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Taylor, Dan W. (editor) – Time Warp Comix #6
Time Warp Comix #6 Now Available! $.50
Dan has been cranking out the comics these days (“these days” being a little late on my end, as I lost track of this stack of his comics for an embarrassing amount of time after I moved last year). Sure, he’s the editor, so it’s not like he’s drawing every strip, but he still contributes regularly and I’ve heard enough horror stories about trying to get pages out of small press comics people for anthologies to still respect him plenty for his editor job. This is another solid pile of stories, from the same crew that usually contributes to these things. There’s Richard Krauss and his hilarious send-up of the daily diary strips that are all over the place, Andy Nukes with a bit of abstract art, John Howard telling us what he’s learned since his early days as an artist, D. Miller with a tale of thievery by the Campbells Soup people, and Jim Siergey with a few random thoughts that I can’t describe without ruining for you. And hey, it’s always a good sign when I laugh at the cover (by Dan, just in case that wasn’t clear). As always it’s worth a look, especially for that measly $.50 asking price.
Taylor, Dan W. (editor) – Time Warp Comix #8
Time Warp Comix #8 Now Available! $.50
This comic immediately passed one important test for me, and probably only for me: it was tough to pick out only one sample to use, and for an 8 page book that ain’t bad. It’s a quick blast of a comic with nothing lasting more than a page, with the usual cast of characters. Artists, that is. There’s Richard Krauss with the sampled strip below (I just love that constantly widening perspective), Jim Siergey with the legally required strip with the bad puns, Bob Vojtko (how do you pronounce that name anyway? I’ll bet he’s long since tired of answering that question) has the dark side of the nursing home, and Bill Shut closes the book with a bizarrely wonderful drawing. Dan Taylor gets 4 pages, as he is the one who puts all this together, dealing with buying a comic he used to read as a kid and marveling at the technical changes, the realities of putting out a physical comic versus counting hits on a website, and another age joke at his expense.  It’s another solid, tiny, cheap collection of strips, so why won’t you buy it already? $.50
Foster, Brad W. – Time Warp Comix #3
Website where you can buy this
Time Warp Comix #3 Now Available! $.75
OK, technically this is a Dan Taylor production (as this is a series of anthologies he’s working on) but, as this issue is Brad Foster only, I thought it was a good chance to get the man a page on this site and have his links be more readily available. Brad has been doing comics for as long as I can remember reading them, even if I’ve mostly missed his stuff when it was out. I do remember that he did an adults only comic many years ago (the title has gone down the memory hole) that led to me realizing that it was possible to see naked ladies in comics and not have parents or authority figures pester you about it because they were, after all, just comic books. This is a shortie and the story is mostly Brad bitching about how much better things were in the old days, when people actually had to draw their own comics and wait by the mailbox if they were trying to put together an anthology. Trust me, it’s much funnier than it sounds. It’s only a buck and this is somebody you kids today should know about, if you have any interest in the history of mini comics…
Taylor, Dan (editor) – Time Warp Comix #5
Time Warp Comix #5 Now Available! $.75
This is easily the best “you damned kids, get off my lawn!” comic I’ve ever read, and it manages that feat while being a tiny thing. The tone is set right away with the cover, then there’s a one page story by George Erling (which doesn’t have anything to do with the theme I mentioned but is still a fun shortie), then there’s the gem of the book. Jim Siergey details the origins of mini comics, including things I’d never heard of, and I like to think I’ve at least kept up with this sort of thing. After two solid pages of learning, Jim goes off the rails with a delightful rant about how young cartoonists reading this aren’t going to learn anything anyway as “history to this generation is what happened 10 minutes ago”. Brilliant, and sadly true. Bob Vojtko has a one page story up next about how conventions have changed in the last 30 years, and the book is rounded off by David Miller and his 8 tracks. Not a single thing to complain about here, the whole thing is just good clean fun.
Taylor, Dan (editor) – Time Warp Comix #4
Time Warp Comix #4 Now Available! $.75
Here’s another anthology by Dan and some of the “old school” mini comics guys. Things this tiny (an 8 page mini) generally defy any sort of detailed analysis, but let me make one request to Dan: please list the contributors somewhere in the book. You’re killing all my street cred of being some sort of a mini comics expert (and I hope nobody thinks that anyway) when I can’t place Strauss, Vojtko and D. Miller. Anyway, there are some funny stories in here. D. Miller has a great two pager about a baby getting the hang of things, Vojtko has a funny piece about an old retired mini comic artist, and Krauss does a good job of taking some whippersnappers apart when their questions get too personal. All told, it’s well worth a look if you like old, cranky cartoonists who still have a sense of humor.
Taylor, Dan (editor) – Time Warp Comix #2
Time Warp Comix #2 Now Available! $.75
I hope nobody out there is trying to read these reviews sequentially. Once again, I read them way, way out of order, although now that only #3 is left to review I will be reading #2 and 3 in order. Whoopee! This time around the comic is half one-page pictures, meaning no story of any kind for those bits. In order, for the curious, those are an interpretive blot by Bill Shut, something utterly fantastic by M. Roden, a real mystery by… somebody (seriously, is there no space for some sort of tiny table of contents?), and a monkey with Frida Kahlos by Jim Siergey. You could take those or leave those (although I particularly enjoyed the Frida Kahlos), but then there’s still the comic story to consider, and it’s fantastic. It’s a three page tale by D. Miller about a burned-out artist trying to come up with fresh gags for a magazine about tits, dicks and balls. Comic versions of tits, dicks and balls anyway, and this artist is at the end of his rope in terms of being able to come up with anything else remotely funny. It’s a great piece and makes the whole comic damned near unmissable. Check it out, or go nuts and just get a pile of these cheap things.
Taylor, Dan (editor) – Time Warp Comix #1
Time Warp Comix #1 Now Available! $.75
It’s sad that it’s just now occurring to me that I should have read this series in order. Oh well, live and learn. And forget, and repeat the same mistakes. This is the issue where Dan explains his plans for this series, basically that he’ll put out the 8 page comic every time he has enough art to fill it. It started out as a tribute of sorts to Clay Geerdes, someone who was active in the 70’s and 80’s and was instrumental in getting the word out about all kinds of mini comics. The first story (by Jim Valentino) in here tells the story of Clay for those of us who are culturally illiterate as to how the mini comics “movement” started. There’s only one other piece in here, a two pager by Bob Vojtko of two old geezers pining away for the old days when they could make mini comics. The love for Clay is palpable here, it makes me wish I had actually seen something from the guy. Actually, chances are that in the piles of minis around my house there must be something with work from the guy in it, but I have no idea where that would be. Kids, you should read stuff like this, get a little sense of history. And for those of you old enough to remember the early, early days of mini comics, well, a little nostalgia never hurt anybody, right?
