Category Archives: Reviews
Reviews
Madson, Justin – Carbon
Technical note: I use a flat scanner, meaning that when I try to scan images from a 600+ page behemoth of a book, the edges end up looking a little smeared. My apologies. Still, plenty of images are available at Justin’s website, if you’re interested…
I’m always delighted when I run into somebody at a convention who’s work I reviewed in the early days of the website but haven’t seen in awhile, and that’s when they have a new mini or two out. Imagine the thrill when I saw that Justin had this brick of a book available! He’s been working on it for a decade, roughly, and he originally released it in 6 different graphic novels (that I completely missed somehow). But hey, that just means that this is all new to me. How to describe this sucker without taking away all the fun bits for the new readers? I’m going to skirt around the edges, that’s how! This is a sprawling epic of a tale, with a huge cast of characters. Justin was smart enough put a dozen of the characters and some brief bios in the front of the book (and yes, I did reference it frequently), and even with that he probably could have done a few more pages with character bios. There’s a lot happening in here, is what I’m saying. This book deals with a society in which psychics (real ones, not the nonsense you see advertised on tv) have been around for decades, so they’ve already dealt with their discovery, the public reaction good and bad, being used, being abused, using their powers for evil, etc., and Justin does a fantastic job of using flashbacks sparingly but effectively. There’s a big, completely thought out world here, and it’s clear that he could go back into any of the material he’s written and answer whatever questions anybody might have. This book starts maybe 20 years into all of this (if he listed an exact time frame I missed it), where the anti-psychic (called Seers) sentiment is running very high, with proposed laws on the way promising all kinds of terrible things. We’re shown this world through the eyes of a Seer and her non-Seer brother (the former wrote a tell-all book about her childhood, which led to all kinds of problems with the latter), their father (a former cop and Seer whose mind has been ravaged by the years of using his powers), a mysterious woman who’s questioning her life choices and hiding a whole bunch of secrets (that play out throughout the book; her brother also pops up a lot), the anti-Seer contingent and the pro-Seer contingent (and how both sides are trying to deal with the other), and a kidnapped little girl and how just about everybody ends up coming together to try to help her. I’ve been writing for a while now and I’ve barely scratched the surface. Taking the time to really establish these characters as people really makes this book something special, so hey, young cartoonists, maybe spend a decade on your books too? OK, maybe that’s not realistic, but the more real your characters seem, the better off your narrative is going to be. There were constant surprises and escalations, a satisfying conclusion, and the general sense that Justin could put out another book about this world of this size or maybe even bigger and still have a lot left to tell about this world. That’s a complete success as a graphic novel as far as I’m concerned. If you’re a long time reader of this website and have also been wondering what he’s been up to, you won’t be disappointed if you check this out. If you’ve never heard of him until now, I was going to suggest maybe starting with some of his older minis for financial purposes, but it looks like all of those are all out of print. You’ll have to try your luck with a graphic novel, and you could do a whole lot worse than making it this one. $40
Matos, Ana Margarida – Grapefruit
And lo, there comes a time in every review pile of mini kus comics where it ends up being so abstract/hard to put into words that I end up fumbling even more than usual, often ending up saying nothing at all. If you enjoy these awkward moments, stick along for the ride! The sampled page was the only one that wasn’t a two page spread, so do me a favor and read it. Gets your attention, am I right? The reader is instantly curious about the lack of existence previously, and the idea of 1000 randomly selected people all putting their comics together to make the whole is inspired. What follows is a complicated journey dealing with the images telling the story, making your own reality, instructions on how to make your own comic, defining yourself down to a single thought, a goddamn beautiful sentiment about the benefits of non-existence, seeing how the world goes on without you and the importance of narration. It’s also about none of those things and is instead a poetry collection with a trapped narrator. Or I’m wrong on all counts? Look, these types of minis are up to you to interpret. Get thee to The Comic’s Journal if you want smarter people than me to analyze this thing to death and squeeze every bit of your own discovery out of it. As for me, it’s a mini kus book. Haven’t they earned the benefit of the doubt by now? $7.95 (or the bundle of four comics is always available)
Cooklin – World on Fire
Note: as has been the case for all of Cooklin’s books that I reviewed from CXC this year, they’re not technically listed under available comics at their website. But since I bought the comics a few months ago, and since Cooklin didn’t seem to be running all that low, I’m thinking that if you check in with them then you can probably get your own copies.
Hey everybody, it’s the review after the disclaimer! Ugh, this is why I so rarely use paragraphs here and prefer to just ramble. Trying to make blog posts “formally correct” is a job for a fool. In case this is the first comic of Cooklin’s that you’re reading about here, a quick explainer: they conducted many interviews with people who have clinical depression and/or other forms of mental illness and then released these comics to raise awareness. The interviews were anonymous, so don’t worry about spotting anybody you know. Honestly, I saved this one for last because of that title, as it’s something I’ve always wondered about: how do you treat/deal with your depression when the world is, objectively, terrible? The story here is familiar, in that they had a relatively uneventful upbringing, right up until the point (in high school) that they started being more aware of the events of the outside world, which naturally led to more depression. They tried talking to their parents or just hoping for a better world, but people didn’t take their concerns all that seriously. As has been the case for all of these minis that I’ve read, there’s not much here about tips to help deal with this kind of depression, but that’s probably tricky in its own right. Treatment is complicated, and it’s possible that offering a few quick bits of advice in a mini comic is maybe as problematic as offering bad advice. I’m still hoping for a collected edition or maybe a regular old book with all of their interviews and the conclusions Cooklin drew from them, but who knows. I’ll find out at CXC next year maybe? This one is somewhere between $5-8, so check with the creator for details…
Shuler, Darin – Piggy Fire
Long time readers of this here website will know that I’ll often dance around in a review of a comic when something is so wonderfully shocking that I don’t want to spoil even a hint of it, and that is rarely more true than it is this time around. I’ll just say that that title? It means a whole lot, and almost certainly not in the way that you might be thinking, no matter what way that is. So, what can I say about the comic? Things start off with our hero in bed with his wife, who’s being attacked by their two children. Well, they just want to snuggle, but our hero sure makes it seem like an attack. We see a few pages of their (rather stifling, to my childless eyes) domestic life, and our hero heads out for a planned trip with a friend. We see them enjoying some loud music on the road (I recognized Smashing Pumpkins, but not the other song), and on a whim they decide to get something at a gas station that’s meant to liven up their campfire, i.e. give the flames some color. They set up their campfire, tell a few stories, and finally decide to use the “Funny Fire” on the campfire. This is where we get our first glimpse of full color, and it’s also where things start to get really weird, and it’s ALSO also the part where I have to stop talking about the comic. Will the payoff here be as perfect for you as it was for me? I can’t guarantee a thing, and maybe if you’re in your early 20’s or so it won’t hit as hard. But anything past that (and possibly any age), you’re going to agree with me that the last page of this comic is the most solid ending of a mini kus book in awhile, and they often nail their endings. Look, I’ve been rambling about comics for almost 23 years now. Trust me on this one, OK? $7.95 (or cheaper if you get a bundle of four different comics, which you should always do)
Collier, James – Insomnia Funnies
(Note: I got this book through Domino a few weeks ago, but it looks like it’s currently sold out. Future people, between this link and the link to James’ website, maybe it’ll get reprinted soon?)
Insomnia! It sounds funny until you’re the one going through it, at which point it shifts to being the most horrific thing in the world. You want to sleep, your body needs sleep, your brain is barely functioning… and there you are, laying in bed, either staring at the ceiling or stubbornly keeping your eyes closed as if that will solve the problem. This comic right here is one of the more faithful depictions I’ve seen of that miserable state, as things start off (after a few surreal images of a city landscape) with our hero in bed, staring at the ceiling, thinking of heartbreak. He gets out of bed, because why not, and goes through a series of tasks to distract himself from his plight. After these attempts fail he decides to go for a walk, which can already be a surreal experience at the right time in a big city, but much more so when you haven’t slept for three days. After these adventures and images of things observed, he decides to head back home and give sleep another try. Can he do it, or is he trapped in a terrible loop? Read for yourself to find out! Parts of this comic felt like they were giving me second hand insomnia, which I didn’t think was possible. There’s a certain kind of fatalistic futility present in insomnia that’s bizarrely combined with the hope that things will turn around soon, on top of knowing that your body HAS to sleep sooner or later, and James handles all of that wonderfully here. Unless you’re one of those people who gets insomnia through the power of suggestion, this one is well worth a look. $5
Baylis, Jonathan (with Various Artists) – So Buttons #13
What’s this? Am I attempting to sneak in another Karl Christian Krumpholz book under a different name? No, you silly things, he just did the cover and a story for Jonathan’s comic. This time around the theme is (more or less) Hollywood, his time in it, and Harvey Pekar (and his time interacting with Harvey). Mostly, anyway, as he always has room for random stories. Topics in this one deal with him discovering Alan Moore as a young comics kid and how it shaped him (it also mentions that Alan drew a strip for Harvey Pekar in 1990, which I now have to locate) (art by Tony Wolf), his time working for the Sundance Channel and how it eventually ended up with him sitting directly behind Harvey Pekar for the premiere of Harvey’s movie (art by Joe Zabel), a solid choice for a midnight movie experience (art by Bernie Mireault), his time going to school with Eli Roth and his joy at watching him shoot Hitler in Inglorious Bastards (art by Gary Dumm), an entirely too detailed depiction of his having to get his Lasik eye surgery adjusted (art by Maria and Peter Hoey), his love of a good Ennio Morricone soundtrack (art by Rick Parker), a well-earned love letter to Tallulah Bankhead (art by Michael T. Gilbert), Nolan Ryan’s disgusting trick to toughen up his fingers to pitch a baseball (art by T. J. Kirsch), and of course the story with Karl Christian Krumpholz with the odd bit of synchronicity of them talking about The Friends of Eddie Coyle when I just watched that movie a few weeks ago. Coincidence? I mean, obviously. Still, it’s an obscure enough movie that I’m tickled by it being mentioned. Obviously there are few more stories I’m leaving as a total surprise for the reader (I mean, I didn’t even mention Whit Taylor’s piece), but even compared to his already solid body of work, this issue is a shining example of what Jonathan can do with a solid cast of artists and when everybody is firing on all cylinders. What does that mean exactly? Probably a car thing. Anyway, heck yeah you should check this one out. $10
Brookes, Gareth – Gym Gains
It’s Gareth Brookes! Sorry, I sometimes get way too excited when an artist I’ve been reviewing for a lot of years ends up with a mini kus book. If you’re curious about his older work, click on his name and you will see a whole lot of me rambling about him. Anyway! This particular comic deals with a love triangle, sort of, between three people who are obsessed with working out and workout apps. There’s a brief affair between two of them, a new lady enters the picture, and the dude ends up with her. It all plays out through online messages, and the comic has the appearance of a hastily crumpled up note that quite possibly also gets tossed into a lake and then retrieved. Roughly half of the messages are distorted mirror images of existing messages, really bringing home the panicked but still somehow distant and opaque nature of the dispute. There’s no contact between the original couple past a certain point, or at least it’s not depicted on the page. Instead it’s an online cheering session and, as it always ends up, an opportunity to trash the happiness of the newer couple. It’s a dreamlike (or nightmarish, depending on your perspective) tale of betrayal and jealousy that’s inextricably mixed with an obsession of (hey look at that it’s the title) the gym goals of the main character. If you’ve ever buried the pain of heartbreak with a compulsive need to work out, this comic is for you! It’s also for you if you wonder if those types of people are capable of honest self-assessment after the fact. It’s worth a look for just about anybody, is what I’m saying ($7.95 for the issue but, as always, I’d recommend getting a bundle of four comics instead of just one)
Heinly, Beth – Girls Named Meghan: A Teenage Memoir
Girls Named Meghan: A Teenage Memoir
Ah, teenage friendships. Often a mess, but they can still leave lasting impressions for the rest of your life, especially the ones that were (in hindsight) a terrible idea. This is the story of Beth’s teenage years and how they intersected with a girl named Meghan in her school. To start things off we see two girls named Meghan, best friends with each other, and they’ve seemingly bonded over Bon Jovi (the story starts in 1996). One Meghan vanishes for a few months, and when she comics back the Meghans have split up. Beth’s Meghan (just referred to as “Meghan” from now on, OK?) tried to kill herself, which kind of but not really explains their split, but Beth was looking for a best friend, Meghan was newly friendless, so it seemed to make sense to pursue her. And it worked, sort of, as Meghan quickly because Beth’s best friend. Still, her obvious trauma made things tricky, to put it mildly. They joined up with a couple of other friends to make up a coven (it was a thing at the time, believe you me), which went well enough until Meghan freaked out and tried to kill herself in front of them all. Then Meghan came back, in full goth phase, and the warning signs really started piling up at this point. Not to get into too much more, as there’s lots to discover here for yourself, but their eventual breakup was messy, confused, violent, and very real. Beth also says up front that the story is based on memories, so obviously she could be getting a few things wrong. But the best thing I can say about it is that it really calls back to the days of teenage friendships, and you’d better believe that a few names/faces I haven’t thought of in decades popped into me head while reading this. If you’re looking for a nostalgia joyride/cringefest, you’d have a hard time finding a better way to do it than reading this book. $15
Dawson, Mike – Fun Time Fall 2022
I had to check to see the last time I reviewed one of Mike’s comics (been reviewing his stuff since the very early days of the website) and was surprised to see that it’s been over a decade. If you’re curious about the gap between reviews, read the review for Troop 142. I go on and on about it. What I know about Mike these days is his podcast (that may or may not be done) going over the Star Wars movies minute by minute, mostly because several comedians I like made appearances on it, and that he’s still making comics. This one is almost too personal for me, because he really goes into what must have happened to the “Generation X” people that made them into maybe the Trumpiest generation today. Outside of the very olds, I guess. I think Mike is roughly my age, and as somebody who seemingly gets more liberal every year, the state of my generation is a constant source of annoyance and confusion to me. It’s like the world kept going even after my generation seemed to think “nothing matters” was a solid rallying cry and a significant chunk of them would prefer the world to burn rather than admit they were wrong. Anyway! This is about Mike’s comic. Several stories in this one, mostly about the cover theme. He goes into the exact moment that he first saw someone log in to the internet and how urgently they treated it (circa 1993), talks about rereading Generation Ecch! (I also bought it for the Evan Dorkin art), explains his theory about how Quantum Leap was the quintessential 90’s show because now the problems to be fixed would just be too great to deal with (which makes me wonder how the remake handles the idea), explains how his first cartoon was the Rambo one (look it up, it’s as absurd as it sounds), hearing about a trip of his friends where they all took mushrooms and then talked about politics (he’s right, that sounds nightmarish), watching Twister with his daughter, a guide to spotting fascists, and finally a deep dive into the juxtaposition between the gender bending hair metal bands of the 80’s and 90’s and the rampant homophobia of the time. It’s still baffling, but he has some solid theories on what the whole thing was all about. So overall, yes, the man can still make a hell of a comic. And it looks like he’s still putting out stuff regularly for his Patreon subscribers, if you’re looking to get a steady fix of his comics… $7
Vicieux, Mitch E. – Apoqueerlyptic
Website
This was one of those side effects of the pandemic that I’ve been wanting to read a story about ever since: what happened to people who were transitioning at the start of it, and how was their experience getting through it? Mitch seems like the perfect person to tell that tale, as they were scheduled to get their top surgery in May of 2020. Otherwise known as the worst possible time to have a complicated medical procedure scheduled, if your short term memory is that bad. There were delays, confusion, annoyance at the world, and of course the inevitable constant sexy dreams/images. That’s what surprised me the most about this comic, and in a good way: once I read the synopsis, it seemed like I might be in for a depressing slog of a comic. Somehow it never ended up there, even though Mitch had every excuse for falling into a deep depression. Instead these strips were a lot funnier (and OK, hornier) than I was expecting. These are mostly 4 panels strips, chronicling their time before, during and after top surgery, and it’s the “before” section that gave Mitch the most time to consider their options, although it didn’t take long. Contrary to the beliefs of dipshits, getting top surgery isn’t exactly a casual decision, so they’d already had plenty of time to think things through. It’s also less linear than I was expecting but, again, in a good way. There’s a complete absence of “on this day this happened, the next day I felt this way about it, the day after that I etc.” type of storytelling, which was a solid choice. Some subjects of strips in here deal with trying to answer a gender question to a phone surveyor, making sense of famous gender quotes, contemplating why all their D & D characters were dudes, putting on a binder (before the top surgery, obviously), dealing with the aftereffects of the surgery, and being a lot more open about sex in their art than they are in real life. And lots more, of course; this is a fairly hefty mini. They also spend quite a few strips detailing the surgery (not in gruesome detail, for the squemish types), both the look and the feel of it. It’s informative if you’re curious about the procedure, and funny if you’re not all that curious, which means that heck yeah I’d recommend giving this a shot. $5
Jackson, Rob – Medieval Comics
I just had a terrifying thought: I’ve written so many reviews of Rob’s comics over the last decade or so that I’d bet any halfway decent AI program could fill in the blanks here pretty easily. Sure, the real artists should be OK, at least for now, but lunks like me who just talk about comics are in trouble. Ah well, best not to dwell on my once and future obsolescence. Let’s talk about comics! There are a couple of things you can always count on with Rob’s comics: he’s never going to cheat the reader (this one is 48 pages and it’s rare that he puts out less than that) and you never know quite what his comics are going to be about. This one, sure, that title gives you a solid hint right off the bat, but having a comic set in medieval times still leaves a lot of room for stories. This one starts off with a monk trying to see his abbot about a vision he (the monk) had overnight. Rather than dismissing him the abbot takes it seriously and calls in a few of his closest advisers to hear the monk out. His vision was about a field of the bones of 100 martyrs, which was big business at the time, and he’s given permission to set out with a few helpers to verify the truth of his vision. No big loss to the church if it was nonsense, so they didn’t tell anybody about it, but potentially a big reward if it was true. From there it’s a genuinely odd but engaging quest story, with the monks picking up companions along the way with mysterious (or not so mysterious) motivations, intrigue, hardships and even a murder. And once they do get to the location the monk had dreamed about, there’s still the question of the purpose of the vision and whether or not it was really a good idea to follow it through. This here is another in a long line of really solid work from Rob, and at this point it’s safe to say that I’d be able to entertain myself for a day without leaving the house if I just laid a stack of his comics in front of me first. And boy howdy, after all these years, it’d be quite a stack. So if you’re intrigued by old timey religion and artifacts, not to mention some genuinely bizarre visions, I’d say you should give this a shot. If that’s somehow not your thing, check out his back catalog. Believe you me, there’ll be something on there that gets your attention.
Eisele, Terry & Bowman, Brent – Far Tune: Winter
Website (Terry)
Website (Brent)
A bit of personal history here, which applies to why I used the sample image. Back in my early days of working at the Board of Elections in Columbus (I’ve since moved on to a different BOE, which confirms that I’m a glutton for punishment), I noticed that a whole lot of names that we got from the naturalization process were for January 1st of whatever year. It took me a few years to get a solid answer as to why that was the case, but if you’re curious, Fartun lays out the reasoning here. I’d just let everybody pick their own birthday, which is one more reason why I’ll never rule the world. Anyway, this volume picks up shortly after the holiday break is over, and we’re shown exactly why that’s an odd time to be in Ohio from somebody who went from a refugee camp to a few years in London. We see a bit more of the camp too, including more detail about how Fartun’s mother died and her reaction at the time. There’s a constant background tension around her brother and father; guess I’ll find out in the next volume whether it gets resolved or if it’s just a part of trying to fit into a foreign (and often hostile) culture. This volume spends a lot of time on slam poetry, so if you’re as unfamiliar with it as I was you’re going to learn a few new things here. We also see some of the more overt racism so far, as Fartun is forced to participate with another school because her bully told everybody to boycott the team if she (Fartun) was on it. It’s a fascinating subculture, with a lot more rules that I would have guessed. Oh, and there’s also a bit of Somali mythology, as she tells her friend Bea the story of Dhegdheer, essentially a monster that was used to keep children from wandering off but with a tragic backstory. There are at least a few actual poems included from the time depicted (still in 2005), which was a nice touch, and it showed that she had some serious poetry skills right off the bat. It looks like the series concludes in the next volume (so much for my theory for their being a book for each of the four seasons), and these are some hefty books that are currently going for $10 each on Amazon. Or maybe a package deal if you’re lucky enough to run into Terry at a con…
Barnett, Lauren – New Things
Remember how in those old timey movies about a reporter going after a hot story you’d often see them take out a little tape recorder to record notes for themselves? You know, leads they’d need to follow up on, that sort of thing. Well, I read my review for Lauren’s last book (Ruining Your Cat’s Life, in case you need a reminder) and I mentioned missing several of her books/comics and needing to rectify it soon. I have not done that thing! Will I remember to fix that this time around? Well, if this book doesn’t lodge that into my memory, nothing will. This is a collection of a bunch of Lauren’s new strips, and two things are true about this at the same time: there’s some ridiculously funny stuff in here, and it would be wonderful if like 90% of it really did happen/start happening in real life. I mean, the sample image! What a fantastic idea. And spare me with the “oh, think of the food that would be wasted, the chef would have to make full size portions of each just for little samples.” No! She’s trying to imagine a better world here, and this would absolutely apply. If you’re new to her stuff, or unsure, her website has all kinds of sample comics. If you can scroll through that for a few minutes without laughing, I guess you won’t enjoy this, but I also feel sorry for the lack of laughter in your life. For the rest of us, if you’re curious what goes on in this particular volume, Lauren has some suggestions for other medical practitioners and the samples they could be giving out after appointments (seriously, why is it that only dentists do this?), new vanity plates, ways to disguise a cell tower, condiments that help you out, new vegetables, new appetizers, dream restaurants, new fruits (and seltzers, and animals, and jelly beans, and ice creams; again, the world would be a better place with a lot of these things in it), and some movie ideas that should happen as soon as possible. As always, just describing these takes some of the humor out, which is why I keep it vague. There are also a few more ideas in here I’m not even going to mention (except for the pajamas that show cats knocking things off of shelves), but the important thing is that they’ll make you laugh. Yes, that’s a guarantee. $15
Robertson, David – Enough Nonsense
I was curious so I just looked back on how I labeled all of my old reviews on David’s books, as he’s the writer but usually only the artist on some of the comics. I was all over the place over the years, sometimes calling him an editor (which I’m sure he is too), sometimes listing the various artists, usually not. This is all to say that all of those names in the tags? Those are all of the artists in this issue. I never go story by story in these reviews, so if you liked one piece in particular, look up that artist why don’t you? Christ, now I’m telling people how to use the internet. OK, moving on. This is another collection of short pieces by David and friends (nothing is longer than a couple of pages this time around), and it’s yet another solid pile of stories. If you’re thinking that “yet again” is a slam, no it is not. Somebody putting out quality work on a consistent basis should never be taken for granted. Stories this time around deal with whether or not the Titanic cracked in half before sinking (I had no idea that this was a controversy for decades before the wreckage was found), explaining the gap in observable work between comic writers and artists, car people vs. non-car people, the disturbing process of “weeding” in public libraries (basically pulling books from the shelves permanently that haven’t been checked out in a certain number of years), trying to do a nice thing for a new writer, how some painful memories may be ridiculous but still manage to haunt you, rejecting the cop-out answer that saying you believe in god doesn’t hurt anything because you’re covered if it does or doesn’t exist, how the official Star Wars Celebration has changed over the years, and being yelled at by an automatic fridge to close the door. That last one was illustrated by Peter Conrad, another one of those artists who were around in the early days of the website but I’ve since lost track of. Well, he’s still making comics, which is always a positive sign. I mentioned maybe half of the stories in here, so that leaves plenty of surprises for you to find. So, to recap: are these great stories that I will enjoy? Yes. Are there a wide variety of stories so that I’ll still like plenty of them even if some of them aren’t for me? Also yes. When in doubt, should I just throw money at indie comics in case I like them, because even if I don’t like a particular issue that still means that the artist is more likely to make comics in the future? Absotively yes. All clear?
Bilyeu, Chad & de Wit, Juliette – The Re-Up #2
Note: the review for the last issue included a link to make an offer on all of the available issues (up to #4 now). This time around I’m linking to a single issue through what looks like the only website that offers them singly. I’m a full service website over here! Chad spent a lot of time in the last issue detailing his life at the time, his hesitancy about getting into selling weed, and fleshing out the stories of several people involved in the business. This time around he takes a step back to show, in detail, a process that’s not at all sexy or dramatic and is left out of pretty much all depictions of drug dealing in movies or tv: waiting around for your supplier to show up. Chad is just getting started, so he’s given the address of a (fairly sleazy) hotel and told to wait there for the supplier to show up. He’s waiting with several other people for their re-ups, and three hours is plenty long enough for some awkward and/or posturing conversations to pop up. From there we get taken along for the ride as Chad meets the man, has the details explained to him, is offered several helpful suggestions to minimize risk and told what to do if all of that fails. It’s a confident comic, if that makes any sense. A couple of lesser talents could lose an audience to slow things down this much in the second issue, but it’s clearly a necessary piece of the story and, like I said, it’s usually glossed over in any fictional accounts. If this is a world that you’re at all curious about, this is a damned solid comic to check out. $10
Mirsky, Robb – Ha! Magazine
It’s time for another gaggle of comics from America’s favorite funny man, Robb Mirsky! OK fine, maybe not all of America, but give them time. This is a collection of shorties that mostly appeared in various other anthologies, but even if you’ve bought every comic put out over the last several years, at least a few of these appear to be new. And even if you did, why not get them in one handy package? This is the part of the review where I attempt to talk about funny things without sucking all the joy out of them, which has had mixed results in the past. So if you’re looking for something short: if you already like his work, or if you just need a laugh, absolutely give this one a shot. For you folks who like to know exactly what you’re getting, stories in here include a lesson on trash, a relentlessly cheery man out for a walk, an action hero pushed out of an airplane (that was maybe the funniest thing in here for several reasons), a few four panel strips with the lovable duo of Dingus and Dum-Dum, a pretty great Halloween story that I maybe shouldn’t have ruined by using the punchline as the sample image, and a few other bits that I’m leaving for you. There’s also a story where Robb is visited by his younger punk self as he’s driving his kids to school, berating older Robb for changing and selling out. It’s a fantastic piece for any former punk (or punk-adjacent) person, and he did a solid job of defending his life choices to his punkier self. I mention this one in detail mostly because he ended up pulling out a punk album that he hadn’t heard in years by NOFX, which in my punky days was considered to be a sellout band because (reasons long forgotten, if they were ever real). Which wasn’t the punchline he was intending, I reckon, but a hilarious illustration to me of the hopeless endeavor of remaining a “pure punk” with constantly changing rules. Kids, I’m old enough to have watched friends have to deal with Green Day going from small punk band to megastars and the turmoil they went through. The struggle is real! And silly. $10
Baylis, Jonathan – Live From New York It’s So Buttons!
Live From New York It’s So Buttons!
So at the recent talk that Dan Clowes gave at CXC this year, he mentioned a few times the unreliability of memory. It had been on his mind because his mother and brother had both passed away within a month of each other, leaving him nobody else from that time to confirm or correct his memories. As such, everything he had left from that time was roughly “a memory of a memory.” I say all this to point out that it feels like the main story in this one came out of another issue of his series… but it might just seem familiar to me because I’ve read the story before, just in a different format. Anyway! This is the l’il comic that came with the next issue of So Buttons; I’ll review it soon, I just couldn’t pass this one up. It has two stories, and they’re doozies, drawn by J.T. Yost and Jeremy Nguyen respectively. The first, the one that triggered my memories, is the story of when the punk band Fear played on Saturday Night Live. The powers that be really wanted John Belushi to keep appearing on the show and they offered to let him pick the musical act (they also wanted an audience of legit punks). Things got ugly, stuff was smashed, and it was the first and only time SNL has had dead air. The story was recounted by Ian MacKaye of Fugazi, who was one of the punks in attendance (he actually got his voice on the air after a mic stand was knocked into the crowd). The other story recounts the story of how Lorne Michaels managed to get seats for his show and the story of Jonathan’s favorite baseball team, sort of. Based on where he was born, he went a little rogue with it. It’s another couple of solid stories from the story making machine that is Jonathan Baylis (and his artist friends). This one is new enough that it’s not listed in his store yet, but I’ll bet if you ask him about them that he has a few copies available. $5
Harkness, M.S. – Time Under Tension
(Unasked for) peek behind the curtain time! Generally speaking, these days at least, I read a few comics on the weekend, sweep whatever thoughts float around in my head into a pile, write them out in a vague review format and set them to publish during the week. I mention that mostly because I read this a few days ago and it has spent the past few days battering my head all to bits and I feel like my thoughts about it are getting less coherent as time goes on, so unless I write something soon I might lose the power of language. M.S. has already shown that she’s fearless when it comes to telling tales about her life on the page, and if anything this book is her somehow peeling back another layer and getting even more revelatory. This covers the period of her life right after graduating from art school, when she was around 25. There were plenty of unresolved issues with Murmur, her kind of sort of ex who has a girlfriend (read past volumes, specifically Desperate Pleasures; it’s too much to get into here), her still making extra income with her escort work, trying to get certified to become a personal trainer, the usual attempt to figure out what’s next after graduating, her abusive father getting out of prison and him trying to reconnect, attempts to find a decent therapist that she could afford, even Murmur’s upcoming MMA fight. There’s a whole lot swirling around, and it’s all peppered with her devastating insights and mental journey, if that’s even a thing. I loved how it opens up with her alone at a bar, with no title or even the requisite legal info (that doesn’t pop up until around page 60). She’s at a celebration with some of her graduating class and seems like she’d rather be anywhere else. We get a series of flashbacks when one of them asks if her mother is coming, which does a fantastic job of laying out some basics for new readers while still including a lot of new information for the regulars. This is the part where I would like to hit you with a few quotes from the story (I even marked a few pages like a real reviewer) but you know what? Fuck that. You should read this, and discover those quotes, for yourself. Can you find the most devastatingly succinct way to to describe a fairly pleasant past relationship with some serious issues of all time? It’s on page 241, but that’s all the hints I’ll give. I’ve seen a few review quotes lying around (she’s on a nationwide tour as I’m writing this) that call her a generational talent, Ivan Brunetti even says on the back cover that she’s reached “the elusive ‘next level.'” Which, hell yeah she has. It’s a lot of pressure, no doubt about it, but after reading this? I think she can handle it, or just about anything else that life throws at her. $25
Krumpholz, Karl Christian – In the City Part One
You know how sometimes you’re watching or reading a mystery and the answer makes perfect sense when you hear/read it and you feel a little stupid that it never occurred to you? Maybe it’s just me. Anyway, I was wondering which direction Karl would take after his years of putting out The Lighthouse in the City, which were collections of his regular diary strip, in case you’re new here. After all the stories and talking of that series, he’s moved on to this, which still keeps his love for a big city front and center, but lets the reader take a few steps back to take it all in. If you’ve ever taken a walk through even a mid-sized city (one that’s friendly to pedestrians, obviously) by yourself, and if you managed to do it without listening to podcasts/being so glued to your phone that you’d fall into any open manhole cover in front of you, a lot of this will seem familiar to you. The landmarks, the people (in crowds or alone, drunk or sober), new reactions to familiar sights from others, overheard conversations… it’s a real love letter to the idea of a busy night in a city. His wife joins him halfway through, so the perspective shifts slightly from one of silent observation to taking in familiar sights through a loved one’s eyes; a solitary glove placed on a fence post was noticed by Karl on his silent walk, but it’s given new meaning through her eyes later on. Honestly, it feels like cheating to use one of the few pages with dialogue as the sample image, that’s how contemplative this one feels. I’m not clear on how to actually buy his comics online, short of contacting him directly and asking him, but I think it’s worth reaching out for this one. Unless you’re looking for a big shoot ’em up type comic, in which case this is frankly a poor choice of a website to visit. Check it out, is what I’m saying. $12
Cooklin – Small Sh*t
Oh, did I ever hedge on whether or not to spell out “shit” in the title. But in the end, that’s how Cooklin chose to present it on the cover of their comic, so who am I to randomly throw in curse words just because I can? If this is your first comic by Cooklin, you should know that they conducted a series of interviews with people who suffer from depression or similar mental illnesses. These comics are based on those interviews, with anonymity obviously protected. Based on their shop there were a whole lot of comics that I should have picked up at CXC due to fantastic titles alone, but sadly my money is not infinite. Oh, the comics I would have if it was! Anyway, this comic is just what it sounds like: helping your mental health by focusing on small stuff, things that you can control. Try to avoid the big highs and lows, just do your best to keep things on an even keel. This person, for example, would put a row of penguins along their bed, both as something pleasant to start the day off with and as an example of something they could control. An act of kindness could also help, as it’s tough to stay depressed after getting a compliment on something that they took the time to make for another person. There are a few other suggestions too and, as always (or at least after two comics), this seems like an invaluable resource for anybody trying to navigate their own depression. This particular volume isn’t listed in their store at the moment, but maybe just check with Cooklin to see if there are still copies available? Or catch them at a con, I suppose, but it would probably be faster to send them money and ask for books. $8
