Search Results for Less than hero
Muradov, Roman – Picnic Ruined
There are times when I have to admit that I have no idea what I can contribute to the conversation about a comic. No, this isn’t me getting all self-effacing and “aw shucks” about this website, as I think that I do contribute meaningful rambles about comics every now and then, or at least point at books that deserve more attention. It’s just that when I run across somebody like Roman, with his ridiculous list of credentials and clients, it’s clear that the guy is operating on a different plane than me. That’s the basic reason why I barely ever bother to review the new Dan Clowes book, or anything by the Hernandez Brothers, those sorts of things. They know what they’re doing, anything I say would be nitpicking, so why bother? So instead of treating this comic like that, I’m just going to treat it like any old comic and see what happens. This is a comic of shadows holding images and images holding shadows, thoughts that trail off into jumbled messes or moments of insight, thoughts of self-doubt turning into rueful acceptance and/or tolerance of the way things are and maybe even getting to a perfect moment. Or it’s about a guy who wanders aimlessly through his evening, including literally running into a tree while not paying attention. Or both! Things start off at either a really boring porno shoot or a naked art project, which leads our hero to wonder about what things in the world have a foreskin and what things should have a foreskin. Right away Roman has introduced something that I’ve never thought about, which was quickly followed by wondering why I never thought about it, so kudos to him for that. From there our hero flees out of fear of being photographed at this event and into a bookstore, where things get messy in a hurry (with a delightful curse thrown in). The rest of the comic deals mostly with his thoughts, his conversation with somebody who isn’t into indulging him on his shit, and dealing with his self-doubt. In other words, not the sorts of things that are easily reviewed, or are even helpful things to review. On an aesthetic level this is gorgeous, as you can take the linear approach or just follow the lines of dialogue to see if you can spot every random thought that pops into his head but is written down too quickly to be understood. If you’re looking for people punching each other to solve their problems then this book won’t do you any good, but if you’d rather wonder about the universe while wondering if that wondering is itself pointless, maybe you should give this one a shot. $6
Sciandra, Sal – The Casebook of Elijah Snugs #1
The Casebook of Elijah Snugs #1
Would you trust a detective who didn’t wear pants who also had a pig for a sidekick? I guess it’s not a fair question to ask, seeing as how this is set in a world where every creature is some form of talking animal, but then why is the guy bothering to wear a trenchcoat and hat? I’m reading too much into this already. This is a fairly basic mystery story involving our hero and a mysterious missing egg. The security system had recently been updated and the only person with access to it other than the owner was the butler, but the owner insists that he couldn’t possibly have taken it. This is very much an all ages comic, but the dialogue isn’t so dumb that you feel silly reading it as an adult. So far it’s also taking itself very seriously for such a fundamentally silly concept, but that’s just my personal preferences in such things shining through. We got a good introduction for the main character (although the pig could still use a little fleshing out), a clear idea of what’s to come and a blessed absence of typos (always a welcome sign in first issues). This could go either way for me, as it may end up too cutesy for me to enjoy, but there were also a few funny bits that seemed to suggest that that might not be the case. My gut says I might not care for this after a few issues, but my gut is pretty damned stupid on a lot of things. And don’t go feeling all high and mighty because your gut is always right, because that’s nonsense. Remember that one person you dated right out of college? Remember how you were so sure about that person? Yeah, that was your gut being a moron. Ahem, I seem to have gotten off track. Sal also throws in a brief two page strip with a decent punchline, so there’s at least a little bit of variety. To sum up I mostly liked the art (that creeped out pig on the last page was fantastic), the writing was maybe too earnest for my taste (but that may be because I’m a jerk), and there seem to be intriguing places this story could go. Luckily Sal sent along the next issue too, so I won’t be left in suspense about it for much longer. And hey, neither will you! Unless this is only review you’ll ever read here, which would be odd, but I’m not the boss of you. $5
Papke, Maryanne Rose – Ghost Castle
Ghost Castle
I might as well start this one off with my only complaint: I’ve never been a fan of covers of only one color. Granted, your main thought should not be of how your comic would look on a shelf at a comics store, but the question should still be considered. Other than that (meaning “the actual comic”), I thought this was damned near perfect. It’s a mostly wordless tale of a young man who is… OK, it’s not exactly clear what he’s doing. Which is fine! We meet him as he’s bringing a flower to a castle. He gives the flower to the giant beast that is guarding the door, who then proceeds to let him in. As the young man is exploring he hears something begging for help, but in front of that door there’s a very large man in full armor, so our hero takes a good look at the situation and decides to keep going without discovering the source of the pleas. He comes across a clump of flowers, decides to take one to the guard in the hopes of repeating his luck at getting into the castle, and I can’t keep going with this or I’ll ruin all the surprises. Of course it doesn’t all go smoothly or there wouldn’t be much of a story to tell, right? The art is gorgeous; the shadows of those solid blacks really bring out the mysteries of that castle, and you’re right there along with the hero in trying to figure out what could be in them. I was under the impression that this was her first comic for whatever reason, but she has a few more listed on her website, which I’m now really curious to see after reading this. But check this one out first, as it’s a sweet and terrifying little story that is perfect all by itself. $4
Spina, Sam – Spinadoodles: The Third Year
Spinadoodles: The Third Year
Oh hi diary comics! As always, if you have some kind of personal vendetta against diary comics you should probably get a better class of enemy, but you also already know that this collection isn’t for you. But I loved this pile of strips, and you’re bound to too if you like Sam’s other work or just think it’s worth your while to laugh a few dozen times (at least) while reading comics. One thing I should get out of the way early on: Sam mentions in one of his strips that he got a bad review from The Comics Journal (and I naturally can’t find it now, which should tell you again how hefty this collection is) where they call it repetitive and something else that I didn’t agree with. I don’t understand how that’s a legitimate line of complaint, as ALL diary strips are repetitive. It’s not like any of the cartoonists doing these are documenting their time in chemo after getting cancer. These are mostly guys or ladies (actually mostly guys from what I’ve seen, but I’d be happy to be proven wrong) in their 20’s or early 30’s, usually not satisfied with their job and/or their place in life, and that situation can get either better or worse as the year goes along. There’s bound to be some repetition in that. At least Sam takes a few strips in this one to openly question the motivation for what he’s doing and if he can get anything out of it. He stopped doing the diary strip after this one, and there’s a thorough explanation as to why that happened in the end. Anyway, how about the actual strips? Right away I love the fact that he puts tiny strips about the life of a fly on the inside flaps of this book. Hey, why waste empty space? Subjects in these strips include hanging out with friends, puking and/or trying not to puke, adventures with his cat, conversations with his girlfriend, going out to see shows, getting to meet his comics hero (James Kochalka), chatting with Siri, feeling morally guilty about playing a certain video game, not having time to finish Skyrim, and the big old cliffhanger at the end. Oh, they’re about significantly more things than that, as there are 365ish strips in here, but why would you want me to describe them all to you? Sam has a knack of being effortlessly funny, and that kind of thing really shines through on a daily basis like this. Sure, there are strips where he’s obviously a bit rushed (and he often comments on that fact), and a few that feel phoned in, but who cares? A good 4/5 of this is thoroughly entertaining, and I’m probably being conservative with that number. Check out his website and read a few for yourselves if you don’t believe me, and it also looks like he’s drifting back into the daily diary territory again, or at least drawing them a few times a week. $7
Hoggatt, MarYanna – Adult Babysitting #1
Adult Babysitting #1
First things first: that is the perfect title for a comic about MarYanna (I’m just going by the spelling of her first name on the cover) and her adventures in bartending. She’s also making badges, and it would be lovely to see bartenders from all over the place start wearing them. Anyway! This is her first comic, which either means that she’s been working on it for ten years or she’s professionally trained, as it’s a gorgeous book in every way. There are four two page color spreads in the center of the book depicting the four seasons and the changing bar crowds that come with each, and they are a thing of beauty. The rest of the book details various conversations/interactions she’s had with drunken and not-so-drunken customers while tending bar over the years and a few drink recipes (although it’s hard to call a beer and a shot a “recipe”). There are a few of the lessons she’s learned along the way, the necessity of assigning nicknames to regulars, how drunk customers are never right, the older rocker lady and her unique bathroom habits, names she’s been called while bartending, an older infrequent customer and his amorous intentions (that’s putting it so much more nicely than just about any other way to describe that scene), a very busy night and the fantastic punchline to it, and the story of a camouflage shrubbery that arrives too late. It’s a hell of a book, and my only complaint is one of omission. She sent a nice letter along with it and she has maybe the best cursive handwriting I’ve ever seen. Granted, comic book convention says that you have to letter your books in more easily legible print, but maybe she could be a trendsetter to start to turn that around. Pick it up, give it a chance, you won’t be disappointed. Unless you’re one of those people who hates booze and everybody associated with it, in which case, other than my general bafflement at your existence, you’ll probably like this one quite a bit too, as it’s not like the drunks are usually the heroes of their stories.
McGovern, Bernie – An Army of Lovers Will Be Beaten Volume One
An Army of Lovers Will Be Beaten Volume One
I reviewed the first issue of this series years ago, and Bernie was recently nice enough to send me the first two collected editions, making up the first six issues of the comic (that’s assuming he’s even putting them out in single issues any more, as he may have decided to just put out the collected editions for financial reasons). In my first review I mentioned that it’s projected to be 12 issues, which may or may not still be true, but these two books should give a solid impression of the series regardless. Right away I have to warn you: if that title strikes you as whimsical, that you might get a lot of chuckles out of a series with that title, that will not be the case. Unless you’re a remarkably morbid human being, I guess. Things start off with our hero Buckeley trying to get some distance from the war he’s fighting. The journey is told in grim but exacting detail, and we see him immediately being sickened by the town he’s arrived in. Bernie didn’t skimp on the level of detail at all here, as even the individual people in the crowd scenes are distinctly individual people (unlike lots of people who draw a few faces in the crowd and leave the rest of it an indistinct mess). Buckeley eventually makes his way to what he thinks is a peaceful place, only to discover that bombs are landing in his resting area. I don’t want to go into too much detail, as this series should be read by any person with an interest in the quiet moments of a pointless war, but from there we get to meet some of the nastier (and nicer, and sadder) inhabitants of this town, Buckeley’s wife (and what she is now doing for a living, not to mention who she’s living with), and various other residents of this town. The third issue is set entirely in a bar (outside of a few flashbacks) and it’s absolutely riveting. We get to see how this war affects people and creatures from a few different walks of life, including the reason why everybody thinks Buckeley is a war hero (and the real story behind the heroism). The details of this universe are laid out bit by bit, with plenty of things still left to be uncovered. I apparently wasn’t fully convinced just from reading the first issue of this series, but reading the first three issues in this collection washes those doubts away. The quiet, deliberate nature of the revelations draws you right in and keeps you there, and I think I’m going to break my unwritten rule about not posting reviews about the same person on consecutive days and will read and review the second book tomorrow. So for long time readers, that should give you a better indication of how much I liked the first book than anything I could say here. $10
Bogart, Craig – The Ineffables: All of Creation
Website is currently down, but I’ll update this when there’s a working website again…
The Ineffables: All of Creation
Kudos to Craig on that title, as it’s hard to get more literal than that. There have been more than a few Ineffables books over the years, and that fact may scare you away from trying it out, but this one is perfect for new readers. It starts at the Big Band and ends at the Big Crunch; it’s hard to get more self-contained than that. Things start off with the revelation that the hero of the series (well, one of the heroes) is actually an immortal being, as his travelling back in time caused the Big Bang. Which is the kind of time travel thing that can make your head explode, but don’t think about it too much. From there we see the creation of Mason (OR DO WE? (that’ll make more sense after you read the whole book)) and the destruction of the dinosaurs by a group that has a convoluted but effective plan to make the planet more habitable to them. That’s your first chapter and, as spoilers get a bit dicey from here, I’ll just break down the remaining four chapters briefly. We see the death ray of Archimedes, Ineffables traveling back for a big old brawl (including a Mason vs. Mason brawl that is among the best comic book fights you’ll ever see, unless you like punching), android Ronald Reagan fighting giant sea monsters, giant alien bees taking over the planet, a thousand Mason heads raining nuclear destruction from the sky, and the plan to preserve all the knowledge in the universe at the Big Crunch. This series has really taken on a life of its own in recent years, and I love the fact that we’re seeing more and more team members and, well, all of creation. He even sneaks in some funny lines here and there (like Reagan’s “gift” to a liberated society). I do wish that he’d start putting the title on the spine of his graphic novels, but that’s purely as aesthetic thing for the sake of my bookshelf. This could make a hell of a cartoon series if there’s anybody out there willing to finance a smart, scientifically-minded series about time travelers trying to solve some of the bigger problems of existence. Nah, I don’t see anybody willing to finance something like that in this day and age either, sadly enough. But it would be awesome! $12
Young, Jason – Veggie Dog Saturn #6
Veggie Dog Saturn #6
Has anything contributed more to creating small press comic artists than long lines for more established creators at comic conventions? This issue is an origin story of sorts for Jason, as it details his first big comic convention in Chicago, where he was finally able to meet his hero (Bob Burden of “Flaming Carrot” fame). But it was the mini comics of Paul Koob (“Hamster Man”) that seemed to make the biggest impact on his life at the time, and he only happened across that table because the lines for the people that he really wanted to see were too long. Anyway, this comic starts off with Jason tensely waiting out a bomb scare at his place of employment when he was 16. The comics that he wanted to get signed were in the pizza place and, even though nobody thought that the bomb threat was real, he still theoretically risked his life just to grab his comics before they left on the trip to Chicago. Off he went with his older brother and a few of his friends (although the afterword mentions that the contingent that actually went off to Chicago was shrunk for dramatic purposes), and Jason did a really fantastic job of building up Chicago after he had seen it (mostly in the background for Cubs and Bulls games on WGN) for years. The reality matched his dreams, as they had a hotel room on the 30th floor of the convention center and he got a hell of a view of the city. From there he goes on to describe the experience of finally getting to a gigantic comics convention, and there’s no sense of my ruining any of that. It’s a thoroughly engrossing story, one that will no doubt seem familiar to just about anybody reading this review, as most of you must have gone through a similar experience to cross over to the small press stuff. Except for those of you were awesome enough at 11 to start off buying Fantagraphics books, and I honestly think that you people missed out a bit, as it’s hard to value the really great stuff unless you have at least some background in the crap. I was wondering why there aren’t more origin stories out there, but it’s probably very similar for a lot of people. Still, an anthology with this theme would most likely be fascinating. Just saying… $3
Young, Max – Blacked Out #1
Blacked Out #1
I would never recommend that somebody buy a mini comic because it will eventually be worth something, as they suffer the same fate as most other comics: it takes decades, if that, before they’re worth more than the cover price, and even then you have to find somebody willing to buy them. That being said, if the sheer quality of Max’s comics doesn’t convince you (and there’s plenty of that in the two issues I’ve seen so far), this guy is so clearly going to be a big deal in comics someday that you’d be stupid not to buy these early minis. The technical term for his art is “crazy awesome fantastic,” he seems to be doing a nice job of building up his characters, and he also looks to have a long term plan for this one. I should probably talk about the plot at least a little bit and no, that ridiculous cover of his was not a fake-out. This comic starts with our hero waking up in a bar from being blackout drunk, only to discover that every biker in the bar has been either beaten senseless or killed (his friend says killed, but I think there may be a few more repercussions for something like that than are depicted here). They go back to their apartment, where we see that the two of them are roommates with a young lady who appears to be his concerned platonic friend. They tell him that the can’t hold his liquor, what a problem that is, and eventually wander off to a party with all the booze they can drink for $30. You’d think that you could see where this is going from here, but you’d be wrong. At this party our hero meets up with an older redneck man who’s been watching our hero, and he decides to impart his wisdom about being blackout drunk on the dude. It’s so brilliant that I don’t even want to give it away here, but kudos to Max simply for coming up with that idea. I’m really looking forward to future issues of this one, and you can always tell a book is a winner when it instantly raises your opinion of the past work of the artist. More, please! $3
Jones, Toby & Horab, Alex – Arthur Turnkey Part 1
Arthur Turnkey Part 1
Aren’t there any comic companies out there who are willing to give Toby Jones a pile of money to make some comics? There should be, and they’ll be sorry when they miss out when one of the big companies snatches him up. I should mention that Alex Horab is listed in the credits too, but he’s listed second, which generally indicates that he’s the artist, but this art is clearly Toby’s. So maybe Alex was the writer? Ah well, it’s only fuddy-duddies like me who care about such things these days. This story starts off with our hero getting punched in the stomach by a bully at school. We also learn that he’s in love with a fellow seventh grade student named Holly Hoyt, and he feebly tries a few times to talk to her. While chasing her down he’s distracted and almost run down in the street, at which point he sneezes, and everything changes. He ends up in a strange world where problems are solved in a gladiatorial arena, a conflict is had, and Arthur finds himself back in his original world. But now that he knows this other place exists he clearly has to learn more about it, which is more or less what happens in the rest of the book. With more than a few surprises, obviously, but I have no interest in telling you every little thing about this book. And I do have to say, in case it wasn’t clear already, that I love everything about this book. Arthur’s indecision with Holly (followed by his failures when he does get decisive), the dozens of post-it notes around Arthur’s house that take the place of his absent parents, the fight in the arena, the eventual explanation for this strange world and sheer inventiveness of how he got there, all are either nicely done or brilliant. And a clear direction for the second issue! Support this man, dammit! $6
Bertino, Mike – Trigger #2
Trigger #2
There aren’t many comic artists out there who could make a story about a man with sentient pants and have it be downright moving. The first story in this comic is called “Goo Pants,” but it’s not going where you might be thinking. These pants were given to our hero when he was eight by a hippie aunt, who claimed that they were made by elves. She choked on a “vegan chicken bone” before he was ever able to get a real explanation out of her, so our hero grew up with these pants. As they were magic pants they fit him no matter what, you see. Anyway, the pants became sentient when he (or anyone else) rubbed them, leading to more than a few awkward situations, and he tried to get rid of the pants a few times over the years but was never able to go through with it. Finally the man gets a job and is trying to make a good impression when somebody spills coffee on his pants, and things go quickly downhill from there. That ending is a thing of beauty, as it takes it into those few precious moments past the usual fade to black at the end of a story to show the toll this has taken. Next is the second part of his “Grown Ups” story, which will one day be collected into a graphic novel that makes Mike famous. I’m just putting that on the record now, so that all of the riches coming from accurately making that prediction will be mine, all mine! In this installment the teacher is still trying to connect with his students while combating relentless cynicism from other teachers about his prospects. The students are also a little wary of a teacher taking so much of an interest in them, and the teacher seems to be causing far more problems than he’s fixing so far. More to come in this story, so who knows overall, but it’s gotten off to a hell of a promising start. Finally there’s “The Biggest Banger!,” a science fiction story that deals with a civilization trying desperately to find a habitable planet as their ship slowly breaks down. Also starring humans as disobedient pets! There’s plenty of mayhem and gore in this one, just in case you were lulled into a sense of normalcy by the previous two stories. Once again Mike has put out a fantastic comic, and once again all of you people should buy it. There’s something in here for everyone to love, after all, and even if you somehow hate all of the stories in here (which could only be caused by your lack of a soul, I’m sorry to say), than nobody in the world could hate the full page drawings that bookend this comic. Spend your $5, you won’t regret it!
Swartz, Frank – Star Pilot #6
Star Pilot #6
Is two issues enough for a pattern? Because if it is then it’s safe to conclude that this comic has nothing to do with stars and only very little to do with pilots. Unless maybe either the monkey or the rhino (see the last review for this guy if you’re confused) is a licensed pilot, that is. Anyway, this one starts off with a musical genius who makes one mistake in his performance. The papers go crazy because of this error, so the musician finally decides that he has to get away from all the negativity and do something new. He finds a mountain that has never been successfully scaled and makes his way up, but comes across some small and starving birds. He decides to save them and give up his quest for personal glory, but the mountain remains treacherous and he still has to make it down alive. Oh, and the monkey and rhino from the last issue also play a very small but crucial role in things. This one lacked the sheer insanity that was #5 of this series and instead went with something like 85% insanity. That’s more than enough for me, and this comic was a lot of fun, even if page 14 did feature a ridiculously out of proportion yeti. Pretty sure this is also still $1, and the entire comic is up at Frank’s website at the moment if you wanted to read it for yourself. Of course, it’s better to buy it, so maybe just read a few pages to know that you either will or won’t like it.
Lindo, Sara – Carl Finds Love #1
Carl Finds Love #1
Ah, love. Judging from the pink store displays it is almost that time of year again where you are legally required to be dating somebody or else be considered a hopeless loser. Sara tackles the question of what it is that ladies like in this issue, which is kind of odd as she is a lady, but hey, I’ll take useful advice wherever I can get it. Um, I mean wherever the reader can get it. Anyway, things start off with what is almost an accident between a construction worker with a traffic cone for a head (or is it only ON his head?) and a car driven by a man with a tomato for a head. Oh, and the whole thing is witnessed by a walking, talking screwdriver. I know that Sara is dating the frantabulous Steve Seck (you know, those “Life is Good” comics that you are all reading), so now I have to wonder if they both decided to depict their characters as living inanimate objects or if it was their mutual preference for such characters that got the two of them together in the first place. There’s some pretty rough perspective work on that second page (a nearly wrecked car should not be smaller than the doors for a nearby establishment, and the traffic cone head guy should not tower over the vehicle as he walks towards it), but that’s the only error of that nature that I noticed. From there the guy with a tomato for a head offers the pair of gents some advice about the ladies: complimenting them on their appearance so that they know that “all that time they spend in the bathroom doesn’t escape our notice.” This man then walks up to a couple of ladies and uses one implicit and one explicit really bad pick-up line, and they both work like a charm. This confuses our two heroes (the traffic cone head guy and the screwdriver guy), but after seeing it work they decide to try it themselves on their lunch break. The result of their attempts are depicted below in the sample, and the rest of the comic is them talking with friends in a restaurant about their failed attempts and what it is exactly that the ladies like. Left unsaid in that conversation was the thing that flummoxed me: if the ladies hate that type of behavior in guys who were asking them out, why did the two ladies that the tomato head guy talked to give him their digits so readily? There’s still another issue to go that might explain that part that made no sense to me, but overall it’s a pretty fun comic with some pretty terrible advice on how to woo the ladies. Which, I believe, is kind of the point. $3
Beckmeyer, Drew – Everything Unseen Parts 4 & 5
Everything Unseen Parts 4 & 5
There are two reasons for me to reread a book after reading it the first time. There’s the obvious reason of needing to get a better handle on the book, as maybe later bits helped clarify earlier bits. Then there’s a general sense of “what the fuck.” This book manages to take the best elements of both of those choices and it made the reread a significantly improved experience. I haven’t read the first issue of this series (which collects the first three parts of this series), and it’s always tricky to pick up any story in the middle, not to mention one that does so much to fuck with your head. I was able to figure out that our hero is trapped in a desert and was only able to leave through “cosmic intervention.” He fights a local god and wins, so he gets to basically steer that god for the rest of the issue (while also being influenced by that god). The sample page I used is the process of the two of them joining together, which admittedly isn’t the best representation of the series (there’s usually more talking), but it’s such a fantastic page that I couldn’t help myself. They get acquainted with one another, our hero eventually wants out (and deals this god a pretty much mortal blow in the process), and is able to escape with the help of the girl that got him free in the first place. Along the way there are several conversations that I couldn’t hope to encapsulate here, but I will say that this is set in a far future time and there are a few tantalizing references to current events and technology. This is all in part 4, by the way. The only trouble I had with this part is that he used pencils for the lettering, but that’s purely an aesthetic problem, as it’s not like he left unerased pencil lines over the place. It was as neat a use of a pencil for lettering as it could possibly be. And the writing carries you effortlessly along this world that should be a complete mess to the reader, so the minor quibbles about aesthetics end up going nowhere. So how about part 5? Our hero is on the run, with the chapter starting with a long bit of text about the history of running, why humans ever bothered with it (when they often just found themselves back where they started a run) and how our hero would have handled it if he was alive when it was popular. From there the chase is on with some “people” who want our hero back/want to punish him for his role in hurting that god from the last part. It also gets way crazier than the previous part, which is really saying something, but it’s best for you to find that out for yourself. And if you’re annoyed by the cliffhanger, there’s also a brief interlude that shows us what happens next after part 5. This one got off to a rocky start for me on my first read through, but after sticking with it for a bit the whole thing opened up for me and everything made perfect sense. Which, come to think of it, probably should have been more alarming than it was. So to sum up, as I rambled even more than usual this time (which, for new readers, is a good sign for the book itself): panel layouts that tweak any “rules” for such things whenever he feels it necessary, chunks of text and dialogues that scream out for multiple readings in the hopes of getting all the nuggets out of them, and an oddly compelling if sometimes mind-boggling story. Sounds like plenty to me. The website for Revival House Press (the publishers of this book, which is hefty in case I haven’t mentioned that yet) appears to be down, but check with Drew directly for a copy. $11
Burggraf, Josh – Kid Space Heater #1
Kid Space Heater
Is it possible to smack a scanner into compliance? I imagine it actually involves learning how to work the thing and fixing it that way, but all these images being too large to put on my website (when they’re nothing of the sort) is getting on my nerves. Luckily I found another cover image online, not that you needed to know any of that, but I ramble even more than usual on Fridays. Kid Space Heater! A look at that cover would give you one impression for this book, and that impression would almost certainly be wrong. Things start off with the prospective lead character leaping from a plane. Why he was dropping was never fully explained, but his parachute didn’t open and he ended up as a splat on the pavement, so it’s a moot point. I also have to mention the fact that the pilots were an alligator wearing sunglasses and what looked like a mountain goat, purely because that image was wonderful to behold. So five pages in we have a dead hero and pedestrians are looting his body. Among these looters is a kid who touches a cube. This cube tries explaining what it is to the child, who couldn’t care less about long explanations and whines about it until he is let out of the training course. Unfortunately a couple of thugs are coming to steal the cube and the cube talks the kid into shooting the thugs. Or maybe they were nice people? Again, never explained, and I loved the ambiguity. The kid had no interest in becoming a killer, but the gun tricked him into it, which leads to the rest of the issue and a few more of his adventures (told in short, highlight reel-like fashion) before ending the same way that it started: with a leap from a plane. Fantastic shit all around, with Josh’s skills really shining through with some of those intricate and ridiculous backgrounds. Only real haters of anything to do with science fiction should avoid picking this one up, and even those people should probably at least give it a shot. No price, but it’s hefty so…$6!
Mitchell, Brian John & Gardner, Melissa Spence – XO #7
XO #7
In the general chaos that is Brian’s comic empire (I think we can call it that after a few years of him averaging a comic or two per month), it might be a little tough to know where to start. And for people who wonder about that, might I suggest XO? It sure seems like these issues all stand alone, although I could be wrong about that and he actually has some master plan for this series. This issue starts off innocently enough, with a young man looking at a dating website and wondering if it isn’t time to start dating again. He then flashes back to his last relationship, and we see that he isn’t nearly as innocent as he appears. That Brian, he is a master of such ratfuckery (which, in case you’re dense, is a compliment of the highest order). This man had fallen into drugs, alcohol, and apparently everything else you could think of, so much so that he didn’t even notice that his new girlfriend was actually another assassin (oh, didn’t I mention that the young man was an assassin?) until he woke up tied to a chair, gagged, with a knife in his chest. Things seem bleak for our hero, but there’s always a way out of these situations. Still, his method of escape might have you thinking of him as significantly less than “our hero.” Melissa really stepped up her game as well, as that Breaking Bad-esque shot of the bloody broken chair and the debris around it was a thing of beauty. These comics just keep rolling along. If you’re looking for an alternative to the current BRAND! NEW! #1 comics that the big companies are putting out, how about going with series like these that you can actually afford? The fact that they tell much better stories than the big expensive comics should also help convince you. Or at least it should… $1
Cochran-Mason, Louise & Southworth, Barry – Revelations #1
Website (where you can buy the book)
Hereafter Press
664 North Main Street
Bristol, CT 06010
Revelations #1
Oy. It’s bad enough when self-published mini comics don’t have any sort of contact information, but for a comic where they went to the trouble of getting it published? Louise and Barry used “Ka-Blam” digital printing, a name I’m seeing more and more on the backs of the more “professional” (i.e. color cover and excellent production values) comics, so it’s not like this cost $0 to put out there, and they couldn’t even be bothered with an e-mail address. Sorry, but that just seems stupid to me. I put the snail mail address up there, so for the two people in the world who still use that to order their comics while still being internet savvy enough to find such things online, there you go. For everybody else, well, maybe they’ll stick with this series long enough to eventually get a working website up about it. This all came about because I was checking on some of Barry’s old series and I was curious if some of them really stalled out after one issue or if I just hadn’t seen new issues. That can be a problem when my main method of getting small press books is through review comics, as if somebody doesn’t bother to send me one after a few issues I have a tendency to lose track. Have I mentioned that I’m in a rambling mood today? Christ. So how about the actual comic, other bitching aside? This is why I was wondering about Barry’s past work: seems promising, depending on whether or not they stick to the series for a few issues, but it could just as easily fall apart. Our hero is a woman who makes a living defending vicious criminals that she knows are guilty. She’s never lost and has set countless monsters back out onto the streets. Some hero, right? Still, it makes for a mildly interesting premise. We cut to six months later and she’s about to get pummeled by a group of thugs, which she arguably has coming but, as it’s put in the narration, “deserving and accepting are two very different things.” She sprouts some short, thick claws at the ends of her knuckles and takes care of the thugs. From here we get to see our hero trying drugs to stop the changes she’s experiencing and is finally given some facts about her condition by a mysterious figure who has broken into her apartment. So what you have as a whole are some possible cliches that could turn ugly, or enough new ideas for them to make something interesting out of all of this. It’s not a bad intro, I just find as I get older that I believe less and less that there’s going to be a #3 in a series, let alone a #6 that a series like this would probably need to really get going. If you’re less cynical than me, go ahead and order it by clicking on that link, or if maybe you think you’d like this type of story and don’t mind if it dies out after one issue. Me, I’m going to reserve judgment. $3
Campbell, Eddie – Alec: The Years Have Pants
Alec: The Years Have Pants
So! Eddie Campbell. He’s one of the first people I discovered after making the transition from the super hero stuff (kudos to you if you were smart enough to jump right into the good stuff, I was not), and his Bacchus series definitely was a major cause in keeping me interested while I was at a stage of life where I would have just as soon given up on the funny books. Still, I had to see what happened in the various Bacchus stories each month (and Cerebus too at the time), so I couldn’t just stop going to the comic store altogether, then my social life lessened a bit, somebody said “Instead of complaining about the lack of decent small press sites out there, why not just make your own?” and here I am, still rambling, almost ten years later. No, I’m not saying I’m in Eddie’s league, don’t think that for a second. I’m just saying to all the people who get some value out of this site: I wouldn’t be doing this if it wasn’t for him. So if you haven’t read any of his books, it’s clearly meant a lot to me. This is also the cue for anybody who wanted an unbiased review to hit the exits, as it simply isn’t possible for me to read chunks of this book without a nostalgic reaction. Sorry, I tried to remain objective, and it just wasn’t possible. My only real concern with this book was that several parts of it were literary landmarks in my life. The King Canute Crowd (known to me as “The Complete Alec” back in the day), Graffiti Kitchen, The Dance of Lifey Death, these all hit me square in the face when I first read them. I was afraid that having them all clumped together would lessen their individual impact, that it would all run together. In a way I was right, but in a much bigger way having them finally all in one collection makes them part of a much greater whole, and every story is actually improved because of it. I didn’t think it was possible, but there you go. I’ll get into the bits in a minute, but as a whole this was brilliant, or fill in the blank for your personal description for the best thing ever. I couldn’t even bring myself to scan an internal image because I didn’t want to risk damaging the spine for the scanner, even though in five years this thing will probably be a dog-eared mess from loaning it to friends and referencing various parts. I don’t know how the sales were for this thing, as the price and size might have scared people away, but there aren’t many graphic novels (or whatever you want to call this genre) that are better. Frankly, if I saw the bookshelf of a small press person and this wasn’t on it, I would think less of them. Hey, maybe I should talk about the inside a bit? I was going to do full reviews for each bit, but am dialing that back a bit after the lengthy opening ramble.
The King Canute Crowd:Â My first experience to Eddie. I’d seen autobiographical stuff before, but never a less self-conscious pile of stories, and never anything that spoke to me as clearly as this did. Moments that still make me smile include Danny Grey pissing in a handbag, that malevolent teddy bear, Eddie’s easy but ridiculous job, and how he never knew where he was going to wake up from day to day. For years this WAS the Alec story, and it holds up even better than I thought. One of those rare books that I could almost certainly identify from being shown any random panel.
Graffiti Kitchen: Garooga! This one hit me like a ton of bricks when I first read it. Absolutely brimming with life, in a way that I’ve rarely seen since, and as such it’s not something that’s easily defined. There’s a reason why this is considered by many to be the best of the Alec books, and I’ll be damned if I’m going to try and figure out why here.
How to Be an Artist: I vaguely remember not giving this the greatest review when it first came out, but after reading it again here I haven’t the foggiest idea why that would be the case. I think I wasn’t that thrilled about the idea of watching comic art evolve throughout all recorded history, but that only lasted a few pages and it’s fascinating to me now. Even outside of all that, it’s an engrossing life story to anybody who has been around this small press end of things for as long as he has. Reading about the various troubles along the long path, his breaks with artistic faith and how it all led somewhere great in the end was damned near heart-warming without being the slightest bit sappy. That’s a tough thing to pull off, and it seems effortless here.
Little Italy/The Dead Muse: Collections of shorter bits, so they’re lacking the punch of the bigger stories, but there’s plenty of genuinely funny stuff, and his insights come just as easily in shorter pieces. The Dead Muse originally had all kinds of older work from other artists, including an old piece from Dylan Horrocks, but they were taken out for this edition. I have the old copy with all the artists included because I am just that cool (and went on an Eddie Campbell scavenger hunt when I first discovered his work), and it’s fine without it, but interesting to wonder what the hell happened to most of those people. In the context of this giant book, these short pieces also break things up nicely, adding to the whole again.
The Dance of Lifey Death: This one has shorter pieces and longer pieces, but deep down it seems to mostly be about mortality. Again, this one hit me too squarely back in the day to have an objective opinion about it now, and it remains one of those important pieces of literature that people should just fucking read already. We’re all heading for the grave eventually, might as well enjoy the dance along the way.
After the Snooter: This is all the new “Alec” stuff he was doing in the back pages of Bacchus, right around when he was running out of old material to reprint. Ah, Bacchus, I hope the rumors are true and Top Shelf is giving that series this same treatment. It’s a bit scattered, as a big story doesn’t seem to have been the idea, but The Snooter is a fascinating concept for a character and several bits had me laughing out loud. Just to be clear, that’s a rarity when I’m reading most comics (sadly), and portions of this entire book had me laughing quite a bit.
The Years Have Pants: Finally got around to the new stuff! OK, let’s say you’ve already read all of his stuff, have nice copies of it all and don’t see the point in spending $35 (for a softcover) for this book. Is it worth it for 40ish pages of new material? Well, you’re already leaving out the new pages that dropped in here and there, and the shorter sections I skipped over with stuff that you’ve almost certainly never seen from various comics, but let’s stick with that complaint. Is it worth it for this bit of new stuff? Drum roll please… of course it is! What did you think I was going to say? If it was terrible I’d say you should buy it just to give this man (and the fine folks at Top Shelf) some cash. It’s not terrible. Far, far from it. For one thing, all those children from past stories are all grown up, so this is the perfect ending for the volume. There are still plenty of genuine insights (I enjoyed the bit where he says he can’t even imagine being like his King Canute days and waking up on random floors at his age), funny bits and emotional moments. It’s the perfect cap to the perfect book. Look, at this exact moment it’s snowing and miserable out here. This is the perfect book for days like this. Granted, maybe not so much for taking to the beach because it5’s a brick of a book at 64oish pages and maybe you don’t want to carry it to the beach, but it ‘s perfect for many other settings. Buy it and you absolutely won’t be disappointed. $35
Dinski,Will – Fingerprints
I have a list of people making mini comics who should really have been published by now (well, not a literal list, but I could rattle some names off the top of my head pretty easily), and Will Dinski has long been one of those names. His “Habitual Entertainment” series, “An Endorsement of Smoking” and some other shorties have long had me wondering why none of the “big” small press publishers have gobbled him up yet. Well, the wait is over, as Top Shelf turns out to be the smart ones of the group. In this gorgeous graphic novel Will tells the story of a plastic surgeon, a female actor that he has basically completely remade (and she’s almost JUST RIGHT), the surgeon’s assistant and a closeted gay male movie star. Oh, and the aging wife of the surgeon, can’t forget her. We get to see these mostly soulless people in all their glory, and our “hero” the surgeon has the world by the tail before his assistant starts her own practice with a revolutionary new invention: a helmet you can put on to change your features into one of the two previously mentioned stars. The order of the plastic surgery universe is turned on its head, but gosh, that invention sure did come about awfully quick, and who knows what the side effects will be? Anybody who has seen Will’s work knows that it’s damned near flawless, and this time you get that quality alongside a full color package. He says plenty about the culture’s obsession of youth and beauty over common sense, but it never gets to a the preachy obnoxiousness which would have been so very justified. He even manages to be funny! I often say that books are worth a look, but your buying this one will probably help convince Top Shelf that he deserves more graphic novels as well, which will lead to more wonderful books like this one about any number of topics that are undoubtedly floating around Will’s brain. Think of a purchase of this book as a step towards the artistic development of one of the more gifted artists around and do your small press civic duty! $14.95 Oh, and “duty” probably comes across too strong, as that implies it’s more a chore than anything else. Not so! But if you wonder why there aren’t more quality comic options available, supporting a book like this will only increase those choices in the future. I’m having trouble thinking of a single thing wrong with that…
Mitchell, Brian John – XO #6 (with Melissa Spence Gardner)
XO #6
It feels like I haven’t reviewed an issue of XO in ages. Granted, that certainly isn’t Brian’s fault, as he continues to crank out these minis at a ridiculous pace. Luckily he’s more than smart enough to put a recap on the first page, so people with spotty memories like me have a chance to get caught up. In the last issue there was the small matter of a murder and what to do with the body, so this issue takes care of all that. It’s less suspenseful than you might think, as the main character is given an address to take the body and goes on his merry way. Nobody seems to suspect anything, our hero gets cover at his work so nothing is out of the ordinary, and all he has to do is take a 12 hour drive down to Miami. Oh, and did I mention that our hero is 16 and has never left the area? After all the murders of the first few issues this one was downright serene, as the narrator contemplates the fact that he could now never become a writer (writers have to write what they know, and he can never risk news of the murder getting out) and wonders what other career he could come up with. By the end of the issue he has a pretty good idea, but why spoil that for you? In case people see the vast body of work that Brian has put out over the last couple of years and want to try something but don’t know where to start, I’m going to suggest going for a full series instead of getting one or two issues of everything. In the mood for a fantastic western revenge story? Get Just A Man. Like to read about failed relationships, or at least relationships that left serious emotional scars? Lost Kisses is for you. How about creepy government paranoia and parasitical invasion? Worms, my good chap (or chapette). Or, if “in over his head but still preternaturally calm about it”, why not try XO? $5 gets you pretty much any of the series I mentioned, and who doesn’t have $5 stashed away somewhere for good comics? $1
