Auman, Chris – Woodrow Comics #2

July 8, 2026

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Woodrow Comics #2

Let’s call this review an object lesson in why you should never trust the opinion of a reviewer. Go back and read the review for the first issue of this series, if you haven’t already. If you can’t be bothered, fine: I loved it, legitimately laughed out loud several times, and was eager to see more. So here I am, roughly three months later, seeing more, and my general thoughts on this one were… meh. Still some funny parts, but the whole thing seemed like more of a chore, which was not at all my experience from the first issue. And, since both issues are pulled from the same era of Chris’s comics (and since they both really need to be read together), it’s ridiculous to think that the quality changed much at all so, once again, that just leaves me as the dummy. I can live with that! Oh, I still haven’t given any synopsis of this. Basically think of Spinal Tap and you at least get the seed of the idea; Chris and a friend were bored in high school and made up a fake band with dozens of albums, all released in a comically short period of time (also with comically short album lengths compared to the amount of songs). There’s also an extended fake interview and even a few comics, all of which made me at least smile, so I honestly can’t tell you why there’s a disconnect in my head on this compared to the first issue. If you liked the first issue I do think that you’ll also enjoy this one, and I even included a link to buy both of them in a package deal (for $7 instead of the $6 for a single issue). Maybe somewhere down the line I’ll read these together just to see what’s wrong with my brain, but this is as clear of an example that I could present showing that my problem with a comic is me, with absolutely nothing to do with the comic. They were made at the same time, for the love of all that’s holy! $6 (or $7 for the pair of them)

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Posted by Kevin

Auman, Chris – Woodrow Comics #1

April 20, 2026

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Woodrow Comics #1

One thing I’ve been happy to see as I get older (and older, and older) is people who put out mini comics 30-40 years ago either jumping back into the game or republishing their old material. And, honestly, since a lot of that old material was sold in one or two shops at the time (with little or no internet available) and had print runs of maybe 50 copies, it’s likely to be new to the vast majority of people who see it now. Woodrow Comics was started by Chris and a friend who were bored in high school in the late 80’s, to give you some idea of the origins of this material. Specifically they were bored in a “just say no” school conference, that infamous attempt to keep kids off of drugs that more often than not just explained to kids how the various drugs were likely to make them feel. So Chris and his friend made up a fake band, then fell in love with the concept and made up all kinds of fake albums, songs, band history, all of that stuff. He put the original comics out in 1995 (and, hilariously, puts some old reviews in the back; Terry Laban was actually a fan), they didn’t exactly make much of a splash, but he always liked them, so he cleaned the art up a bit and re-released them. There’s a fair amount of funny stuff in here if you have any experience with punk bands and/or Spinal Tap-like band parodies (30 songs on a 10 minute album got an audible chuckle out of me). Most of the book is descriptions of some of their albums, descriptions of them and a few songs from each, but there’s also an ad from the band for a bong cleaner, a few comic strips, and even a fake interview with them. Check out the sample page, that should give you some idea of whether or not this is your type of humor. Me, I laughed several times, so yeah, I’d say this is worth a look. $6 (or, as of this review, $7 for issue #1 & 2)

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Auman, Chris – Maps

September 2, 2025

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Maps

Generally speaking, there are two types of people who read books with maps heavily featured in them. There’s the type who obsess over the details and gladly call out the author if the movements they describe wouldn’t make any sense in their own maps (hello Game of Thrones!) and the readers who ignore the maps. Chris, as he makes very clear in his introduction, is the former type, even going so far as to say that he’ll read books specifically because they have maps in them. This comic is a natural outgrowth of that obsession (and a companion to his Cities comic). Maps let you wonder what life would be like on different sections, where (if it’s not accompanied by a global map) they could be placed on a planet, what the environment might be like, etc. The sample image gives the game away a bit, but the rest of the comic is close-up images of different sections of the map, and it wouldn’t make much sense to use one of those images with no context. This is one of those cases where whether or not you should check out this comic is a simple question. Are you obsessed by, or at least interested in, maps and speculating about what might be going on in there? Or do you ignore the maps? Folks who are the former type, come on down! Probably should go ahead and get the set of this along with Cities so you have full context too. $6

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Posted by Kevin

Auman, Chris – Cities

July 22, 2025

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Cities

Cities! We all live in them (probably). This comic contains some of Chris’s ideas for what cities could be, or at least where they could be; he also has a lengthy introduction where he speculates on what could be going on in these cities, but since they exist in worlds that we can’t get to yet, it’s hard to say much for sure. This is a silent comic (after that introduction) with titles for what type of cities are depicted on these two page spreads, and since it’s silent it’s once again one of those things where I’d be giving away the comic if I said too much about what types of cities are depicted. There are some solid ideas in here (and some ideas that will almost certainly come true if humanity is going to survive all of the climate change going on), and if you’re the type with a solid imagination, you’re absolutely going to take a few minutes out of your day to wonder what a city in a tree would actually be like. Oops, I gave away one of the cities! Anyway, this is a fun (and occasionally gorgeous) comic, so give it a shot why don’t you? Especially if you’ve read some of his other comics and enjoyed them. Eh, you know how comics work by now right? $6

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Auman, Chris – Cassetty

December 31, 2024

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Cassetty

Oh, the audio history that young folks will get from reading this. Quick, what’s the first method you consciously used to listen to music? If you’re roughly my age it’s a cassette, although CDs were right around the corner from that. If you’re born any time after 2000, it’s a safe bet that no physical media of any kind was involved. Well, dig into the history of the various options, and have yourself a few laughs while doing it. There are several stories in here, all involving our good old pal Cassetty. He stops by a bar where he runs into friends and enemies of various media types (including an LP who’s very happy about the recent trend of people using records again, some CDs and an old eight track that introduces him to some even older formats). And his l’il unknown child which is, of course, a micro cassette. Other stories include Cassetty going on a rampage in Chicago (since Chris lives in Chicago, this seems like it was probably cathartic for him), a double page spread of his dreams, more evidence of his rage towards CDs, his most humiliating moments and his hazy times during the peak of his popularity in the 80’s. Finally he really digs into some of the oldest obsolete formats, including a few I’d never heard of, along with some solid reasons as to why they didn’t make it. I’ll always have a soft spot for cassettes, even if they are objectively inferior to other formats, so watching this little man going on a rampage or two was a blast. If you don’t have that same sentimental attachment, that’s OK too, as you’ll learn a whole lot reading this comic. And there’s violence, so what else could you ask for? $7.50

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Posted by Kevin

Auman, Chris – The Flaming Skull of Death

September 24, 2024

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The Flaming Skull of Death

True confession time: when there’s a code to be broken in a comic, even when the creator is nice enough to put the key to it on the inside back cover (like Chris did), I rarely if ever bother to crack it. Comics shouldn’t be work, is my general theory, but to each their own! Plenty of people would love to crack codes in their comics. I mention this because several key plot points of this one are in code, so buyer beware. Or buyer enjoy! It all depends on your preference. But then, you may ask, why am I bothering to review this, especially when Chris was nice enough to send me a few of his comics to choose from? Well, have you seen that title? It is mandatory for me to review any comic with a title that awesome. So what’s the comic about, except for the page that I didn’t translate, but believe it or not I did translate the rest of it? Jonas (after a wonderful page of a warning to the reader that what follows would be terrifying) is invited to his uncle’s castle. The message is cryptic, and references a code that his uncle was unable to decipher. He went along with it out of familiar duty, but the castle unnerved Jonas, seemingly more every time he visited. He decided to read the message that his uncle had left for him in the castle, which I glossed over, because it’s a full page of code, life is short and I am lazy. From there the skull appears and delivers his warning, which I DID translate, and which led to a chase scene. The rest of it is up to you, gentle reader, because I’m not spoiling the whole thing. It’s a fun book, even with me only having the vaguest idea of what a seemingly critical page says, with a solid ending. $6.50

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Posted by Kevin