’t mentioned this in reviews for this series before (it all tends to blend together after awhile and it’s not like I go back and read old reviews which, come to think of it, might not be a bad idea every now and then), Doug has really improved in his pacing of these stories. Human Doug, that is, not the U.N.C.L.E. Doug who died in the last issue. This issue is downright somber by MSO standards. It’s been one year since Doug died, and Brendan and Connor are both dealing with their grief (and their being trapped on an all-girl planet) in different ways. Connor has kept up his training, even though he still seems to be getting his butt kicked on a regular basis. And Brendan has been spending his time mastering a game called Unicorn Picnic, which I desperately wish was a real thing, but I seem to be stuck in this reality. It’s a little odd that Brendan doesn’t spend more time with the ladies, but I can’t remember how old he’s supposed to be, so maybe it’s for the best to avoid awkwardness. Anyway, we see a bit more of this world, Connor gets his braces taken off (mostly), Brendan discovers something that might help them get home, and that’s the end of the main story. Spoilers, kind of, in the most technical sense of the term. This is the first part of a six part series, so Doug has time to let things breathe, and he’s done a wonderful job of it with this issue. Of course, it doesn’t hurt that he keeps up a fairly regular publication schedule, as this pace might get annoying on a book that only puts out new issues every couple of years. The backup story involves the fake future earth from 2039 and a prolonged gunfight (including robots!), with a pretty great surprise ending that I’m not going to talk about even a little. This book has gradually turned into one of the books that I most enjoy getting, which is something I didn’t entirely expect when I first started reading it, so kudos to Doug. If you’re not reading this, you really should be, and it looks like Doug has most of the issues up for free at his website so you can get caught up.
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Posted by Kevin
