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Barfology #1

So every once in a while I do one of these “here are some basics that I’m putting out there as a public service announcement” kind of reviews. I’ll get to the contents, obviously, but I’ve been doing this for 22ish years by now (I know, I can’t believe it either) and see the same basic errors pop up often enough that I figure they deserve a reminder every now and then. What’s the trouble with this anthology? Well, they do put a table of contents in the back, which is something some anthologies forget altogether, so they get points for that. But they forget to list the page numbers on the actual pages, so if, say, I’m trying to figure out which piece Lily Reyes or Brian Kennedy did, I have to go back and manually count the pages. That’s something I don’t have much patience for as a reviewer, so I can’t imagine the average reader has much more, especially in an anthology like this where several of the art styles are fairly similar. Basically in anthologies: ideally put the artist’s name somewhere highly visible on the page, if not you really need page numbers. OK, lecture over, and remember that it’s coming from a place of love. What’s this one about? As you may have guessed from the cover, wacky mayhem plays a big part in it. Several of the styles are very reminiscent of Ren & Stimpy (one piece even has them in it), so if you’re at all familiar you have a baseline. But it does wander on several occasions, giving it variety, which is the trickiest thing to manage for anthologies. Stories in here include an ice cream pun, finding the perfect way to defeat (legally not) Skeletor, trying everything to get lettuce out of your teeth, overthinking an outfit before going out, going too mainstream with music, giving too much to a beggar, making up a story about getting beat up to cover something embarrassing, a contemplative moment spotting somebody in the gym, and several more silent panels and gags. It’s pretty engaging overall, with a few low spots, as is almost always the case for anthologies. There’s also a QR code on the back with a link to their first animated show, which was also pretty funny. Check it out if you’re in the mood for mayhem! $10