Telgemeier, Raina – Take-Out #7

April 27, 2010

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Take-Out #7 Now Available! $1

One thing I’ve been wondering more about as I get older: do people who love mini comics, when they finally have babies, pass that on to their kids? Because if not, frankly, I don’t see how the medium is going to survive, or at least not the good stuff. If you DO pass it along to your kids, but are frustrated at the lack of all-ages choices, might I point this one out as being the perfect choice for young girls? Or at least I think it would be but, as I’ve never been a young girl, I could be off on that one. This one (the first Take-Out in FAR too long, but she’s working on Smile these days) is about getting a new doll when she was a kid, the wonders of going camping and a random road in the middle of nowhere. Short quiet stories, but good stuff. And if you need more of her new stuff than this can provide, she has regular updates at her website with her Smile story…

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Posted by Kevin

Telgemeier, Raina – Take-Out #6

April 27, 2010

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Take-Out #6 Now Available! $1

Here’s another one of those people who’s really growing on me. It’s just so rare to see honest, fun little stories about being a kid. It’s not even the individual stories that stick in my brain so much as the random little moments. Raina (these are all her as a child, or at least a child named Raina, which would be quite a coincidence) thinking about what it would be like if the subway was under water, or her reaction on seeing her father without his beard for the first time, or static electricity, or even her feelings about a classmate she doesn’t like getting sick. It’s cute as hell, but just calling it cute and leaving it as that doesn’t give these stories enough credit. Pretty much everything in here feels real and, more importantly, has an innocence about it that makes it work. Contact info is above, send her a couple of bucks and check out an issue or two. It’s something that I’m liking more and more with each issue…

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Posted by Kevin

Telgemeier, Raina – Take-Out #5

April 27, 2010

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Take-Out #5 Now Available! $1

I think this issue was a bit different from her other Take-Outs, as this was basically a travel diary from 12/23/02 to 01/02/03 while the the other issue I read (#4) was a hodge-podge of unrelated stories. The diary format is done pretty well here, even though some of it seems a bit sentimental. It’s about Christmas and being with her family though, so I guess that’s what the holidays are about. Take-Out seems like an all-ages title from what I’ve seen. She has a great cartoony style that would be perfect for a daily strip, even though I’ve said time and time again that I hate that format almost all of the time. These are only a buck on her website, quick reads but worth getting. She’s supposed to have something new at all of the big conventions this year, so it looks like there will be a lot of new stuff soon…

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Posted by Kevin

Telgemeier, Raina – Take-Out #3

April 27, 2010

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Take-Out #3 Now Available! $1

You know, looking back on it, boys pretty much had it easy in middle school.  Sure, there was enough general awkwardness to go around, but compared to what girls had to go through, specifically the story Raina describes in this comic…  This is the tale of a slumber party and what comes from it.  A group of girls are invited to a slumber party (also the 12th birthday party of the girl) and spend the night playing ouija, chatting, and eventually giving “advice” to a girl with a crush.  This advice is designed to do nothing more than completely humiliate the girl in question, telling her that the only way this boy will notice her is through a complete and ridiculous makeover.  Naturally, she believes this group of “friends” and follows their advice, with disastrous results.  Raina might have made up the story, but it sure has a ring of truth to it to me.  Good stuff, and who doesn’t like a tale of complete social humiliation for a buck?

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Posted by Kevin

Telgemeier, Raina – Take-Out #2

April 27, 2010

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Take-Out #2

Yep, I liked her older stuff too. It’s hard to be sure without seeing it, obviously. This one is a bit more personal than most, with a story that’s sort of about her ex, but mostly about her reaction to the whole thing. Other than that there’s her first cup of tea, spilling india ink, getting a rare Ben Folds Five import, and reading Barefoot Gen as a kid. Barefoot Gen, in case you don’t know, is a comic about the Hiroshima bombing in Japan, told through the eyes of the people who lived there. Tough stuff to read when you’re little. I think I saw that story in an anthology somewhere, or maybe my brain is falling out of my head, who knows? Whatever the case, these are the perfect dollar comics. Short and colorful (you should see this spread on my floor with copies of #2-6, it looks like an uneven rainbow), these books are just fun. Contact info is around here somewhere, and you can get the comics from me if you want!

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Posted by Kevin

Telgemeier, Raina – Take-Out #4

April 21, 2010

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Take-Out #4 Now Available! $1

Back to the time capsule again, as I’m reviewing this mini from 2002 all the way in 2009.  She’s gone on to bigger and better things, illustrating adaptations of Baby-Sitters Club (it seems like those were a big deal but I’m not sure), illustrating a book for Slave Labor with Dave Roman and continuing to work on her Smile story.  OK fine, she’s moved on (mostly), but it didn’t hurt a thing that her minis were so good back in the day.  There are a few shorties in here, my favorite is the one sampled, and I just smile every time I see that strip.  Other stories include getting distracted and eating an entire box of Cap’n Crunch, just missing the subway (once by being late, once due to cockroaches), and how humidity makes her hair impossible to deal with.  It may sound trite, but trust me, she makes it funny.  A really great pile of stories, and I’m honestly a little surprised that there has never been a collection of these minis.  Get your copies of the originals while they last, I’m sure that she’ll manage to get all these collected one of these days… $1

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Posted by Kevin