Here’s a partial list of who’s in this: Jessica Abel, Joe Chiapetta, Jennifer Daydreamer, Fawn Gehweiler, Tom Hart, Megan Kelso, James Kochalka, Dave Lasky, Ted May, John Porcellino, Brian Ralph, Zak Sally, Jeff Zenick, Jenny Zervakis and Aleksander Zograf. There’s more, and I can’t believe that there’s no review for this anywhere on my site, as it’s really one of the best anthologies of all time, not that I’m biased or anything. It’s also from 1995, so it’s one of the early small press books that I read, so there’s probably a bit of nostalgia going on over here. Still, take a look of that list of talent and tell me that it wouldn’t be great.
Daydreamer, Jennifer – Jennifer Daydreamer #11
April 23, 2010Jennifer Daydreamer #11
Wow. There are going to be certain comics on this page that I’m just going to have to recommend that you read without giving too much away. Any issue of Jennifer Daydreamer is always packed with symbolism, things that you’re going to miss on the first way through, and deceptively simple artwork. I’m not sure what she’s using for the backgrounds in here, chalk or crayons maybe, but it creates a mood all its own. Let’s see what should I tell you… there’s a boy named Oliver in a rabbit costume (I think). There’s twins, Eva and Anna, and it’s known that whichever one marries first will live while the other one will sicken and die. I could go into some little things that happen in this issue and offer my two cents about what means what, talk about the eternal struggle of life, duality of man, all that crap. The bottom line is that every issue of this mini that I’ve seen is thought-provoking and leaves me with a slightly uneasy feeling about the universe and my place in it. If that isn’t unadulterated praise for a comic then I don’t know what is.
Daydreamer, Jennifer – Oliver
April 23, 2010Oliver
Three cheers for Top Shelf! Jennifer deserves to be seen on a larger scale than her mini comics. For those of you who don’t know, Jennifer does one of the more surreal and dream-like comics out there. It usually takes me a couple of reads just to make sure that I’m getting all of what’s going on, but it’s an effort that’s richly rewarded. There’s a world that’s inhabited by all sorts of beings. Angels, children, clowns, flowers. Maybe they’re not beings, or maybe they are. What does it all mean? What the voices doing? Ah, I’m just trying to get you interested. If you’re interested in comics that you have to think about to figure out, here you are. Hey look, a website!