Eppstein, Ken & Various Artists – Belligerent Kitties #1

September 17, 2015

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Belligerent Kitties #1

Sometimes you can judge a book by its cover, or at least you can if you’re thinking what I’m thinking, but I’m not in your head so never mind. See that image on the cover of a cat insulting you or the mythical generic reader? Well, there are 25 more pages of that in here by a variety of artists, some funny, some not so much. Which makes it a good thing that humor is subjective, as you might think that anywhere from 0-100% of this comic is funny and you would also be correct. Anyway, the comic itself was mostly funny, but the real winner for me came at the end. Ken, bemoaning the lack of support for the comics that he makes that he genuinely loves and is proud of, has decided to sell out. So it’s time for cat memes! If he really did stick it he can always use the Hollywood formula for actors who don’t like to constantly star in garbage: make a garbage comic to rake in the bucks, then use said bucks to finance the comic that you do want to make. Simple! I’ve just solved the financial feasibility of all mini comics, assuming that nobody out there minds completely selling out from time to time. No price listed here, but $2 sounds reasonable as a guess.

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Various Columbus Artists – Blue Sunday

May 14, 2013

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Blue Sunday

Oh jam comics, don’t ever change. In case you’ve only read three comics in your life and none of them were a jam comic, this is a thing that a bunch of cartoonists do together, either in person or through the mail/internet, usually under the influence of booze at the very least. As such, reviewing a jam comic like a traditional comic is a waste of time, as it was never meant to have a coherent story. This particular comic is the “dirty” bits from the regular Sunday jams that a bunch of Columbus artists do when they meet up on a weekly basis, and it is all over the map. But, oddly, usually either offensive or funny. And often both! Each of these strips are one page long, passed over to the next person in line from panel to panel, with none of the panels being signed by the artist, making this a fun/excruciating guessing game. Your best bet to know whether or not you’re going to like this is by looking at that list of tags and seeing if your favorite Columbus artist is included in that list, but I’ll try to summarize at least a few of the strips for you. Stories include the bleeped out clown and monkey love, “The Family Cirque Du Soleil” (with a fantastic last panel), the adventures of a pile of broken glass and a dead dude, William Shatner’s soap, how the Smurfs were wiped out, the end of the world, various types of tongues, cat piss vs. meatloaf, raccoon vice, a devil and a cockroach in love, and creepy Superman. That’s most of the first half, which leaves the whole second half a delightful surprise. Try a jam comic, you’ll be glad you did! Unless you’re easily offended, in which case you should maybe look at any other “Sunday” book. $3

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