Monthly Archives: October 2013
Update for 10/30/13
New review today for Jason Part 2 by Bonesteel. I’ve mentioned a few times here that I work at the local Board of Elections, so when my reviewing gets even more sporadic around the end of October/start of November, well, that’s why. Even the little elections take a lot of work on our end. I’ll still get reviews up as much as possible, but it will likely stay sporadic through next week.
Bonesteel – Jason Part 2
Jason Part 2
Hey, I did some good in this world! Well, that’s assuming a lot, but I complained plenty about the spelling in the first part of this “Jason” story, and it was all almost completely fixed in this one. Coincidence? Yeah, probably, but I’ll still take it. I mentioned in that first review that I didn’t have a single problem with the story, and that remains the case here. If you missed it, this is the story of Jason from the Friday the 13th movies, going about his days as an employee of a group that lets these killers have casual conversations with each other and provides them with state-of-the-art weaponry. This time around we get to see Jason trying to learn the basics of how to care for his new dog, trying to figure out why he wants to be a mentor to a kid (an actual mentor, but to somebody who will have full knowledge of what Jason does), the guy from the “Scream” movies talking shit to Freddy Krueger and challenging him to a kill-off, and a product demonstration of the various killing tools that Jason has available to him. It’s still chock full of funny bits, and once again you can just barely know about these characters and still get a lot out of it. Granted, it helps if you have some familiarity with them, but it’s still a thoroughly engaging story either way. And isn’t that always a sign that the creator has done their job? Yes! That’s the answer I was going for.
Wirick, Katherine – Nervenkrank #1
Nervenkrank #1
I don’t think Katherine has a single wasted panel here, and she has an uncanny knack for capturing a mood or moment in one quick image. Oh, and you should probably read the preview for this series, even though I don’t see it listed at her website, and what the hell is that about… eh, maybe it’s already at her Tumblr page, and technically it’s not required reading. Still, it really helps set up this world. This is the story of John Heartfield (born Helmut Herzfeld). During WWI he told his commanding officer that he was mentally ill and spent the next few weeks in a mental institution. As this was from 1915, the conditions were grim, to put it mildly. This issue starts off with a few brief images of the asylum before John’s relief. The looks on his face as he tries to say goodbye to a few of his friends (who are mostly too far gone to notice him), his halting, terrified manner of speaking, the way he flinches when a guard suddenly reaches out and straightens his hat, every one of those images tells volumes about the conditions he’s been enduring. From there he takes a slow walk back to where he’d been staying and is immediately confronted by the very nice wife of a guy who seems to be a bit of an asshole. She wants to feed him, her husband has nothing but contempt for John (who has a bit of a stutter), and John retreats up into his room. From there we see him slowly pick up the pieces of his old life and decide what he wants to keep. There’s not much dialogue here, but there’s no need for it, as the look on John’s face as he takes down the German flag says it all. Katherine has the confidence of somebody who has been doing this for years, and it’s well-deserved, as she gets damned near everything right. The only place where I could have used a bit of an explanation was an early scene where a guard drops off what appears to be a dead cat in John’s cell before taking him away, but it’s possible that was something from the preview that I’m just not remembering now. Either way this is pretty much flawless, and if your biggest complaint about a comic is that you’d rather not wait another year for the next issue, then you really don’t have a legitimate complaint at all. $5
Update for 10/24/13
New review today for God Is Disappointed In You by Mark Russell & Shannon Wheeler. Sorry about the lack of reviews, it’s been a mess of a week. Another one tomorrow probably?
Russell, Mark & Wheeler, Shannon – God Is Disappointed In You
Be warned: this is pretty much a book review. What the hell is a book review doing on a comics review website? Well, this does come from Top Shelf Comix, and Shannon Wheeler does have some damned funny single panel comics mixed in with the writing. But mostly I’m just doing this to try and push this just a little bit further into the popular consciousness. Not that I have any grand illusions on my influence, but some people read this website, and those that do should read this book. All of them? Yep. Or to put it another way: how many of you have read the Bible, front to back, like it was an actual book? I’ve done it and it’s awful. Not much of a narrative thread, lots of stretches where nothing happens, repetitive passages, hilariously dated misogyny and homophobia, and parts of it are downright insane. Oh, and it’ll also take you months to get through it. But you kind of have to have a working knowledge of it, as the world is still full of nutbags who believe that the entirety of this book is literally true. Which is also a good indicator of a charlatan, as certain parts of it contradict other parts of it, making it impossible that it could all be literally true, but I’m getting off track (which will be a serious danger as I go on, so be warned). What Mark wanted to do with this book (as he mentions in the epilogue) is to boil the various books of the Bible down into understandable and damned funny bits, and he does that beautifully. That title is perfect (and he’s right, there isn’t a better one line summary of the Bible out there), the little red flap that’s included as a bookmark put a smile on my face, and the silver trim along the edges of the pages really makes this book look like a Bible from a distance. So your next question is probably whether or not this book will offend you if you are a believer and/or a regular church-goer (believe me, all kinds of people go to church out of simple inertia or out of a desire not to offend the rest of their family). As someone who is neither of those things (but was both many years ago), I’d have to say that this isn’t terribly offensive. Irreverent, sure, but the Bible is screaming out for that treatment, as so much of it is so very ridiculous. And really, I’d have to say that Mark went easy on it at times. No mention of the pricing scale the Bible used to make sure you were getting a fair price for selling your daughter into slavery (yes, that is really in the Bible, and it’s really something that the Confederates used as an argument for slavery back in Civil War times), no real mention of the many times that one book would contradict another one, including how many discrepancies were in the four books that told the story of the life of Jesus. But right from the start (“God created the human race to be his pets. As a first-time pet owner, God wisely chose to start small, creating just two people: Adam and Eve.”), you get a sense of the tone of this book, so if that’s too much for you, feel free to bail. I’ll think you’re being a baby, but chances are pretty good that we’re never going to have a conversation about this book, so don’t worry about it. From there you might expect this book to get bogged down in the same repetition that the Bible does, but that’s not a problem. Mark’s idea to treat the various letters from prophets as memos to the flocks was inspired, and Shannon never failed to add a comic here and there that summed up Mark’s summary perfectly. There are a few too many typos for my taste in the early going (I’m snobby about such things, so once it gets to half a dozen I get cranky), but they clear up about halfway through. This book is invaluable and I expect to read it at least a few more times in my lifetime, and to loan it out to a few people who could use the knowledge. Unless you’re an impartial biblical scholar, this also includes you. $20
Update for 10/21/13
New review for the last issue of Lackluster World (#7) by Eric Adams. Finally! On my end, not his. He put the finale out a couple of years ago…
Adams, Eric – Lackluster World #7
Lackluster World #7
Wow. Decent tv shows that have crapped out in their finales in recent years, take note: this is how you wrap up a series. This is yet another case where I’m a bit flummoxed on how much I should give away in a review. Everybody reading this is all caught up in this series, right? If not you might be better off waiting for the collected version, and there damned well better be a collected edition coming, so maybe go ahead and give up on this review and wait patiently by your computers for word that it’s coming soon. For the rest of us, Eric has done an excellent job of summing up past issues here, so even if you’re a little hazy you’ll be caught up to date pretty quickly. At the end of the last issue Kelvin confronted Fahrenheit, and it was looking like things were coming to an ugly end. This issue starts off with a fight… well, I’m not sure if that’s even the right word, as it was a pretty one-sided affair, and probably not from the one side that you may have thought going into this. Sides were chosen, with some interesting results all around, and everybody got the chance to think back and reflect on their actions. No sudden “fade to black” here after the battle, is what I’m trying to say. Everything is wrapped up as neatly as was humanly possible, but nothing comes easy in this world, and everything that does happen is completely earned. See what I mean about being intentionally vague? This review is a little late to the game, as this series wrapped up (judging from the inside front cover) about two years ago. Still, even if there is no collected edition coming (having some internet problems so I can’t check on that for sure right now), you could do a lot worse than to just buy all the issues and enjoy. Unless you’re one of those cranky religious types, that is. There’s plenty here for you to be offended by if that’s the case, you delicate flower you. $6
Update for 10/17/13
New review today for Sockford #1 by Russell Ihrig. For those of you who play as many of those Lego game on your gaming consoles as I do, be advised that Lego Marvel is coming out next week.
Ihrig, Russell – Sockford #1
Sockford #1
Wow, is this ever going to terrorize some teenage boys. This starts off as a fairly straightforward story about a high school boy and his crush on a girl at school who he hasn’t had the courage to ask out. He also has a platonic (and odd) female friend, so the pieces were all there for them to eventually fall in love when he realized that the other girl wasn’t right for him. However! Dale (the boy) used a sock to clean up after himself after, um, thinking about his crush for awhile. This crusty sock ended up in the washer, a freak lightning strike hit their house, and somehow the sock gained sentience. Hey, it could happen! And now you see what I mean about this terrorizing teenage boys, because if they ever get the idea that they can’t even masturbate safely, I shudder to think of how quickly this country would be destroyed. Anyway, people seem to take Sockford surprisingly in stride, and this issue is all about him learning all that he can about the world. My only complaint is that his interactions with Dale felt a little thin, as I think having a suddenly sentient sock growing up in his room would have changed him a bit more than it did, and it certainly would have brought the two of them closer than it seemed to. Still, this is a solidly entertaining comic, with a nice little cliffhanger that raises the stakes on the next issue. Check it out, then think back in horror to all of the lives of the young potential Sockford’s that have been snuffed out over the years by the lack of electrical storms at the right moments. $7
Update for 10/16/13
New review for Cat-Stronauts in Space! by Drew Brockington. Since “cat-stronauts” is not a real word (yet), I’ll go with Drew’s spelling.
Brockington, Drew – Cat-Stronauts in Space!
Cat-Stronauts in Space!
There are times when you really can judge a book by its cover, or at least you can judge whether or not that book would be for you. What’s your general opinion on cats? Unless you’re a monster your options are “mildly adorable” or “completely, utterly adorable.” If that’s the case, what’s not to love about the idea of sending cats into space? Oh, you’re still curious about a plot? OK. The most important satellite ever needs repairs, and the cat-stronauts are the only creatures capable of doing it. That first page alone is a thing of beauty, as you have one cat mixing chemicals of some kind, another cat reading a book, another one pawing a star chart, and a final cat doing sit-ups, and all of this after a panel of scientist cats going about their day. From there it almost becomes a standard space adventure story for a bit (if you replaced the cats with actual astronauts in your head), with some funny bits thrown in, until the actual repairs come into play. Would you be amazed if I told you that a giant ball of yarn is involved? This comic is as cute as it can be, and I can’t think of a good reason why you wouldn’t want to experience it for yourself. If you insist on my throwing something negative in here I’ll add that I don’t see how this concept could go on for very long, but who cares? You already got a great comic out of it, and it’s not like I’ve always been right in thinking that a concept that looks a little thin couldn’t sustain a solid series. Check it out! Unless you’re a dog person, you weirdo… $4
Update for 10/15/13
Hey, I remembered Top Shelf Tuesday this week! New review for Heck by Zander Cannon.
Cannon, Zander – Heck
That may have been the best adventure graphic novel I’ve read all year. Hell, that may be the best adventure comic I’ve read in many years, and I’m not putting “ever” there purely to avoid hyperbole. It’s yet another case where I mostly don’t want to talk about it at all and instead just want to implore everybody to read it, but I’ll try to thread that needle of making you want to read it without telling you too much. Things start off simply enough, with the lead character (with the nickname of “Heck”) coming back to his hometown for the funeral of his father. Heck was a football star in high school, so pretty much his entire surviving graduating class is there, and we learn quickly that Heck never wanted to be like his father. We also learn that his dad has a “creepy” old house up on a hill, and it’s up to Heck to go through it to see what should be salvaged. The former water boy from his high school team, Elliot, sneaks into the house to help Heck out and, after explaining how lousy his life is at the moment, Heck allows Elliot to help him. While going through the place they find a gate to hell, and that’s when things get weird. Oh, and this is the first chapter in the book out of 17. In the next chapter we have moved forward five years and Heck has a business set up in his father’s old house where he finds out buried secrets of lost loved ones. Amy, Heck’s old high school crush, hires Heck after her husband is killed suddenly in a car wreck. Heck tells her that he finds this buried information by literally talking to the deceased loved ones, and he does that by finding them in hell. And if it’s all the same to you I’ll stop the descriptions there, as watching this fantastic story unfold was a genuine joy and I don’t want to deprive you of even a little bit more of it. Yes, that mummy on the cover is explained, and explained beautifully. The rings of hell are similar to the rings in Dante’s Inferno (it’s been too long since I’ve read it to say if they’re the exact same rings), and Heck’s interactions with the various guardians are among the many highlights of the book. This touches on having meaning in life, the reasons why we do things, friendship, punishment and love. I almost gave away something right there but hah! You’re not going to trip me up that easily. I was expecting some version of a big dumb adventure story from that cover, and I could not have been more wrong. There’s not a dumb thing about this. This was apparently released online as an adventure serial, so maybe you’re one of the lucky people who already read this, but even if you did, this version is gorgeous. Buy it and enjoy, and know that if I did any kind of “best of” yearly list (I don’t, mostly due to faulty memory and a general annoyance at the subjectivity of such things), this would be right at the top of it. $20
Update for 10/14/13
New review today for Alamo Value Plus #1 by Rusty Jordan. Hey, I forgot to put this stupid little update-indicating-that-there’s-an-update-that-you-can-all-see-anyway after the previous review. Maybe I should cut it out entirely? Only post it when I have something to say outside of the review? But then what constitutes “having something to say”? That seems like it’s asking for trouble….
Jordan, Rusty – Alamo Value Plus #1
Nazis! You can never go wrong if you start off with Nazis as your bad guys. OK, they’re never technically called Nazis, but the main character’s story of a harrowing escape from a prison with some guards that sound suspiciously German combined with the fact that he’s an elderly dude only leads to one conclusion. But I’m getting ahead of myself! The title itself is almost unreadable, but it’s printed on the inside front cover, so don’t fret. Things start off in an obvious Wal-Mart substitute store, which again leads me to point out that the chances of Wal-mart ever finding out about them getting mocked in a mini comic is pretty slim, so maybe artists shouldn’t worry about using the actual name (but what do I know, maybe they have that many lawyers with that much free time. They certainly have the money for it). Anyway, Baldemar (our hero) and two kids take a break out back, where the smoking of tobacco and pot (although not by our hero) occur. Baldemar says it’s because he doesn’t want to become more paranoid, which leads the kids to ask why he’s so paranoid without it, which leads to Baldemar telling a story about his youth. His mother took him around the countryside, trying to keep them safe from the patrols, until eventually their luck ran out and they were captured. Obviously he got away or he wouldn’t have a job as a greeter 60 odd years later, but there were some loose ends from his adventure that never did get tied up, and it’s looking like at least one of those loose ends may be coming back to bite him. That’s right, this is a “#1” that seems to have a clear vision of the second issue, which is always nice to see. Rusty’s art has never looked better, and this story has all kinds of potential. Their method of disabling the guards was genuinely original, even though it’s easy to assume that every variation of the “escape from Nazi guards” thing has already been played out. Check it out, because it’s going to be annoying as hell if nobody reads this and Rusty doesn’t bother to finish the story. $4
Harrell, Rob – Monster on the Hill
As a general rule, when a graphic novel has glowing quotes from Jeff Smith and Neil Gaiman on the back, chances are that I’m going to love it. If that’s true for you, save yourself some time and just go out and by this book, because it’s delightful. Things start off with a horrific monster attack, as a large green beast terrorizes a town and chases some citizens into a cellar. They wait it out, the smoke clears… and the people cheer for the excellent job that the monster has done in terrorizing them. They admire the quality of the destruction, sell souvenirs, and generally bask in the attack that they just went through. Meanwhile, in another town, the people there are dejected because it’s been well over a year since they’ve had a monster attack (from Rayburn, the town monster), and even then it wasn’t a particularly good attack. They hatch a plan to have the resident scientist “fix” the monster, but the local newspaper boy smuggles himself along, and together they all set out to seek advice from another monster in how to get back to properly terrifying people. What Rayburn doesn’t realize is that leaving a town without a monster is something that the worst monster of them all will sense, and that monster (called The Murk) doesn’t mess around. He doesn’t just terrorize a town, he tears it down and eats the citizens. The rest of the graphic novel is a race against time and some big monstery battles. This is one of those rarest of graphic novels: an all-ages story that’s just as much fun for the adults as it is for the kids. I laughed out loud more than a few times, and having it set in 1867 brings up a simpler time when there actually were towns that were organized and had town pride, even if the pride was about the quality of the monster attacks. This is fantastic book that should be read by all humans with a sense of wonder and/or humor. If you’re looking for grim and gritty, you have plenty of other options, but this book is a delight through and through. $20
Update for 10/8/13
New review today for Politics of a Twig by Maryanne Rose Papke. And I forgot about Top Shelf Tuesdays again, so I’ll have to review one of those books later in the week. Just in case you need to know every little thought that flies through my head, but hey, that’s what the internet is for, right?
Papke, Maryanne Rose – Politics of a Twig
Politics of a Twig
No insects were harmed in the course of this comic. Are there insect rights groups? It wouldn’t surprise me, but if there are, even they won’t be offended by this story. This one starts off with a bug trying to kick some leaves off of his branch by using his super powers. How does this bug have super powers? They were given to him by a preying mantis, as bugs taste better when they’re drunk with power. Other bugs stop by to attempt to reason with the bug that’s mad with power, interesting conversations are had by all, then this tiny comic ends. Maybe my saying that no insects were harmed is a bit of a spoiler. Well, harm is certainly implied, so you have that to look forward to. It’s a funny little story, and it makes me wonder why there aren’t more stories about insects out there, as most of them have to be easier to draw than humans. That comment right there probably explains why I write about comics instead of making them. Anyway, this is tiny, so I’m guessing a buck or two will get you a copy.
Update for 10/7/13
New review for Magic Forest #1 by Ansis Purins. I just renewed the domain name for another year, so if anybody wants to support the website by buying a few comics, now would be an excellent time for it. Just be sure to list an alternate comic or two with your order, as I’m out of stock on a few things that I haven’t had a chance to replace yet. Or those comics are out of print, but either way, list a few extras in case something is out of stock. Thanks for all the support over the years and, by the way, this is my 13th year of rambling about comics. In internet years I think that means that I’m a senior citizen…
