Nelson, Kelli – Non-Winner #3

April 24, 2010

Website

Non-Winner #3 Now Available! $1

What do you like better out of a mini, one big story or a bunch of tiny, relatively random ones? Well, if it’s the latter, you’re in luck! And if it’s the former, well, expand your horizons a bit! This one is all over the place, and there are no handy little titles to let you know when the story is changing, so pay attention! In here she talks about her main memory of a dead Uncle, getting laid at least in part because of a dream involving Dragonball Z, her immediate reaction to the divorce of her parents, supporting the troops at Lowe’s, and still having regrets for tattling in the sixth grade. Oh, and more insecurity about having all of her good stories come from when she was in grade school and how her best years are behind her. I liked this one too, although probably not as much as the other two, if that means anything to you. Still very much worth a look, contact info is up there, this is $1 and it’s also available in the online store…

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Posted by Kevin

Nelson, Kelli – Non-Winner #2

April 24, 2010

Website

Non-Winner #2 Now Available! $1

Has everybody out there read Happy #2 by Josh Simmons? If not, you may be a bit lost on this one. In it, Josh has an extended rant about the state of autobiographical comics, from the quality of the art to the depth of the stories, to everything about them, really. I’d say check it out for yourself, even if you don’t agree with it there’s still the rest of an issue by Josh Simmons to enjoy. Anyway, this is mostly Kelli’s response to that rant, with all of her insecurities and fears about her own self-worth taking over. After that is a short story about the best response that I’ve ever heard to those annoying singing wall fish that were so popular a few years back. Great stuff again, although a much quicker read than the last one, not like that’s a big deal in any way. Contact info is up there, it’s $1, you can also find this in my online store…

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Nelson, Kelli – Non-Winner #1

April 24, 2010

Website

Non-Winner #1 Now Available! $1

Blurb! That’s one problem I have with the fact that the online store shows a sentence or two, as now I’m apparently supposed to keep that in mind when I’m rambling and try to sum it all up in a brief soundbite, and I’m completely unable to do that. Sorry. I could just say “I loved this comic!”, which I did, by the way, and then go down from there, but that would indicate order of some kind, and I’m completely against that. Anyway, review, oh yeah. This is a dense collection of tales from Kelli’s life. The first half is about a summer vacation she took with her husband, then you have facts about her personal art history and going to art school, losing the Xeric Grant, being ugly (her words), and still being ashamed today of somethiing she said more than 12 years ago. Look, all I really want out of a mini that only costs a buck is that is be entertaining, and this has that, plus it takes a while to read (she uses a lot of text), PLUS it has a cover made out of what looks like coffee holder materials. Great stuff all around and cheap too, I only hope that the other issues of this are as good as the first one. Like I said, it’s $1, contact info is up there, or you can head on over to the store, where you can also buy it. You do get that I’d be saying all these nice things even if it wasn’t in the store, right? OK, good…

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Posted by Kevin

Nelson, Kelli – The Horrifically Complete Non-Winner

April 24, 2010

Website

The Horrifically Complete Non-Winner Now Available! $13

Here it is, the perfect book for anybody who has ever enjoyed a good journal comic. Well, almost anybody, as I guess if you hated Kelli’s work for some reason this wouldn’t be for you, but what’s not to like here? This is the complete (as that cover may suggest) collection of her Non-Winner strip, done from 2001 through 2005. I’d never seen plenty of these, as she did most of these online, and it’s taken me weeks to get through the whole thing, as I’ve been picking it up and reading bits of it at a time. If you’ve ever read a journal comic and thought “what the hell were they thinking with this one?” or “this week’s strip looks like a complete waste of time”, well, Kelli is kind/neurotic enough provide commentary for every single one of these, going into details about her fractured family life and other personal details. At times the quality of the strips aren’t the best, as these were taken from her computer and some of these were designed with color or odd little tricks, but it’s only noticable on a very few of these. Topics in here include pretty much everything in Kelli’s life for those 5 years: family, married life, video games, comic conventions, dealing with publishers, hating (then eventually loving) Joss Whedon, and just about everything else you could think of. As for the commentary, I thought it would get on my nerves, but it ended up being completely fascinating. She adds all sorts of tidbits to everything, taking full responsibility when the strips sucked (mostly the “throwaway” type strips that she had to do while under deadline for something else) and adding relevant information to everything, including the awkward fact that her family did read her strip although she really, really wished they wouldn’t. For anybody who has ever wondered exactly what goes into making a journal strip, this is the perfect book for you. Hell, even if you aren’t even a little bit curious, you can still just ignore the commentary and enoy the strips. It’s a thoroughly enjoyable book, and it’s a damned shame that she decided to (temporarily?) give these up. $13

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Posted by Kevin