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Southworth, Barry – It Ends Badly #1
It Ends Badly #1
So I always check online to find the current website for whoever I’m reviewing, and Barry’s first result was Optical Sloth. That is a man either without much web presence or, if he is around, a simple Google search is not going to get it done. For long time readers of the website, you may remember Barry from 2005 or so? I think that’s when he started sending me books, so he’s been around a while. Or it’s possible that this is Barry Jr., as this is dedicated to his father Barry Southworth, and it’s been long enough that this might be an entirely different person. Just wanted to throw that out there! This is a collection of stories, but basically it’s one long story (with more to come, if that ending and “#1” are any indication) with a few shorties. It’s all about the Forsaken, who are Rachel, Albert and Nic. Albert is the guy you see getting lit on fire in the sample image, so he’s off to a rough start in the series. Rachel has problems of her own when she goes after a serial killer, but I can’t say much more about that without spoilers. As for Nic, he’s the serial killer. So is he one of the Forsaken, or is he just included in the title? Unclear! But answers have been promised for the next installment, so we’ll see. The other stories are snippets of ideas and existential thoughts. What else can I say without giving away the whole thing if I try to review single page stories? It’s an engaging and intriguing main story, but most of the shorter bits left me cold, if I’m being honest. But Barry has long since proven that he can tell a compelling story, so I’m more than willing to see what’s next. Unless this is Barry Jr., that is, in which case all bets are off… $4
Cochran-Mason, Louise & Southworth, Barry – Revelations #1
Website (where you can buy the book)
Hereafter Press
664 North Main Street
Bristol, CT 06010
Revelations #1
Oy. It’s bad enough when self-published mini comics don’t have any sort of contact information, but for a comic where they went to the trouble of getting it published? Louise and Barry used “Ka-Blam” digital printing, a name I’m seeing more and more on the backs of the more “professional” (i.e. color cover and excellent production values) comics, so it’s not like this cost $0 to put out there, and they couldn’t even be bothered with an e-mail address. Sorry, but that just seems stupid to me. I put the snail mail address up there, so for the two people in the world who still use that to order their comics while still being internet savvy enough to find such things online, there you go. For everybody else, well, maybe they’ll stick with this series long enough to eventually get a working website up about it. This all came about because I was checking on some of Barry’s old series and I was curious if some of them really stalled out after one issue or if I just hadn’t seen new issues. That can be a problem when my main method of getting small press books is through review comics, as if somebody doesn’t bother to send me one after a few issues I have a tendency to lose track. Have I mentioned that I’m in a rambling mood today? Christ. So how about the actual comic, other bitching aside? This is why I was wondering about Barry’s past work: seems promising, depending on whether or not they stick to the series for a few issues, but it could just as easily fall apart. Our hero is a woman who makes a living defending vicious criminals that she knows are guilty. She’s never lost and has set countless monsters back out onto the streets. Some hero, right? Still, it makes for a mildly interesting premise. We cut to six months later and she’s about to get pummeled by a group of thugs, which she arguably has coming but, as it’s put in the narration, “deserving and accepting are two very different things.” She sprouts some short, thick claws at the ends of her knuckles and takes care of the thugs. From here we get to see our hero trying drugs to stop the changes she’s experiencing and is finally given some facts about her condition by a mysterious figure who has broken into her apartment. So what you have as a whole are some possible cliches that could turn ugly, or enough new ideas for them to make something interesting out of all of this. It’s not a bad intro, I just find as I get older that I believe less and less that there’s going to be a #3 in a series, let alone a #6 that a series like this would probably need to really get going. If you’re less cynical than me, go ahead and order it by clicking on that link, or if maybe you think you’d like this type of story and don’t mind if it dies out after one issue. Me, I’m going to reserve judgment. $3
Southworth, Barry – Shame On You
Shame On You Now Available! $2
Barry is branching out into a few different directions these days, and this one is an “adult” comic, meaning that people are represented with actual genitalia and sometimes have various kinds of sex. Oy, to live in a place where this wasn’t seen as some kind of a big deal… Anyway, there are a few short stories in here, and they’re all entertaining. First up is a porn actress who’s had enough and decides, eventually, to take up a suggestion from her Dad about paint enemas. There are also stories of a slut who finally finds her place in the world and a dirty trick on a gorgeous woman who was completely untouchable to a couple of guys at a fast food joint. I liked this one quite a bit, even outside of the obvious benefit of all the naked people. There’s a general sense of playfulness and fun here that’s completely lacking in most of his recent work, by necessity because they’re serious stories, sure, but fun is a very underrated thing in comics. $2
Southworth, Barry – Among the Dead #1
Among the Dead #1 Now Available! $2
Barry’s taking a bit of a break from the Toxic series, although fans of his stuff will notice some familiar themes in this one. It’s all about Nikki, a former lover/stripper for Satan who, after he tosses her aside, decides to stir up a revolution in hell, picking up a few of the more disgruntled demons along the way. This is mostly setting the stage for things to come, establishing a few characters, setting up motivations, you know, all the things you need for a good continuing series. The group knows of a sword that can apparently kill Satan, but they have to go through seven levels of demons to get it. It’s intriguing, and that’s the great thing about a first issue: there’s nothing but promise here. It could end up being great, or not, or it could end up being one of the countless series that are dropped by a creator and never picked up again. All that remains to be seen, but I liked this one just fine.
Southworth, Barry – Toxic Comix #8
Toxic Comix #8 Now Available! $2
Slowly this story is starting to take shape, and the minor characters from past issues seem to be coming back and gaining some prominence. There’s still a misspelling or two which, as I’ve said over and over, drives me batty, but the little things seem to be falling into place. In this issue we meet a past boyfriend of Trinity, who regrets both abandoning her to join the “cool crowd” and not helping her when she was getting killed. We also get to see what Trinity is up to, even though she’s dead and all. The entity she answers to is cartoonishly silly at this point, just an over-the-top villain, so I hope that gets fleshed out a bit and we get to see what exactly is going on with all that. Other than that I can see that at least Barry seems to have some idea of a master plan here, so I’m content to stay along for the ride and see what happens…
Southworth, Barry – Toxic Comix #6
Toxic Comix #6
OK, this has made it to #6, so I’m allowed to be a bit more hostile than I was in previous reviews. The lettering is terrible. I’m not sure if it’s the copier or what, but I shouldn’t have to shove my eyeball onto the page to make out what they’re talking about. Spelling and major grammatical errors are OK in the first few issues of a book, but you really have to take care of that. And center the pages! I don’t know if that’s Kinko’s thing or something that’s easily corrected, but it’s distracting. There’s no “e” in “having”, I’m not even sure how you could get “that’t” instead of “that’s”, etc. Type the script up in Word or some other program that has a spellchecker. It’s that simple. Might take you 15 minutes, and you won’t have people like me bitching about something that is so easily corrected. The actual story isn’t bad at all. It’s about a man who slowly poisons his pregnant girlfriend, causing her to miscarry, and his punishment in the afterlife. Look, at the very least, every issue should be a visual improvement over the previous one. I know there’s little chance of serious financial reward in this comics world and that everything is done for the love of the genre, but be pessimistic about it. Find something in every issue that could be better and improve on it. I don’t mean this to be a rant against Barry, as he’s done some good work, but this could apply to plenty of creators out there. If you don’t mind a lot of needless errors with your good story, then I recommend this. If it’s too much for you in the end, well, here’s hoping he learns from this and puts together a better book next time. Contact info is up there, it’s $1.50.
Southworth, Barry – Toxic Comix #5
Toxic Comix #5
Christ, that’s one big comic, huh? Well, we learn what happened with Amy and why she’s the way that she is. We also learn that Barry likes using song lyrics a little too much for my taste, whatever that means to the rest of the world. It’s not a bad issue at all. I think that the art’s getting better all the time (although there’s still work to be done, little things like portraying a man, apparently eating, in a restaurant and boobs), same for the writing. On as aesthetic level I really don’t like the lettering; it’s way too squiggly. Still, if it’s that or perhaps illegible handwriting, I’ll take the squiggles. This one’s short and the only thing I have any real problem with is the song lyrics, which I can’t imagine would really bug anybody else. Other than that, I’m curious to see where he’s going next. This one is $1.50, contact info is up there…
Southworth, Barry – Toxic Comix #4
Toxic Comix #4
When you look at the sample you’ll be able to tell that this issue looks awful. Which is a shame, because it looks like the actual art has gotten better, but the art and the lettering is scrunched so much that it’s sometimes hard to tell what’s going on. The actual story for this is good. Barry finally decided to use the whole issue to tell a story and, while it’s a bit uneven in places, I think it’s the best thing he’s done to date. It’s basically the story of a recently deceased woman who’s being told that she has to take a journey to remember her past. Don’t know where it’s going yet, as this is the first part of a two part story, but I liked the setup. I had a problem with some of the goofy dialogue at the beginning when she first realized that she was dead, but it settled down and even that might make sense when all is said and done. It’s a lot bigger than his previous efforts too, giving his characters time to develop. Definitely worth a look, although you might want a magnifying glass for some of that lettering…
Update on 7/28/03: Barry put another version of this comic out because the other one was so scrunched, and it’s MUCH better. Compare the pictures if you don’t believe me. You can read all the letters and everything. Other than that, I already said I liked the story and now the one thing I didn’t like about is gone, so what’s holding you back? Thus concludes the lamest update ever…
Southworth, Barry – Toxic Comix #3
Toxic Comix #3
Barry says that this is sort of stop gap issue and, at 6 pages of actual story, I’d have to call that accurate. Still, it’s hard to just dismiss this totally because I really liked the stories in this one. The first is a conversation called “Trailer Park” between two women who (I’m making an educated guess here) are talking in a trailer park. Funny stuff, as one is rational and calm and the other is stereotypical trash. The other story, about a man who collects cans for money, is also a good story, even if the ending comes out of nowhere. Is it worth it for $.75? Geez, that’s not even a dollar, you cheapskates. Contact info is up there…
Southworth, Barry – Toxic Comix #2
Toxic Comix #2
OK, there are some basic pet peeves that I have to comment on in mini comics: spelling, grammar and punctuation. Silly to even mention, I know, but it’s such an easy thing to fix and it makes the whole product look so much better. Not that there were that many mistakes in this one, mind you, just enough for me to notice and groan a few times. I’m not that big a fan of the first part of the comic, the second part of Panic Planet. It’s hard to say that before I really know where the story is going, granted, but that’s my early take. The plot points just seem kind of forced and rushed to me. The middle story, Comicopia, was interesting if a bit confusing. I did like The Valley of Death, even if it was another one where I had no real clue what was going on because it was so short. What can I say, I’m a bigger fan of comics taking up the whole issue, mostly because I know how long it can take between issues and it’s just easier to remember stuff with the sheer volume of comics I read. Overall I was kind of disappointed in this one, but there’s a lot to be said for working quickly and keeping interest up in your continuing stories. Work needs to be done, like I said, but progress is being made and that’s the important thing. Contact info is above…
Southworth, Barry – Toxic Comix #1
Toxic Comix #1
Another random shortie, another one filled with potential. The art is good, if a little rough at times, but nothing that I can’t see being tons better a few issues down the road. Same with the dialogue. A little silly and awkward at times, but overall solid and it’s the kind of thing that gets a lot easier with a few comics under the belt. There are a few stories in this. One’s about working in a fast food joint and, in a switch, is less about angst over this fact (although it is mentioned) than it is about corruption and corporations. Or I’ve been listening to NPR too much today, take your pick. The dream story in the beginning was a nice intro to the book. It looked like a silly fantasy book with the sword and all, then he takes a turn and you don’t know what to expect. Overall, it was a little raw, but I liked it. Who knows, these stories might all be going places and I just don’t know it yet.
Southworth, Barry – Toxic Comix #7
Toxic Comix #7 Now Available! $2
It’s been a while since the last issue, which means that the overall story here is incredibly hazy for me. That being said, this issue had significantly less of the problems that I bitched about last time, so aesthetically I have almost no complaints at all. The one thing I can still bitch about is the spelling as, while there are fewer errors, the ones there are really change the meaning of the sentence. Still, it’s greatly improved overall. As for the story, this one is mostly about Trinity (as you may have guessed from the cover), a goth girl who’s just trying to get by at her local school, along with her only friend, a devout Christian. That particular relationship isn’t explored all that much, as most of the book is devoted to some creepy boys from her school trying to convince Trinity to take a ride with them and the consequences of that ride, in this world and the next one. A pretty solid issue that makes me wonder where this is all going, and where on earth I put my back issues for this so I can check that out. $3
