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Vayda, Jamie (and Various writers) – Loud Comix #4

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Loud Comix #4

Oh Loud Comix, if only all anthologies could be as entertaining as you. As always with anthologies, some stories are better than others, but even the weaker bits at least have a few good lines and/or a great closer. Five stories this time around, all of them drawn by Jamie Vayda, which I wasn’t sure of but looked it up to make sure. Thanks internet! First up is a piece by Sonny Joe Harlan about a hardworking and hard rocking man who would work and then rock (on the weekends) to the point of exhaustion, and it was such a deep sleep that not much could get him out of it. He’d occasionally go to the bathroom and eat while still sleeping. Well, this is a story about a night when that went wrong, as otherwise why would there be a story at all? Next up is a story of a punk rock detective by Jack Grisham and a case of his involving finding a missing punk girl. Lest you think this gets all grim and serious, don’t worry, it does not, and it’s probably the most thoroughly entertaining piece of the bunch. Alan King is up next with Ugly Dennis, which isn’t really about Ugly Dennis, but that does make for a great title. Mostly it deals with a bootlegging ring the author had worked as a much younger man, the ridiculous amount of money he made at it and the adventures along the way. Jeff Clayton has the shortest piece next, dealing with something getting thrown on stage during a show and the effect that said item had on the set. Finally there’s a story about Danielle (written by Alan King with art by Jamie Vayda), about young love involving the author and a crazy lady. Which, as he points out, is the best kind of affair to have when you’re that age, when you have no idea what to expect next but don’t particularly care in the pills and booze haze. The author had been living in a situation where his family could have dropped by at any time (even though they hadn’t for months), and this story is all about that happening at the worst possible time. Still, that ending was amazing, and we should all be lucky enough to live through something like that. It’s a solid mix of stories, and it sounds like they already almost have enough stories for #5, so this will keep going strong for the immediate future. If you have any interest in tales of drunken/stoned punk rockers/rockers in general, you’re going to love this. $6

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Vayda, Jamie (and various writers) – Loud Comix #3

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Loud Comix #3

This comic is reminding me more and more of Real Stuff, a Fantagraphics series written by Dennis Eichorn in the early 90’s and featuring art from damned near anybody who was anybody in the independent comics scene. Kids, ask your parents, but if you can find that series, do it. The big difference is that Dennis wrote everything while getting Julie Doucet, Jim Woodring, Peter Bagge and everybody else to illustrate it, while Loud Comix is all drawn by Jamie Vayda but written by various writers, but with a loose theme: they were all in bands of some kind, and they all have a damned interesting/messed up story to tell. This one starts off with “The Time I Shit My Pants at a Motorhead Show” by Alan King. Granted, that title tells you a lot of what you need to know, but the story itself digs into how it happened, what happened after, and how it played into Alan’s plan to finally ask a lady Motorhead fan (who went to all the shows like him) on a date. “Cocaine Fueled” by Eric Perfect is a delightful reminder of the dangers of paranoia combined with a loaded weapon, especially an unfamiliar weapon where you’re not completely clear on the pressure needed to pull the trigger. “Satan’s Fantastic Knockers” by Joel Rivers is all about a desperate search for proof of Satanism when the Joel made the whole thing up to get a chance to see said knockers, but I’m not ruining that one for you and it all makes sense if you read it. Other stories include a couple of short pieces called “Roxy & Molly” (dealing with hookers chatting about their pimp and black history month) and a short snippet of a story that’s going to be continued in the next issue. In this one there was only time to see what looks like quite a provocation of biker gang, so it’ll by fun to see how all that shakes out. These comics have been pretty damned entertaining so far and Jamie seems to be keeping to a fairly regular schedule. Those regular schedules are generally easier to keep if people buy his comics, so you should do that and enjoy them. Unless profanity scares you, in which case I don’t know why you’re on this website or reading small press comics, but I’m not the boss of you. $6

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