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Tabe Collection Volume One

Long time readers of this site may recall a few instances when I’ve tried to review abstract comics in (unintentionally) hilarious fashion, and this collected of Rio’s is actually ten comics in one package, so settle in for a garbled treat where I entirely miss the point of a good 3/4 of these comics. First off, the packaging is impressive as hell. This all comes in a large plastic envelope with images of transformers on the flap, and it even comes with a little hole in the flap where you would theoretically hang it on a wall. The packaging for the ten individual comics is impressive too, although if you weren’t a kid who could manage one of those “does he/she like me or not” folding hand thingies (and I clearly don’t know what to call them) then you might have some trouble folding some of these back into position after you finish reading them. On to the comics! #1 is a series of seemingly random images, involving a lot of people in very strange hats and some hieroglyphics. Have I mentioned that most of these comics are only a few pages long? OK then. #2 is a fold out thingie with all sorts of images of various transformers on it. Hey, just like the images on the outer flap of the whole package! #3 is a brief conversation on war and madness and #4 is a series of rorschach blots that are described as “new cave art.” #5 (sampled below, as I wanted to sample the most conventional page in a series of abstract comics just to mess with your head)  is an interview with an unnamed person about either Don Juan, Cecil DeMille or both. There are a few interview comics in this set and I really wish I knew the subject in any of them. Hey, I’ve found a complaint! #6 is all about life and love, with an almost criminally adorable main image, and I can’t get it folded back the right way. #7 is a man coming to grips with the rot and taint within him, and it was probably my favorite of the bunch. #8 is a memory, a realization and a maze. #9 is a long interview about art and why to make it, and finally #10 is a message and a poem. With what appears to be that big guy from Katamari Damacy giving the main message. Overall this is an impressive pile of a variety of different types of comics. If you insist on a linear story, you have a few interviews and more conventional stories to win you over. If you prefer your comics abstract, damned near this whole collection has some elements of that. It’s a bit hefty at $14, but you’re also getting a fair amount of comic here. It’s worth a look, unless you really just hate abstract comics.