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Poopsheet Foundation – Wag Rag #2
Poopsheet, a gentle piece of advice for your monthly mini comic service: put a clearly visible link to it on your main page somewhere! I eventually had to back out of your site and try again through Google to get the link, and that’s only because I knew it existed, which most people don’t yet because it’s a new (and great) idea. Unless there is a link that I just missed because I’m a dummy, but if that’s the case other dummies might want to read comics too, so make it idiot proof! That’s enough time on my teeny tiny soapbox today, how’s the monthly comic this time around? It’s a collection of strips from various artists, with stories dealing with Caesar Meadows showing various ways to start a strip, Roger Langridge showing four types of panels that always work, Billy McKay discovering what lives inside of his electric razor, and Hal Mundane getting into an argument with himself and losing. This was the monthly comic for October (it’s the start of December as I write this, meaning I’m a bit behind), but there is a new comic out for October, so here’s hoping that this is all still going well for Poopsheet. If you do appreciate the idea of a monthly mini comic service, I’m thinking that subscribing yourself would be a damned fine way to show that support… $5 (monthly)
Bradford, Rick (Poopsheet Foundation, editor, with various artists) – Wag Rag #1
For you comics whippersnappers out there, Poopsheet has been an ongoing online comics library for over a decade now, and if you ever want to buy a pile of mini comics, that should be the first place you stop. Rick Bradford (the head honcho over there) has started up a monthly comics service, meaning every month he publishes another comic (or two, like this month) and they’re delivered to your door. There’s a $5 monthly fee, and he’s using the proceeds to continue working on a mammoth online mini comic and fanzine database, which is a damned worthy cause. So now that all the specifics are out of the way, how about the comic itself? It’s a short anthology and the stories deal with misunderstanding Shakespeare (Roger Langridge), taking us all on a psychodelic journey (Caesar Meadows), and a brief saga about assault and card playing. Sort of, anyway. It’s an eclectic mix, and a solid start for this project. For what it’s worth, I’m all for this idea. Paying a monthly fee to help support a giant comics database like that is itself a ridiculously worthy cause, and you get monthly comics out of it to boot! What’s not to like? $5 (monthly, I assume you can buy these individually as well)
Meadows, Caesar – FLUKE Nano-Comic
FLUKE Nano-Comic
The scan’s screwed up for some reason, but you get the idea, right? The comic is in that case, and you’ll be able to see from the sample that the comic is the size of a staple. Hey, he doesn’t call them “nano-comics” for nothing. This one, appropriately enough for the title, was all about trying to convince someone about how comics are a valid artform…actually, I think it’s more about showing someone that they can be a fun and rewarding experience on their own and you don’t have to compare them to prose literature. It’s a bit of the strain on the eyeballs (probably less so if you’re less blind than I am), but it’s a funny little comic. Let’s say $2 just for the neat packaging, contact info is up there, and if you have no idea who this guy is you’re missing out in a big way…
Meadows, Caesar – Mumbeaux Gumbo #2
I’ve gotten a lot of comics since I started this site, and I’ve read a lot of comics since I started at age 11. Nothing I’ve seen reaches the sheer ingenuity that Caesar manages with these comics that he calls “Micro Comix”. It’s his dream that these comics will one day be all over the place. Thrown off of floats in parades, in gumball machines, everywhere. I’d love to see that happen at some point. It has also been tough on me, from time to time, to pick which issue I should review from a certain creator. That has never been tougher than this time. I picked this one because it’s one one of the few that’s close to “normal size”, even though that concept seemed increasingly insignificant as I read more of his books. I’ve said it a lot of times by now, but Caesar really deserves all your money. He handcrafts all of these tiny books (the comics are inside the robot and other things that you see up there, and everything looks incredible) so there’s a very finite number of copies out there. He has a weekly strip in a New Orleans paper, and I’m pretty sure it’s those strips that he shrinks down into microcomix format. The comics (haven’t even gotten to them yet, have I?) are consistently funny and inventive, the art is crisp and fantastic, and the packaging obviously won me over immediately. What are the comics about? This one has a bunch of his microcomix combined in one issue, so it’s probably the best starting point for those of you who are broke. Let’s see… you have drunk Santa, the real “Superbowl”, cloned foods, ravers watching snuff films, beads, the year 2002, and a hypnotized superhero. Go to his website right away and see what I’m talking about. I’d recommend the robot, or maybe the pyramid, or any of the boxes… pretty much, everything, which is of no use to you, the discerning consumer, but I mean it. Throw some money at him and see what you get back in return. Meanwhile, he’s jumped immediately onto my list of comics favorites. The pictures below are actual size. The one on the left is from this issue, the one on the right is a random sampling of some of the other stuff that he sent me. You can see clearly that the comics are barely twice the size of a staple…
