There aren’t too many books out there where you can honestly say that everybody would love them. That’s true of the best books, like Love and Rockets, because you have to be old enough to understand what’s going on. This book almost reads like a children’s book but, like the best children’s books, has enough innovation and imagination to make it hold up for adults too. The story in this one is that Mr. Pleebus comes into the world through a television, but is followed by evil creatures called Grooblies who are trying to take him back. That’s the simple version of the story, as I’m not going to tell you where it all goes from there. There’s an incredibly colorful cast of characters with more than a few bizarre objects scattered throughout. I was waiting to get this one before I decided whether or not I was going to buy the second book, and frankly I’m sold.

]]> This comic has the amazing ability to make me want to have kids just so I can read this to them. I’ve read the other two books in the series now, and it’s pretty clear that this is an adventure series meant mostly for kids, but there is so much here for everybody to look at. You can just marvel at the art, and it’s rare when I can’t find at least one lazy panel in the whole thing. Backgrounds a’plenty, the kid’s rooms are intricate and have all kinds of stuff that your average kid would have in them, and the glimpses we get of Plabbu are fascinating. This volume is about the evil Pleebus (called Subeelp, and let me know if you need help figuring the name out) and his attempts to finish the mission of the Grooble King from the last volume. This one was almost too grounded in reality, as much of it was spent at school, but that’s the extent of my negative commenting on the story. Unless I’m just way too far removed from being a kid, I think that any kid in the world would love these books. They’re cheap, they’re pretty big for the size and they’re gorgeous. Contact info is around here somewhere, or you could contact me for copies, if you’re so inclined…

]]> Any complaints I might have had in the last volume about the whole thing being too grounded in reality were completely removed in this one. The story here is that the kids get a magic skateboard with a cryptic message on how to get to Plabbu after the original gateway is accidentally destroyed. Here, really, is the first time that the true complexity of the world that they’re dealing with is revealed, as they see a talking lion, a giant frog and a dragon, among many other things are too complex for their childish minds, but which might get a chuckle out of some of older folks. Also, I have to say that that skateboard, for whatever reason, is now my favorite character in the series. It doesn’t say anything intelligible, it’s just something about those eyes. Anyway, this is the best book of the series by far, and that’s saying quite a bit. This isn’t one of those series where you don’t need to read the other books, though, as there is no recap that I can see and everything that the kids do is assuming that you know what happened in the previous books. I hope he’s planning more of these (I see this was done in 2001) and I hope more people start to stand up and take notice, because there aren’t enough quality comics out there for children.

]]> If you’re anything like me, tales of the 2004 presidential election can still be a little traumatic. Luckily this story deals only peripherally with that event, instead focusing on the maturation of a young man named Lukas, from his certainty that the world was going to end any minute to deep cynicism, all the way back to a belief that he could possibly make things a little better. The prologue gets most of that out of the way and is crucial to show just why he’s willing to sign up for a fairly ridiculous mission: get 5 million dollars from a front group of a billionaire (with the permission of said billionaire) and pass it along to the Kerry campaign, all while keeping his famous name out of it. This is even harder than it sounds, as all of this money has been cycled through various election front groups and tracking down the actual money is almost impossible. Along the way Lukas finds an old friend named Trevor Alixopulos and gains the trust of the only person left working at the relevant front group, and Trevor (the artist, not the character) throws in a few dream sequences and a “newspaper strip” to keep things humming and give the reader a little more insight into the characters. It’s a wonderfully morally ambiguous tale. Although Lukas knows that his actions will likely have little to no effect on the election, and although he knows that his lack of ruthlessness might well be what keeps the people in charge doing their thing, he’s still trying somewhat hopelessly to make things a little bit better. This is probably the best thing Trevor has done yet (although he has plenty of minis I still haven’t read, so who knows), relevant for our times yet never preachy.

]]> This is the first issue of a new regular series by Lonnie, although “regular” in the small press comics world could be interpreted in a number of ways. Two comics in a year can be considered regular, so we’ll see what happens. And, not to give anything away or anything, but keeping the same title for the rest of the series might be a bit tough. There are three stories in here. The first is about a boxer who’s lost faith in the world, the second about a young girl whose mother has killed herself, and the last about life and death and everything after. This was a really great read, and I recommend it for anybody who happens to be going to SPX this weekend (you lucky bastards), but it also felt a bit like a punch to the gut. A bit depressing, if you will, what with all the death and futility of it all. If you’re looking for something happy I’m sure there’s something with puppies on this site somewhere, but if you’re looking for a solid comic, well, here it is.

]]> Three cheers for printing errors! OK, maybe not. I’m not sure what to say about this one because the main story (surprisingly enough, about a cheerleader) is a garbled mess. I was intrigued at the start, after I had read the parts that were in order, and then pages started repeating and suddenly it was over. I’m hoping that he has reprinted this thing, or plans to, otherwise I couldn’t recommend this to anyone. Which really sucks, because I liked his other two comics quite a bit, and I liked most of the rest of the stories in here too. One tells of a childhood story of why he has a red mark on his nose today, one is a short wordless tale about a bike, and the last is an adapted poem by W. B. Yeats. Like I said, if this has been reprinted. it looked like a good main story and it’s only a buck. If it hasn’t been reprinted, unless you’re a fan of banging your head against walls, I’d skip it. Contact info is up there for his other fantastic, coherent books….

]]> So who saw the Sin City movie? Complete mayhem all around, blood and guts all over the place (although not red blood), and all of the quiet moments from three Sin City books taken out for the sake of keeping up the frantic pace. Well, this parody has a lot in common with that, with the extra added bonus of being funny. Oh, if only my scanner worked and I could show you the back cover of this book, if sums the whole thing up beautifully. Anyway, if you’re looking for a plot here, you’re looking in the wrong place. It’s a mish-mash of sex and violence, which shouldn’t come as a shock to anybody, considering the subject material. The art is vaguely Frank Miller-esque, more than enough to keep the little book moving, and it was great to see a Sin City plot crammed down into mini comic form. More than enough here to keep fans (and haters) of the series happy.

]]> Huzzah for no panels! OK, so the title page has panels, but the entire comic is free of panels, just images floating in a structureless background. Don’t panic, all you lovers of panels, it’s perfect for the story. This is the tale of two friends, one of which has no higher goal in life than to relax and get high, the other who is trying to “grow up” and fit in at his normal job. Sadly, the pot runs out, leading Whitey White (can you guess which one that is from the cover?) to order drugs online. Said drugs end up being a sort of dimensional portal and things get complicated in a hurry, with a giant corporation, another world, and a strongman enforcer all coming into the picture. Any more info ruins what is truly a great ride, as following all the steps in interdimensional travel and what allows people to travel and why is at the heart of the book. It’s a great book all around, and I have no idea what else Philip has done (although he does pop up on the enormous Various page), but if this is his first book the man can certainly go places. If it’s not his first book he probably already has gone places and I’m just the last to hear about it…

]]> OK, so monkeys as a theme for comics (or almost anything, really) is about as played out as it can get. Even I have to admit to being sick of seeing monkeys all over the place. That being said, reading this reminds me of why I liked monkeys so much to begin with: their adorable propensity to act like people. This is a brief history of monkeys in the various space programs, but mostly the ones here in the USA. Frankly, I thought it would be a lot more grim than what I saw; turns out most of the monkeys made it back safe and sound after all. This is a great overview of the whole time period seen in a completely different light, and she even manages to make the story entertaining when it could have easily been a cold collection of historical data. Fascinating stuff, and this is sure to restore your love of monkeys if it’s been lessened by the recent barrage of monkeys…

]]> (To anybody reading these reviews in order, I read #3 first out of these). Sometimes when you go back to the early issues of a series you can see the rough patches that led to greater things. It’s a bit unfair to call this one a “rough patch” as it’s still entertaining and has a few great lines in it, but it’s obvious that this concept for a story grew from here to become the greatness that is #3 (even though, at this moment, I haven’t read #2 or 4 yet). There’s nothing overtly awful about this issue, it’s just that the questions stay pretty simple and there’s not a whole lot to latch onto. Guy is killed by jealous wife but regrets nothing, it doesn’t dig much deeper than that. Ok overall, and worth a look if you’ve read the other ones and want a whole set, but go for the later ones first.

]]> It’s tough to pick a favorite out of these four issues (and that’s after Sarah had to win me over to begin with as I’m not a big fan of the ouija), but this one might take the cake. Am I allowed to have “co-favorites”? No, didn’t think so. This is the story of Chip, a sassy dead man who enjoys very much having sex and his current reincarnated life as a strawberry. Yes, both at the same time. He is also very interested in the interviewers asking deeper questions, then seems to take delight in making jokes of the answers. Chip does, however, give us the meaning of life, and it’s about as good an answer as I’ve seen anywhere else. This whole series (assuming that it’s over) is a blast and should win awards in the comics world. Hell, maybe it even has, as I don’t keep up on that sort of thing. Either way, check them out. These are some of those mythical books that you can show to people who don’t read comics and win them over, and we all know how hard those are to come by…

]]> Full disclosure here: I believe in Ouija boards working about as much as I believe in the average alien abduction. That is to say, not even a little unless I see proof of some kind. That being said, it didn’t matter one bit because this was a great story. A group of people “called” on the board (sorry, no idea what the term is) and were answered by a dead young girl named Naomi. She died horribly and misses the boy she had a crush on at the time, who either died with her or is still alive, as she hasn’t seen him. I have no idea of Sarah’s artistic ability from this becuase it’s just images of this dead girl in various poses, but she does a great job with the girl and the backgrounds, for whatever that’s worth I don’t think I’m adequately conveying what a blast this comic was, but it made me laugh a few times, and that’s always a good thing. I have no idea on price, but let’s say $3 at a guess, and the outside is creepily gorgeous.

]]> I don’t know if Sarah takes these “conversations” down verbatim as she has them, uses snippets and turns them into a coherent story or just makes the whole thing up, but it hardly matters when the story is this good. The group finds Mack, who is sad, lost and looking for his mother. While they’re talking to him his sister Agatha comes into the conversation, and Mack says that he would be a lot happier if they could just find his mother. Mack asks them to find his sister Samantha, who might know more about the situation, and things get really odd from there. Yes, even more odd. This is a bit bigger than the other issues and it’s nothing short of a thoroughly entertaining read. If this was all taken verbatim from a ouija session that must have been one creepy session…

]]> This is the last of Sarah’s current list of books that I’m getting around to reviewing (just in case anybody comes here wondering how this all works chronologically, and it’s a horrible mess that way, so please don’t bother), and it’s another impressive effort. It’s about a man named Vea who deserts from a company of explorers in the Banda Oriental and his eventual time in an Indian camp. Vea spends a day with the Indians, only to wake up the next day to find that everybody has either vanished or changed significantly from the night before. This happens every day, no matter if he takes a wife the night before, fights in a battle, anything that happens is forgotten on a daily basis, to the point where Vea can’t even remember the life he had before the village. His story becomes a legend around his old group of explorers, although no one knows how much of it is real, if any of it, or what really happened to Vea. This is based on a story from David Becan and it’s a fascinating concept, although used in various forms in various other stories. It’s done extremely well here and this one, along with pretty much any of her other books, is well worth checking out.

]]> OK, I’m officially impressed. Look, I’ve been doing this site for almost five years now and reading minis for twice as long as that (or so), so seeing something that’s genuinely different from the usual is always a thrill. This one is about a boy who’s always travelling (and drunk, apparently) and his desire to fit in somewhere, anywhere… but also his inability to be honest to those around him or even to himself. In the end we’re left wondering what of what we’ve just read is real and what isn’t, but she manages to pull that off without ever seeming like a cliche hollywoodish twist ending. And if you think I’m telling you too much you may be right, but she says it right on the back of the comic so it can’t be too much of a secret. It’s probably still a bit too early to say for sure, but so far Sarah seems like a new, unique voice in the world of small press comics, and another one of those is always a good thing in my book.

]]> I’ve known about Sarah’s work for right around a year now, and it already makes my day when I get a new comic from her in the mail. This is the story of a young couple who seem to completely love each other, but have to deal with roommates and their families not approving of their relationship for different reasons. They decide to take a long camping trip to get away from it all, and end up stumbling across a house in the middle of nowhere, and any more than that gives the whole thing away. This may (emphasis on the “may” here, as I like most of her stuff) be the best comic that Sarah has done yet. She sets up the difficulties of the relationship beautifully and deals with the awful truth of that house as honestly as possible. She also points out in the letter that came with this something I hadn’t picked up on, that the end of every Shuteye focuses in on one person dreaming and that person carries on over to the next issue. Missed that one completely, probably because I’ve been reading these things months apart. Anyway, it looks gorgeous and has a great story. What more do you need?

]]> Huzzah, this time around I was able to instantly catch the connection from the last issue to #4! It only took me 4 issues to figure all that out, I must be the smartest man alive. This is another solid issue in this eries, a bit different this time out because the tone has changed to one of constant terror. The man from the last issue, J.P, wakes up to start things off this time around, happy that at least his last dream (issue #3) at least wasn’t the recurring nightmare he’s been having. In his nightmare he’s being pursued by a creepy, bearded cajun guy (or maybe just a french guy) who seems to be out to do him harm. J.P. starts losing his grip on reality almost instantly, confusing his waking life with his images of the nightmare cajun, seeing him in his record shop, on the street, and accompanying J.P.’s girlfriend. Paranoia rarely leads to happy endings, but I’ll say no more to avoid spoilers. Like I said, another solid issue and I’m looking forward to one day putting these all together and making sense of the whole thing.

]]> First monkeys in space, then the origin of robots. It looks like these were the only two comics Sarah did in this format (these were done in 2002) but she could have kept this up forever as far as I’m concerned. This tells the story of the man (Karel Capek) who wrote a play about robots (after his brother Josef coined the term) in 1921 called Rossum’s Universal Robots. The robots in this were organic and meant more as drones to do physical work. The message of the play was lost in the novelty of the concept of robots, and we all know where it went from here, as we sit at least a decade or so away from the inevitable robot armageddon. The rest of the comic is about the life of Karel Capek and how the Nobel Prize committee lacked the courage to give him the Prize for literature but they were afraid of offending Hitler. Odd thing to see written these days, huh? Anyway, it’s a fascinating story and mostly new to me. If she ever wants to return to this format I’m all for it, but regardless if you check out this book you have an instant conversation starter for any occasion…

]]> Who likes a good boxing match? Granted, there’s all kinds of subtext here to go with the text (one quick glance at the cover will fill you in on that much), but there’s also plenty of good old fashioned hitting to enjoy. This is the story, on the surface at least, of a man who slowly rises through the ranks until he’s given a shot at the championship. Said championship is being held by a man who clearly got the belt through help from shady people, and the challenger is informed that unless he takes a fall his family is in jeopardy. Cut in with the action are shots of the challenger as a caveman with a club and the champ as a giant monster, quite possibly a lion but I’m not entirely sure. Anyway, a nice little tale for a measly $.50, with an unfortunately dopey ending line. Other than that there’s plenty to like here though, as it looks great and, like I said, plenty of punching is involved.

]]> What’s the best way to review a book of political comics? If you figure that out let me know, as I have no idea. There’s some pretty funny stuff in here if this is your political persuasion (”this” being mostly that GW Bush and Republicans in general are shitbags, while Democrats are mostly worthless), but if this isn’t your thing, well, it’s not going to do a whole lot for you. There’s also a slight problem with the fact that political strips are incredibly topical, so that even though this book was done in 2006, as I sit here in 2007 (as somebody who pays a lot of attention to politics, sadly), there are plenty of faces in various strips that were a mystery to me. Possibly if I read them the week they came out it would make perfect sense, but a year removed I have no idea who were committing the outrages of the week. Still, some funny and disturbing stuff in here, and call me an eternal optimist, but I have to imagine that most people out there who pay attention to this stuff at all are more or less in line with his political views…

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