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Harada, Brent/Jordan, Rusty – Moulgar Baggg Digest #3

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Moulgar Baggg Digfest #3

Oh Rusty Jordan/Brent Harada, it has been far too long since I’ve made a fool of myself trying to write a coherent review for one of your comics. As for that title, well, that’s how he wrote it on the back (at least it was included somewhere on the comic) this time, so that’s how I’m going to type it. You can’t stop me! So anyway, the story in here starts off with a man throwing some bait into what appears to be an ice fishing hole although, come to think of it, there’s no fishing line. The bait sinks, and everything else is all guesswork from me. There’s an image of excessive choking violence, what appears to be Scott McCloud in a straw hat, the man peering into his fishing hole, a monstrous creature getting grabbed where its gonads should be, a death, a toilet paper turban, some drugs, and an ending that I think involved the answer to all the questions in the universe. Oh, and there was also the part in the middle that was shockingly banal to bring it all together. A more disturbing and eclectic bunch of images you’re not likely to see anywhere, and a smarter man that me could probably easily make some sense out of them. Me, I go for the pretty pictures and try not to take too much meaning out of anything.  No price, but let’s say $3 and hope for the best.

Jordan, Rusty – Moulgar Bag Digest #1 (with Brent Harada)

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Moulgar Bag Digest #1 (with Brent Harada)

Ah, the wonders of the random submissions. This didn’t come with any sort of note or contact information (except the address on the envelope) and yes, the cover really is as fuzzy as it looks. My best guess is that this is called Before the Fall, but if Rusty or anybody wants to correct me I’ll be happy to fix this. This is essentially a sketchbook, although it’s probably vaguely insulting to call images this richly realized “sketches”. The images are sort of a cross between Pat Aulisio and Matt Kish, but these dozen pages or so make it clear that Rusty is very much doing his own thing. It’s intriguing and more than a little bit haunting regardless, well worth seeking out for those of you who stick around comics for the purely visual, slightly bizarre side of things. Which is certainly a category I fall into, as well as many, many other places. As for price, well… $2? Or $3? Somewhere in there.

Note from 6/5/08: Title fixed and other artist added, so everything should be accurate…

Jordan, Rusty (editor) – Shitbeams on the Loose #2

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Shitbeams on the Loose #2 (edited by Rusty Jordan)

Hey look, an anthology!  I’ve never understood why so few of these clearly label who did which pages (some even have page listings for the artist without having the actual pages numbered).  This one at least has a chronological listing of the artists, but the nature of this book makes it difficult to tell where one story ends and another begins.  Why?  They’re mostly highly interpretive blasts of art, that’s why.  Still, I’ll give you a list of who’s in this and you’ll most likely be properly amazed and impressed.  There’s Ron Rege Jr.(looking less deliberative than I’ve seen him, and I’m a bigger fan of that than I of the mildly sloppy story in this issue (said mostly because the bits of text are hard to follow)), Jason Overby (brilliantly smacking the preconceived notion of what makes a comic strip around), Dave Nuss (with a welcome quiet moment of the Roman soldier who theoretically jabbed Jesus in the ribs), Andrew Smith (puking a tuna melt is the worst), Hector Serna Jr. (I could spend the whole review trying to unpack those images), Brent Harada (with a mildly out of place regular old story about searching for boots in thrift stores), Robyn Jordan (a quiet piece about camping), John Hankiewicz (a breath of fresh, distinctive air in a sea of chaos), Grant Reynolds (with one of his more disturbing pieces, and that’s saying something), Ayo Kuramoto & Amane Yamamoto (please place your review here, this went right over my head), Rusty Jordan (this is where it starts getting really difficult to tell where one artist ends and another begins, I believe his piece is the one with the escaping brain), Luke Ramsey (ditto, I believe his stuff is the series of full page heads), and Andy Rementer (an oddly adorable piece after all this about a man, his bike and their mutual love).  Or maybe Andy Rementer is the one who did that utterly horrific back cover?  Hard to tell, and that website doesn’t clear it up a bit.  Oh well, with that list of stars it’s a hard thing to pass up, and the quality of most of the stories makes it even more difficult.  And if you don’t love that cover, well, I’m afraid there’s no hope for you.  It is a fairly hefty $9, but it’s put together nicely.  You decide!

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