Blog Archives
Griffin, Erin – Ramona & Imogene
Ramona & Imogene
And people say that can’t share any decent comics with their kids. This is the story of two mice who get tired of their life in the sewer and decide to visit a cousin in the city. Upon visiting said cousin, they discover a seriously swank pad and find themselves loving their new lives. Yep, just like that. No cynicism, no wicked twists, just a good natured and utterly adorable story. The art’s a little on the simple side but come on, it’s the story of two mice. Erin does do a nice job of things when the surroundings get complicated, but other than that less is more anyway. Well worth checking out, unless you’re one of those people who can’t stand to look at cute things for more than a few seconds. Actually, that’d be OK too, as this is a mini comic, after all. $3
Griffin, Erin – Cavities Comix Presents: Tales From the Tart 1992-2008
Cavities Comix Presents: Tales From the Tart 1992-2008
Yeah, I gave away the secret inner title. Spoiler alert! This is an absolutely wonderful comic detailing the dating life of Erin, starting with her in fourth grade in 1992 all the way up to modern day. And, to give you another spoiler, it does seem to have a happy ending, at least at the moment. In between she takes a few pages each on everybody who she dated or wanted to date, including people in her experimental phase at college and people where it didn’t seem to work out for even a little bit. She’s refreshingly honest in her break-up pages, telling them exactly why it’s not working out and why she’s moving on. Who knows if that’s what she actually said at the time, and who cares if she didn’t? There’s something in here for everyone who’s ever been dumped and for everyone who has done the dumping. It’s really amazing that she manages to accomplish all this without ever getting graphic or too personal with the people involved. In the end, this is practically as much of an “all ages” book than the one listed below, although with an entirely different subject matter. No price listed but it’s probably about $3, and it comes with a nice little bow that also serves as the binding for the book.
Griffin, Erin & Warhaftig, Sarah Louise (editors) – Always Comix #4
Always Comix #4 edited by Erin Griffin & Sarah Louise Warhaftig
Once of these days I’ll settle on a universal standard for reviewing anthologies. Is it best just to list the talent involved and leave everything else a mystery? Or is it best to go through every story and one page image one by one, leaving nothing for a future reader to discover? 
How about splitting the difference. Here’s a list of the people involved, outside of the editors because duh: Falynn Koch, Jeremy Tinder, Will Kirkby, Josh Blair, Colin Tedford, Matt Wiegle, Alvaro Lopez, Colleen Macisaac, Amanda Kirk, L. Nichols, Ed Moorman, Box Brown, Alisa Harris, Josh P.M., and Joe Decie. As this is the Activity issue, there’s plenty in here to do, for the active comics reader. There’s recipes, a maze, even a mad lib. Specifically I enjoyed the guide to getting over your cat allergies by Sarah Louise Warhaftig (because any “how to” guide that ends with acheiving Nirvana is hard not to love), the attack of the clouds by Falynn Koch (not so much an activity but still funny), Amanda Kirk’s cut and paste page, Ed Moorman’s guide to inner peace, Joe Decie’s guide to fun with matches, and Box Brown’s “wrestler or tattoo artist” quiz. There, that still leaves plenty to the imagination, right? It’s a fun anthology even without all the practical tips and with them, well, what more could you ask for? $4
