Monthly Archives: December 2013
Update for 12/31/13
New review for Demon Wheat #2 by Jon Lawrence. Happy New Year everybody, stay safe!
Lawrence, Jon – Demon Wheat #2
Demon Wheat #2
Huzzah for words! After my review for Jon’s mostly silent last issue (last in terms of when I read them, not necessarily in the order they were released) I was hoping for something that made a bit more sense on the first read through. This comic has a few stories in it, and the different subjects give Jon a chance to really get inventive with his art. First up there’s the story of the Worm God and the unfortunate (though predictable, if you think about it) way that he meets his end. Next up is the story of an elderly radioactive snail and the creatures that live on its shell (including a Wuzzgutt cameo?), but mostly the creatures and their desire to see a bit more of the world than the back of a snail. Finally there’s the last story that takes up about half of the book about Moth Girl. Her costume is impractically designed, I have no idea whether or not those wings actually do anything, but it’s still a damned fascinating story (and also the first part of a serial, so there’s clearly more to see in #3). Things start off with her being sent away by her archnemesis to the rural mid-west, and her appearance causes a little confusion there as she’s mistaken for a prostitute and imprisoned. Still, the pimp has a pumpkin for a head and there’s the matter of all these vampires running around, so there’s a lot yet that has to be made clear in future stories. All in all this was a pretty great comic, much easier to follow than the last issue I reviewed but with the same great art. Check it out, and you too will believe that a man can have an enormous literal worm for a penis… $3
Update for 12/30/13
New review today for Loud Comix #1 by Jamie Vayda and a quartet of authors. Yes, this will probably be one more spotty week for reviews, but I’ll see what I can do to at least get a few reviews up this week.
Vayda, Jamie – Loud Comix #1
Loud Comix #1
You know that thing with anthologies (or any small press comic really) where you’re not sure whether or not the next issue is ever coming out? Or is that only for cynics like me? Anyway, this one ended on a pretty big cliffhanger, so here’s hoping they have things well in hand and that the next issue comes out on time. Which should be out by now, and the website says that it is, so never mind all this. This is just my long-winded way of saying that the last story of the bunch did a really great job with its cliffhanger ending. Anyway, four stories in this one, but it’s a little different because they were all drawn by Jamie Vayda. Which makes me nervous about it keeping up a bimonthly schedule, but I’ve already mentioned that I can be quite the cynic about such things. Anyway, stories include “Mr. Breeze” by Sonny Joe Harlan (about the dangers of being hit on in a biker bar), “The Rise of Billy Bloodlust” by Frankie Nowhere (which I really hope is a true story about your perceptions while high on mushrooms and the aftermath of what you think happened during the trip), “Johnny Funhouse” by Erika Lane (the origin story of a kid who was pulled out with forceps by his mother, how he perceives the world and his first love) and “Wooden Leg” by Alan King. That last one offers tantalizing hints into the life of this guy with the wooden leg, including how he struck terror into the heart of the author as a kid, but it looks like they’re saving most of the good stuff (like how he got that wooden leg and what exactly made him such a lunatic) for the next part of the story. It’s a pretty great pile of stories, although I should probably warn off the squeamish who can’t handle a woman delivering her own baby in graphic detail, but it’s not as bad as you’re thinking after reading that sentence. I’ve been reading these things long enough to think that $6 is a little pricey for a book that’s all black and white, but some punk legends wrote some of these stories and I should get over thinking that that’s too much for a comic. Times change! $6
Update for 12/23/13
New review today for Vortex #3 by William Cardini. It should be a pretty light week for reviews, so happy holidays everybody!
Cardini, William – Vortex #3
Vortex #3
You know, as much as I love a coherent story, I have to admit that there’s a great deal of fun to be had whenever William gets the space to let his imagination run wild. And this story actually ended up making plenty of sense before it was all said and done, but there’s a lengthy setup that would have blown a hole through the brain of anybody reading this as their first issue of this series. Eh, better take a step back and get to analyzing. He does have a nice, concise recap to start things off, which is downright essential in a series like this. Just in case you haven’t read the other issues but are for some reason reading the review for this one, I’ll sum up: The Miizzzard has agreed to help free the Vortex, who are a race of shape-shifting enslaved berserkers. To do that he has to survive something called the dreamscape, and this is where William gets to go nuts. There are trials and dangers, all against the background of The Miizzzard not being entirely sure of what’s real and what’s all in his head. It’s a beautiful mind fuck of a book, and pardon my language if kids are reading this, but that one word will do far less to mess with your head than this issue will. He was nice enough to send along the next issue in the series, but so far things have been moving along really well and I’d say that this series is well worth checking out. And oh, to live in a world where this man had the money/backing to do a full color comic… $6
Update for 12/19/13
New review for The Hic & Hoc Illustrated Journal of Humour Volume 2: The United Kingdom. That’s right, an international anthology!
Various Artists – Hic & Hoc Illustrated Journal of Humour Volume 2: The United Kingdom
The Hic & Hoc Illustrated Journal of Humour Volume 2: The United Kingdom
Hey look, anthology reviews on back to back days! Readers in the future, never mind about that comment, but for today I can compare the two, and I’m happy to say that this one got every single little thing right that made me cranky about the last one. Clear and legible table of contents, the pages are numbered, and most of the strips had the name of the artist on the bottom of the page. Yep, my only complaint here is that they managed to put together an anthology of U.K. cartoonists and left Rob Jackson out of it, but maybe he lives somewhere else and I’m just confused. OK fine, so they got the basics right. What about the quality? Pretty much top-notch all around, which is always at least slightly rare for an anthology with this many people in it. Highlights include a chopsticks dilemma by Luke Pearson, putting all of the eggs in one basket by Lizz Lunney, the wisdom of using egg whites instead of cream by Philippa Rice, the fantastically destructive Skull Force by Jack Teagle, one seriously destructive romance by Luke Pearson, a great example of a comic about nothing that ends up being pretty damned great by James Downing, a horror show called Dream Leader by Joe List, an excellent way to turn the tables on door to door salesmen by Joe Decie, deciding who you would like to survive the apocalypse along with you by Stephen Collins, video game monster advice by Dan Berry, judging someone from their shoes by Lizz Lunney, “I Was Attacked by some Naked Children” by Isaac Lenkiewicz, being stuck as a conscious fossil by Kristyna Baczynski, terrible story ideas that Gareth Brookes has been given over the years, and the Death Train by Lizz Lunney. Huh, I seemed to like Lizz Lunney’s work quite a bit, but there’s a pile of great stuff in here. Check it out, support both Hic & Hoc and the idea of getting more international anthologies going over here in the U.S. $12
Update for 12/18/13
Clearly this period between the holidays is just going to be a bit of a mess for reviews, so my apologies. New review today for On Your Marks #1, a new anthology from a whole bunch of people in Seattle.
Various Artists – On Your Marks #1
On Your Marks #1
Oh, what a crank I am. I get a pretty damned great anthology filled with small press people living in Seattle who could use a little more exposure and I can’t help thinking that I would have liked it better with a clear indication of which artists did which pages. They’re even all listed on the inside front cover, but they’re inside of a drawing, which makes some of them tough to make out. Does this take away from the quality of the content? Not one bit, no, as it’s not like it’s impossible to figure out who did certain pages with a little bit of work. Eh, I blame it on the general tone of the holiday season. All this Christmas music everywhere just bugs me. And if you ever needed more proof that I am in fact a total curmudgeon, there you have it. Anyway! This is a collection of mostly one page strips, done by all kinds of people that you either already know about or should be ashamed of yourself because you’ve never heard of them. Stories include Ben Horak having the comic he made when he was 6 read by adults (with a perfect final panel), Tom Van Deusen’s creepy piece about a head growing out of a roof and what happens when it’s removed, Bobby Madness and the sacrifice he made for the environment, Kelly Froh’s traumatic moment on an aimless afternoon, Pat Keck and his dungeon Gremlins, Aarow Mew and the result of his “spider” bite, Julia Gfrorer’s tale of a creepy ouija board experience, Rick Altergott and Pat Moriarty’s story of what cats think is going on with their litter boxes, Marc Palm’s Flannelwolf and Frankcan, Robyn Jordan’s worries about what she’ll be like in 10 years after she has kids, David Lasky’s questions about what you would do if you were a superhero, and Max Clotfelter’s mistaken assumption involving getting his older brother involved in protecting him. Like I said, it’s a damned solid anthology, full of ridiculously talented people. Maybe next time they’ll put page numbers on the pages to lessen my crankiness, or maybe it’s something I need to work on on my own and I’m sharing too much here… $4
Update for 12/13/13
New review for It Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time #2 by Trevor Waurechen, happy weekend everybody!
Waurechen, Trevor – It Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time #2
It Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time #2
Can I be cantankerous for a minute? Well, sure, it’s my website. This comic is a collection of single pages, bundled together with a piece of paper naming the comic. This is fine, as I’m certainly not the boss of how Trevor makes his comics. The only problem is that I’ve seen other comics like these, and they do not hold up well. Inevitably the binder gets lost, or a page or two slips out somewhere along the line, never to be seen again. In his defense, he put quite a large sticky glob on the binder, so maybe that won’t be as big of a problem here, but it still seems like a bad idea. But what difference does that make, my “job” is to review the contents, not the presentation. Well, like I said, these are all one page stories, and they can be read in any order. Some work better than others (the one with the two people silently driving just baffled me, and not only because I have no idea where those feet came from in the second to last panel), and the stories include an odd cat conversation, the joys of living near water in a dry area in the summer, being the weirdo who draws outside in the rain, getting talked into getting an even worse movie than the one that you were trying to watch (knowing full well that it was supposed to be terrible), an average awkward drink order at a restaurant, an odd conversation about art, a hilarious description of the redneck mating call, calling the bluff of somebody working in customer service who says they can help you pick out a printer, and the dangers of talking politics at work. It’s a pretty funny pile of stories, so never mind my general crankiness on the presentation. I’m still thinking that people want their books/stuff to last for the long haul, which is probably a pretty antiquated notion all by itself.
Update for 12/11/13
New review today for The Casebook of Elijah Snugs #2 by Sal Sciandra. Hey, do you make comics and live outside of the U.S.? If so, get in touch with me. I’m getting another one of my brilliant ideas that always seem to peter out before completion.
Sciandra, Sal – The Casebook of Elijah Snugs #2
The Casebook of Elijah Snugs #2
I’m just going to offer a little tip to Sal, and everybody else who makes comics while I’m at it: it’s not a good idea to use (basically) your final page as the cover to your comic. Generally speaking I’m awfully careful about spoilers, but when the big reveal is on the cover, what exactly would I be spoiling? Anyway, this comic is much improved over the last issue, with more time for the characters to breathe, more dialogue to get a better sense of these characters and more suspects being thrown into the mix (a requirement for a good mystery). The lights going out at the end of the last issue is dealt with quickly here (turns out that big old houses sometimes have rolling blackouts, so not so nefarious after all), then we get a lengthy conversation over muffins dealing with Firenza’s missing egg, her mistrust of her servants and the introduction of a shady detective. This detective has something of a feud going with Snugs, and it’s good to see a little bit of the history between them. The next issue promises to wrap up this story, and I’m a lot more intrigued now than I was after the first one. It’s worth a look if you like all-ages mysteries, unless you have some kind of aversion to talking animal stories, which would be weird.
Update for 12/10/13
New review for Strange Growths #16 by Jenny Zervakis. Am I still too young to want to move to one of the states where winter isn’t always this lousy? Probably so.
Zervakis, Jenny – Strange Growths #16
Website where you can buy her comics
Strange Growths #16
Is there a good list of small press comics people out there who never got the acclaim/attention they deserved that anybody knows of? Granted, you could say “all of them” and be correct (as I went a lot of years wearing my King Cat shirt before anybody outside of a comics convention knew what it was), but I’m talking about inside of this little insular community. If there is a list and if Jenny Zervakis isn’t on it, then it’s a terrible list. I started reading these types of comics in 1993, and Jenny was making them back then. I think she got caught up in that “real life” stuff that seems to happen to damned near everybody, had a couple of kids and maybe found other priorities (as it’s certainly not like making comics is a way to make a living for far too many people), and I didn’t hear much about her for years. But she’s making comics again, and you whippersnappers who may have never heard of her should think about catching up. This is a collection of short pieces, as are most of her comics that I’ve seen. Stories in here include Jenny and her daughter going through the presidents while her daughter tries to find a female one, what happened to the moon people when the moon was dislodged from the earth, playing in the snow and the differences in how everybody reacts to it, a dream where Jenny saves a few castaways from drowning, images from a visit to the aquarium, a family at the end of its rope, some excellent questions about cats and dogs and how they perceive us, and a heartbreaker about their family losing their dog after she got spooked by a storm. It’s bad enough to lose any pet when they run off, but their dog was on seizure medication and there was very much a race against the clock to get to her before anything really bad happened to her. It’s a solid collection of stories and you should really think about picking it up. Where are we at on retrospectives of this stuff anyway? If I’ve been reading these things for 20 years now then there have to be some anniversaries coming up. Top Shelf or Fantagraphics, get on that…
Update for 12/9/13
New review for DemonDust #18/19 by Bernie McGovern. I’ll probably be able to put together a regular week of reviews, but considering how that has gone the last few times I thought that was the case maybe you’d better not count on it. But I’ll try!
McGovern, Bernie – DemonDust #18/19
DemonDust #18/19
Uh-oh, it can’t be a good sign if Bernie is combining issues, and that turns out to be true after reading this one. See, Bernie has been living his life and working on his other series (An Army of Lovers Will Be Beaten, and shame on you if you don’t know about it), which leads to this comic having what he calls “an incredible lack of focus.” Still, you clearly haven’t been reading his stuff if you think that this means that the comic is worthless. Things start off strong with Gank, a man who exists for “snapping people out of their complacency.” I should mention that these quotes are all from his afterward, which is always worth the price of admission in these minis all by itself. He gets in the face of an obnoxious guy on his cell phone (do I still have to say “cell phone”? Can’t that just be the default assumption for “phone” at this point?), finds a joint in the mop bucket in a store bathroom, and then the strip falls apart. We start to see Bernie’s notes at the tops of the pages and the story disintegrates, complete with blotchy ink spots on the final page. The #19 part of this is even more discombobulated, as it’s only two pages of wondering where his summer went, complete with the same notes along the top margin. It’s still an interesting book, for the peek into his creative process and the afterward where he goes into detail, but probably not the best book to start with if you’re a new reader. Then again, if you’re a new reader of anything and you’re starting with #18, that’s kind of on you. $1
Chandler, Richy – Lucy the Octopus: Better in Small Doses
Lucy the Octopus: Better in Small Doses
That right there is a damned clever title, and it must have flummoxed at least one reviewer. This is a collection of his weekly webcomic, which is based on Lucy the Octopus from his Tempo Lush set of ten tiny comics, which you maybe own if you’re awesome. Anyway, Lucy is a teenage girl octopus who is ridiculously unpopular with everybody around her. This collection of 40 strips shows her trying to exist (not really even fit in, as she seems to have already given up on that concept), bonding with her new poisonous pet, trying to stay friends with the new kid who doesn’t yet know how uncool Lucy is, taking beauty advice from her sister (who tells her friends that she isn’t even related to Lucy), and becoming a science experiment from her brother. These stories can get a little grim at times, but Richy manages to keep a light tone through most of them. And the coloring is gorgeous, so even though he mentions that it would be easier to go black and white with the strips I’m really hoping he doesn’t do it. This seems to be an all-ages strip, although I think kids in their early teens would probably get the most out of it. Come to think of it, all-ages is kind of a stupid qualifier, as I’m pretty sure that reading this to a baby would have no effect. I’m wandering a bit, but this is very much worth a look. He also sent along the next issue, so I’ll have more to say about this after I read it. You know, for a complete picture and all that. Or you could just go to his website and see his newer stuff for yourself, it’s a free country. Well, this one is. I don’t know where you are…
