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Baylis, Jonathan – So Buttons #12

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So Buttons #12

Jonathan has never been nominated for an Ignatz award? Seriously? That seems like an absurd oversight to me. Oh hi, did I already get distracted from my review? Sorry about that, but he mentions that fact a couple of times in here, and it’s ridiculous. But hey, maybe this issue will get nominated next year, because it’s packed to the gills (a phrase I’ve never understood, but never mind that) with winners. First up is the tale of how he settled on his facial hair, how it ties in to Ethan Hawke and what happened when they met (Rachelle Meyer). Next is his memories of sitting with Tom Spurgeon and Carol Tyler at the aftermath of an SPX, which I really have to get to next year (Lance Ward). Then there’s a page by Carol freaking Tyler herself, which is all her, as she agreed to let Jonathan publish one of roughly 100 unpublished pages she found recently. If you were wondering whether or not Kerry Washington was a mensch, does Jonathan (and Ben Passmore) have a story for you! Next up is his story about Grant Morrison, and I have to take a minute here, because it’s about an original page of art he bought from All Star Superman years ago and his debate about whether or not he should sell it, as times were tough during the pandemic. I read All Star Superman literally last week (not for the first time, but in the fancypants “Absolute” edition) and he’s right, it’s the best Superman story ever told, and the only one I’ve seen where the Clark/Superman difference was actually portrayed as big enough to fool people. He also mentioned something I’ve noticed, where I’m roughly 50/50 on Grant’s work, but the 50 on the positive side is VERY positive. But he did this over his own talking head, so now I’m thinking our lists don’t coincide. Doom Patrol in the “bad” pile? Madness (art by Tony Wolf). Josh Bayer draws a true and necessary story about Johnny Rotten, and how inexcusable it was that he ended up a Trump supporter. “The Monkees of punk” was dead on, and if anything maybe a little unfair to The Monkees. Next is the story of a real punk band, Fugazi, his meeting Ian MacKaye and Ian’s story of his time in the crowd at SNL when Belushi wouldn’t go on stage unless a punk band was the musical guest (J.T. Yost). The quality didn’t dip a bit for the last few stories (how could it when Josh Pettinger, Noah Van Sciver and Miss Lasko-Gross were involved, among others) but it’s best to leave a few surprises for y’all, right? Also, I’m going out on a limb here and saying this was my favorite issue of the series so far. Have I said that before? Maybe! But this is the latest issue, so if I have ever said it before, this is the NEW favorite. Pretty good sign when somebody can keep topping themselves like this, huh? Give it a shot, why don’t you? $8

Tyler, Carol – The Job Thing

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The Job Thing

You know, it just always does me heart good to hear people complain about horrible jobs that they’re had. I don’t know what it is. Misery loves company? Maybe. As a current proud member of the temp workforce (based on the flimsy logic that something is bound to get me out of this “work week” predicament that the rest of the world is stuck in sooner or later), I have to thoroughly recommend this book. It’s around five years old, but Fantagraphics put out another printing of it recently (at least it was on my preorder page a couple of months ago), which shows that they’re trying to keep it in the public eye. Carol really has a great understanding of the workforce in general and what motivated some of her shitty coworkers specifically. She’s been a framer, a clerk at a bookstore, a waitress, a civil servant, and all kinds of other horrible jobs. There’s a neat section in the front that says some of the odder job titles that are recognized by the government and one in the back with stories sent in by readers. Great stuff and you can find it for somewhere between $5 and $8. depending on where you look. The only thing that sucks about it is that this has been out there for years and this is her only book. I hope she didn’t give up and join the work force…

English, Austin – Windy Corner Magazine #3

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windycorner31

Windy Corner Magazine #3 edited by Austin English Now available! $10

It’s good to be reminded on  a regular basis of just how wrong I can be.  I’ve been bitching lately about the lack of readable contents pages for anthologies and how I just want to know who did which strip.  This issue starts with a remarkable series of images by Lille Carre and goes seamlessly into a table of contents drawn by Molly Colleen O’Connell.  There are no page numbers, the actual information is strewn about the page… and I went away from the pages knowing exactly who did what and where.  Kudos.  Granted, once you get past those first few pages there are fewer contributors this time around to keep track of, but it’s nice work all the same.  Austin gets most of the, um, page time in this issue, as well he should.  First up is part 3 of the Francis story (and I am going to go back and review the first issue soon), which deals this time only with Francis’ mother and her life.  After this Austin has a couple of short pieces dealing with Austin’s formative years drawing and a trip to the museum between a father and his daughter (mostly dealing with their relationship).  Sakura Maku is up next with a series of vibrant pieces about a brassiere museum, dying and being turned into a tree and a guy who was briefly married to Janet Jackson.  In other words, you’ll need to read it for yourself.  Jason T. Miles then draws a letter to the magazine from Jesse McManus, which is mildly odd because Jesse could certainly draw it himself, but Jason has a unique way of interpreting it.  Finally there are the text pieces, as Austin talks about Garth Williams (an illustrator who influenced him greatly growing up), Frank Santoro has a review of Garage Band by Gipi (reminding me once again that what I do here is a poor substitute for actual, in-depth reviews), and Vanessa Davis interviews Carol Tyler.  I’d probably pick up #2 before #3 if I just had $10 to spend, but there’s plenty in both of these issues for all comics fans. Unless you just hate Austin English for some reason, but I don’t see how that would be possible.  $10

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