Schreitz, Will – Casper and Fauntleroy

February 1, 2022

Website

Casper and Fauntleroy

This one is going to be tricky to review. Yes, even trickier than usual! I had things more or less set in my head, but when I looked up his website I saw that this comic was listed as a sample. So I clicked, thinking it might show a price for anybody who was interested. What I saw instead, which I don’t think I’ve ever run across before, was that this 8 page comic is actually only a part of a much longer story on his website. That alone isn’t that odd; all kinds of people have put out teaser comics when they’re working on something larger. But this particular teaser comic is made up of 6 pages (if you’re not counting the front and back covers) from the MIDDLE of that larger story. It’s just odd, OK? Damned peculiar. So for the sake of this rambling review, I guess I’ll just mention the longer parts when appropriate. Which will be most of the time. Anyway! This starts off with Casper, with no introduction, standing in the desert. He comes across a cart that’s either being driven by a very nervous-looking egg, or is also part of that egg. They drive a bit, get into a small accident, and get accosted by that rat (?) you see in the sample image. After this we meet Fauntleroy as he dives into the water and watch him muse about the meaning of it all before he’s swallowed by a giant fish. Did I just review the whole comic, even though I’m constantly talking about how that’s a terrible thing to do? Yep, and for two reasons. One, this comic isn’t listed at his website, so he’s not selling it at the moment anyway. Two, read the comic! Again, it’s on his website, and I even linked to it in the title. It’s delightful, and there’s a heck of a lot more going on than there is in this teaser. It shows how Casper got into the desert AND how Fauntleroy fell into the ocean, so that’s two mysteries cleared up right away. Maybe buy one of his other books if you feel bad about just reading this story for free, but it’s weird and compelling and you should check it out. And heck, if you do find a copy of this teaser in a small press comics shop somewhere, go ahead and buy that too. Why not?

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Schreitz, Will – Weak Magic

December 3, 2021

Website

Weak Magic

New artist alert! Maybe I shouldn’t have given that away, but since he mentioned it in his letter I felt like I should point it out. Also just as an excuse for me to post this periodic reminder to new artists who may be influenced by a negative review, sometimes to the point of quitting entirely: don’t. Don’t take my opinion or the opinion of anybody else as the final word on YOUR art. Take the constructive nuggets from the reviews that you can use, if there are any, and move on to your next comic. Speaking for myself, I’ve reviewed more than a few times when I’m not in the best of moods. I try not to let that influence anything, honest I do! But sometimes it seeps through anyway. It’s also a mistake to think any reviewer is all-knowing, or smart, or sometimes anything other than a stupid doo-doo head. Look, now I got all worked up. Anyway! Reviewing comics, for me, is a way for me to highlight new comics or artists to people who might not have otherwise seen them, along with steering them away from the really rough ones. Which I see rarely, and even then I try to point out the good bits. Enough about reviewing, how about this comic? Well, he posted a few of these stories on his website, so you could skip the rest of my babbling entirely if you’d like and check out his work for yourself. This is a collection of several short stories and, as is always the case with several short stories, I liked some more than others. For a new artist I didn’t see any obvious typos or misspellings, which already puts Will above several other artists in their early works. There were a couple of times when it felt like he was cramming too much into a page (the Bashful Babe strip was hilarious, but cramped, for example), but overall it’s a book full of ideas, which is always welcome. So, for anybody who’s managed to stick with the review this long, what’s in the actual comic? Subjects include how people can change, the diner, a longer piece about the frog guys on a spiritual journey, kids today, the dangers of staring too long, a story about a high speed chase (this one is probably the heart of the book and it’s “too be continued”), how Bruce came to be, an ancient Egyptian artifact, and several single page strips that I’ll leave for you to discover. Hey wait a minute, I just went to his website to check on the price of this thing and he has two other comics listed! Sold out, sure, but it looks like this isn’t his first book after all. Well, I feel like a real heel now, but maybe somebody can get something useful out of this ramble. Bottom line, the good ideas far outweigh the ones that made me say “meh,” and I’m curious to see what else is rattling around in that brain of his. Which means yes, this is worth a look and you should give it a shot. $5

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Posted by Kevin