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Porcellino, John – King Cat #79

King Cat #79
30 years! This is the 30th anniversary of King Cat, and it’s yet another great issue. It’s packed with nostalgia, exactly as a 30th anniversary issue should be, and a fair chunk of it is relevant to me on a personal level, so I’ll most likely do my best to keep myself out of it and fail completely. Anyway! I put John’s comic origin story as the sample page, for those of you who are curious. I went to Record Service (in Champaign Illinois) dozens of times myself, but my comics origin story was at a different location… dammit. Didn’t take long to mention my own stuff, did it? Maybe I should stick to saying what the comic is about. Stories in this one deal with his time camping with the cub scouts (and the inevitability of his getting the worst burger when it was his turn), several stories about his time in school with the science club and their many field trips, a few illustrated poems, his patented (but not really) top 40 list, letters from readers, the story of his tamed squirrel and her kids, an old story about the kindness of his grandfather, and the mystery of the gravity hill. Look it up, it’s damned odd! Other bits in here include a story about John from Gabrielle Bell (who you already know if you know anything about comics) and an epilogue to his comics origin story that was somehow both inevitable and shocking. I know, I didn’t think it was possible for a thing to be both either! John also mentioned a couple of times that he’s planning on retiring in the near future. I really, REALLY hope he’s just talking about Spit and a Half and not King Cat as well, but 30 years is a long time to do anything. Speaking of his comics distro service, I just placed a big old order with them in case he closes up shop suddenly (and because I got a raise recently, and what else would I spend that money on but comics?), and I’d highly recommend that y’all do that too. A number of items were sold out, so get what you can while you can. As far as recommendations go, of course you should read it! It’s an issue of King Cat. Always get the new King Cat! $5

Various Alternative Comics anthologies – Hi-Horse Omnibus
I might have a different criteria for a good anthology than most people. When I get an anthology, I get it to check out work from a lot of different people at once. Therefore, as long as the vast majority of them aren’t actively bad, I usually feel like it was a good anthology. Well, there wasn’t a single bad story in this, so mission accomplished. Lots of familiar names in this (Cole Johnson, Zack Soto, Dan Zettwoch, Jesse Reklaw, Thien Pham, HOB, Damien Jay, Gabrielle Bell) and some unfamiliar names (Howard John Arey, Ellen Lindner, Andrice Arp), which is always a good thing. More than a few of those people are getting e-mails from me to see if they want to be in the distro, in case you were wondering. There’s no theme here, which is also a good thing, and stories include a young girl reluctantly spending time with her father, a man trying to find a working bathroom, a cute pug, getting sucked into the television, dating literal monsters, a stranded pirate rhymer, giant babies taking over the world, and how horrible it is to quit smoking. Great stuff in here all around and it’s only $11.95, well worth a look. Here’s the Alternative Comics website, or just click on the title if you’re feeling spendy…
Bell, Gabrielle – Lucky 2.5
Lucky 2.5
In case you’re wondering, this is #2.5 because she lost her sketchbook (which had #2 in it) at an airport and was never able to find it. So if you’re ever in San Francisco airport, stop by the lost and found, see if you can find a sketchbook. This one is about a few random things, like how she lost the sketchbook and tried to get it back, how she sold some comics on the street and how she tried a yoga class. It was mostly just the retelling of a couple of days in her life (I think), with those being the “big” moments. I’ve said it before, I like her work a lot. This mini looks a bit sloppier than her other stuff, or I’m being too picky, but it’s just shaky line panels here and there, nothing serious. And I saw at the Alternative Comics table (and it’s a good thing I got there late in the day, because I probably would have spent all my cash there if I had the chance) that she has a ton of minis, so anybody who’s interested could do a lot worse than to send her a bunch of cash for some books. E-mail her for a listing, I think this one was a couple of bucks…
Bell, Gabrielle – When I’m Old and Other Stories
When I’m Old And Other Stories
Hooray for a big collection of her work! I think I gave away the fact in my last review that I love her comics, but I hadn’t seen very many of them. Problem solved! A few of the stories were in her other book that I read, but overall this was a bunch of new stuff. It’s a bargain at $12.95 too, but you probably want some sort of description before you buy it… OK. There’s a short story about the best babysitter in the world, a lot of one page stories about a girl with different trophy boyfriends, a suicidal kid, Gabrielle growing to giant size, a story about figuring out the human heart, and plenty of other stuff. The fascinating thing about her stories for me is that you’re never quite sure if it’s autobiographical or not, so you kind of have to take everything as a combination of both, or perhaps just her interpretation of real events. Fantastic, vivid writing along with some of the best facial expressions I’ve ever seen, I really can’t recommend her stuff enough. Buy it!
Bell, Gabrielle – Book of Black
Book of Black
Just so you know, I loved this book. It gets my highest recommendation, for whatever that’s worth to you out there. It’s loosely based on the film “Repulsion” by Roman Polanski, and there’s a part one out there somewhere because this was the second half. It’s about a young girl who is finally released from a prison for girls and is living with a popular girl, and she liked her existence. Nothing much happened, and that was fine with her. Things gradually began to change with her roommate leaving town for the weekend and the unwanted attentions of a guy on the street. It’s fascinating to watch the transformation of the character, to watch her try just a little to make a human connection but not to know how to do it. I haven’t seen Repulsion for a while, but I know she made this story a little more modern, seeing as how Trent Reznor is in it. I hope that didn’t turn anybody off who hates the guy, because he has very little impact on the story. Anyway, great stuff. It takes a hell of a story for me to ignore my nitpicky nature and barely even notice little things like misspellings and “your” instead of “you’re” here and there. Hey, I didn’t say it was right, I’m just saying that that kind of crap has the potential to push a so-so book into bad territory for me. Maybe you should get part one (it’s called Book of Insomnia) first though. E-mail her to see what she has available or just send her money (I’m guessing these are $3 but I have nothing at all to base that on) at: 3288 21st Street #217 San Francisco, CA 99110.