Echavarria, Luis – Empanadas

March 12, 2012

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Empanadas

Whatever you were guessing from that cover, you can most likely forget about it. Which is fine, as it wouldn’t have been nearly as entertaining if this was a mini comics purely about empanadas, although I wouldn’t put it past Luis to still make it a damned entertaining comic. The story in this one deals with a man who purchased a house that formerly belonged to a member of the mafioso, which I guess is roughly equivalent to the mafia here. Anyway, this man sees odd shadows, has strange problems with the house, and eventually sees where the shadow seems to be leading him. And that’s the wall I run into as a reviewer, as this book is damned tiny and it’s not possible to say much more without ruining the ending. I will say that my impression of Luis as something of a comics genius continues, at least in part because this is another one of those fold-open books that shows a giant empanada when you finish reading it. It could have been any of a number of things, but throwing an empanada there works beautifully. There’s a sizable and growing pile of his comics to choose from, and maybe you’d like to start with something heftier, but I loved every last bit of this tiny thing and am thinking about hanging that big picture of an empanada on my wall. Which wouldn’t make sense to anybody but me, but it’s still damned tempting. No price listed, but the fact that it’s all in color has me thinking at least $3.

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Posted by Kevin

Echavarria, Luis – El Diablo

January 12, 2012

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El Diablo

This book just might have my favorite comics intro of all time. Luis talks about how this book is based on a song called “NeoSatan” from an Argentinian punk band. He then tries to explain that it isn’t as dark as it sounds, that the song is actually just off-beat, before clearly realizing that he can’t possibly explain all the nuances on the inside front cover of a tiny comic and just leaves it up to the reader. Yes, you’re right in thinking that there is only a very small list of people who would even notice something like that much less love it, but that’s why I’m here. Anyway, the comic is the story of the devil sitting at a bar and remarking on how far he’s fallen, how he’s not even capable of scaring people any more. It is upbeat in an anti-devil kind of way, but the devil himself is clearly having a miserable time of it. Oh, and there’s also a kid involved that helps set up more hilarity for the devil before the book opens up (it’s one of those minis where you can unfold it into one giant final image) for the finale. My only problem was that the art seemed kind of uncomfortably cramped at times (it looked like it might have been shrunken down from a larger comic), but it’s still a great story. Which makes, what, everything this guy has sent me so far? There are still a few left to go, maybe there’s still a stinker waiting to be found. No price, but due to the size of this thing I’d say you could probably get a copy for a buck or two.

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Posted by Kevin

Echavarria, Luis – Guino Danino

December 5, 2011

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Guino Danino

The best guess I’ve been able to come up with (based on internet translation doodads) for that title is “depraved blink.” Believe it or  not, that’s actually a pretty great title for this comic. This is another shorty from Luis, as I continue my quest to review all of the tiny comics that he sent me a few months back. This starts off with a man (Ricardo) waiting for a doctor of some kind, and when he walks into his office the phone of the receptionist breaks in her hand. He apologizes, she (and the reader) react in confusion, and Ricardo meets his doctor. This doctor is more of a voodoo doctor than anything else, as he hypnotizes Ricardo to try and get to the root of his problem. Some memories are uncovered, a possible solution is proposed, end of comic. That’s what I love about Luis’s work so far: even though it’s short stuff, each of them has been utterly unique in their own way. Sure, there are comics with people with telekinesis, but they’re usually wearing spandex, and it’s rarely depicted as the out of control menace that it would be if it existed at all in real life. Another great mini, another one where I have to guess on the price, so… $3?

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Posted by Kevin

Echavarria, Luis – Bizarre Love Triangle

November 16, 2011

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Bizarre Love Triangle

Check any expectations you may have for happy endings here at the door. Ah, my favorite kind of comic, the one that doesn’t pander to anybody or let them off the hook with some happy nonsense when reality would go in an entirely different direction. This is the story of a man and his tiger as they spend a day shooting a movie. Or maybe it’s a commercial? Anyway, the tiger is needed for one shot, the actress (who the guy has a serious crush on) is nervous at first, but the guy talks her down and they get their footage. The tiger is docile as can be, but there is an incident where a photographer flashes in the tiger’s face, which could potentially set it off. The actress decides that she needs more shots with the tiger, the tiger is called back (against the better judgment of the man, but he does have his crush to think about), the photographers are again warned not to use flash photography, and things get ugly from there. It’s another solid mini from Luis in a constantly growing pile of solid minis. At this point I’d have trouble telling people which mini to get from this guy to check out his work and would instead recommend just sending him enough money for him to send you several comics. Hell, you can even let him pick which ones. So far I see no indication that you would be disappointed, unless he has a secret stash of lousy mini comics somewhere…

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Posted by Kevin

Echavarria, Luis – Ole

October 29, 2011

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Ole

Bullfighting! If you have an opinion about this “sport” and that opinion is not “barbaric, cruel and utterly lacking in any kind of a spirit of fair play” then we probably wouldn’t get along. I’m all for some cultural touchstones not being messed with by the modern world, and you may be too, in which case you probably don’t know how bullfighting works. See, it’s not just some guy with a sword who goes out there and takes on a bull. That I could get behind, as who am I to say how some dope kills himself? He could even more or less cover himself in glory for the rest of his short life. No, bullfighting starts off with a few people using sharp sticks to bleed the bull for a period of time before the bullfighter comes out. Once the bull is weak from lack of blood and starting to stagger, out comes the conquering hero! It’s still dangerous, granted, and it does my heart good to see a bull occasionally get a good shot in, but the game is rigged. Anyway, enough about bullfighting, what about the comic? This starts off towards the end of a bullfight, with the matador about to deliver the finishing blow. The trouble comes when that blow doesn’t finish off the bull. So they try more methods, increasingly vicious, until they manage to chop the bull’s head off. And that’s when it starts to get weird. My policy against spoilers prevents me from saying much more, but I will say that I loved where it went from there. Combine that statement with my earlier opinions of bullfighting in general and you may get some idea of what happened. Buy it, love it, give this guy some money already. He’s three for three in his minis that I’ve read so far, with more still to come. No price, so… $2.50?

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Posted by Kevin

Echavarria, Luis – Trip’s Over

October 18, 2011

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Trip’s Over

Here’s another of the minis that Luis sent over recently, and it’s a very short thing. The presentation was impressive, with cardboard covers and a story that continues on the back of the pages after you flip the comic over. Eh, it’s complicated, you should see it for yourself. Anyway, it’s the story of a story that Luis was told by his mother when he was a kid. She was with some family when they got the news (or she gave the news, it’s not completely clear) that their mother had died. They went to an undertaker (or the equivalent) and were told that the cost to transport the body was astronomical. It was too much money for the family and they ended up with an alternate plan to transport the body. Luis mentions in the intro that even though he believed the story at the time, in hindsight it’s probably an urban legend. Considering the fact that I’ve heard this story myself, I’d say that that’s a safe bet. Still, it’s a darkly funny story, and that reaction shot at the end was worth the price of admission all by itself. No idea about the price, so I’m going with the thoroughly random price of $4.

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Posted by Kevin

Echavarria, Luis – Nothing is Private

October 8, 2011

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Nothing is Private

It’s probably impossible to tell from that scan, but you open this comic by pulling the key out of the keyhole, which is ingenious. The whole comic is impressively put together, as there’s also a transparent sheet when you open the book with the title on it. This is a story from Luis growing up. Back in the day he would share a shower with his younger brother (he was 11 and his brother was 5) and the two brothers were perfectly content to keep showering together, but their older sister would consistently barge into the bathroom looking for some small item that most likely could have waited until after the shower. This went on for awhile, word got out to the rest of the family,  and between that and the embarrassment of Luis’ younger brother pointing out his early pubic hairs, Luis put an end to it. That still left some revenge on their sister to take care of, but kids like that aren’t always the best at plotting such things, and the revenge backfired horribly. Without giving too much away, let’s just say that they barged in on the wrong family member. There’s also a pretty great ending bit involving his younger brother and his own first “pubic hair.” This is a damned solid book; the facial expressions were fantastic, and there was substantial attention to detail. Maybe that’s supposed to be the norm, but I see a lot of minis and a lot of people wouldn’t have bothered drawing the tiles on the bathroom wall, or the rich wealth of items surrounding their dinner table. I have no idea on the price, as nothing was listed on his website (which is in Spanish, by the way, but Google can translate it for you), but judging from sheer quality alone it has to be at least $5. Luis was also nice enough to send along several more minis and I’m looking forward to going through them. Well, I’m looking forward to them if all of the comics are of this same level of quality. If this was some bizarre fluke then it’ll be a different story…

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Posted by Kevin