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Various Artists – Poison Pill
Website (to buy the book)
I get moderately lazy when linking to individual websites for anthology reviews, but check out those tags. That’s a hell of a list of talent, and if you haven’t heard of a name on it, look them up and check out their stuff! Obviously. This is a collection of six new (I think?) stories, and to take all the suspense out of my conclusion, it might be the best anthology I’ve seen in years. There’s not a weak story in the bunch, and just about any of them would be considered the best story in an average anthology. Things start off strong with Caroline Cash’s First Date, a story about her just starting to come out of the pandemic restrictions in the summer of 2020 and trying to date, with all of the usual awkwardness that comes with that on top of not being sure if you’re allowed to touch the other person. Sam Szabo is up next with the story of when they did their own makeup for the first time, how it changed everything in terms of how they saw themselves, and how it all magically came together with them going solo to an Insane Clown Posse show (trust me, the whole thing comes together beautifully). Victoria Douglas is up next with a grim but hilarious take on being constantly expected to churn out content for the always voraciously hungry internet, including unwelcome feedback from family members, and if you’re not nodding along to several of the points, you’re not even online enough to see this review. M.S. Harkness juxtaposes her experience with fireworks during an awkward backyard fight when she was a kid with an entirely different experience as an adult out on the water with some dude she sort of knew, then Heather Loase is up with a piece about her first time looking up a porn search term and everything that came from it, followed by her years of denial of the feelings that it brought up. Finally there’s Audra Stang’s piece about her family’s “holiday tree” (i.e. the Christmas tree that doesn’t come down, so it’s just decorated for each successive holiday until it crumbles) fro when she was a kid, her jealousy of her classmates and their trees and how her whole schedule would change over winter break. Oh, and all of these synopses for the stories? They barely scratch the surface of each piece. Sometimes in anthologies you’ll at least get a rush job or two, or at least shorter, fluffier pieces. Everything in here would be complete if it was released as its own mini comic, and that’s just about as high of a complement as I can give for an anthology. There aren’t many places left that still have copies listed as being available, so if you’re interested, I wouldn’t dither too long. Click on that link while it still has copies! $20
Knickerbocker, Sean (editor) – Rust Belt Review #1
Website (for Sean Knickerbocker)
Hooray for a big old comics anthology! And by “big” I mostly mean the size of the actual comic (which wouldn’t fit entirely on my scanner) rather than the page count, which is still more than respectable. This has stories from six artists, about half of which I’d read before. I should also point out that the second issue is coming out in a couple of weeks (6/14/21, readers of the future), so for all of you skeptics that think series like this rarely get beyond the first issue, in your face! One of Sean’s goals (from his introduction) is trying to find a way for artists to diversify their income, as this issue was done in a time when in-person cons wasn’t an option, and it’s not like that’s generally a big moneymaker for the artists anyway. First up is a story by Andrew Greenstone about a cult that kidnapped 100 people and forced them to compete in trivia and games, with death being a very real possibility if you get something wrong. I want to quickly complement the layout of this book: the artist’s name is at the bottom of every other page and the title is on the opposite page, so there’s not the danger you get in some anthologies of stories with similar art styles briefly running together. Next up is Caleb Orecchio’s series of short pieces (that all tie together beautifully) dealing with a group of children, their animal pals and their bullies. And one poorly timed erection, but I don’t want to spoil anything. MS Harkness’s piece about a bank robbery is so amazing that I don’t want to give a thing away about it, so I won’t, but I will say that it got a literal “lol” out of me. Juan Jose Fernandez has a more contemplative piece about yearning featuring some haunting video game-esque imagery. Sean has a couple of stories with the same dirtbag characters; in one the losers are given an ultimatum to clean up their act, and in the next they receive an unexpected windfall while nefarious forces plot in the background. Yep, that one is obviously of the “to be continued” variety. Finally there’s Audra Stang telling a story that connects to her overarching narrative in her mini comics, further cementing the need for a complete edition when it’s all said and done. This is a damned solid anthology, and after looking at the list of artists in the second issue it’s looking like that one should be great too. There are a few pieces that look to be continuing in the next issue, which is a solid way to keep people coming back for more. I hope this works out; there are too few ongoing comics anthologies for my tastes. $10
Stang, Audra – The Audra Show #5
The Audra Show #5
It’s all 1988 this time around, with two stories, although the one with Owen takes up most of the book. Yeah, I’m jumping right in; I’m assuming everybody reading this already has the previous 4 issues, correct? It’d be a little odd to just jump in with a review of the fifth one. If not, go ahead and order them from her and then come back to this, otherwise you’ll be more than a bit lost. So anyway, Owen is trying to sell his bioluminescent goldfish to Margaux Delmar, but he doesn’t realize that he has something she values far more: what’s under his shirt. Mind out of the gutter, creeps! I’m talking about that thing that would be a spoiler that I’ve somehow managed to avoid mentioning in reviewing the first four issues, so I’ll keep that policy intact. They take their business to a different location, she tries to seduce him, and that’s all you’re getting out of me on that front. The other, much shorter story is a conversation between Bea and Flower, as one of them just wants to have fun and the other just wants to worry about what might happen when her boyfriend gets back to town. I’ll leave it up to you to figure out which is which. Looking at Audra’s website it looks like a few things are happening: she’s working on a collected edition (although I don’t know the number of issues it covers) and she’s going to start selling comic bundles for a reduced price. In other words, it will be much easier to get caught up with the Audraverse very soon so, again, you should probably do that if you haven’t already. $5
Stang, Audra – The Audra Show #4
The Audra Show #4
Both stories are featured in this issue, with roughly half of the issue devoted to Oliver’s story in 2008 and half to Bea’s story in 1988. In Oliver’s tale we finally dig into just where those octopus arms of his might have come from, and he learns just how long it is that he’s been missing. Bea’s story has her getting increasingly sick of Jonah and his shenanigans and a long phone conversation between her and Owen. One of these stories actually got me to laugh out loud, which is always a welcome surprise, but I’ll leave it up to you to figure out which one. Maybe you’ll laugh at the other one, who knows? I do think that now is the time for Audra to maybe start putting recaps at the start of the book; four issues is about where I start losing track of what happened in the previous issues and missing some of the little bits. Of course, I also read comics constantly, so maybe most people don’t have that problem of retaining information. If so, just keep all the issues handy and reread them when the new issues come out, that also solves the problem. In a lot of ways this felt like a transitional issue, as we learn a bit about what happened to Oliver but not the whole story, and Bea is still feeling trapped in her life. Still, I’m fascinated by the Audraverse (yep, still using it, even if I’m the only one on Earth), and can’t wait to see what happens next. $5
Stang, Audra – The Audra Show #3
The Audra Show #3
The mysteries of the Audraverse are slowly being revealed! That’s right, I’m sticking with my made-up name for Audra’s comics, in the hopes of her eventually getting a Marvel-esque multi picture deal out of it. Don’t forget me when you’re incredibly rich, Audra! As for the rest of you, you’re probably here to read about the comic, and this is the issue where Audra spells out why there are two sets of characters: Bea and her friends/coworkers are in 1988, and Adelaide and her friends/celebrity crush are in 2008. What connects them exactly is still unknown, but she’s clearly getting there, so I’d advise patience. In the 1988 section we have Bea being miserable at her job, Dan hitting on her before being forced to clean the bathrooms, Flower deciding to take a hike, Owen missing Bea, and Dan being all Dan to everybody. The 2008 section gets less space so it’s more of a transitional story, as everybody arrives at Adelaide’s house after the events of the last issue and get into a brief discussion about refreshments. Like I said, the main action is in the first story this time around. Have I mentioned that the mystery has me hooked? Because it has, even though I’m not even completely sure that there’s much of a mystery to be resolved. But I’ve grown attached to the characters, which makes this series a success in my book. Check it out, here’s hoping there’s a fourth issue when I next see her at a convention… $4
Stang, Audra – The Audra Show #2
The Audra Show #2
For those of you who read the last issue and/or review, you might notice that the entire cast is different from the first issue. My theory is that Audra is setting up one of those vast interconnected universes like the Marvel movies and that she’s going to cash in in a few years with the Audra-verse. Until then, I’ll just confine myself to talking about her comics, OK? Well, like I said, there doesn’t appear to be an obvious connection to the last issue, but I’m guessing they’re both in the same town. Or it told me that they were both in the same town and I managed to forget in the three months between reviews. Oof, here’s hoping it’s not that, my memory is terrible enough as it is. This issue starts off with Adelaide throwing rocks at what appears to be an abandoned food truck. Bryson joins her and starts throwing rocks too. They then decide to abandon this pursuit for their ice ray gun, but since it hasn’t been perfected yet, they end up firing a sparkler gun. This goes into the truck and starts a fire, and when she tries to put it out she discovers that Oliver Chance (famous lead singer for Sunset October) is stuck in the truck. Once they pull him out, they discover that he has too many limbs. Roughly eight too many, which might help you narrow down what happened to him. No more spoilers from here on out, but Adelaide has an excellent reason for why she doesn’t just flee from Oliver in terror. It’s another solid issue, and I’m really looking forward to seeing how the next issue connects to these too. $4
Stang, Audra – The Audra Show #1
The Audra Show #1
There’s more than you might think that goes into buying comics at conventions. For example, this particular comic. It looked intriguing, Audra couldn’t have been nicer at her table (she even chased me down to get me a better copy after I was oblivious and purchased her display copy of the first issue), but it was early in the show. Do you get all three comics on display for $10, or check out one issue for $4? I went with the cheaper option, and here I am, a couple of weeks later, regretting it. Gah, I’m a dummy. Oh well, I still have one issue to review. Obviously I liked it, so let’s remove all suspense on that front right away. This is another case where I’m not sure how far I should dig down into spoilers (especially since that cover and title make a lot more sense about 2/3 of the way through), so I’ll try to tiptoe around them. This is the story of three servers at a restaurant, helpfully listed on the back cover: Owen, Bea and Jonah. Owen seems like a nice guy, Bea is an oddball, and Jonah so far seems like a straight up creep. Owen get hassled by some customers, he and Bea have a chat about scars as he tries to determine whether or not he’s getting hit on, and Jonah annoys him by badgering Owen about his hitting on Bea. Then the shift is over and they go about their evenings, leading to Bea seeing Owen alone on a pier. Just as she’s approaching him to say hello, he jumps into the water. And doesn’t come up for air for a distressingly long amount of time. Which is as far as I can get without spoilers! I will say that this particular problem was resolved by the end of the issue, but now I can’t wait to see what happens next, and I was too shortsighted to get all three issues at the con. Use me as a cautionary tale, comic readers! If you have the cash to check out the first few issues of a series… do it! $4 (or $10 for issues #1-3)
