Monthly Archives: April 2013
Update for 4/30/13
New reviews today for Moab by Pam Bliss and Rude Awakening #1 by some guy named Ed. Yep, that’s all I was able to find out about him online, but I should be able to update that soon (?).
Ed – Rude Awakening #1
Rude Awakening #1
Damn my personal ban on not posting any spoilers! I still haven’t figured out how to review a four page comic without mentioning the ending, and it’s even more difficult in this case. Ah, screw it. If you have this book in your pile from SPACE, or if you have purchased it from Ed, or just hate knowing anything before you might have had a chance to read it, just know that I liked this book BECAUSE of the last page, which damned near made me stand up and cheer. For the rest of you, this is a simple tale of a guy and a robot sitting at a bus stop (in the dream of this man). The robot asks the guy how he feels, the man misinterprets the meaning and gives a long sob story on the sorry state of his life. The robot finally explains that he meant to ask literally what it is to feel, tells the man to stop being such a whiny baby (in so many words) and the very brief afterword makes it clear that only you can change your shitty life, so stop complaining and do something about it. As I’ve read countless comics that are nothing but bitching about the state of the life of the artist (often very well done and artistic!), seeing that piece of advice at the end was damned near perfect. I have no idea why this is listed as “#1,” as it needs no follow-up, but this is definitely worth a look for anybody who feels the need for a change.
Bliss, Pam – Moab
Moab
So I finally got a chance to have a long conversation with Pam at SPACE (2013), and it’s official: there’s no need for me to keep putting “Kekionga #___” in the title. Our long national nightmare is over! Oh right, nobody ever thinks about such things besides me. Well, it is at least a little bit useful to point out that this is #38, mostly because most other creators never make it even close to that number in their comics series, but it’s not relevant in a continuity sense. Anyway, this time around we have the werewolf lady, Mr. Swann and Ms. Ginsberg (she also said she’d think about putting a character guide in her comics, as it is quite a cast of characters to keep track of) opening a strange door with a skeleton key. Why? For an adventure, of course! They use the tracking skills of the wolf lady to get to the center of the hedge maze that was behind the door, and it’s there that they find the skeleton of a moab. As luck would have it they stumbled across a saddle earlier that looked like it just might fit that skeleton, and that’s when the crazy stuff starts happening. There’s a cowboy, and way too much sunlight, and no sunglasses for the moab, and too much for me to get into here without spoiling the whole thing. It’s another fun little comic, and the level of detail that she puts into these things is still impressive for the amount of them that she’s able to produce. $1
Update for 4/29/13
Work got out of hand last week and into the weekend, so sorry about the lack of updates on Friday. New reviews today for The Infinite Wait by Julia Wertz and Cyanide Milkshake #4 by Liz Suburbia. Oh, and there’s an extra sample on Julia’s review, mostly because those two pages could serve as a nice cautionary tale on how not to act towards comics people that you meet at conventions.
Wertz, Julia – The Infinite Wait
Sometimes as a thought experiment I try to imagine a comics creator I thoroughly enjoy (like (spoiler alert!) Julia) and what complaints other people who don’t like her may have. With Julia, I have to confess to drawing an utter blank. Do people not like her because she’s too prolific? Because her comics seem to be effortlessly funny from panel to panel in a way that damned near everybody else could only dream of? Because she’s open and frank about damned near every aspect of her life but manages to do it in a way that makes it impossible not to sympathize with her? Or maybe nobody has a problem with her, which would be the way the world should work, so I’ll shut down this thought exercise right now. Anyway, if by some chance you haven’t read her work before now, or were intimidated by the fact that you missed a few issues of “Fart Party” and didn’t want to jump on in the middle, this is a new, self-contained work, and it’s the best thing she’s ever done. That I’ve seen, anyway, and I haven’t seen everything. But this one is so good that I still don’t even know where to start praising it. The intro is probably the place to start, as she describes how she’s had this idea for a comic for years (how she learned that she had lupus) but that nobody was willing to publish it. This kind of thing drives me crazy, but I don’t control the publishing houses of the world, so I’ll let it go. Then she mentions that the title is an inside joke but that she loves the idea of somebody picking this up at a bookstore, thinking it’s the “next big thing” because of that title and being very shocked and offended at the content, and it’s impossible not to appreciate that. And I haven’t even gotten to the comics! This is broken up into three short stories, and they serve the purpose of basically telling the story of her life so far. And if you’re annoyed that you miss a month or two here and there, she’s even nice enough to mention which volume of the collected “Fart Party” you would have to read to plug in those holes. The first story tells the story of the various jobs she’s held over the years, from selling rocks to a neighbor as a small child all the way up to her present career making comics. She has held a ton of shitty jobs over the years, which obviously sucked at the time, but at least it left her loaded with great stories. And just in case I didn’t already respect her as much as was humanly possible, she also tells the story of how her comic almost got picked up for a tv series but that she killed it because she was essentially selling her life’s story with no input needed from her, and she wanted to be sure that if it ever did get made into a series that she would have a chance to make sure it was done right. It’s not easy to turn down a pile of money for the sake of your artistic integrity, but she did it. The next section deals with her learning that she has lupus, all of the various health problems associated with it and how lupus led directly to her discovering comics and eventually making her own. I don’t think most humans could make lupus this funny, but Julia is more than up to the challenge. Finally there’s a section on her love of libraries over the years, from the book sales to the smell of a really old book to finding lots of graphic novels. This last one is the shortest of the bunch, but it’s heartfelt as all hell and will make you want to go back to the library right away if you haven’t been to one for awhile. You’ll notice that I don’t go into much detail at all, which is odd for a 200+ page book that probably took me over three hours to read. That’s mostly because everybody who already knows her work probably read as far as “new, self-contained work” before they stopped and ordered a copy for themselves, and the rest of you should know as little as possible about this woman before reading this, because it’s all laid out here. I don’t think there’s a single funnier human working in comics today, and you all know that I read a LOT of comics. So buy a copy of this, why don’t you? I’m not big on guarantees, what with individual tastes being different all over, but if you buy a copy of this and somehow hate it I’ll buy it off you (this offer is valid until somebody decides to be a smart ass and buy 50 copies). That way I could pass a copy along to somebody who would appreciate it, WHICH IS EVERYBODY ELSE. Enjoy! $15
Suburbia, Liz – Cyanide Milkshake #4
Cyanide Milkshake #4
You don’t see many mini comics like this any more, or at least I don’t. This is a pile of stories, some as short as a panel or two and some several pages long, and all about a ridiculously wide range of subjects. Liz starts off with a “note from the editor” that’s a rambling rant about whether or not you can stay “punk” after you hit 30 and have a full time job, kids, a mortgage or any combination of all that. Her answer: yes, mostly, but DO something if you’re at all able to keep yourself engaged. That’s simplifying what she said in a big way, but as somebody who’s creeping closer and closer towards 40, it’s hard to argue with her. The stories are all over the place, like I said, but I’ll try my usual trick of summing them all up without giving anything away. There’s her absolutely perfect reaction to getting hassled on the subway, an ad for a literal “Spice” channel, being too hairy for sex (and the reason for all that hair), the life’s journey of an orange, Hulk and his need for pizza, how things are different when a lady has her fly open and nobody tells her, two dogs and their adventures with the law, office supplies and sex, four panels summing up every X-Men comic ever, and the story of a zombie wasteland where the law is somehow still intact. This last one was the longest (it’s even “to be continued”), and it may be going somewhere interesting or it may just be an excuse for violence against zombies and cops. Fun either way! Old folks like me, check it out and remember when minis packed in as many stories as they could possibly fit. Kids, read it and see how it’s meant to be done! Unless you’d rather have one story per comic, in which case I can’t help you. $2
Update for 4/25/13
Just had time (barely) for one new review today, for Bad Habits #1 by Matt Dembicki, Carol Dembicki and Michael J. Auger. If all goes well I should be able to get at least a couple more reviews up tomorrow.
Dembicki, Matt and Carol; Auger, Michael J. – Bad Habits #1
Bad Habits #1
So a blind nun, a cranky nun and a hooker nun walk into a bar… This is one of those rare occasions where the potential origin story for these three is almost certainly as interesting as the comic itself. The story here is that there has been a rash of otherwise happy mothers drowning their babies and this special nun squad has been called in from the Vatican to deal with it. I clearly watch too much political news, as the idea that the Vatican would give the womenfolk any kind of power doesn’t strike me as believable, but that is not what most humans are supposed to be thinking about in this fictional tale, and rightly so. Anyway, the nuns notice something that is the same in all of the pictures of the drowned babies and start investigating the anomaly. Again, I couldn’t get over the fact that nobody blinked at the nun in the hooker outfit coming to question them, but that’s still just me. We learn a bit more about what’s going on, there are some great conversations along the way, and things are “to be continued” until the next time around. Oh, and I just now saw the back of the book, which tells us that each of these nuns has a “unique talent” that we haven’t seen yet. It’s a fascinating book and, like I said, I’m damned curious to see how this all came about, even if that’s not supposed to be at the top of my mind. All I can say is that for those of you who have been hoping for a squad of crime solving nuns: your dreams have come true! $3
Update for 4/24/13
New reviews today for Fool Girl: Of Monkeys and Masks by Chad Sell and Fuzy by various artists. It’s an anthology about beards, what’s not to love?
Sell, Chad – Fool Girl: Of Monkeys and Masks
Fool Girl: Of Monkeys and Masks
If you don’t like this comic then I probably wouldn’t like you if I met you. There, I said it. Maybe I could see a person or two not buying it for that cover, thinking that it was another superhero comic (although her holding a six-pack, not to mention that monkey, should be enough to draw you in). But once you start reading this it’s impossible to keep a smile off your face. This starts off with the heroine of the book crashing down to the sidewalk and interrupting a couple of people having a conversation. They naturally assume that she is there to rob them, she insists that she’s actually a superhero, then drunkenly hits on the female member of the pair. It’s not easy to make a graceful exit from such a thing while hammered, so the rest of the first half of this book is her clambering up a wall, trying to get her monkey to help her up. Without giving too much away I’ll just say that the rest of this book is when they get to the serious drinking (on the page, that is, as it’s pretty clear that drinking happened before the book started), and we learn a bit about Fool Girl and two other “heroes” at the bar. I don’t how well a whole Fool Girl graphic novel would hold up, whether it would get annoying or whether it would end up being the best thing in the world, but this mini is fantastic all by itself. And that last page! That is exactly why everybody should have a monkey. Check it out, you won’t be disappointed.
Various Artists – Fuzy
Fuzy
Finally, an anthology all about beards! Shame on you, comic universe, for not making this happen up until now. Or if you did and I just missed it, well, forget what I just said. You wouldn’t think that the range of possible beard stories would be all that large, but you would be wrong. Steve Seck starts things off with “The Beard’s Beard’s Beard,” which makes perfect sense when you read it. Let’s just say that it’s all about the beard of a famous actor, the home life of this beard, the beard that he married as a “beard” against his homosexuality, and his lover. I couldn’t get past the question of where exactly a female beard would go on an actual female, especially considering its shape, but it’s probably best to leave that alone. Next up is Baldemar Byars with his tale of growing a beard after heading off to college in 1966, including the panicked reactions of his family and the alarming reactions by some of the anarchists on campus at the time. Jonathan Pekin is up next and he answers the timeless question: in a zombie apocalypse, is the apocalypse itself more traumatic than losing a beard? Sango Imai-Hall shows how awesome a bearded woman warrior could be, and Aaron Cockle shows a long philosophical conversation between two bearded men that might confuse you a bit until you get to the payoff, but it’s worth the ride. Jeff Mumm may have the best story in the collection next (although there are many contenders): a silent tale of a guinea pig and his quest for a beard. It’s done in old-timey animation style, with unexpected, arguably unnecessary and hilarious violence all over the place, and I’m not going to ruin a bit of it for you. Mark Thisse wraps it up with his tale of the missing beard of a magician, and he might have the best title in a bunch of good ones. This is made for bearded people, but even people who can’t grow a beard (most ladies and even some men) should appreciate this chance to see how the other half lives. Well, the other 1/10 maybe, as not that many people really grow beards. $6
Update for 4/23/13
New reviews today for Ghost Castle by Maryanne Rose Papke and In The Sounds And Seas Volume 1 by Marnie Galloway. Spoiler alert: those of you looking forward to me giving a really terrible review of something today are going to have to wait. Oh, and if anybody knows whether it’s more effective to punch, kick or stab a wireless router to get it working again, I’m open to suggestions.
Galloway, Marnie – In The Sounds And Seas Volume 1
In The Sounds And Seas Volume 1
Damn you Xeric Foundation! I heard from Marnie at SPACE this year (2013, o comics readers of the future!) that the grant was no longer being given out to comics artists which, and this is putting it mildly, sucks. Really and truly. Sure, they gave it out for 20 years, launching dozens if not hundreds of careers that probably wouldn’t have happened without their help, and they have made the comics world a better place in countless ways… but couldn’t they have just kept going forever? Or better yet: hey you multi-millionaires out there! I know at least a few of you read comics, don’t try to hide it. Why not start up another grant for such things? It wouldn’t take much convincing to get me to quit my job to oversee such a thing, and I’d be willing to do it for the slightly above poverty level wages that I get now! Do it, make the world a better place for art and artists! Oh right, there’s a comic that I should be talking about. The whole Xeric rant did have another point, because Marnie won it for this book and she still has two planned volumes of this series left, so here’s hoping that somebody with some money realizes good work when they see it. Astonishing work really; no sense in selling this short. This is the story of the world and its creation. Sort of. Eh, I can already see that my trying to describe this is not going to go well. The first sections show three people in a circle before and during the act of creation. This is a silent book and a quick read so I’ll keep this all as vague as possible to avoid spoilers. The second part shows people living in this creation and two people in particular. One searches through a series of doorways for three things that he needs while the other oversees and examines what’s in his workshop. I expect the whole thing to come together once the entire book is finished, and it’s always a bit maddening to comment on what is essentially 1/3 of a book, as I’m bound to only have the slightest idea of what I’m talking about. One thing I can tell you is that the art in this book is ridiculously good; her attention to detail puts the word “painstaking” to shame. If she does have a full time job other than comics I have no idea how she does it, unless she’s been working on this for the last ten years. Individual leaves, pieces of tree bark, the various animals she shows in clusters, it’s all impressive as hell. Don’t forget that name, because if it has to come down to a Kickstarter style fundraising effort in a year or so to get the second volume out I will be pestering you all mightily until the goal is met. $12.95
Papke, Maryanne Rose – Ghost Castle
Ghost Castle
I might as well start this one off with my only complaint: I’ve never been a fan of covers of only one color. Granted, your main thought should not be of how your comic would look on a shelf at a comics store, but the question should still be considered. Other than that (meaning “the actual comic”), I thought this was damned near perfect. It’s a mostly wordless tale of a young man who is… OK, it’s not exactly clear what he’s doing. Which is fine! We meet him as he’s bringing a flower to a castle. He gives the flower to the giant beast that is guarding the door, who then proceeds to let him in. As the young man is exploring he hears something begging for help, but in front of that door there’s a very large man in full armor, so our hero takes a good look at the situation and decides to keep going without discovering the source of the pleas. He comes across a clump of flowers, decides to take one to the guard in the hopes of repeating his luck at getting into the castle, and I can’t keep going with this or I’ll ruin all the surprises. Of course it doesn’t all go smoothly or there wouldn’t be much of a story to tell, right? The art is gorgeous; the shadows of those solid blacks really bring out the mysteries of that castle, and you’re right there along with the hero in trying to figure out what could be in them. I was under the impression that this was her first comic for whatever reason, but she has a few more listed on her website, which I’m now really curious to see after reading this. But check this one out first, as it’s a sweet and terrifying little story that is perfect all by itself. $4
Update for 4/22/13
New reviews today for Full Sanction: Road Trip! by Joe Mochove & Rusty Rowley and Villains Galore #1 by Jacob Warrenfeltz. Eagle-eyed readers may notice that the posting times for these two reviews is four hours apart. This is because my internet connection is spotty and stupid, and I’d better stop bitching about it now so I can post this comment about how terrible it is right now. Take that, internet connection!
Mochove, Joe & Rowley, Rusty – Full Sanction: Road Trip!
Full Sanction: Road Trip!
Oh stick figures, there’s no better way to make a comic that shows everybody else that they can make comics too. After all, anybody can draw a stick figure, right? The funny thing is that I’m pretty sure all of these backgrounds were made on a computer, which means that it’s entirely possible that the stick figures were too, which is funny as hell if true. Anyway, this comic is, as you may have guessed, about a road trip. One of our heroes (don’t ask me how you tell two stick figures with identical features apart) gets a message from his carrier pigeon about their getting a job reading comics to kids in Michigan. They set out, have a number of adventures along the way (the number of adventures that will fit into a 12 page book), and hilarity ensues. No really, there are more than a few really funny bits, and for the love of all that is holy don’t forget to flip this thing over and look at that back cover when you’re finished. I’m also not going to ruin the funny books for you, because I already mentioned how long this book is and there’s already a sample page down there. If that doesn’t get you curious, maybe dig around their website a bit, because for real, it’s funny.
Warrenfeltz, Jacob – Villains Galore #1
Villains Galore #1
One thing I’m having trouble nailing down lately is perspective in reviewing these things. This comic, for example, is just fine by itself, with some really imaginative writing, solid artwork and more intriguing bits of character development than I’ve seen in one book of this type in ages. On the other hand, the intro makes it clear that this book took 6 years to finish, it’s listed as being printed in Spring of 2012, and there still doesn’t seem to be a second issue out a full year later (somebody please correct me if I’m wrong!). This has all the potential in the world to be a really fascinating series focusing on the happenings of villains in their daily lives, along with the ones who have retired for real and the ones who are looking to get back in the game. But if this ends up being a two or three issue series? I’d have to consider that a failure, or at least as something that didn’t live up to its potential. Better to try and fail then never try at all, right? But hey, we only exist in this moment if you’re feeling all philosophical, so all I have to go on is this single book. We start off with the guy on the cover (Snowball) hypnotizing a guy into stealing some money for him, and from there we go to another character on a motorcycle contemplating his life as a villain. He proceeds to make a fool out of a hero (?) who tries to take him down, and we see another villain (with a hilariously inept method of robbery) try to mug a couple walking down an alley. The rest of the issue is mostly spent in a bar with these characters having conversations with each other, and it’s a decent introduction to all of these characters. It could be better because most of them aren’t given names when they’re introduced and we’re left to figure out their connections to each other on our own, but maybe it’s not the best idea to lay all that stuff out in a first issue anyway. Still, future issues should come with either recaps or character guides, assuming there are future issues, and I’ve already been all over that. This is very much worth a look if you’ve ever been annoyed by the lack of focus on villains in various comics, or if you just like seeing people down on their luck. And wearing costumes. $3
Updateish for 4/19/13
No time for reviews today (although next week should be packed to the gills), but I do have to point out a Kickstarter fundraiser that you should all think about supporting. Chris Monday is trying to get the printing costs together for an anthology called My Stupid Raygun, featuring himself, Cassie Phillips, Jed Collins, Lauren Purje, Charlie Touvell, Matthew Presutti, Meagan Alwood-Karcic, Max Wheeler, Nate McDonough, Heather Hively, Nick Perry and Aaron Andrews. He’s hoping to make a ten issue series out of this, featuring artists who are “compelled to make art at every moment that they can.” Sounds like a worthy goal to me, so throw him a few bucks if you can!
Update for 4/18/13
New reviews today for Reptile Museum #1 by Cody Pickrodt and The Pilot’s Journey by Mike Madsen. Late reviews because my website decided not to accept images for an hour and I tried to meet somebody in the completely wrong part of town and ended up stuck in traffic forever. I think that means it’s time for drinking…
Pickrodt, Cody – Reptile Museum #1
Reptile Museum #1
This right here is a whole pile of potential. I’m always excited/dubious to see another comic that’s supposed to be published on a regular schedule (this one offers subscriptions in the back where it promises 6 issues per year), mostly because I’ve been burned so many times, but hey, I’ll go with cautious optimism this time around. Ignoring all that past history from other artists, this is a completely engaging story that could still go in all kinds of different directions. Things start off with us seeing that the world has been devastated by something or other, apparently with roving gangs with bombs wandering around, as the first thing we see is a clean-up crew taking down an unexploded bomb. From there we see a brief flashback of this same person meeting a small kid 15 years ago, then that same kid coming back to this person after being mysteriously missing for the last 10 years. Explanations are not forthcoming, but we do see some hints as to what he went through. Finally there’s a confrontation between our hero (his name is Pants) and a group of roving muggers? Bandits? Whatever the case (I’m sure there will be more about them later too), you’ll have to read this to see how it’s handled. I have WAY more questions than answers, which is perfect for the first issue in a long series, and you should all buy the first couple of issues from this man to keep him motivated. $5
