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Holgersen, Ryan – The Monkey’s Paw
The Monkey’s Paw
Sure, there are days when I feel like there’s no point in going on with this rinky dink comics review website, where I have to (out of necessity due to work or real life) vanish for days or even weeks at a time. Sometimes 14+ years of doing this seems like plenty. But then there are days like today, when I get a comic from Ryan, who even mentions in the note that he hasn’t sent me a book in 10 years. And, as long time readers know, there’s nothing like better than checking in with somebody whose work I loved back in the day but haven’t heard from in years. What can I say, it just makes the whole thing worthwhile to know that people are still doing mini comics who were around when (or before) I started. Anyway! I’m assuming that everybody reading this knows the story of the Monkey’s Paw? Maybe not the original short story, but at least the basic concept? If not, here it is: the main character discovers, usually through a mysterious store that disappears as soon as they exit, a monkey’s paw. It usually has three extended fingers, and they give the person three wishes. These wishes almost always go very, very wrong, and the fun in the story at this point is guessing how (or whether) the main character is going to get out of it. Our hero this time has a very simple wish: a new gaming system. I should also point out that the wishes were made by the robot friend of our hero, who may or may not have a soul, to let our hero avoid the consequences of his wishes. Well, that little trick doesn’t work at all, as he gets the gaming system… as a result of a genuinely awful event that I shouldn’t spoil here. I also liked how Ryan skipped the usual bit about the third wish either fixing everything or leaving it irrevocably broken, and left that up to the second wish (and the robot) this time around. It’s a fun comic, and it’s great to see that that cat is still the hero all these years later. Check it out, or you could even check out some of his older comics from my store, which I amazingly still have in stock. What can I say, that store is basically a time capsule at this point…
Holgersen, Ryan & Brewer, Nathan – Kitty Litter #6
Website for the Kitty Litter comic
Kitty Litter #6 Now Available! $1.00
While I wasn’t looking Kitty Litter turned into a thrice weekly web comic, so if you’re looking for more from these two you can get new stuff for free at that link way up at the top of the page. Personally, I prefer the longer stories to the strips, as there’s more opportunities for mayhem with the longer format, although they do seem to be able to cram a lot into the one to six panel format too. I do like that fact: it’s not just a set number of panels every time, they do seem to wander around with that. In here you have strips about lazy ninjas, hair on fire, lots and lots of dead people (moving and not), vampire bites, pooping in shoes, and zombie chipmunks. If you still need convincing that it’s worth checking out after that list, along with the fact that it’s a measly dollar, I can’t help you.
Holgersen, Ryan & Brewer, Nathan – Kitty Litter #5
Website for the Kitty Litter comic
Kitty Litter #5
Eh, all that excitement over the zombie issue and the damned zombies are only in it for a few panels. Rip off! OK, fine, the rest of the comic was funny as always, and there’s plenty of good stuff to be happy about, but I choose irrational anger here, as my quota of zombie violence was not met. Besides the zombies you have Sophie making a tea party with some really awful ingredients and making friends with a female vampire. Oh, and it’s bigger than their regular issues, so there’s more funny to be had. I’ve already established that I’m a big fan of their work and they have to do something really bad for me to hate an issue, right? Good. And while the quantity of zombie violence was a little disappointing, the quality of it was top-notch. $2
Holgersen, Ryan & Brewer, Nathan – Kitty Litter #4
Website for the Kitty Litter comic
Kitty Litter #4
What was that I said in the last review about them quitting this series? Yeah, I was completely wrong on that. I got #5 of this at SPACE too, so it looks like it’s still going strong, and next issue there will be zombies (which made it hard to pick this one to review first) but chronology somehow won out over zombies. This one deals with a few things: a trip to the vet, robot kitty, and a virus that helps kitty take over the world by giving everyone a cold. Funny stuff yet again, and that trip to the vet will be all too familiar for people who own cats. I’m going to try and hold out a few weeks before reviewing the zombie issue, but no promises… $2
Holgersen, Ryan & Brewer, Nathan – Kitty Litter #3
Website for the Kitty Litter comic
Kitty Litter #3 Now Available! $1.50
Pirates! Vikings! Monsters! Torture! Action lines! Turtle Wurtle! Mayhem a’plenty in this one, which should come as a shock to no one who’s actually read their stuff, and shame on you at this point if you still haven’t. The cat steals a pirate ship, tortures Nathan when he drinks her milk, and turns the two men into monsters for her own amusement (on accident, of course). Oh, and they seem to be getting tired of the whole thing, at least judging by their interruption from the “editor” at the end. That’s fine, I like their stuff but I also like how they’re constantly trying new things, so if this is the end I say it’s best to go out on a high note, and this is definitely a high note, with all kinds of little stories in here. That being said, there’s also something to be said for staying around, doing the same thing over and over again, getting fewer and fewer laughs each time, until eventually people are happy if you manage to even get one laugh. It’s called lowering expectations, people! $1.50
Holgersen, Ryan & Brewer, Nathan – Kitty Litter #1
Website for the Kitty Litter comic
Kitty Litter #1
Why on Earth is this #1 when it seemed like the other one would be a #1, especially when the other comic they sent me is #3? Who knows? Better yet, who cares? Just another minor thing that I noticed, but there’s no big continuing story here, so it doesn’t make a bit of difference. What’s this one about? Well, you have more mayhem with the cat, of course, this time when she runs out of milk. She knows where milk comes from (refridgerators, of course), so she has to go out and make a machine that will bring the machines to her. Not as much fun as the robots running amok, but then, that’s a pretty high bar to set right off the bat. You do get to see refridgerators flying through roofs, so it’s hard to find too much to complain about here. $1
Holgersen, Ryan & Brewer, Nathan – Kitty Litter #2
Website for the Kitty Litter comic
Kitty Litter #2 Now Available! $1.00
Getting a new comic from these two pretty much always makes my week, so you can imagine my elation at seeing TWO new books. The other one will be up here later, of course, but how about this one? Well, have you ever wondered what would happen if your cat got really bored one day while you were at work and decided to make a machine that produced robots to take care of every single thing in your life? Of course you have, we all have. Well, Ryan and Nathan decided to let us all live that dream for the span of this short mini. You’ve probably already guessed that things didn’t end well with the robots, but I’ll say no more to avoid ruining the finer points of the story. And, as a little bonus, there’s a terrifically gruesome little anecdote in the back of the book about nature. Sort of. $1
Holgersen, Ryan & Brewer, Nathan – Raise the Dead
Website for the Kitty Litter comic
Raise the Dead
Can you ever go wrong with zombies? I don’t think so. This is a short one and it further convinces me that these guys have their collective act together. The premise is simple: Nathan and Ryan are making enough noise playing Resident Evil that the Mom is yelling at them that they’ll “wake the dead”. Sure enough, zombies come to the door and a very brief conversation and struggle ensue. Hilarious stuff, and who knew that zombies could be adorable? $.75 is all you have to pay for this and it’s worth every penny. Contact info is up yonder…
Holgersen, Ryan & Brewer, Nathan – Slackmatic #5
Website for the Kitty Litter comic
Slackmatic #5
OK, it has to be said: #5 is a lot duller than their other comics that I’ve read. Not that that’s a horrible thing, and everything else I’ve read from them has either had zombies getting chopped up or someone losing an eye, but this is a relatively quiet comic. The bulk of it is about their trip to SPACE last year, rancid gas station bathrooms and all. Then you have a series of one page strips about stapling, magnets, killings worms, pterodactyls, monsters, werewolves and puking cats. Pretty good stuff all around, don’t get me wrong, I was just expecting more gratuitous violence. Damn you Ryan and Nathan for growing as artists! Or maybe just unconsciously toning it down for an issue. How should I know? Contact info is up there, it’s a measly buck, you cheapskates!
Holgersen, Ryan & Brewer, Nathan – Slackmatic #4
Website for the Kitty Litter comic
Slackmatic #4
You just can’t beat fun comics. This series is already at #4, and this is where my “sampler” approach at cons hurts me. I can only afford to get one or two issues from everybody (even that’s pushing it), unless they are one of the few people who know who I am and want to give me free stuff. That works great when I don’t like the comic, but when something is as thoroughly entertaining as this, it’s disappointing that I didn’t get more. Anyway, this one is about their trip to a con. It’s been done, I know, but it’s always funny when it’s done well. That and the rant on the first page about porn is worth the price of admission. Once they’re at the actual con nobody goes to their table, so they decide to start working on the next issue of their comic. The artist (Ryan) shakes his pen because it won’t work, it slips out of his hand and into someone’s eye, and hilarity ensues. Meanwhile, the writer (Nathan, but they both write it) comes across a creepy man selling anime porn and gets some Sailor Moon stuff. Hey, hillbillies and eye gougings are always funny, so there’s a lot to laugh at here. Three cheers for them getting to #4, keep it up together as I don’t think this would work as well without both of them doing it. Go to the website, see what you can see…
Holgersen, Ryan & Brewer, Nathan – Slackmatic #3
Website for the Kitty Litter comic
Slackmatic #3
I stumbled across this older issue at SPACE this year (2004), so I’m guessing it’s still available. It’s tiny (that cover is actual size) and it’s all about them buying an evil DVD player from the mad scientist down the street. Why is it evil? Well, from what I can tell, it’s because it doesn’t play anything. I don’t know what it is about these two, but I really like everything I’ve seen. They’re just so obviously having a blast doing these comics that it’s hard not to get sucked in. Like I said, this is tiny, so I’m guessing this is around $1, and everybody should get a few comics from these guys if you have a sense of humor. Contact info is down there!
Holgersen, Ryan & Brewer, Nathan – Slackmatic #1
Website for the Kitty Litter comic
Slackmatic #1 Now Available! $4.95
If I wanted to keep everything on this website all neat and technically accurate I’d put this below the other Slackmatics, as it came out later and actually includes most (if not all) of Slackmatic #3 and 4. But who cares about stuff like that? If anybody who’s a big fan of theirs can’t tell that this fancypants, comic sized edition is different from the long out of print mini comic version of the original Slackmatic #1, well, it’s their loss. Don’t be fooled into thinking that this is a big excuse to reprint a lot of their old stuff in a better format just because they put some of their best work in here, as the first half of this is all new material. Like what? Glad you asked. There’s a big story to start things off here where the two of them finally have a bloody battle while trying to come up with a comic story. Hey, it’s been a long time coming. Next is a wonderfully paranoid story about a car parked outside of the post office. Why has it been there so long? Why is it rocking? Finally there’s the story depicted on the cover, dealing with a slime monster from outer space. Yes, it is just as adorable as it looks from the cover. As for the second half of the book, check out the reviews below this one, as everything you need to know about them are in there. Kudos to these guys getting the full size treatment, the experience is much like the one you get when watching a great movie on a giant screen tv for the first time. Sure, it’s still good on your crappy, tiny tv at home… but wow, that difference is huge. Also, I don’t know how they do it, but these two remain just about the only creators out there who can screw up “your” and “you’re”without consistently getting on my nerves. Must have something to do with the fact that their stories are consistenly hilarious…
