Blog Archives
Hurd, Damon & Gill, Tatiana – A Strange Day
A Strange Day (with Tatiana Gill)
Well, my scanner died right after I scanned the cover, so sorry about the lack of samples. Who out there was a Cure fan back in the day? If so, you’re going to get an awful lot out of this book. If not, well, you’re probably still going to get a lot out of this book, at least if you were ever a teenager you will. I’m not sure if I was ever that young, but there seems to be photographic evidence of some kind, so maybe it is true. The quote at the start of this shows the mood you need to be in to read it: “Open this book as the sixteen year old that fell in love at first sight and took themselves all too seriously”. This is the story of a young boy and a young girl who both, without having ever met each other before, skip school to get the new Cure album when it comes out and end up spending the day together. I have no idea how Damon pulled off dialogue this realistic, as I assume he isn’t 16 any more and this seems as natural as can be. Not that it’s impossible, but it seems like when some people try to write as teenagers would talk that it comes off, well, a bit silly. No problem with that here. Tatiana also does an incredible job showing the complete range of emotions that most teenagers go through in a couple of hours. Good stuff all around, it’s only $3.95 too so it’s well worth checking out.
Hurd, Damon & Smith, Rick – Temporary #1
Temporary #1 (Damon with Rick Smith)
How appropriate that on the last day I use Microsoft Frontpage to update the site (if all goes well with the site update, that is) the damned thing crashes and eats my review for this comic. It was great too, the best review I’ve ever written, and now nobody gets to see it! Or it sucked and now I get the chance to make it up. Anyway, this is a comic by two people that I like a whole lot, and it’s about a subject (temping) that I’m very familiar with, having basically done that for many years now, although I have been hired at a place or two in that time. The story here is that a temp gets hired for some data entry and ends up at a place that has people with hollow computers, suicidal workers and people hanging out inside the fax machine. What’s going on? Who are those people? Does it matter as long she gets paid on time? It’s great to start a series with a whole bunch of mysteries, and this one is chock full of them. If you’ve enjoyed Rick’s Shuck series or any of Damon’s work, I can’t see how you wouldn’t like this book. Here’s the website and here’s hoping Frontpage doesn’t eat my review again…
Hurd, Damon & Camello, Pedro – A Sort of Homecoming #2
A Sort of Homecoming #2
In case anybody read the first issue of this series and had any doubts about it, this should put them all to rest. This issue is basically a collection of flashbacks to earlier times with David and Owen. It starts to show why they lost touch in the first place (although it leaves the future, potentially explosive confrontations for the next issue) and some of the great times they had when they were younger. I don’t think Owen actually talks to a single living human being in this issue. Look, the reason this book, and everything I’ve seen by these two, is so great is that everybody can relate to what they’re trying to say. Who out there doesn’t have a friend (or two, or ten) that they always thought they were going to hang out with but here they are, years later, and they haven’t seen that person in years? Still, at the back of your mind, there’s usually some piece of that friendship sitting there, coming back to the front of your brain when you see a reminder of times that you once had. It’s a great, true series so far and I can’t wait to see how it ends. $3.50, contact info is up there.
Hurd, Damon & Camello, Pedro – A Sort of Homecoming (advance preview)
A Sort of Homecoming (advance preview)
One pet peeve right off the bat: if you’re going to have a special preview edition, it helps me a whole bunch if you let me know when the actual book is coming out. I’ve scanned this book a few times and I just don’t see it. If I had to guess I’d say that it would be in the first few months of 2004, but that’s just because it’s apparently going to be a three-part graphic novel and he already has a lot of pages done here. Enough already, you might be thinking, what about the story? Well, it begins with a young man, Owen, learning that someone close to him, David, has died. We learn instantly that he has a complicated relationship with David, as he talks a bit of shit about the guy before he learns that he’s dead. The rest of the book is Owen’s reaction to the news intercut with flashbacks that show how they met when they were little kids and various things that have happened to them over the years. This serves perfectly as a preview, as all it really does it get you wondering just what the heck is going on. It’s $2, so you can probably get a copy of it off the Alternative Comics website. I’d recommend just getting the first book, frankly, as these two have completely won me over. His stuff might break through to the mainstream if he keeps this up, if that’s what he’s looking for. Other contact info is up there…
Hurd, Damon & Camello, Pedro – My Uncle Jeff
My Uncle Jeff
Wow, my scanner finally made a cover look better than it actually did. Not that it’s a bad cover, it’s just a plain grey background instead of the patchwork-like cover up there. You guys are used to me rambling aimlessly in these reviews by now, right? Good. This book has apparently gotten a mountain of good press, although I haven’t been around comic stores enough in the last year to have heard any of it. Not to ruin the surprise or anything, but let me go ahead and add my voice to that list. If you have any questions at all about this book after you read it (and I had a few), they are going to be answered in the lengthy afterward from Damon. This, despite its short size, really is a “novella”, as the cover suggests. It’s the story of Damon’s family, primarily dealing with his father’s side. He still gives a wonderfully descriptive family tree of the other side of the family and his reasoning for not dealing with them in so long. It doesn’t seem necessary at first glance, but it really does help in the big picture. It’s mostly, as he says in the afterward, a love letter to his favorite uncle, and the opportunity to tell the highlights of Jeff’s life through Damon’s eyes. The minutiae of family life are all on display here, good and bad, with no apologies given and none necessary. Jeff is Damon’s favorite uncle because he’s always managed to stay free. He may be broke, but Jeff understood at an early age that freedom was much more important than material goods, and it’s a lesson that Damon has taken to heart. This is a moving, honest story about a man who has to reconcile his freedom with the need to care for his ailing father, even though that’s only a tiny part of the story, if that makes any sense. It was also nominated for an Eisner, although I don’t know if it won. $3.95, check out the website or just send Damon an e-mail.
