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Jackson, Rob – Great Deeds Against the Dead #2
Great Deeds Against the Dead #2
As you can probably guess from that cover, that mysterious creature from the cover of the first issue does indeed come into play this time around. This is also the end of the series, so all my questions from the last issue are neatly wrapped up. That creature with the giant gumball head is the most evil toy ever, made after a the residents of a frat wake up hung over, send their dopiest member to pick up the toys needed for a school project (if they don’t finish right away the dean will throw out their entire fraternity!), and he accidentally picks the box marked “evil toys”. They’re all melted down, poured into a mold, and form into that thing in the front of the train. This thing gets sent back in time (after which the experimental time machine blows up), so he/it has had plenty of time to set some evil plans in motion. I’m trying not to ruin anything again this time around, but if you look closely at that cover you’ll see one half of the psychic adventurers, the artist Tisdale Carnegie and his lawyer (strapped to a board). So clearly they all end up together eventually, but the fun is in the journey, right? Bits in here that I feel OK giving away involve the psychic adventurers being trapped in a funhouse (and being forced to stand around all day in costume to earn their daily meal of hot dogs), Tisdale’s agent running into the lawyer for that creature (with disastrous results for the agent’s friend), and Tisdale building a box out of his dead love’s picture (which is the only thing that lets him see). That’s just scraping the surface of the insanity in here, but Rob does an excellent job of tying up all the loose ends and bringing it all home, even managing to end on a (darkly) funny note. There’s even a tiny strip on the front and back cover dealing with the early days of the evil gumball machine creature. The story is wrapped up, you can get the whole thing in two easy installments, and I think it would be an excellent idea if you did so. $2
Jackson, Rob – Great Deeds Against the Dead #1
Great Deeds Against the Dead #1
The man does have a knack for excellent titles, doesn’t he? A scroll down this page will confirm that for you, in case you don’t believe me. This issue is the projected first half of this story, which is a creepy tale of haunting, lost love and hopelessness. An old artist (Tisdale Carnegie), devastated after the death of his wife, gets a house as far away from civilization as he can. The neighbors are curious, as the house has been empty for years, but we don’t see much more from them quite yet. The agent for said artist, needing some signatures, goes to visit Tisdale and is appalled at the state of the artist, but is unable to leave due to a sudden rainstorm and mudslide. He is forced to stay for the night but gets the undeniable impression that the house wants him out (possibly because he hears it say “there’s something wrong with this house” three time) and even hurls shingles at him when he goes outside to close the gate. Curious, the agent looks into the history of the house when he leaves, and runs into a pair of people who are also trying to discover more about the house. The agent, being delightfully human and utterly uninterested in wrapping this story up neatly, gets a call from another (more profitable) client and runs off, leaving the pair of “psychic adventurers” to check out the place for themselves. Letting this thing unravel is half the fun and it ends on an utterly bizarre cliffhanger, so no more info from me. I can’t wait to see what happens next, and to see if that creature on the cover plays any role in things. There are also two shorter pieces in the book, a silent story about graffiti, a fight and a floating man that flew right over my head and a one page strip on the back cover that details why Rob loves comics.  It’s getting hard to keep track of all the series this man has going, but this one sure looks like a keeper. $4
Jackson, Rob (editor) – Gin Palace
Gin Palace #1 (edited by Rob)
“Welcome to the first meeting of the society of enormously be-hatted gentlemen!” I don’t usually start with a quote, but how on earth could I pass that up? This is a fantastic anthology put together by Rob, with only one story that was mildly disappointing in the bunch (and that was mostly because the copies were a bit off and cut off some text). Rob has two pieces, although you could argue that it’s just one piece split up into two: The Ballad of Hatty Jack. It’s the story of a land where wearing hats is practically required, but a poor young boy isn’t allowed because his mother was killed while chasing a hat into the street, so naturally he takes to fighting crime while wearing a giant hat that covers most of his body. Other stories in here include Little Scary Monsters by Dave Hughes (in which the world of science learns how to avoid making little monsters), In The Gin Palace by Simon M. (dealing with trying to get the attention of a bartender on a busy night to buy drinks), Interview by Ant Mercer (the sampled piece below, as it starts well and ends poorly), Measuring Up by Francesca Cassavetti (relating the story of how she reluctantly grew to love alcohol, and how that reluctance faded over the years), The Rain by Jarod Rosello (a silent piece about a dog in the rain and the heartless people who would keep him outside), Kennedy by A. Mercer (a shortie with a good punchline), and The Adventure Journals of Sin Cat by Lee Johnson (a meandering story of Sin Cat, damaged because of the awkward cropping but still with plenty of funny; if this is the worst piece in the bunch you just made a hell of an anthology). Other than that all you need to know is that it’s $4, mostly looks great and is something you should probably rush out and buy. $4
