Van Sciver, Noah – Blammo #6

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Blammo #6

I have a theory about the longevity of small press comic artists, based upon many years of observation of the behavior of these fascinating creatures in their natural habitat.  I’m going to avoid naming names because otherwise I’d be sure to leave somebody out or offend them, but it seems like most of them need either the money or artistic validation to eventually get published somewhere.  Your fantasy/superhero types want to eventually make it to the “big leagues”, and that’s true of the smaller “big leagues” of the alternative comics world.  There are also plenty who don’t give a shit and they’ll keep making comics until they eventually get tired of it, and these people you can usually spot because they always come back to the business, even after being away from it for years.  They just can’t help themselves.  Then there are people like (not naming names, but there is certainly more than one), who seemed to have a really good thing going but just gave up the ghost after a few really great issues.  I can’t say that I blame them for quitting, as doing as thankless a job as making comics  without any significant compensation must be trying.  Where was I going with all this?  Oh yeah.  Noah Van Sciver is on the sixth issue of Blammo, as you may have guessed from that prominent “#6” up there.  He is still self-publishing.  He is also getting better and better with each passing issue, even though I continually think he must have hit a high water mark.  I don’t know if Noah is the type of person to eventually give up if Fantagraphics/Top Shelf/Drawn & Quarterly don’t publish him sooner or later, but do we really want to take that chance?  Take a risk, one of you guys, this guy is more than worth it.  So how about the comic?  I sampled the very first page, as I just couldn’t help it.  Other stories include Abby’s Road (told from the perspective of a 21 year old juggalo/stoner who’s “dating” a 17 year old high school girl, he’s exactly what you think he is and it’s a perspective not often seem in small press comics), As I Remember It (written by Noah’s brother, a quiet moment in the life of the early Van Sciver family), Chicken Strips (still going, Bill goes to heaven, with a fantastic final page spread), Convention (yes, these are fairly common in these types of comics, but it’s still insightful as hell and worth it for the haunted look on the face of John Porcellino), The Krampus Visit (dealing with an asshole singer and an even assholier man trying to get an autograph), and The Easy Life (telling you how easy it would be to quit your job, kill your boss and take over the world).  There’s also his sure-to-be breakout hit Punks Vs. Lizards, which is exactly what it sounds like: 5 pages of punks gruesomely killing giant lizards.   If all his smart and meaningful strips can’t make him millions, maybe this one can.  Oh, and don’t forget a few pages of shorter strips, reader mail and last words.  It’s a whole comic book experience, in other words, and one that most people don’t bother putting together these days.  I doubt if I have much in the way of “cred” in the small press hierarchy, but if I have a shred of it, I am asking somebody to take a risk and publish this man.  We can’t risk losing him to apathy or one of those paying jobs I keep hearing about.  Barring that, the least you can do individually is buy his comics, and you get the added benefit of owning a really fantastic comic.  Where’s the flaw in that?  $3.95

UPDATE 7/7/10: This was actually published by Kilgore Books & Comics from Denver.  That big “Kilgore” on the cover should have clued me in, but I missed it, and anybody who published a comic like this deserves the highest of praise, not being left out of the article entirely because I wasn’t being careful enough to include them.  Mea culpa.