Category Archives: Reviews

Reviews

???? – Oxblood: The Untold Legend of Paul Bunyan

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Oxblood: The Untold Legend of Paul Bunyan

I debated putting this one back in the review pile and picking something else, but instead I’m going with using it as a cautionary tale. Y’know, a sort of guide on what not to do if you’re selling your book at a convention. See, I vaguely remember talking to the guy who made this comic, which is why I think it was made by a guy. I could be conflating this with somebody else, so even that could be wrong. But there’s no writer or artist name given, no link to a website or even Instagram, and the name of the publishing company (or just the name they’re using), Rani Comix, didn’t bring up anything in a search. Neither did the title, and since most of the characters are public domain, that didn’t lead anywhere either. But hey, at least now I know that Noah Van Sciver did a Paul Bunyan book too. I’m hoping somebody reads this review so I can fill in the blanks, but for right now it’s the perfect example of what not to do if you’re hoping to get the word out about your comic. Which is a shame, as there were intriguing bits in here. As it says on the cover, this is really more of a zine than a comic, as it’s full of character bios and bits of lore that they’re clearly planning to use for a comic series. I’m only assuming that they don’t have comics already, as otherwise I probably would have grabbed an issue of that rather than this zine. Anyway, we’re given a list of monsters with intriguing names before learning that dragons are rumored to be returning. From there we see how heroes are made, learn what happened to Paul in the past and his current quest, and meet two other characters that are presumably going to be important in the series. Overall a pretty nice teaser, which makes it a real shame that said series is not easier to find. So yeah, if you know who this was, please email me and I’ll fix this review. If not, hey, maybe your Google skills are better than mine. Best of luck!

Delliquanti, Blue – Adversary

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Adversary

There’s a whole lot going on here, to the point that I’m not sure where to start. “At the beginning,” you say? Yeah, I guess that makes the most sense. Things start off in pandemic times (future people, if we’ve had several pandemics since, I’m talking about roughly 2020-21) with a man drinking outside on the patio of a bar. As he’s getting ready to leave a stranger at the bar buys him a drink, they have a conversation and after the man (Curtis) can’t place where he’d previously met the stranger (Anton, but we don’t know that yet), Curtis is given a hint that clears a whole lot up. They met in a self-defense class where Curtis was the instructor 5 years ago, and Anton is looking for a refresher on some of those lessons. It’s an unconventional teaching style, as Anton often initiates conflict unexpectedly, with some pretty damned sexy results. Believe me, it’ll make sense when you read it. But Anton is incredibly guarded and protective of their privacy, which makes all the sense in the world when we learn what their life was like through the early part of the pandemic. It’s hard to deal with all of the consequences of the pandemic even now, and a lot of it is due to not being sure which people that you talk to have any connection to reality, and which can only see things through a purely partisan lens. Side note: we may need to come up with a word other than “partisan,” because “refuses to wear a mask or believe in covid because my cult leader didn’t like the way that masks smeared his bronzer” is too long (though entirely accurate). Anyway, the difficulty of dealing with this goes up considerably if you’ve suffered a loss from covid, as this book so devastatingly portrays. The character building throughout is detailed and layered, the social commentary is present but muted (if that sort of thing scares you off, you big baby) and this feels like one of those books that you could start over right after reading it and get even more out of it. If you haven’t already read any of Blue’s stuff, this is a pretty damned solid place to start. It’s also listed as $5 through the link, which can’t be right? This is a full color graphic novel. Still, check with Blue, I’m sure they can clear it up…

Canini, Brian – Airbag #2

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Airbag #2

All of the Caniniacs out there (fan name subject to change, but I like it) are probably wondering why Brian occasionally puts out big old books like this, full of different types of stories, if he already has a few different ongoing series with a variety of different subjects. Why not make a few more minis? Well, because it wouldn’t work nearly as well to have interconnected stories in a variety of minis where the similarities wouldn’t be nearly as clear, now would it? Now that that imaginary strawman has been handily defeated, I can go on with the review. This is a collection of several stories, with comedy, despair and heartbreak (seriously, the first long story was devastating) all wrapped up into one bundle that still somehow works beautifully. Things start off with the “invention” of comics back in 1925 and the all too predictable reaction of the hoity toity types of the time. This picks up again later, but next we get the story of a woman who’s tasked with clearing out her father’s home after he passes away. Their relationship wasn’t all that close, especially after the divorce, but she learns a lot about the guy by digging through what he thought was meaningful enough to keep, which all leads up to the moment that explains a whole lot of his attitude towards her wanting to become an artist. From there we get an explanation of how a forgotten comics artist gets rediscovered before moving on to a comics convention, and am I ever thrilled that “DeForgian” is a descriptor that’s being used out in the world. If you know, you know, and if you don’t, read some comics by Michael DeForge. Yes, any of them. Anyway, the artist at the convention gets sick of it, find a “magic” pen and gets dragged into a magical comics land. There’s all kinds of things going on in here, as the artist takes a real spiritual journey, but this is one that’s best left to the reader to discover completely unspoiled. Finally it all wraps in the Billy Ireland museum in Columbus, as the forgotten comics are finally collected. OR ARE THEY? Yup, a mystery. That back page comic is also a winner, and a nice little dig at the newspaper business. So yes, if you’re just curious about Brian’s work, it’s probably more economical to get a few minis. But if you’re looking for something that’s complete in one volume with some serious variety to boot, this would be an excellent place to get started on his comics. I’m talking to the newbies, as I’m assuming everybody who already reads his stuff either already has this or is now ordering it now that you know it exists… $10

Cooklin – Depression is Cool!

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Substack

Depression is Cool!

I should really start linking to Substack pages for people as a matter of routine, as more and more artists are using it to finance projects. Let’s see if that mental note sticks! Cooklin had a gaggle of these types of comics available at CXC (I got three of them; I’m perpetually a sucker for “you get a discount if you get multiple issues” deals), although I’m not seeing this one listed in their store at the moment. Contact them, unless they sold out at CXC there are at least a few more of these out in the world. So this comic, and a number of others in this series, are based on interviews that Cooklin conducted with people suffering from various types of clinical depression. All anonymous, of course, and this one dealt with… hm. “An introduction into the lifestyle of depression” probably isn’t quite right, but in this case we learn of the origins of this person’s descent into depression. They basically used Tumblr to look up “depression content” (their term), got into the side of it that made it seem cool and mysterious, and it gradually overtook their life. Their more well-adjusted friends got tossed aside for another group of friends who were also suffering from some form of depression, causing a constant cycle of normalizing depression. If everybody else in their circle had it, and they seemed cool, it had to be OK, right? There were a number of things in this mini that I’d never considered about depression, specifically (as a guy who never uses social media) how easy it would be to keep yourself constantly engulfed in negative thoughts. My only quibble with this issue is that it kind of just ends; I was hoping for an indication of how they got out it out, or how their life is going now. But Cooklin did say that the plan was for all of these to make their way into a graphic novel, which I’m sure will deal with all of that. It’s a mesmerizing and deeply informative comic, and if you’re suffering from depression it’ll give you plenty to think about/relate to. If not, a deeper understanding of depression is always a good thing, right? If I remember right, these were $5 each (but don’t quote me on that).

Meeker, Audrey – The Prince’s Jester

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The Prince’s Jester

Aw, I wish I knew that Audrey was based in Athens GA when I talked to her at CXC. I haven’t been to FLUKE (their own small press con) in over a decade and was curious how the scene there is doing. Ah well, a good reminder to try to make it there next year. This comic is a good old fashioned mini, meaning purely black and white and it looks like they were all copied and stapled by hand. The story deals with the title character and his pal who overhear an announcement that the prince is missing; it’s a general call to all heroes to help find the guy. Once they hear about the reward they realize that this can get them out of the debt they’re currently stuck in, so off they go on their quest! They don’t seem to have much of a plan, or any weapons to speak of, but they do have that promise of a pile of cash and freedom once they get it, so they do eventually manage to make it to the prince. But then what happens? Yup, that part, as always, is up the reader to discover. This comic is in more of the all-ages spirit than most of what I review, but it’s charming and has a few funny bits. One of those rare “you can get it for the kids and also enjoy it for yourself” type of comics. I’m not seeing a place on her website to buy this, but she does have contact information listed, along with a lot of comics, so ask her about it. I think it was $5. And yes, seeing all of those comics did leave me with a bit of regret, as I should have picked up more of her stuff. As always, as much as I wish it were not the case, I do have limited money, so sometimes just grabbing a random issue from a new creator person is the best I can do. As always, if there are any eccentric millionaires out there who want to sponsor me/the website, I’d be happy to buy all of the comics and talk about them forever. It’s just this pesky need for food and housing that’s holding me back… $5

Forker, Nick – Eyeland #5

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Eyeland #5

This is the issue that pretty much solidified it in my mind: it’s fine to read/review these issues in any order. This one even ends on a bit of a possible cliffhanger, so I checked #6 (Nick was nice enough to send along most of his comics for review), and it doesn’t mention it. So, let chaos reign! It’s impossible to review this without revealing the identity of the “mysterious stranger” from the cover, but before I do, give that silhouette a look. What do you see? Any guesses? The mysterious stranger is… Dickchicken! Granted, the sample image gives it away too, but maybe I’ll end up rambling enough in the review so that you can’t see it without scrolling down. Anyway! It’s exactly what it sounds like, I guess: a “normal” human body, but instead of the head there’s a cross between an uncooked chicken and a penis. So what’s in the pants? Maybe he’ll get to that later, but for now you can leave it to your imagination. Dickchicken has seemingly just arrived on our world, as he spends some time getting caught up on the news and our current technology. Seeing the calamitous state of our civilization, he decides that the only rational thing to do is make a mysterious machine that will… improve things? It’s never defined, really. But whatever it is, it’s enough to get the attention of some shady government watchdog types, as they send an army of drones to deal with him. After getting knocked out by the drones, our hero dreams of a meeting with an undefined cosmic figure with some reluctant words of wisdom. From there we get some real final battle type shit, but that’s enough of the spoiling. This is definitely the most chaotic of the Eyeland comics that I’ve read so far, and I mean that in a good way. Maybe this one would be the best starting point for new readers? As long as you’re not offended/horrified by Dickchicken, I guess. Still, a thoroughly entertaining issue, and from now on my reviewing plan for this series is “pick a number between 3 and 9,” so who knows where I’ll end up next. $5

O’Dell, Giles – Zoonbats Chapter 4

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Zoonbats Chapter 4

So here we are, in the final chapter of these Zoonbats comics I’ve been reading for the last month (one review a week, people of the future), so I feel like now’s a good time to look at the big picture. And it’s… hazy? 200+ pages into this story, I kind of feel like I should have a better sense of where things are headed. But hey, I’m getting ahead of myself, as I haven’t even talked about the comic yet. This time around we’re back with Toast and Bloom, and we get all kinds of details about her upbringing and story. When we last saw the two of them they’d melted their car battery because they were using it to put the robot giraffe into sleep mode, so their current plan is to walk to the nearest train depot and ride the rails to their robot that’s run amok. Which is a thing I never get a chance to type in all sincerity. Anyway! We also learn what the robot’s name means, and it got a legit chuckle out of me, so good work there. Roughly the first half of the book is the two of them walking and talking, along with the introduction of gigantic structures that were abandoned decades ago. Long story, but essentially there was a miracle chemical that allowed structures to greatly increase their size very quickly, this same chemical was used in terrorist attacks, and this led to all kinds of construction projects in various stages of completion getting abandoned. Finally they’re able to hitch a ride to the train station, and naturally they make friends with their driver, which lets us learn all about another aspect of this vast world and the people in it. The notes in the afterward really are invaluable here, going into far more detail than the comic allows, so I hope he keeps them in whatever collected edition eventually comes out of this book. We also get to see a jacket that seems to be at least mildly magical (or it’s highly advanced tech), which I’m guessing plays a part in things later. So yet another solid issue, with me still totally on board to see what happens next, with ridiculously detailed artwork that seems to get better each time and a rich universe that’s literally been thought about and constructed over decades. So why is it that I’m still not sure if the whole thing is coming together? No seriously, I’m asking, because I don’t get it. Possibly that’s because the story literally hasn’t come together yet; these two groups searching for the robot giraffe are clearly going to meet up eventually. Eh, who knows. It’ll become clearer to me as the story goes on, with the next issue projected for late 2023. Until then, each chapter is up for free on his website, or roughly $10 per issue if you’re like me and are determined to be buried alive under an unfortunate comics collapse in their apartment.

Petre, Greg & Fake – Santos Sisters #5

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Santos Sisters #5

These two have come up with a pretty solid metric for how well you should know the characters by the fifth issue of a comic, although that might not have been their intention. When I saw that sticker with free LSD on it after Ambar noticed it, sure, the better story idea would be to have her lick it and see what happens. But since they’ve spent the time to establish these characters, well OF COURSE Ambar would lick that dot, and that same personality carried through the rest of the stories in this comic. Job well done, you two! So she has a wonderful adventure in that story, with a perfect final panel to wrap things up. No details, because what kind of dummy tries to describe an acid trip depicted in a comic? From there we go the conclusion of the “Dude! Where Is My Car?!” story from last issue, in which the thugs corner Todd in his car as Ambar and Dirk spend their time not worrying about Todd at all, to put it mildly. Do we get a car chase after that? You’d better believe it, including an explosion on the highway. From there we get the classifieds, which I don’t usually mention because they’re not part of the comic, but it’s a really solid collection of people making comics and/or podcasts that you should check out, along with another reminder that I should really listen to at least a few comics podcasts. Anybody have any recommendations? There are just so damned many of them. The other story in here involving the Santos Sisters also includes a spell gone wrong in a mall Cinnabun, er, Cinnaloaf. When a revenge spell is cast the energy has to go somewhere, so why not into a delicious cinnamon roll? Todd even gets to do something heroic to help make up for his rough time in the previous story. Finally there’s a brief story about Boozy Beez being a creep at a baseball game. I’d swear that these comics are getting funnier, and they were funny to begin with. They also have a 48 page Halloween special coming out right around the corner, and the cover alone tells one heck of a story. So yeah, obviously I’m still recommending these comics, and at the pace they’re putting these books out you’re going to get left behind in a hurry if you don’t hop on this ride soon. $5

O’Dell, Giles – Zoonbats Chapter 3

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Zoonbats Chapter 3

I’m starting to wonder if we’re ever going to catch up to that robot giraffe. And if you’re coming into this review blind, reading the previous comics and/or reviews for this series would help with that one. This time around we’re back with Wayne traveling along in Murray’s semi. We get a flashback again, this time a flashback within a flashback for some extra oomph. Wayne thinks back to a strange musician mystic type who he was never sure actually existed. He tried avoiding her after the weirdness got to be too much for him, but she finally cornered him and gave him a vision of a traumatic piece of business in his childhood. It involved cops, flamethrowers and the disappearance or death of his mentor (I’ve read too many comics to assume a death without a body, so forgive my skepticism of his death), and it’s something Wayne had managed to put out of his mind for a lot of years. From there we learn about how that led directly to Wayne leaving town and his quest to try to find meaning, which lead in a roundabout way to being asked to help track down the robot giraffe and his “chance” meeting of Murray. Yep, we finally get some clarity on that aspect of things too, as Murray fesses up about a few things. Oh, and we briefly even see Wayne and Toast in the same panel, even if it’s not exactly a pleasant interaction and it only happens in a flashback. There are the usual notes about specifics in the afterward section, which was especially helpful this time around in identifying exactly what the cops were doing. He also includes a few older comics from various zines at the time (1995ish), so we can see some very early iterations of some of these characters. I’m still hooked on the story, even if I am starting to doubt that we’ll ever catch up to that robot. But hey, now that a few mysteries have been solved, I might be completely wrong about that guess. Check in next week to find out, I suppose. Once again I’m not sure how much it costs to buy the physical copies, but the whole issue is available online at the link.

Arnold, S.R. – Perry Shitlife

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Perry Shitlife

So you’ve had some time to digest the madcap insanity of S.R. Arnold’s Perry Midlife comic a year ago. Are you prepared to dig into some of the darkest and/or best days of his life, aka the early years? Well, really about a few days out of one of those early years, but it’s the kind of thing that most people who are worth a damn can relate to: booze, drugs, bad decisions, good times, dank basement punk shows, working up the courage to talk to the person at the bar you’re interested in (only to have the amount of booze needed to work up said courage end up causing a blackout so you’re not entirely sure what really happened), etc. Even if you were straight edge in your formative years you can still check a few of those things off your list, but if you’re like me and manage to hit them all, boy howdy is this comic for you! I say “comic” as if this 80 page behemoth isn’t basically a graphic novel, but in a field where there’s also a solid argument for calling this a “mini comic,” it’s best not to get bogged down in semantics. What’s this comic all about, anyway? In his intro S.R. mentions that he intended to make Perry Nolife next, but since that book would have dealt with his own mortality and it wasn’t a subject he felt ready to tackle yet, why not go back in time? Things start off with a hallucination of Perry’s conscience trying to talk to him, only to get smacked across the room and smashed. Rightfully so, I say. Then we really see the kind of mess Perry is in the morning, as he ends up monopolizing the bathroom, much to the annoyance of his roommates (although it does lead to a lovely full page spread of one of them peeing out of their third story window and the general state of their neighborhood). From there we roll through a day or so in the life, starting with band practice (which ends with a broken guitar string), moving on to dive bar pizza for lunch, and finally landing on a karaoke show. This last one is critical, as it’s where Perry saw a lady last week that he’s trying to work up the courage to approach, which leads to his spectacularly terrible choice for a song. There’s also a double page spread during this sequence that has all kinds of familiar comics folks in it. See which ones you can spot! I got about half a dozen them before I resorted to cheating in the back. His terrible song does end up succeeding in getting the interest of the lady he tried awkwardly to chat with, and they end up having a long conversation on the roof. But in the light of day afterwards, can he be sure of what really happened? There’s more, as I’m barely halfway through this beast of a book, but the rest of it is for you to discover. Absolutely positively check this one out, and if you’ve got the cash I’d also recommend getting this with a copy of Perry Midlife. This one kicked the dust off of some memorable times in my brain for sure… $15

O’Dell, Giles – Zoonbats Chapter 2

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Zoonbats Chapter 2

Last time around we spent most of our time with Wayne (and his traveling companion), but this time around we get to learn all about Toast and Bloom. Well, mostly Toast, but with the way things are going I’d guess we’ll learn more about Bloom before it’s all said and done. And if you’re lost by that opening, it might have something to do with your not having read the first review and/or issue, which is odd, as it’s up for free on his website, so it’s not like you have much of an excuse. Toast and Bloom are on the road, trying desperately to catch up to their runaway robot giraffe. They’re making progress, as the robot can only go 30 miles per hour while they have a car that can obviously go faster than that, but the process is wearing on both of them. But then Bloom has an idea (that Toast should have considered ages ago, honestly) that buys them both a bit of time. We also get to meet that giraffe, sort of, although we’re no closer to figuring why it ran away or its destination. A good chunk of the previous issue was a flashback and this issue sticks with that same idea, as we spend a lot of time with Toast when he was working in a restaurant. This section had some serious detail in it, enough to make me wonder if Giles ever worked in a restaurant, and his notes in the back made clear that a few things in it are taken directly from his life, including the spectacularly stupid way that they had to remove grease when the buckets filled up. Seems like a method that’s just asking for spillage or injury, and a trail of highly flammable grease leading to a restaurant sounds like an explosion waiting to happen. Anyway, we also see the guy who inspired Toast to make his robot, learn more about that guy, and see his amazingly complicated plan to get back at their horrible boss all the way through. And honestly, it felt too spoiler-y to use it as the sample image, but Toast bursting out of the kitchen while doing his part of the plan and screaming “terrible mishap!” was one of the funniest things in this book, especially considering the severity of what was happening. That was a long way to go to avoid spoiling the scheme, but totally worth it. And as I said, we get plenty of notes in the back of the book, with even more evidence that Giles has been thinking about this world for a long time and has a lot of very specific details worked out in his head. Oh, and we also see how that flower pot got on Toast’s head. It might be exactly how you suspected! Overall I really love a story that’s not afraid to take some time to establish the characters and the world, so I’m happy with the pace. Maybe next issue we’ll see just what that robot giraffe is up to.

Yinug, Marino – Jones Crusher Stamps Out Da Freakz

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Jones Crusher Stamps Out Da Freakz

Kid reviewers, if you ever get multiple comics in the same shipment and are only planning to review one of them right away, try to keep them together. Why? Because you may see another comic from the same batch months (or even years, if you’re me) later and have no idea who you’re dealing with. Sure, they should have their name somewhere in the comic, but in cases like this, you get to go on an internet scavenger hunt to figure it out. I won’t bore you with even more details about it, so I’ll just say that if Marino Yinug is not the actual name of the person who goes by Zaponator, let me know and I’ll fix it. Meanwhile, I’m confronted with another problem I’ve never figured out how to solve: how to review a 4-8 page mini. Especially one like this, where it’s actually five pages of story, and only one of them has more than one panel. So I’ll just say that I thoroughly enjoyed the old timey art style of his combined with a Crumb-esque style for his leading lady. As for the contents of the book, I’d refer you to the title, as it’s pretty much dead on. Did I, as somebody who is completely out of touch with anything resembling modern music, have any idea of the beef between the two bands mentioned? Reader, I did not. But hey, maybe you will! No price listed, and my detective skills were exhausted in the hunt for the name of the artist, so let’s say roughly $5.

Neal, Andrew – Smooth Moves

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Smooth Moves

If you’ve been hanging around the Meeting Comics universe (this is #28, just for the record) just in case Val ever hooked up with Dr. Manhattan from Watchmen, well, I guess this will be your last issue. It went kind of like I pictured it, even though I never pictured it before I saw his face on the cover. When last we visited with these fine folks we saw the end of the marriage/cheating drama (as much as such things ever really end) and Val was about to take a new position and was moving out of her old place. Specifically the strips this time around deal with informing the staff of OnlyGreg of all the new changes, Val and Tori move into Don’s guest house (displacing Ron), Kevin and Thomas (and their new girlfriends) try to move back into Kevin’s old place and finally discover what’s been going on there, and Kevin has one awkward conversation with Tina. But wait, there’s more! That Dr. Manhattan strip was one of several unrelated gag strips (sorry, Val and Dr. Manhattan hooking up is apparently not “canon”) including using an angry dog for cucking, large print erotica, meeting in the middle on renaming problematic buildings with catastrophic results, a job interview, and the terrible truth behind why there are so many women hooking up in the world of Meeting Comics. He also includes 320 Shades of Greg, a mini that I have somehow not reviewed (one of those “I know I have a copy around here somewhere” comics), but that one is too sexy for me to talk about. Let’s just say that it involves ice cream and very few clothes, OK? So yes, another solid issue from Andrew. With the promise of a divorce party in the next issue, which is a heck of a teaser. $6

O’Dell, Giles – Zoonbats Chapter 1

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Zoonbats Chapter 1

So this should be a fun experiment, at least for me. Giles is returning to the world of Zoonbats for the first time in ages; I reviewed the first couple of issues of his series around 2010. Odd, I thought I had reviewed more of them, as I had at least half a dozen issues. Anyway! He rereleased the whole thing in new editions, the first covering issues #1-4, with three additional volumes out so far. Since I already reviewed half of this edition back in the day, I figured it would be interesting to review it again, then read my old review just to see if my opinions remained the same/just how often I repeat myself. My guess is that it’s plenty, but I’ll reveal the answer at the end. So! This new edition does look gorgeous. Giles has extensive notes in the back explaining the changes he’s made and what brought him back (mostly the lettering and he never really gave up on the story, respectively), and while he says he hasn’t touched up the art, I’d swear it looks even better this time around. This is the story of Wayne, who’s hitchhiking around the country, and his friends Toast and Bloom. They made a robot giraffe that fled as soon as they completed it, and it seems to have a specific destination in mind. So they make plans to meet up with Wayne in the middle, as he’s closer to where the giraffe is headed. This issue covers Wayne wandering for a bit before finally meeting up with an old friend who can offer him a ride. This old friend then tells Wayne a story of his time as a truck driver detailing when he was attacked by a roving gang of bandits, how all seemed lost and how he got out of it by spoilers. Yeah, it’s a big part of the overall story, so it’s going to be left a mystery here. We also briefly check in with Toast and Bloom on their journey, but they don’t intersect with Wayne yet. This issue is mostly about doing some work building up this world (Giles has a map of the areas and he gets pretty specific in the notes about what each area is like), and as such does a solid job of hooking readers in to try and figure out what’s happening here. So yeah, I’d say it’s an intriguing start and I’m curious what happens next. Now let’s check the old reviews! Looks like the review for #1 is way earlier than I thought, maybe even 2002ish, as I mentioned working on the website for “several months.” Then the review for the second issue was 2010, apparently done when I was revisiting old comics for reviews. The art is exactly the same (I compared an old sample image to the new book in front of me), so I was wrong on that. And he was telling the truth, which I had no reason to doubt. So I look like a dummy in real time. Not exactly a new experience for me. But I liked it overall then too, so that hasn’t changed. One odd thing: I can’t find anywhere that sells these new editions. You can go to his website and read each issue online for free, so there’s that, but if you want physical copies I guess check with Giles. Which makes the price an absolute mystery, so I’ll spin the random price wheel… $15.

Snodgrass, Noah – Untamed Highway #1

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Untamed Highway #1

Is this the longest gap between reviews in Optical Sloth history? I reviewed Untamed Highway #2 (yes, he started the numbering over without changing the title, but if the big publishers can do it, so can he) back in May of 2005. So outside of being yet another reminder that I have to find a spare several months to go back and put dates on all the old reviews, I’m obviously not going to remember a thing from that series, so keep that in mind. Here, I’m going to crawl all the way up my own behind and paste my favorite quote from one of my old reviews for this series: The art to me looks like what would happen if Hunt Emerson and Peter Bagge somehow had a baby who eventually grew up and renounced all ties to his fathers. Gosh, I was insightful 18 years ago! All downhill from there, sadly. So what’s happening in this issue? There’s no recap of any kind, which is a shame, but maybe he made the decision not to mention anything that happened previously to start things in a new direction. Or maybe this occurs directly after the last issue which, again, has long since left my brain. Anyway, we have a brain in a jar (with a googly eye that needs reattached) with an assistant named Mortimer. They’re both waiting for their doctor friend to return so that this brain can get put into a human body. Well, the doctor returns with bad news: there’s a cadaver shortage. Things get a little tense after that, but it’s a little tough to carry through on threats when you’re a brain in a jar. There’s also a short story afterwards about the guy in a gorilla mask that I referenced in a previous review, who is apparently a hitman. Again again, memory bad, my apologies. He does have his previous three issues for sale on his Etsy page, so you can catch up if this all sounds intriguing. Taken in a vacuum, this is still a solid issue, with lots of unanswered questions about who these people are and what’s they’re up to in general. I’m curious to see where he takes things next, but if I have to wait another 18 years to find out I’m going to be even more hazy in that review… $5

Krumpholz, Karl Christian – The Lighthouse in the City Volume 11

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The Lighthouse in the City Volume 11

The sample image below is for everybody who has a cat that got just a little too curious about the shower/bath that their owner was taken, resulting in a trail of wetness going through the house in a panicked fashion. Seems to be a thing that every cat needs to figure out for themselves. Oh hi, it’s time for a new volume of Karl’s autobiographical series! This one cover September 2022 through the end of the year, and (no spoilers, but kind of a spoiler, I suppose) this is the last volume he’s going to be doing for a while. Completely understandable, and he’s lasted longer than most who attempt the daily diary strip. I’m curious to see what he does with this new bounty of free time. So what’s this particular volume about, you ask? There are of course several adventures with Oola (both real and imagined), some strips about his time at a few conventions, more tragedy in his personal life (he was on a rough string of losing friends and family members for a while), observations from his walks around the neighborhood, getting through a rough cold (and still making comics through it), and so very much more. Which seems like a copout on the part of a “professional” reviewer, but the man has over 130 pages of strips in here and I’m not going to bloodlessly boil them down to their essences. This is the 11th volume, after all. The man is a hell of a storyteller (and an artist; the level of detail in these strips considering that they’re produced daily is staggering), so I’m guessing that you’re already on board for his comics at this point. If not, it would probably be kind of funny if you jumped on with the final volume of this three year journey. He was nice enough to send me his earlier volumes (that I hadn’t reviewed) a while back, so maybe I’ll review a couple of those randomly while I wait to see what he comes up with next. Will it be odd to talk about those, especially the BO (Before Oola) days? Yeah, probably. We’ll see. Meanwhile, this is yet another solid entry in this series, which you should be checking out already. $12

Nall, Alex – Town and County #3

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Town & County #3

Sometimes I wonder: do the details of these ongoing series (where I’m reading individual issues months or even years apart) fade out of my head because I read so many of these comics for reviews or fun that it’s impossible to keep them all straight, or is it because my brain is chock full of holes at this point in my life? Until we can find other test subjects who have been reviewing comics for 22+ years, I guess I’ll never know. Anyway, my point is that when #4 comes out in this series, it will be just about time for me to read the whole shebang again. So, now that I’ve warned you that my specifics on some of these characters are becoming hazy, what’s going on this time around? Things start off with a brief check-in with our favorite housekeeper, then we get a longer story about Lyle Downe and the time when he moved out of his parent’s house at 19 and into an apartment with a married couple. He had a big room but no bed, started to feel like he was getting to know his roommates and settling in to a good routine, when things started changing. First gradually, then quickly, and finally we catch up to him in the current day. We check back in with Suzy as she ruminates on the many bits of religious imagery around the house she’s currently cleaning, then we flash back to the absolutely sweet way that Sherm and Suzy got together (they knew each other vaguely in high school but rarely interacted). Finally we once again get several single page stories from Don’s perspective, which I’m leaving up to the readers to discover, as there’s a whole lot going on there and it does occasionally get grim. And, since it’s meant to depict a life, warts and all, that sort of thing is bound to happen. There are a few other shorties in here too (Alex is always going to give you plenty of story for your money), and once again I’m struck by the idea that this is going to be something genuinely special when it’s all said and done. I mean, unless the Avengers show in the next issue and completely change the vibe of the whole thing… $8

McNinch, Carrie – You Don’t Get There From Here #58

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You Don’t Get There From Here #58

This time around it’s all about Carrie’s trip to Japan in early 2019, so roughly a year before all travel got shut down over covid. Specifically she spent a lot of time in Hiroshima, which obviously conjures up all sorts of mental images, but there’s a lot of beauty there now, along with some seriously mixed emotions from all the reminders of the atomic bombing. As usual, Carrie’s comics are incredibly detailed and we see all sorts of aspects of tucked away areas of Japan that people wouldn’t normally see. Also, she ate a whole lot of ice cream on her trip. No shame at all, as that’s what a vacation is for, and if I was surrounded by that many interesting and exotic flavors I would have done the same thing. Without getting too far into specifics, other things covered in this comic are her efforts to get herself around in an unfamiliar area (luckily she had a solid guide for this), her ongoing quest to document the various types of manhole covers that she saw, getting over the cold that she got on the flight over and finally getting ready for the trip home. This part was a little depressing, as she had successfully put more than a few worries out of her head for her vacation, but the reality of her impending return pushed them all back to the forefront. I’m hoping it all worked out (the fact that it’s over 4 years since the events depicted in this issue and she’s still making comics is a good sign), but that’s one of the perils of reading diary comics. The creator is basically never going to catch up to now, although it looks like you can get pretty close if you subscribe to her Patreon. It’s another solid issue, and this time around you can vicariously take a trip to Japan. For free! Well, for the few bucks it takes to buy her comic, to be specific…

Cotter, Joshua W. – Nod Away Volume 2

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Nod Away Volume 2

(Sorry about that crappy scan, but I don’t want to break the spine of this book to get a better one. Too much information!) So you know that thing I said (and other, smarter people have been saying it too) about how this might end up being one of the better comics series ever after it’s all said and done? Well, after two volumes, I have to say that that instinct was correct. Once again, I say that you, person reading this who loves comics, should buy this right away, knowing as little as possible about it. Once again, if you need more convincing, I’ll try to hit some of the high points without ruining too much. Things start off with the squiggly lines that were so prevalent in the first volume (and which get a lot more context this time around) zooming in to a busy airport. This isn’t particularly relevant to the story, but it helps to know what kind of an artist Joshua is. A whole lot of people would show a vaguely busy scene with the main characters in focus and just leave everybody else in the image as blurry faces. Not this man; everybody has an expressive face, you can tell from the posture and expressions of these people exactly what they’re each going through at that moment, and there are instantly recognizable clues that tie back to the first volume (signs of the innernet). Again, not particularly relevant to the overall story, but it was impressive enough to stop me in my tracks. Then we see that this plane is in the air during the events at the end of the first volume, meaning everybody gets that awful feedback from the innernet at the same time, which is not at all a good thing to happen on an aircraft. From there we’re taken back in time to see a young bearded dude who looks a bit like the mystery man from the last volume, but in this case he’s living in a big city. His marriage has fallen apart and he meets a young French woman who’s intense but irresistible to him, and she’ll also be pretty damned familiar to everybody who read the last book. They both go about their lives, we get a few more of the silent flashes to the bearded man trying to navigate a strange land, and eventually our hero ends up on his family farm after his dad passes away unexpectedly. He gets into this sudden change in his lifestyle, but eventually Eva (the French lady) comes for a visit, which is when he gets a clearer picture of the mental issues she’s going through. It’s probably appropriate for a trigger warning here, because it’s some pretty brutal stuff, and it somehow manages to escalate throughout the book as he’s increasingly unable to help her. Eventually he’s offered an experimental treatment to help and, since he can’t afford anything else, he gives in. The rest of the book is them both dealing with the consequences of this decision before eventually getting back to the events at the end of the last volume. Again, it’s riveting stuff, and this is definitely one of those series where I’ll be reading each volume again for every new one that comes out, because they’re both packed with tiny details. Is it a bad sign if those squiggly lines have started making an audible sound in my head when I see them on the page? Yeah, I imagine it it. Anyway, I can’t recommend this book highly enough, and if you have a few bucks to help him on his way to 7 volumes, just throw $5 or $10 bucks at the guy, would you? The world needs this entire series in it. $30

Petre, Greg & Fake – Santos Sisters #4

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Santos Sisters #4

I confess, although I think Greg and Fake have this business figured out by now, the pessimist in me wonders with every issue whether or not they can keep up this pace. Funny, innovative, and never the same thing twice, all while using the same characters? With every issue? Well, this issue is probably the best one yet, so maybe I should cut it out with the doubts, huh? Once again, the big picture stuff (the stories) are engrossing and hilarious, and once again there are enough little touches that make it feel like these comics would get even better with repeat readings (“Robert Liefeldteeth” got a legit chuckle out of me). There are a few stories again this time around, and while overall we maybe get less of the actual Santos Sisters than ever before, the bits we see of them shed a whole lot of light on their lives outside of the costumes. First up is the story of a gang of car thieves, meaning we get several scenes of innovative ways to steal cars before the Santos Sisters finally get involved. That one is “to be continued,” but since the next issue is coming out literally a few weeks after this review, it seems like a safe bet that they’ll wrap things up. Next is the story of Antz-Man, which is appropriately horrific, considering the subject matter. Odd how Marvel never digs into this aspect of ants for their movies! Finally the ladies are just trying to get a burger (and working through an early morning hangover) when they find out that the president is visiting their preferred burger joint. Does everything go smoothly for our heroes, and can they just get a burger in peace? Well, there wouldn’t be much of a story if that happened, now would there? I feel like I should frame an issue of this series to point to for the few remaining humans who still judge books by their covers. Sure, this might seem like a standard super hero comic to a casual observer of covers, but there are at least a few hints on this cover that should make anybody question that assumption. Like I said, the next issue is coming out very soon, and they have a Halloween special coming out shortly after that. I’m assuming these two still find time to sleep, but three cheers for keeping up this pace. The world needs more Santos Sisters! $5