Did I go into SPACE this year hoping to get a new comic from Suzanne? Of course, it’d been at least 5 years, maybe more. But I’m also a sucker for a good collection, so here we are. This is a collection of the minis that Suzanne made specifically to have free comics to offer at cons. She made a new one every year for several years before finding out that the plan was unsustainable, as that’s a whole lot to manage along with everything else that goes into planning for a con. She has an informative introduction for anybody who’s curious about the process, and as somebody who rambles on a regular basis (I’d say “professional basis”, but come on now), I can appreciate an intro that goes into detail about a grammatical error that’s bugged her for years and was only fixed for this collected edition. If you’re thinking that you go to every con all the time and probably have already seen these stories, I kind of thought the same thing, and only two of these stories were familiar. This is a collection of seven stories, dealing with things like a talking teddy bear that gets far too existential with a small child, the joy of skipping and how it’s somehow not for everybody, a detailed strategy session for dealing with whiteheads, getting called out at school after forgetting about the social hierarchy (also kudos for the information on the back cover proving that she was correct way back when), a more realistic love song, aliens at the bar, and the inevitable conclusion of being unable to change your mind. She was correct in her intro, these stories held up really well and I’m glad she put them all out in this collected format. I also saw several minis on her website that I wish I had picked up (two 24 hour comics in a row? Done over a 48 hour period? The mind reels), but hey, there’s always next time. $8
This time around I decided to try and figure out where Suzanne was when she overheard these conversations, because there are some real doozies. Oh hi, if you’ve never read this series, Suzanne overhears conversations that are utterly ridiculous/offensive/hilarious and then draws them for our/her amusement. I think maybe she also takes conversations that other people overhear, but I’m not positive about that. Anyway, I know it would ruin what she’s trying to do here if she put herself in these stories, but I kept picturing her with a sketchpad under a bridge here, sitting at a movie theater there, or overhearing a weird conversation in her neighborhood in another spot. Utterly irrelevant to the content, sure, but once I started thinking about it I just couldn’t stop. Topics in this volume include (and if you haven’t already been won over by that cover I don’t know how to convince you to give this a shot) taking a picture of your own home, theft and misuse of a garbage bin, a bar and a funny hat, keeping your eyebrows groomed, misunderstanding support from your wife for an actual funny joke, kicking some guy in the face, the time sequence of personal injuries, getting a padded bra, upholstery, a sighting at a gay bar, being too intimidated to go into a bar wearing a t-shirt, a fantastic conversation on a bridge, reading cartoons, an Armenian discount and a sword fight. Again, these are stories that Suzanne overheard, not stories that have anything to do with her. It’s funny as usual and her art is still fantastic, so what’s the argument against checking this out again? $2
Ah, if only Suzanne was a comic making machine who could produce these things daily. I’ve enjoyed her comics for years, but these “As Eavesdropped” books are pure goodness and light. As the title implies, these are snippets of conversations that Suzanne hears while out and about, and even she rarely knows the larger context of these quotes. Which makes them even funnier! Once again, my biggest problem was limiting it to only one sample (and seeing as how these are 8 pages, it wouldn’t be at all fair of me to post more, as my only argument is “but I wanna!”), which is always a good sign in regards to the quality of a book. I’ll keep this as general as possible, but conversations overheard in this one include an awkward question about chickens, taking the name of a network too literally, having unimpeachable sources and Satan. There, that should be more than vague enough to pique your curiosity without giving too much away. One quick suggestion for Suzanne though: why not do one of these about your experiences at small press conventions? Granted, you may end up knowing the context for some of these conversations, but I’d think that those things would be a people watching bonanza. It already is for me and I’m actively wandering around at them, so if you’re stationary I’d think that it would be a gold mine. No price listed, but past issues of this were $.50, so…
Well, technically you could say that Suzanne is mostly just the editor of this comic, but you know what I mean by that header. Hey, you could be in the next issue of this if you wanted: make a 1-4 page comic (sized to fit in a mini), and include Turtleneck Boy in it. Everything else in the story is up to you, and Suzanne puts these out approximately every time she gets enough stories to do so, so why not make a tiny comic and send it to her? It’s not like the art has to be immaculate or anything, as at least two of the stories in here were very minimalistic. So how about the stories? Suzanne has that awesome cover (I like her back cover even better, but I’m not giving it all away for free here) and a couple of short pieces in back, neither of which have Turtleneck Boy in them. Is that legal, to skip the requirements for your comic if you’re the editor? As far as I know there are no police for such matters, so it is apparently allowed. Other pieces include Erich Sundermann with TB’s (I’m shortening it from now on) depression, Brien Wayne Powell with a cranky TB, Todd Swanson with a slightly more hopeful take on the character, and Aaron Trudgeon has a meandering piece that wanders into all sorts of things in a few short pages. It’s a pretty good mix up pieces, although I am struck by the fact that I didn’t get anything that was JUST from Suzanne at SPACE this year. That’s what I get for only stopping briefly and asking for her new comics instead of my usual leisurely browsing. $1
Why is it that I only seem to be able to find Suzanne’s comics at SPACE? I get to the good Chicago stores once or twice a year, there’s a decent shop (Laughing Ogre) literally right down the street from me here in Columbus, and yet there seems to be only one place to get these books. Get on that, world! This one, obviously, is in the same vein as #1, again being a tiny little things of funny observed conversations. Plenty of things in here to highlight, I had to go with just the one sample or it would have ruined the whole book but other topics in here include an awkward conversation at a movie theater ticket office, office talk on the phone, a “cute” baby story and a particularly disturbing chat at the end of a comic convention. Good stuff as always, her website has a listing of all these things and a few bucks spent there would go a long way… $.50
What a fantastic idea for a comic. Apparently Suzanne just wandered around and wrote down interesting conversations she heard. I don’t know if she sketched them out where she heard them or not, but it doesn’t really matter. When the only negative thing I have to say about a comic is that it was too short (and at $.50 and 8 pages, it really was too short), then you’re doing something right. I could read stuff like this for hours, unless these were just the best ones she had available and it’s so tiny to maintain the funny. Anyway, I like her loopy, whimsical style a lot and there are all sorts of comics on her website for you to sample her work, if you are so inclined.
Sorry about the cover scan. This one and Eli Bishop’s just got all psychodelic, which looks kind of neat, but it’s not how the cover really looks. It’s just plain yellow with these cool stains that look like blood all over it. Great job with the presentation, but how was the comic? Well, it’s the story of a woman who leaves her small town job at a newspaper to become an art critic in the big city. She doesn’t exactly get what she wants and I’ll leave the rest up to you. I didn’t think this was going much of anywhere for most of the issue, but the explanation from the artist was funny and well done. Solid artwork, good story, great ending (if a bit confusing in the continuity. So this happened after the reporter left town?), I’d say it’s what you’d call a good comic. The only problem is that this is from ’95 and I didn’t see anything from her since ’96. Here’s hoping that she’s still around trying new stuff. This is $3.50, e-mail her to see if she has anything else or send her money at: P.O. Box 12096 Hamtramck, MI 48212.
So two aliens walk into a bar… The premise for this tiny, tiny (and free) mini is simple: two aliens are overheard in a bar, offering a toast to the planet Peezo. The waitress, confused (but oddly unfazed by serving aliens), asks if that’s their home world, but it turns out to be their name for Earth. A brief discussion follows on exactly why they’re drinking away from their planet, and if I tell you any more I’m going to spoil the whole tiny comic. Brief, free and with a decent punchline, what’s not to love? One more thing about Suzanne in general, in case you ever run into her at a con: she seems to be at SPACE every year, and every year she reliably seems to have at least a few new minis. This may not seem like such a big deal, but trust me, as somebody who’s gone to it every year for ages now, that plenty of people show up with the exact same comics they had the year before. Suzanne always takes the time to at least put something new out, and even if you get to her table at the point of the con where you’re completely broke (as has happened to me a few times), she invariably has a few free minis like this one lying around. So maybe some of you should think about rewarding good behavior by sending her a few bucks and asking for some comics? Or I do still have that Fridge-Mag collection of a whole bunch of her minis lying around…
You know, I don’t think Suzanne is capable of making a mini comic that isn’t at least mildly amusing.  This is from 1998, proving that she keeps herself in some sort of cryogenic stasis when not attending cons, as she looks exactly the same as the first time I bought a few of her minis. This time around the story is about a young woman who wakes up and prepares to make a bagel. Sadly all of the bagels are moldy, she has a breakfast of cream cheese and runs off to the park to feed the bagels to the birds. The birds end up getting more than a little excited by the feast and end up inadvertently helping the woman out. This is almost a silent comic, with the few words coming (appropriately enough) like they were done in the old silent movies, with blocks of letters describing the action after every half dozen panels or so. It’s a really engaging way of telling the story and made me wonder why more people haven’t tried doing their silent comic like this. It’s worth checking out, although as always you’d probably be better off just sending her $5 and asking for a pile of minis. $1
Seriously, just how many tiny minis does Suzanne have? It’s more every time I see her at a convention and she’s been cranking these things out for at least the last ten years. This is another good one, and all she has time for this time around is an extended setup for a pretty decent joke. A young woman is trying out hats with a male friend, who can’t think of a non-offensive way to say that the hats are awful. They finally decide to ask the opinion of the cashier, and no, I’m not going to ruin the big joke of the book. In the meantime Suzanne manages to draw all kinds of hats, and she’s one of those wonderful artists who seem to spend more time on the backgrounds than some people do on their whole comics. Worth checking out, as most of these are, and I do still have that pile o’ minis available from her in the online store, you know. Just one set though, so if you snooze you will, in fact, lose. $.50
It’s probably not fair for me to keep reviewing Suzanne’s older comics, as she’s done better stuff since, but hey, these are still almost universally good. That makes it OK, right? This time around Suzanne gathered up some friends, fellow artists and people she passed in the street and asked them to illustrate a conversation in their head, either using Turtleneck Boy as a conversational companion or inventing somebody of their own. The only one of these people I’ve heard of is Mike Carroll (who can be found elsewhere on this site), who does a short but amusing piece about one of his Kernals being crammed into a turtleneck. Other than that there’s Carol Pond asking why people bother demonstrating against causes when it won’t change anything, Yul Tolbert talks about a privately financed mission to Mars, Gary Freeman messes with the concept and Paully Moonbeam (if that is his real name) discusses the origins of life while drawing a primitive but strangely enchanting pair of pants. Then there’s Suzanne, stealing the show with her bits, as she talks about the shape of clouds, tells an Oprah joke that flew right over my head (maybe it made sense in 2000) and has one other page that was so wonderful that it was automatically the sample. See for yourself! This is a measly $.50, and all I can do is hope that you people send her dollars every now and then for comics.
Here’s a tiny wordless mini from Suzanne, and for once I remembered to get more than a couple of her minis at SPACE so there should be a decent pile of her comics up here soon. As she’s a mini comics making machine, I’m not sure which ones of the pile are new and which ones have been around awhile (this one has a 2002 date on the back cover) but hey, if it’s new to me it must be new, right? This deals with a woman who has decided to start a workout video. The video, as most of them are, is hilarious, and she starts uncontrollably laughing and rolling on the floor. Her husband notices this, sees what she’s watching, and joins in on the fun. The baby wanders in as well, and the whole family is having a rollicking good time… except for the cat. As an aside, my favorite workout video moment: the instructor (OK, it was Tony Horton) commented on the triceps of one of his workout buddies as being “diamonds of gold”. Seriously, let that roll around in your brain for a while. Anyway, it’s another great mini from Suzanne, and for those of you who don’t necessarily scroll around these pages, scroll down a bit and check out the pile o’ minis she has for sale here. All kinds of minis hidden in that brown wrapper! $1
Posted by Kevin 
