Taylor, Dan W. (editor) – Time Warp Comix #8

June 1, 2010

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Time Warp Comix #8 Now Available!  $.50

This comic immediately passed one important test for me, and probably only for me: it was tough to pick out only one sample to use, and for an 8 page book that ain’t bad.  It’s a quick blast of a comic with nothing lasting more than a page, with the usual cast of characters.  Artists, that is.  There’s Richard Krauss with the sampled strip below (I just love that constantly widening perspective), Jim Siergey with the legally required strip with the bad puns, Bob Vojtko (how do you pronounce that name anyway?  I’ll bet he’s long since tired of answering that question) has the dark side of the nursing home, and Bill Shut closes the book with a bizarrely wonderful drawing.  Dan Taylor gets 4 pages, as he is the one who puts all this together, dealing with buying a comic he used to read as a kid and marveling at the technical changes, the realities of putting out a physical comic versus counting hits on a website, and another age joke at his expense.   It’s another solid, tiny, cheap collection of strips, so why won’t you buy it already?  $.50


Taylor, Dan (editor) – Time Warp Comix #5

April 26, 2010

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Time Warp Comix #5 Now Available! $.75

This is easily the best “you damned kids, get off my lawn!” comic I’ve ever read, and it manages that feat while being a tiny thing.  The tone is set right away with the cover, then there’s a one page story by George Erling (which doesn’t have anything to do with the theme I mentioned but is still a fun shortie), then there’s the gem of the book.  Jim Siergey details the origins of mini comics, including things I’d never heard of, and I like to think I’ve at least kept up with this sort of thing.  After two solid pages of learning, Jim goes off the rails with a delightful rant about how young cartoonists reading this aren’t going to learn anything anyway as “history to this generation is what happened 10 minutes ago”.  Brilliant, and sadly true.  Bob Vojtko has a one page story up next about how conventions have changed in the last 30 years, and the book is rounded off by David Miller and his 8 tracks.  Not a single thing to complain about here, the whole thing is just good clean fun.


Taylor, Dan (editor) – Time Warp Comix #4

April 26, 2010

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Time Warp Comix #4 Now Available! $.75

Here’s another anthology by Dan and some of the “old school” mini comics guys. Things this tiny (an 8 page mini) generally defy any sort of detailed analysis, but let me make one request to Dan: please list the contributors somewhere in the book. You’re killing all my street cred of being some sort of a mini comics expert (and I hope nobody thinks that anyway) when I can’t place Strauss, Vojtko and D. Miller. Anyway, there are some funny stories in here. D. Miller has a great two pager about a baby getting the hang of things, Vojtko has a funny piece about an old retired mini comic artist, and Krauss does a good job of taking some whippersnappers apart when their questions get too personal. All told, it’s well worth a look if you like old, cranky cartoonists who still have a sense of humor.


Taylor, Dan (editor) – Time Warp Comix #1

April 26, 2010

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Time Warp Comix #1 Now Available! $.75

It’s sad that it’s just now occurring to me that I should have read this series in order.  Oh well, live and learn.  And forget, and repeat the same mistakes.  This is the issue where Dan explains his plans for this series, basically that he’ll put out the 8 page comic every time he has enough art to fill it.  It started out as a tribute of sorts to Clay Geerdes, someone who was active in the 70’s and 80’s and was instrumental in getting the word out about all kinds of mini comics.  The first story (by Jim Valentino) in here tells the story of Clay for those of us who are culturally illiterate as to how the mini comics “movement” started.  There’s only one other piece in here, a two pager by Bob Vojtko of two old geezers pining away for the old days when they could make mini comics.  The love for Clay is palpable here, it makes me wish I had actually seen something from the guy.  Actually, chances are that in the piles of minis around my house there must be something with work from the guy in it, but I have no idea where that would be.  Kids, you should read stuff like this, get a little sense of history.  And for those of you old enough to remember the early, early days of mini comics, well, a little nostalgia never hurt anybody, right?


Krauss, Richard – Midnight Fiction 2008 Desk Calendar

April 24, 2010

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Midnight Fiction 2008 Desk Calendar Now Available! $6

The contributors: Sean Azzopardi, Scott Ball, Hunt Emerson, Brad W. Foster, Allen Freeman, Richard Krauss, DC McNamara, John Porcellino, Bill Shut, Jim Siergey, Dan W. Taylor, Bob Vojtko, and Steve Willis. In case you’re wondering how this thing work, it’s beautiful in its simplicity. These are individual pages inside of a CD case, so all you have to do is flip the CD lid over backwards and you have an easy stand for your desk calendar. So instead of Dilbert or some other crap in your office cubicle, you can show the world how cool you really are with a calendar full of small press art. It starts with November of this year (2007), so you get a couple of bonus months with your calendar.