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Baumann, Suzanne – As Eavesdropped #4
As Eavesdropped #4
This time around I decided to try and figure out where Suzanne was when she overheard these conversations, because there are some real doozies. Oh hi, if you’ve never read this series, Suzanne overhears conversations that are utterly ridiculous/offensive/hilarious and then draws them for our/her amusement. I think maybe she also takes conversations that other people overhear, but I’m not positive about that. Anyway, I know it would ruin what she’s trying to do here if she put herself in these stories, but I kept picturing her with a sketchpad under a bridge here, sitting at a movie theater there, or overhearing a weird conversation in her neighborhood in another spot. Utterly irrelevant to the content, sure, but once I started thinking about it I just couldn’t stop. Topics in this volume include (and if you haven’t already been won over by that cover I don’t know how to convince you to give this a shot) taking a picture of your own home, theft and misuse of a garbage bin, a bar and a funny hat, keeping your eyebrows groomed, misunderstanding support from your wife for an actual funny joke, kicking some guy in the face, the time sequence of personal injuries, getting a padded bra, upholstery, a sighting at a gay bar, being too intimidated to go into a bar wearing a t-shirt, a fantastic conversation on a bridge, reading cartoons, an Armenian discount and a sword fight. Again, these are stories that Suzanne overheard, not stories that have anything to do with her. It’s funny as usual and her art is still fantastic, so what’s the argument against checking this out again? $2
Baumann, Suzanne – As Eavesdropped #3
As Eavesdropped #3
Ah, if only Suzanne was a comic making machine who could produce these things daily. I’ve enjoyed her comics for years, but these “As Eavesdropped” books are pure goodness and light. As the title implies, these are snippets of conversations that Suzanne hears while out and about, and even she rarely knows the larger context of these quotes. Which makes them even funnier! Once again, my biggest problem was limiting it to only one sample (and seeing as how these are 8 pages, it wouldn’t be at all fair of me to post more, as my only argument is “but I wanna!”), which is always a good sign in regards to the quality of a book. I’ll keep this as general as possible, but conversations overheard in this one include an awkward question about chickens, taking the name of a network too literally, having unimpeachable sources and Satan. There, that should be more than vague enough to pique your curiosity without giving too much away. One quick suggestion for Suzanne though: why not do one of these about your experiences at small press conventions? Granted, you may end up knowing the context for some of these conversations, but I’d think that those things would be a people watching bonanza. It already is for me and I’m actively wandering around at them, so if you’re stationary I’d think that it would be a gold mine. No price listed, but past issues of this were $.50, so…
Baumann, Suzanne – As Eavesdropped #2
As Eavesdropped #2
Why is it that I only seem to be able to find Suzanne’s comics at SPACE? I get to the good Chicago stores once or twice a year, there’s a decent shop (Laughing Ogre) literally right down the street from me here in Columbus, and yet there seems to be only one place to get these books. Get on that, world! This one, obviously, is in the same vein as #1, again being a tiny little things of funny observed conversations. Plenty of things in here to highlight, I had to go with just the one sample or it would have ruined the whole book but other topics in here include an awkward conversation at a movie theater ticket office, office talk on the phone, a “cute” baby story and a particularly disturbing chat at the end of a comic convention. Good stuff as always, her website has a listing of all these things and a few bucks spent there would go a long way… $.50
Baumann, Suzanne – As Eavesdropped #1
As Eavesdropped #1
What a fantastic idea for a comic. Apparently Suzanne just wandered around and wrote down interesting conversations she heard. I don’t know if she sketched them out where she heard them or not, but it doesn’t really matter. When the only negative thing I have to say about a comic is that it was too short (and at $.50 and 8 pages, it really was too short), then you’re doing something right. I could read stuff like this for hours, unless these were just the best ones she had available and it’s so tiny to maintain the funny. Anyway, I like her loopy, whimsical style a lot and there are all sorts of comics on her website for you to sample her work, if you are so inclined.
