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Messmer, Dragon – Skully Flower #3
Skully Flower #3
Yep, that title sums this right up. Dragon (yes, that is her real name) starts off with a thorough and engaging introduction, which should come in the “Comics 101” class, but enough people making continuing series don’t bother, so I like to point out the ones who do. Anyway, Skull Flower is still settling in, getting to know the local stuffed animals, when Hydra walks in on them all meditating. Hydra is the woman who rescued Skully from the graveyard, in case you haven’t been following this series. Hydra can’t maintain her concentration and ends up in front of the teevee, until eventually a ghost unplugs it to free them. Hydra can’t see said ghost (despite being voted “most psychic” in high school) and the rest of the issue deals with them all trying to figure out who the ghost is, what it wants and how they can help it. There was also a mix-up involving a missing panel that apparently wasn’t noticed until after the books were printed, but Dragon managed to get it into the book anyway so that the narrative flow isn’t interrupted. I thought that was a nice touch, seeing as how she could have panicked and thrown the whole thing away or just given up on comics altogether at that moment, so kudos to her for that. I suppose that seems like a silly thing to praise somebody for, but you’d be surprised how many comics make it to me with glaring errors that almost have to have been caught at some point in the process, yet there they are, still screwed up. It’s another fun book in her series, and it’s hard not to like something that features a stuffed animal that tries to cheer people up by hugging them. $5
Messmer, Dragon – Skullyflower #1
Skullyflower #1
I checked her website and yes, her real name is in fact “Dragon”. I believe she is legally obligated to make comics with that name, and as far as I can tell she’s off to an excellent start. Dragon sent me a pile of her conics, so this is the first of many that will be up on the site soon (even more if she holds to her promise in the letter to keep them coming). She describes the first two minis of this series as “really rough”, but I don’t see it. I’m guessing the art gets better, but it’s not like this issue looked terrible. Maybe a little short on backgrounds, but it held up really well as a weekly strip. Or at least it held up well as the kind of weekly strip I enjoy: the kind that’s just a serialized way to tell a story. There’s a punch line here or two (like in the sample image), but they’re mostly decent ending lines, and things bleed over to the next strip with a bare minimum of “here’s what happened in the last strip, and my telling you this will kill off at least 1/4 of the strip” kind of nonsense. Anyway, this is the story of Skullyflower, a talking flower with skull for a face. What else could it be? This creature is bored as can be living at the graveyard until a mourning woman finally talks to it and decides to take it home. Most of this comic is setting up Skullyflower and the main human character (Hydra), which is accomplished neatly in the walk home. Along the way we also meet her neighbor Frank (and I’m sure we’ll be hearing more about that guy along the way), hear about other neighbors, meet her two sock puppets and check out her house. This could go in any number of directions from here, but I enjoyed the beginning. The second issue looks like it follows the same format as the first, but the third issue looks much bigger and fancier. I’ll get reviews up in the coming weeks and find out for sure, but for now there’s a whole pile of free samples at her site, so you don’t have to rely on my opinion of such things to make up your own mind. $2
