McKenna, Dave – Kozmowstraduh #4

October 24, 2010

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Kozmowstraduh #4

Looks like Dave has abandoned any kind of spelling consistency on his title, and as long as he keeps making comics as thoroughly entertaining as this one I couldn’t care less.  There are times when I just want to say a comic was frickin’ awesome and leave it at that, and this is one of those times. This is a wordless mini involving a half-naked young woman living in a savage land. She is attacked by a terrifying creature, escapes briefly before being attacked by a Jim Woodring fever dream.   Yes, I know that Jim Woodring doesn’t own the trademark to all odd characters, but it’s hard not to think about him when things get really out there, and I hope it’s obvious that I mean that as the highest form of compliment possible. A mysterious stranger helps her out, they are attacked by an even stranger cast of characters, and the chase is on.  I’d love to ruin the rest of the comic, but my “no spoilers” policy is holding me back.  If I had some kind of “star” ratings system for these reviews this one would have 80, which is why I don’t have a rating system of any kind; I’m too prone to hyperbole.  Still, this is one ridiculously entertaining comic, and if you’ve heard about this Dave McKenna fella in the past and don’t know where to start checking out his stuff, start with this one.  If you don’t like this there’s no point in going on to the rest of his comics, or any other comics, or life in general.  See what I mean about being prone to hyperbole?  And all this for a measly $1!

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Posted by Kevin

McKenna, Dave – Cosmo Straighter #3

August 6, 2010

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Cosmo Straighter #3

Do you have an encyclopedic knowledge of all past small press comics stories and creators, no matter which anthology said stories appeared in?  If so, you’re going to find this issue of Cosmo Straighter (I love how Dave just gave up completely on keeping any kind of uniform spelling of the title) a bit disappointing.  There are four stories in here, two of which have already been collected (in Mauled #1 and Legal Action Comics Volume 2.  And, really, those are the big ones, with the other pieces being only a page long, and I even ruined that a bit by using one of them for the sample.  The other page defies description, so I’ll leave it as a surprise for people who find this comic.  Still, if you haven’t read those two anthologies mentioned, or even if you have and have forgotten them, the two big stories in here are fantastic.  First up is “Meet Komo…”, the story of Sharon Stone using her influence to get her husband in to see a komodo dragon at a zoo and him needing major reconstructive surgery when all was said and done.  Pop culture stuff like that often flies right out of my brain, and I had forgotten all about that incident and the mockery that followed.  The other story is one I remember clearly from Legal Action Comics Volume 2, and it deals with the “real life” story of an actress who was hired to deal with a real life King Kong in the 30’s… sort of.  If you haven’t seen it, again, there’s no sense in me spoiling the surprise.  And as those two anthologies mentioned came out many years ago, maybe you haven’t seen anything here and it’s all new to you, in which case you should buy it immediately.  If nothing else you get that cover out of the deal, and you really need to embiggen that image and soak it all in.  And if you can’t find a copy of this anywhere, at least it’ll be available in this rental scheme I’m working on… $1

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Posted by Kevin

Mauled Anthologies – Mauled #3

April 27, 2010

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Mauled! #3

And this behemoth of a page just keeps getting bigger and bigger. One of these days I’ll pare it down, etc. etc. excuses excuses. So, once again, you can see that cover, right? You already read the first two issues of this series and chances are that you’ve been waiting for more for quite a while, and here it is! A few of the artists involved: Stan Yan, Josh Frankel, Lonnie Allen, Peter S. Conrad, Fredo, Jenny Gonzalez, Kate Allen, Adam Suerte, and Dave McKenna, among many others. What sorts of tragedies at sea are they talking about exactly? You have snapping sea turtles, a giant eel, various shark attacks, a whale trying to jump over a boat, horrible storms, and at least one swordfish living up to its name. Great fun to be had here as always, although I was less than impressed with the stories that were told in poetry form. I’m here for the mayhem dammit, not iambic pentameter! $4.50, please keep buying these so they keep making them, next up is “Mauled by Machines”… Website

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Posted by Kevin

Mauled Anthologies – Mauled #2

April 27, 2010

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Mauled! #2

There’s very little reason for me to write a review after you get a good look at that cover. You either think the idea is morbidly hilarious or you don’t. Well, in case you need any convincing at all, I’ll tell you what’s in here. There’s a woman who has a scalpel in her chest cavity, a man who loses a leg through prolonged incompetence, a small boy who loses his penis at an early age, and more stories about people screwed out of their rightful piles of malpractice money because of all those “anti frivolous lawsuits” bills that the Republicans have been passing for years than you can shake a stick at. That’s a long sentence, take a breath and read over it to make sure it made sense. Good? Good. If I could make a suggestion, I think the next one should be about people who put a variety of things in electrical outlets. Come on, we know the stories are out there! Here’s the talent that I knew: Neil Kleid, Mike Dawson, K. Thor Jensen, and Dave McKenna. Good stuff all around, it’s $3.75, send an e-mail!

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Posted by Kevin

Mauled Anthologies – Mauled #1

April 27, 2010

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Mauled! #1

In case you can’t read the cover, it says “True Stories of People Attacked at the Zoo”. With that being said, how much convincing could you possibly need to check this out? Here’s a partial list of the people involved: Danny Hellman, Jenny Gonzalez, Dave McKenna, K. Thor Jensen, and Brian Musikoff. Those are just the people who are already on this site, but there are all kinds of stories in here of very stupid people being mauled by animals who have every right to take a chunk out of them, as far as I’m concerned. Let’s see, what animals are involved: monkeys, a polar bear, an elephant, tigers, and a panther, among other things. I love stuff like this, so if you don’t feel the same way, you probably shouldn’t bother to check it out. If you do like this stuff, you can get copies through Brian for $3.95.

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Posted by Kevin

McKenna, Dave – Kosmostraitor #2

April 24, 2010

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Kosmostraitor #2 Now Available! $2

Hm. He seems to have forgotten how to spell the name of his comic, or maybe he just didn’t notice. Whatever the case, the main story in here is fantastic. It’s about some giant monsters who begin fighting in a city landscape, when suddenly the zippers get loose, some giant people come out of the costumes… and they start screwing like mad. Great stuff, as it just kept getting more and more over the top. Some graphic stuff in here, so don’t buy this for a nephew or anything. The bits in the beginning and end were kind of throw-away stuff. Not particularly bad, just not that great compared to the phenomenal main story. Contact info is up there, monkeys come free with a comic…

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Posted by Kevin

McKenna, Dave – Kosmostrator #1

April 24, 2010

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Kosmostrator #1 Now Available! $2

Here’s a pretty good random mini I picked up at SPX. Three stories in this one. The first is by far the best of the bunch, a break-neck retelling of, um, a blimp fight. Great stuff, worth the price ($2) right there. Then there’s the story of a movie shoot where a robotic dinosaur comes alive and starts killing people. Hey, I don’t know how you could possibly go wrong with a good robotic dinosaur fight. Then there’s “Secret Pornographer”, and I don’t get it. Maybe that ending will make sense to me at 3 in the morning tonight, in which case I’ll be sure to update the site again with my revised opinion, but right now it didn’t do much for me. Had to hunt down the contact info, as there was nothing in the book, but here’s an e-mail address. Check it out, it’s worth it.

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Posted by Kevin