Scalzo, Kevin – Sugar Booger #2

December 18, 2014

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Sugar Booger #2

The horrific but somehow kid-friendly adventures of Sugar Booger continue! In case you missed the last issue, the premise is simple enough: Sugar Booger eats sweets and pours out a better version of the candy through his nostrils. At least I assume that it’s a better version, as it doesn’t make much sense otherwise. Hah, there I go, trying to make sense of this idea. Anyway, this issue starts off with Sugar (if you’re OK with me calling him by his first (?) name) realizing that all of the candy that he’s made is causing a problem, as it’s not possible for the residents of this land to eat it as quickly as he makes it. Luckily a Gloomy Globby monster comes along and is ravenously hungry, so it looks like both of their problems will be solved. But Sugar isn’t counting on the hunger of this monster being insatiable, so steps must be taken to reign in the problem. The art in this is ridiculously joyous, but the hints of the horror of this creature do seep through here and there. Or maybe it’s just me, who knows? But in a world where Adventure Time can take over cartoons, I see no reason why this couldn’t be a fantastic cartoon in its own right. Assuming Kevin would even want to go in that direction, that is. His use of color is also damned near unparalleled, as so many small press color comics are content to just throw in a few colors and call it a day. Kevin uses every color of the rainbow, often not in places that you would not expect, and the results are utterly unique. And don’t even get me started on the various smaller creatures that inhabit this land, because those walking brains that also serve as bouncy shoes are the tip of the iceberg. Get this comic, is what I’m trying to say. I can say this and have it be literally true: you’ve never seen anything like it. $5.95

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Scalzo, Kevin – Sugar Booger #1

January 13, 2014

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Sugar Booger

Who likes their stories about candy to also be filled with nightmares? If it’s you, then you’re in luck! This is the story of an overexcited creature (monster?) who eats large amounts of candy, which transforms his boogers into candy for other people/creatures. Or it turns it into some kind of narcotic drug, it’s never made clear. But is if funny and/or disturbing? Oh yes. Yes, it is. There are basically two stories here, even though there is no kind of dividing line to indicate different stories. First there’s a brief introduction of Sugar Booger and his ability to transform candy into boogers for all his odd friends. The other story is the one depicted on the cover, where he meets up with a couple of (rightly skeptical) kids to share his treats with them. Things get a little dicey when the parents of these two kids show up, and why wouldn’t it, as that thing is almost certainly a monster. Kevin did a great job with the parents too, with their giant anime eyes and gross, gross perspiration/crying. It’s a three issue limited series, with the other issues coming out throughout 2014 (although the promotional material I got had these all coming out in 2013, so it’s good to see that fairly major comic companies can make the same mistake as me trying to write a check in the first week of 2014), so there’s plenty more of this to come. I guess this may be considered “all-ages,” although I have no idea where that line is any more. I recently discovered “Adventure Time” (always late to the party, that’s me), and if that’s considered appropriate for kids of all ages, I’d have to throw this in the pile too. It’s worth a look and I’m interested to see how this story evolves over the next couple of issues. $5.95

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Wolfgang, Kurt (editor) – Lowjinx #4

April 27, 2010

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Lowjinx #4

God bless Lowjinx. I don’t know if anybody has ever come up with the concept for this book before, but it’s about time. In case you can’t read the cover, it’s an anthology of childhood drawing from some of the best small press cartoonists around. Included here are James Kochalka, Sam Henderson, Ivan Brunetti, Nick Bertozzi, Greg Cook, Tony Consiglio, Jordan Crane, Pete Sickman-Garner, Jesse Fuchs, Megan Kelso, Alex Robinson, Kevin Scalzo, Tom Spurgeon, Eric Reynolds, Steve Weissman, and, of course, Kurt Wolfgang. Once again, with this book, it’s probably not going to appeal to many people who don’t already know the work of those cartoonists. But for those people, this is absolutely priceless. It’s $6, if you like the work of these people go to the Top Shelf website and beg them to sell you a copy. OK, I should tell you a little bit about it first, even though if that list of names didn’t sell you, I don’t know what I could possibly say to convince you. Eric Reynolds (is he even on my page yet?) had a mostly text story about the Fantastic Four that’s hilarious, Sam Henderson hasn’t changed much over the years except now he swears more, Nick Bertozzi has a great story about a dog who’s learning to roller disco, and Tony Consiglio… aw, just buy it. I don’t want to ruin anything else for you, and everything in here is fascinating when compared to their later work. Don’t believe me? Fine, look at this: