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Robertson, David (With Various Artists)- Dump #3

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Dump #3

RIP to Dump, as David says in the afterward that this is the last issue. But he is starting off another comics series and is going to put out the collected Berserkotron, so if you’re a fan you have nothing to fear. If you’re not a fan, why hello there, allow me to try to convince you that you’re missing out! This is a collection of stories, all written by David, with roughly 2/3 of them illustrated by David too and the other 1/3 illustrated by other artists. The final chapter of Dump and the experimental story “November” take up about half of this hefty comic, but I’ll get to those in a minute. Subjects of other stories include whether or not you give a fuck, the consequences of spying on people at 3am, an excellent closed loop of a nostalgic time travel story, running into the former most popular kid in high school many years after the fact, an orb, whether or not it is good to feel pain, that thing you sense in your room while you’re sleeping, being attracted to a random stranger on tv, the Bum Monster, dreaming of teeth, making a wish, playing the music festivals, the decline of sales of televisions and wishing to be enveloped by another human. That’s all suitably vague and enticing, right? Nothing to alarm anyone with possible spoilers. I thought the Dump story had a damned fine ending to the overall story, but my memory of continuing stories in comics that only come out every few years can be hazy, so who knows? It worked just fine on its own regardless. Finally there’s November, which is a collection of strips from November (duh) that I really wanted to like more than I did. Oh, I liked the content of them just fine; the one about his old cat, the Garfield parodies, being trapped in a car with a farter, how Do The Right Thing is just as relevant now as when it was released, etc. The problem is that all the strips were done in pencil (undoubtedly to make it easier to meet the requirements of a strip a day), which is just plain old uglier in collected form, especially compared against the other stories in the comic. Still, some slight aesthetic problem I have with it is no reason to scare anyone else away, as if you can get past that the actual strips in that section were thoroughly engaging. It’s a fine end to a fine series, and David really might want to consider giving this series the collected treatment too in a few years. In the meantime, enjoy the finale! $5

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Robertson, David (and various artists) – Dump #2

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Dump #2

Does this actually not say “#2” on the cover? No, I guess not. I had a few questions about various things in this one before I started (that cover, the abrupt ending of the Dump story) but David covered all that in his afterward, so never mind. This one starts with the second part (of three) of the “Dump” story, this time focusing on our hero as he gets more and more miserable at work, but he does finally meet somebody he can talk to and commiserate with. I love the little touch of the Garvo-Munchers, little horror shows of eyeballs and tentacles, amidst the generally mundane tone of the rest of the story. I’m looking forward to the finale of this one in the next issue, although he might want to put the whole story in one comic when it’s finished, considering the average attention span in this day and age (myself sadly included in that). The short pieces in here dealt with trying to remember the name of that one actor guy, a bicycle ride with a nice ending, overthinking things at a party, trying to come up with a good argument in favor of voting, coleslaw, appreciating what you have and an informal history of e-mail and the internet. Read that last part and feel old! Or bitter at the youngsters because they’ve always had the answer to every question in the world at their fingertips. The other big story in this one (it’s a pretty hefty comic) is David’s 24 hour comic. He starts with a brief history of the 24 hour comics, mentions how one of the rules is to go into such things without a plan, and ends up with a pretty damned compelling comic. He goes into detail about his own history, how he always wanted to do comics but ended up trying a bunch of different things because he couldn’t see a way for comics to be taken seriously. This is where the internet comes in, as the message board for The Comic’s Journal helped all kinds of people from all over the world (David is in Scotland) come together. 24 hour comics can be a bit of a mess, so it’s always nice to see one put together as well as this, especially considering the conditions involved in making such a thing. Read it and enjoy, as there’s plenty to like in here. Don’t let that innocuous cover scare you off!

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Robertson, David – Dump #1

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Dump #1

Because I’m going to be raving for the rest of the review, it’s best to get my one complaint out of the way now: how is it that something that’s this well put together doesn’t have any contact info?  I’m guessing that the website listed above is still David’s main website, as it does have many samples (including stories from this issue), but Berserkotron is prominently featured, not this comic.  Usually that would be enough to sour me on a book at least a little, but this comic is too awesome to bother with a little thing like that.   There are 10 pieces in this (as I mentioned) gorgeously produced comic.  Starting things off is a bit of behind the scenes from the first of the new Star Wars movies, as the Jedi council starts calling each other racists for their disdain for humans and their habit of dying a mere 70-100 years after they’re trained.  It’s funny stuff and David does an excellent job of portraying some of the faces on that panel… except for Yoda.  That is one brutally ugly Yoda.  Next up is Delhi Belly, about a young man who travels and comes back to discover he has Crohn’s disease.  It’s not meant to be funny, but the fact that it was originally included in an anthology of poop humor is funny all by itself.  Next up is a cautionary tale about pretzel makers and the value of getting your work done first.  If you ever wondered what was going on in the heads of the being involved in the UFO’s in Space Invaders, the next story will be perfect for you, war crimes and all.  The longest piece in the book is up next, as David takes the challenge to draw one panel for every hour of the day.  It’s a fascinating peek into his life, assuming that it’s all autobiographical, as he manages to make a perfectly mundane day amusing.  Oh, and spoiler alert: that baby is just a shrunken regular sized person.  Next is a thoroughly random piece for Narrative Corpse, which thrives on randomness, dealing with sea monkeys, a shark and a guided tour.  Then you have the brilliant piece I sampled below, followed by David’s ideas for what is going on in the head of various models who have posed in classes over the years.  Next is maybe my favorite piece in the book (and an excellent reason to visit that website, as it’s featured on the main page), as David imagines a conversation between a man trying to find an appropriate comic for his son and discovering that a comic with robots on the cover (which happens to be Berserkotron) is not necessarily something that’s meant for kids.  Finally we get to the title story, Dump, as we rejoin Bert Ainsley from Berserkotron looking for work.  Capping all of this comic wonderfulness off is another recap of how these stories came about and where (in some cases) they were originally printed, and a hilarious online discussion about some of the great books in comics and which ones are appropriate for children.  If Berserkotron left any convincing to be done, this issue has done it: this man is a serious comic talent.  Once he gets that Yoda down I don’t think anything in the world can stop him.  Price is 99p, to my American eyes that looks a little like $2 and, as an American, I am naturally too arrogant to double check.

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