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Roman, Dave (editor) – Life Meter #1

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Life Meter #1 (by Various Artists including Dave Roman) Now Available! $6

I’m guessing that most people reading this are between 20 and 45, and if that’s the case most of you have played video games on a fairly regular basis at some point in your life.  If you’re male you almost certainly grew up with them.  Yes, that may be a sweeping generalization, I’m just speaking of all the male friends I have.  This book is a collection of short pieces about video games, so that long winded intro was to tell those of you who have never played video games that you will be utterly lost reading this comic.  It even dealt with any concerns I’ve had about anthologies, as all the pages are numbered, there’s a table of contents and it even lists the video games on which these pieces are based.  Hey, I’m practically an expert on old video games and even I needed the occasional hint.  Stories in here include a day in the life of Frogger (by Dan Abdo), Debbie Huey’s take on the obsession of Toad from the Mario games, Faith Erin Hicks has a continuing series about a horny fangirl who is hiding out from zombies, Dave Roman shows us what’s inside the Moto Bug (in one of those pieces that flew right over my head), Jamie Dee Galey shows us the dangers of shaking trees, Phil McAndrew has a piece on Pac-Man commiseration, and Lea Hernandez tells us all about Mickey’s ghetto booty from Kingdom Hearts II.  There are also full page (or half page) comics about various assorted video games that’ll be better left as a surprise, but I have to mention the highlight of the comic: Jacob Chabot’s piece on Burger Time.  I don’t think you even need to have played the game to love this strip, as we are treated to an origin story of the chef from Burger Time and shown that a man with a spatula and a salt shaker can, in fact, be a bad ass.  If you don’t have some love in your heart for video games this comic probably won’t do a thing for you, but if you do it’s hard not to love it.

Galey, Jamie Dee – Monster Tales #1

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Monster Tales #1

What an awesomely pointless story.  This is the story of a creature who pushes a boulder up a hill, pauses for a second too long in satisfaction, and sees all his hard work ruined.  Seriously, that’s it, just a dozen panels or so of effort, followed by an excellent expression of surprise, then a moment of pure rage.  Um, spoiler alert.  Ah, what difference does it make?  It looks good and it’s fun.  I do have to admit to being incredibly curious what future issues of Monster Tales contained, assuming there were any future issues.  This is worth picking up if you find it (or if you wanted to get it through Poopsheet’s insane sale too), but I wouldn’t spend too much time seeking it out.  $1

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Galey, Jamie Dee – Pillow Talk #1

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Pillow Talk #1

Depending on your perspective, this comic is nothing like what you’re picturing.  If you’re just going with the cover image, you probably have it more or less right.  This is the story of a pillow who notices a bird in a tree and decides that they should be friends.  He climbs the tree (pillows climb trees in a shimmying motion, if you were curious) but the bird flies away.  The pillow is sad, but doesn’t have much time to dwell on it as he gets caught up in a broken tree branch and attacked by a murder of crows, and boy you never get a chance to use that term in casual conversation, do you?  The bird reconsiders when he hears the pillow calling for help (as the crows have carried him off and are picking him apart), and a monkey notices all the soft stuffing falling from the sky and tries to eat it.   There’s also a mysterious vine-like figure who talks to the severely damaged pillow where he lands and some reluctant assistance from the monkey, but I’ve given away too much already.  The book is a pile of fun and that’s what’s important.  The only problem is that the story comes to a screeching halt because it’s the first of a projected five issues, but I can’t find anything on his website (which is amazing, by the way) that indicates if there was ever a second issue, and this did come out way back in the dark ages of 2004.   I want to see what happens to the pillow, dammit!  If this is the whole story it’s a fun but maddeningly incomplete story.  If there are more issues then I recommend it unreservedly.  And I don’t usually plug upcoming projects for creators, but Jamie is working on a Batman versus Godzilla comic that has the potential to be one of the best things in the world.  He only has a half dozen pages or so up at his website now, but it’s something I’ll be keeping an eye on.  No price, but let’s call it $2.

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