Adult Babysitting #2

Bartenders of the world, you should probably have copies of this handy at your jobs as a way of quickly explaining to drunk customers what life is like behind the bar. Then again, most drunk people are not particularly interested in reading, so maybe that’s not a great idea. This issue continues the adventures of MarYanna in her bartending job, this time with crime! Subjects include the reaction of a woman who tasted the drink of the guy she was with after drinking her sugarbomb, two different job-related nightmares and the fact that bad dreams seem to come with the territory, one overly drunk woman who tried to get behind the bar with hilarious results, a Phil Collins jam session, various methods of delivering drinks and picking up the empty glasses, and the time that she went to a bar across the street after closing and got stuck in an armed robbery. The fact that she stopped in the middle of that chaos to pick up her drink is fantastic, as is the fact that the surveillance video clearly showed her doing it. Also included are a few color pages of various types of drunks and one tip on how to avoid citrus destroying your nails if you work with it all day. And drink recipes, including the dreaded (for bartenders) mojito! This is another pile of interesting stories about stuff that’s probably never crossed your mind, but if you go to a lot of bars it wouldn’t hurt to have some idea of what’s going through the bartender’s head. $5

The Bridge

Want to know a trick that a really mean reviewer could use to bash this book? It could literally be described as a man walking across a bridge. What sounds more boring than that? The truth is that there’s a lot more going on here besides the obvious journey (which, spoiler alert, we do not see the end of, although the cover might illustrate why that is the case). This is the story of a man, or mannish creature, with the ability to manipulate his arms to various lengths, as he walks across a bridge with terrible safety standards. It’s clearly a nerve-wracking journey, and it’s never entirely clear if he has somewhere he needs to be or if he’s just out sightseeing. He goes through some extreme weather changes and eventually runs across a village of hauntingly non-specific creatures. An attempt is made to join them, but it does not go very well (which, come to think of it, also raises the possibility that this dude would very much like to get off this bridge). I don’t want to tell you the whole story, obviously, but I will say that those fish with the human faces are some of the creepiest things I’ve seen. This is a silent comic, which means that it’s open to interpretation, but it’s a fascinating journey no matter how you look at it. Aaron does a nice job of bending the laws of physics to suit his story needs, or perhaps he’s just set his story in a world where that is not a problem. It’s worth checking out for anybody who’s not much of a fan of reality, or somebody who thinks that it would be better with some minor tweaks. $4

Fruits and Vegetables

Pretty much the only problem I’ve ever had with Desmond’s comics were that some of them seemed too short, which is pretty much the best “problem” you can have with a comic. Well, even that little thing has been solved with this issue, as Desmond put a dozen short stories in here and each one of them is damned funny. The creatures/food items/utensils involved in these stories usually come to bad ends, but at least it happens for the purpose of causing laughter. My only trouble is explaining these strips in a way that won’t ruin anything for the reader, so prepare to be dazzled by my lack of specificity! Stories in here include a conversation between two Tyrannosaurus Rexes (or is “Rex” still the plural?), three worms and the hygiene behind sharing their dirt, utensils with some alone time, a dog and a hamburger trapped on an island, two eggs talking about how things could have been much worse for them (this is the one that got the biggest laugh out of me), an imaginary imaginary friend, showing up too late for the comic, a cloud trying to get out of a conversation, two monsters knowing that they’re in a comic strip and that their life is as finite as the strip, mugs trying to figure out their purpose and geometric shapes and their inability to return a book in a timely fashion. At least a couple of these stories have previously been released as their own comics, but it’s hard to think of a more perfect collection of his work. Buy this immediately if you like laughing, or if you need a reminder that the original purpose of comics was to make people laugh. $5

Unfortunate Mishaps in Aviation History

Well, you certainly know what to expect with a title like that. Don’t expect any happy endings here, as Emi once again tells a couple of stories about historical events that didn’t go exactly as the participants had planned. If you’ve ever stopped to think about how the parachute was developed, chances are that you can imagine that it wasn’t perfected on the first time out. The first story tells of one version of it and of the man who decided to test his own invention by jumping from the Eiffel Tower, even though he had only tested his parachute using dummies previously. The really tragic thing about this is that another inventor had successfully tested his own parachute two days before in New York. I do wonder if the doomed inventor had word of the successful test or if he thought he still had a chance to be first and that’s why he rushed it. The second story is all about an expedition to the North Pole in 1896. Emi does a fantastic job of showing the various terrible lapses in judgment that the crew committed before and during the trip, but the idea of using a hot air balloon that was able to control its progress by using a series of ropes dragging along the ground was always a little dicey, especially considering the fact that the inventor couldn’t even get it to work consistently in trials. Emi has managed to piece together a pretty detailed account of their trip, although she somehow manages to make it seem a touch less gruesome than it probably was. There’s room in the world for a big old collection of these stories, oh mighty comics publishers, once Emi gets enough of them together. In the meantime, the rest of you should probably buy these comics of hers to show her that it’s a good idea to keep making them. Not that she should give up on Spaz, but I’m always fascinated by historical tragedies that I’ve never heard of. $2

Get Into Comix

Brad mentions in the letter that he sent along with his comic that this contains the whole “Get Into Comix” story, complete with earlier pieces that were first published in his regular series, but that he didn’t feel the need to mention that in the comic because those old minis are out of print anyway. So just in case you did listen to my earlier advice to read Brad’s comics back in the day, this has pieces from “Epic Tales of the Mundane” #6-9 along with a new chapter to finish things off. Just so nobody feels like they’re “cheated” by having the whole story in this damned nice package, because I know how weird some people can get about this stuff. Anyway! I’ve already talked about a good chunk of this in previous reviews, so you can read through those if the mood strikes you. This comic is really a origin story of sorts for Brad, as he talks about learning to draw from comics as a young kid and how he was constantly pushing himself to improve in the hopes of impressing his older brother. Then puberty struck, which diverted his attentions in a big way. It’s also rare that you get a chance to see the exact moment when a shy kid turns into a surly asshole, and Brad does a nice job of documenting that here. His life rolls along until he finds himself by himself at a Denny’s after yet another terrible hangover, where he sees a comics store across the street. He doesn’t have much cash and it’s been years since he’s seen any comics, so he wanders around trying to decide which issue to buy until the guy working there takes him on a little tour. He eventually shows Brad the minis, including a comic that he (the clerk) drew, which ends up being a revelation for Brad, showing him that anybody really could make comics. They don’t get enough recognition, but cheers to all the comic shop workers who have taken the time to point out the good stuff to people. It must get annoying to them, because I’m sure they get dozens of blank stares for every success story like Brad, but they’re essential to the process. This is a really solid story and it’s bound to remind people reading it of their own journeys so yes, you should really check it out. After all, if you’re reading these words there’s a damned good chance that you went through a similar journey yourself… $5