May 16, 2018
Website
His website about mascots
Spaboon #1
Any questions you might have had about that title were taken care of on the cover: Spaboon is half spoon and half baboon. What more do you need to know? Plenty, as it turns out, but have no fear, this comic will answer all of your questions! Except maybe for how he came into being, but if we’re lucky #2 will be an origin story. This comic seems to have come about because of Chris’s fascination with mascots (I included a link to his website about mascots because it’s amazing) and it tells the story of Spaboon after he is fired from his job as the mascot of a large corporation. They merged with another company and decided to stick with the other mascot, a large capsule named Capsuro. Spaboon runs into him as he’s getting fired, a brawl ensues, and some local protesters mistake this fight as a sign that Spaboon is on their side in protesting this corporation. Plans are hatched, Spaboon is introduced to drugs, and a raid is conducted at a testing facility. This goes extremely poorly, but we do get to see a lab with some rejected mascots in it. I’ll leave the rest of the story to the readers, because I’m assuming I had most of you at “half spoon, half baboon.” It’s funny and disturbing, with just a dash of social commentary thrown in here and there. Me, I’m just hoping this is the first of many comics about mascots, either entirely centered on Spaboon or each featuring different mascots. There are so many to choose from, not the mention the horrors that could be made up entirely. $5
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Reviews | Tagged: Chris Carlier, Spaboon | 
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Posted by Kevin
October 26, 2015
Website
In The Crapper
Oh, the life of a bathroom attendant. If you’ve ever seen one in real life (or even in a movie), chances are you’ve thought about what life must be like for them, how they ever ended up in such a job. Well, this one doesn’t get into any kind of an origin story, but it does paint a grim picture of what life is like for one fictional bathroom attendant. If you’ve never even heard of such a thing, the cover does a good job of showing the basics. It’s one gentleman, impeccably dressed, who’s on hand to offer towels, mints, and cologne after you finish doing your business. Ladies, is this a thing for you too, or does this only happen in upscale men’s rooms? Just curious. Anyway, the list of rules for our hero is simple, and mostly involve keeping everything stocked and clean. There’s also the frankly inhuman rule preventing him from using that bathroom, instead forcing him to use the employee bathroom. While also never leaving his bathroom unattended. Yeah, it does seem specifically designed to break the guy. Anyway, he puts up with all sorts of indignities throughout the day, only getting through it via his rich (if disturbing) fantasy life. It’s a darkly hilarious book, and if nothing else reading this should guarantee that you leave a tip for the poor guy if you ever see one of these attendants in real life. Their life is hard enough already, the least you could do is throw a few coins onto their tip plate/jar. $5
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Posted by Kevin
June 19, 2015
Website
Cringe
Quick, think of the most embarrassing thing that’s ever happened to you. Now imagine yourself writing and drawing a comic story about it. That right there should make you cringe, which means you’re in luck, as that’s what this anthology is all about! This book has right around 30 small press artists, some new and some who have been around for awhile, who are willing to share some shameful incident from their past. I don’t think anything in here will get anybody put in jail, but it’s hard not to cringe while reading some of these. I’m not going to review every story because there are so damned many of them (and for a measly $8!), but the highlights include Shaenon K. Garrity wetting herself while out with a group of other cartoonists (including a big name guy, but I won’t spoil the surprise; I particularly loved the way she ended her strip), Sam Spina’s unfortunate method for drinking a rum shot when he met the Bacardi girls, Adam Pasion’s particularly gruesome retelling of an incident involving a finger in the eye, Geoff Vasile dodging a bullet (not literally), Chad Essley and his series of embarrassing moments (hard to top the one where he volunteered to breakdance at school on stage), Fred Noland’s theories on some crayons he used to own, Chad Woody and his racist former roommate, Box Brown and his former habit of eating light bulbs (it’s not quite as life-threatening as it sounds), Stephen Notley and his experience of being “that guy” at a comic convention (you know the one, the guy who gets up to ask a rambling and pointless question and has no idea how to get out of it once he gets started), and Sam Henderson’s experiences with having seizures while surrounded by strangers. It’s a damned fine mix of stories, and at a ridiculously cheap price. Save yourself the embarrassment of not owing this anthology of embarrassment! Ugh, I feel dirty for saying that. I’ll let myself out… $8
Leave a Comment » | Reviews | Tagged: Adam Pasion, Alan King, Andrew Farago, Box Brown, Cara Bean, Chad Essley, Chad Woody, Chris Carlier, Cringe, Danny Hellman, Delaine Derry Green, Elijah Brubaker, Fred Noland, Gabby Schulz, Geoff Vasile, J.T. Yost, Jamie Vayda, Jeffrey Brown, Jess Worby, John Kerschbaum, Julia Gfrorer, Lizz Lunney, Noah Van Sciver, Peter Conrad, Sam Henderson, Sam Spina, Shaenon Garrity, Stephen Notley, Steve Lafler, Victor Kerlow | Permalink
Posted by Kevin
