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Thomas, Grant – Dodo Comics #7

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Dodo Comics #7

Grant’s back to working on Dodo comics, after roughly two years away. Not that there was a pandemic in the middle of that that might account for a delay or anything, right? Right away I want to mention something he does perfectly here, and that’s the recap. With this long of a gap between issues, and a fairly complex story, (including a fight over potable water and basically the origin story of Medusa), something to remind readers of what happened before is essential. Take note, other comics people with ongoing stories who take long gaps between issues! This one is mostly silent, and it deals with an attempted theft in the temple of Hermes. It’s also ten pages long, which isn’t much space for the story to progress, if you’re wondering if I have any quibbles about the comic. “Want more comic” is generally a good problem for a writer/artist to have, but it makes it tough to review anything specific without giving the whole thing away. So I’ll just say that it moves the story along a bit, and sooner or later this will be one of those series where I read the whole thing in a chunk rather than counting on this lousy memory of mine. Also included in here are a few pandemic strips, from the early pandemical times of 2020. They’re brutal, as far as pandemic stories go. There’s one funny strip out of four of them, the rest deal with the death of this grandma (whose husband wasn’t allowed to be with her when she died because of fears that he’d take covid back to his nursing home) and the death of a friendly neighbor of his. Now I’m wondering if he did more covid strips, but if they’re all this grim they’d probably be a tough read. Not that that’s a bad thing. I’m as cynical as anybody and even I’m shocked at how quickly any and all precautions (and memory!) of the pandemic have vanished. I at least thought everybody would remember that there was absolutely no reason for work meetings to still be held in person, but now I’m just rambling. I’m a bigger fan of his My Life in Records comics, to be honest, but I do think he’s building something here too, so check it out. $3

Thomas, Grant – Sunder Citadel

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Sunder Citadel

It sure is bad timing that Grant’s website is setting off all the alarm bells of my antiviral software at the moment, because I have questions that could only be answered by checking out his shop. For instance, is he selling this comic or is he giving it out with his other comics, like the essential My Life in Records? You may notice that there’s no sample image this time around, which almost never happens, but it’s for a reason: there’s only six images in this comic. It has a unique design (the gap on the upper left of the cover image is just not there, as it’s shaped to highlight the castle aspect of it when it’s pulled on either end), and it’s a striking set of images when it’s opened up, but that’s all you’re getting this time around. If it’s an experiment for his students, or if he’s just playing around with the format, it’s a unique design for sure. It’s also unreviewable in any kind of conventional sense, which is only a problem for whoever is left out there still reviewing comics. Anyway, if you’re interested in his work, I’ve been reviewing his stuff for years and have recommended almost all of it, so give some of those comics a shot. As for this, if you see him at a convention, give it a little tug to see the whole castle laid out if he’s amenable to the idea.

Thomas, Grant – My Life in Records #7: Gemini Dreams

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My Life in Records #7: Gemini Dreams

Just a general question for the comics making portion of the audience: do you consider how your book might look on the shelf at the comic store when you’re making it, or is so much of your business done online and/or in cons at this point that it doesn’t come up? It’s a minor thing, but I ask because Grant didn’t put “#7” anywhere on this sucker (I found it on his website), but maybe that’s not particularly important these days. Anyway! This continues the ongoing story of Grant’s early life, as told at at least partially through the music he was discovering/listening to at the time. This one delves even further into his early home life, especially in the first story. The sampled image shows just how far Grant’s brother was willing to go when his door was taken off the hinges, along with Grant’s efforts to block out the noise with his own music. Next up is a piece about an attempt by him to try transcendental meditation after reading about it in the liner notes for a Moody Blues album. I have to admit, trying this out on the drive to a camping trip ended up going a little better than I might have guessed. Finally there’s a brief piece about his years mowing lawns with a push mower, which was chosen primarily because there was no motor, so he could hear his music much better then he would otherwise. He also goes into some detail about how he chose his clothing at the time, and what it meant to him. Once again, this dude and I have some serious similarities in our formative years, so if you, gentle reader, thinks that I can’t have that in common and remain unbiased, well, maybe you’re right. But it’s been a fascinating ride so far, with significantly more depth and emotion in it than you might expect from a comic “about” music. Give it a shot, if you haven’t already, and especially if you’re anywhere near your mid to late 40’s. It’s very good even if you’re not, but if you do fall in that range the music might seem a lot more familiar… $7.50

Thomas, Grant – Queen of the House

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Queen of the House

The thing about Grant’s comics is that they generally come in one of two forms: dense, meticiulously detailed comics like his “My Life in Records” series (and a few others) or these teeny tiny minis like Queen of the House. I’m guessing that if you look at the price tags (generally $1 for these and $7ish for the other series), but what’s a good way to let people know right off the bat? And is it really important to do so? It’s not like there’s any more inherent worth to one or the other; some people just have a minute to read a comic. Eh, who cares? How about this: if you see a scanned cover that looks unnaturally gigantic, it’s probably my scanner taking a huge image of a tiny comic. It it looks proportional, it’s probably one of his “regular” comics. Well, that was a pointless digression, but what I was trying to get across is that this is a tiny comic and there’s not a lot to say about it. We see the adventures of a cat left home alone, and we see it end with the one thing that’s always guaranteed to cheer up a cat. It’s cute, and us cat owner types will find a few things to love here. Other than that I can talk about the new kittens I got a month ago, or I could just recommend that you send Grant $5 and tell him to give you a few of these l’il comics so that you can get a sense of what he’s all about. $1

Thomas, Grant – Killer Hats

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Killer Hats

OK, I’ll fess up: I’m a little disappointed that this isn’t just a collection of images of hats from the Gilded Age. I mean, it’s a tiny mini comic, it’s not like Grant could fit a meaningful and educational story in here! It turns out he can, and there’s only a couple of hats in here outside of the cover. Luckily Google image search exists, so go nuts with it if you’re curious (I just did and was not disappointed). This is actually the story of the beginnings of wildlife preservation in Florida. Around the turn of the century a few humans finally came to the realization that wildlife wasn’t infinite, and maybe steps should be taken to preserve it. Maybe I’m not being fair, maybe it was more than a few humans. It’s possible! Anyway, birds were being hunted (due to their colorful feathers) to the point that they migrated out of the area, and a law was passed banning said hunting. The law was also toothless, so the preservationists basically had to set up the equivalent of a Gofundme account to pay the first game warden. This was right around 1900, so really not that long ago at all in the grand scheme of things. The new game warden pushed back where he could, but he was pushing back against armed idiots, and that usually only ends one way. It’s a thoroughly engaging story in a tiny package. I do think maybe a bonus hats section would have been nice, but it’s still a great comic without it. $1

Thomas, Grant – My Life in Records #6

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My Life in Records #6

Warning: as of 1/3/21, I’m getting a “dangerous website” warning about Grant’s website. It worked before, so I’m hoping it’s only temporary and he’ll get it sorted out. Which is a shame, as this is probably his best issue of My Life in Records, but I might be biased because my own experiences reflect his journey into music quite a bit. I was maybe a few years ahead of him, and didn’t have the constant Christian radio station as my only other musical knowledge, but I also had the Theodore sampler CD and can still picture the cover in my head. Just checked the Googles to verify and yep, that’s the one! But enough about me, even though music and lyrics trigger memories, which means that Grant did his job here very well indeed. This one starts off with his gradual sampling of the local alternative station, eventually leading to it being the only thing he listened to. Public Enemy was his first foray into actual rap and was a transformative experience and, as you can probably guess from the cover, he also found his way to Nirvana. Seeing that music transform him was a joyful experience; even a flu going through his camp wasn’t enough to dull his enthusiasm. The book looks amazing (huzzah for full color), and although I’m biased because of my musical overlap, I’d guess it would be a fascinating journey for anybody who loves music. $7.50 (whenever he gets his website working again)

Thomas, Grant – The New Normal

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The New Normal

Could it be? Is this the first pandemical mini comic? Knowing how rough my memory is these days I might have said the same thing about a comic a few weeks ago, but let’s just say for now that it’s the first one I can think of. And it’s a wee one, meaning that Grant shouldn’t be the first one done six plus months into this! I mean, sure, constant low level dread makes it tough to make art, but… eh, you know what? That is a pretty good excuse. Never mind. I ramble because this is such a shortie that there’s not a whole lot to say about it. Grant briefly goes through his new daily prep, how he occupies his time, how his kids are being taught remotely, then brings up the protests and the Black Lives Matter movement, with questions about what will happen next. It’s done in a fold-out format, sort of; the pages basically form a triangle when you fold them out. It’s a thoughtful mini, the kind of thing I wish I saw more of, honestly. $2

Thomas, Grant – Tatanka

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Tatanka

Grant’s website is still down (as of 6/22/20), so I linked to his Patreon page instead. I generally don’t promote such things here; I mean, I’ll list them, and the links are on the websites of artists I review, but I generally leave it up to them. But I have to say that I like the way Grant is doing his. Donations range only from $1-3 a month, with escalating rewards. No crazy requests for thousands of dollars for a few minis a year (not that I’d turn it down, eccentric millionaires!), just practical support. Anyway, this mini is about the history of the bison in America and how us white folk, as usual, ruined it. The idea was the Indians used bison to live, so if the bison were taken away, well, the Indians would be sure to leave too! The sad thing is that this did work, more or less. It pushed them to attack, which led to them more directly getting wiped out. And the idea that people STILL, even now, shoot wildlife from helicopters or trains… “coward” is not a big enough word for those assholes. Grant packed a lot of information into this small comic, so if you’re curious about this time in our history, you’re not likely to find a more compact synopsis. Ignorant American that I am, the first thing I thought about with that title was the ridiculous WWF wrestler of the same name. Hey, maybe Pat Aulisio can put togehter a mini about the wrestler Tatanka! That would make quite a set with this one. $1

Thomas, Grant – The Island of Dr. Miro

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The Island of Dr. Miro

Note: Grant’s website seems to be down, but he linked to it in a Twitter post a few days ago, so I’m guessing it’s just a temporary stop. Or my computer is messed up. Now on to the comics review! It’s going to be a short one, because this is a very short and wordless comic. It’s a fold-out book, so the comic itself is two long images and one single panel frame to wrap things up. He lists three inspirations to the work, but maybe it’d be more fun for you to figure them out for yourselves, so I won’t give them away. I did think I detected just a hint of Jim Woodring (not mentioned in his letter), so I’ll give you that. The comic itself is the story of an adventure in a bizarre world… or is it? It’s visually stunning, which is the most important factor for wordless comics. If this is your first time hearing Grant’s name maybe start with one of his more traditional comics, if you already know his stuff this is yet another worthy addition to the catolog. $4

Thomas, Grant – Dodo Comics #6

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Dodo Comics #6

(Note: Grant’s website seems to be down at the moment, so I linked to his Patreon page instead. In case anybody was wondering…)

As far as origin stories for Medusa go, yeah, I kind of always figured it would be along the lines of a woman scorned. Again, I don’t know the actual story of her origin, if she has one and wasn’t always just a lady with snakes in her hair in the old tales. This issue picks up where the last one left off; no recap for those of us who read entirely too many comics and can’t keep this stuff all that straight, but you can pick it up from the context. She’s being led to a new source of water by a snake, finds said source of water and returns to her man, overjoyed. Then the image I sampled below happens, we see the frankly devastating first person transformed to stone, and we get the awful surprise of Perseus (as a Trump substitute) giving a political speech. It’s always alarming to see that ugly mug without a warning. So it looks like that story will continue, to which I say: recap before the next one please! A line or two will do. Things are starting to get complicated. The rest of the comic is a few short pieces about the Florida Everglades, both the animals in them and a brief bit about their history and preservation. It’s intriguing stuff; I didn’t know it and I’ve actually ridden around on one of those fan boats. Not that you become an automatic expert from riding on those boats, but you know what I mean. $3

Thomas, Grant – Dr. Carl Willendorf: Psychoanalyst of Creatures, Monsters and Other Beasts

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Dr. Carl Willendorf: Psychoanalyst of Creatures, Monsters and Other Beasts

It’s election season around the website, meaning that I have a tendency to go for the shorter mini comics, knowing that I have limited time to talk about comics. I know, I hate it too! Anyway, Grant sent along a couple of his latest comics recently, and this one was tiny. This usually means that there’s not much time to form an opinion one way or the other; it’s generally a quickly amusing tale or something that comes and goes without leaving an impression. It’s just the nature of the beast when you’re talking about a comic with 8 panels; no disrespect intended to people who make such books. Anyway, I wanted to make one thing perfectly clear: I absolutely love this concept and hope that Grant makes dozens more books like this. Or bigger, so we can really dig into it. What’s it about? The title should make it obvious, but it’s a psychoanalyst talking to monsters. Or, for the purposes of this comic, one monster: the minotaur. It’s great! Insightful, funny, even a little alarming, all in 8 panels. There are a whole lot of monsters out there, so I hope Grant takes this concept and runs with it. Check it out, it’s a measly dollar and you’ll love it!

Thomas, Grant – Palm Tree

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Palm Tree

This is a wee thing of a mini comic, which means it’ll most likely be a short review. It’s been decades since I was raised religious (Roman Catholic), so I can remember the gist of the story in this comic, but I’ll get enough wrong so that this might be funny/enraging to anybody who takes it seriously. Palm Sunday is a Christian holiday. I think it’s before Easter? Followers wave palm fronds to signify… something something Jesus. How did I do? Eh, that’s why Google exists; if you’re curious, go nuts with the searching. Anyway, this comic is the silent tale of Grant (or a stand-in) getting a palm tree, caring for it, having some issues with it and finally having it grow into a full tree. There’s a brief shot of Jesus with people waving palm fronds at him, so I guess it’s triumphant? Again, I’m long out of the religious world. Anyway, this would probably mean a lot to a religious person in your life, maybe as a stocking stuff, but for Easter. You know, this is actually small enough to fit into a plastic egg, with a little creative folding. Perfect!

Thomas, Grant – Dodo Comics #5

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Dodo Comics #5

If anybody out there is a student of mythology, I have no idea if this version of Medusa is “correct.” As it’s a myth, it’s open to interpretation anyway, right? Grant has the first part of his series about Medusa in this issue, and we start off with her on a throne, with snakes coiling around her feet. From there we flash back three years to see her in a quieter time. Water is scarce and there are only three sources, each with their own conditions for access. Medusa eventually falls in love with a man who’s in charge with one third of the water, which leads to other women helping out, which leads to guys being assholes about women being in charge. Yep, that has been an awful, stupid constant throughout history. Anyway, I’ve already given away large chunks of the story, but this is the first part of an unknown number of parts, so there’s a lot more of this story to come. Grant’s books are consistently engaging and this one is no exception. I’m curious to see where this one is going, so give it a look if you have any interest in mythology or just happen to like Grant’s other comics. $3

Thomas, Grant – Not Ashamed: My Life in Records

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My Life in Records #5: Not Ashamed

Well, best to get this bit out of the way early: this comic leans way, WAY into religious overtones, which do absolutely nothing for me. There’s a montage early on that shows the secular world and how “it is filled with people who do not know god and has the scent of the fires of hell about it,” and said montage has Darwin and pro-choice protestors as some of the symbols of evil. Since this is one (ok, two) chapters in the ongoing sage of how music has impacted Grant’s life, I don’t know if he eventually came out of all this to see the actual joys of the secular world or if those images were ironic, so I’ve decided to ignore them altogether. Meaning that I disagree with his spiritual points and personally ended up in a very different place, but I’m here to talk about the merits of his comic, not the merits of his spiritual opinions. And on that front, this comic is another winner. Grant more than knows what he’s doing when it comes to panel and page composition and maintaining a brisk pace for his stories. There are two stories in this one. The first one deals with Grant’s early experiences with Christian rock and a concert he attended where the band was miserable when they gave out autographs afterwards. The concert also had a speaker who talked about how people would make fun of you if you tried to convert others, but that a little mockery was nothing compared to eternal damnation. I’ll give young Grant some serious credit here: when a girl from his high school who he had a crush on made fun of his crucifix, the easy choice was to make fun of it too in the hopes of getting her to like him somehow. But he tried to explain the crucifix honestly and lost any chance he might of had with her. The next story is all about the Christian bands who were supposed to sound just like the popular rock artists of the time (I kind of wish I could have seen more of the list, honestly) and Grant’s experience in a church band. It was an eye-opening experience for him, and not in a particularly religious way. Things turn around for Grant again by the end of the book, sort of, so there’s clearly more to the story yet to come. It’s says a lot for Grant’s skills that I still thoroughly enjoy his comics, even when the religious angle is something I don’t agree with at all. I’m really curious to see how this story reads as one big epic too. Before the next issue comes out I’m going to try to gather all of the issues together to see how it flows. If you knew anything about my comics “organizational” system, you would find that prospect just as hilarious as I do… $7.50

Thomas, Grant – My Life in Records: Hell’s Bells

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My Life in Records: Hell’s Bells

Have you ever wondered just how many people started listening to rock/rap/metal music purely because they were told by their church that they shouldn’t listen to it? The thought has crossed my mind more than a few times, and Grant documents his experience with it in this issue. His brother had saved up and bought a radio alarm clock (they were kids, remember, and such a thing was rare in those days), and after experimenting with waking up to classical music (and realizing that it was only putting him back to sleep), he switched over to the Jesus station. Grant would sometimes listen outside of his room, and then later he’d listen with his brother, which was where he first heard about the evils of rap music. Which, hilariously, he learned about because the station played a 2 Live Crew song (kids, ask your parents) and they couldn’t even make out the words through all the bleeps. Of course this would make a kid curious about that kind of music! Stupid Jesus station. Anyway, he also started hearing about the evil types of music in Sunday school, and it eventually sunk into him that he LIKED this type of music. The rest of the comic has him dealing with that (a bit, anyway). There’s also a short story at the beginning dealing with his early days in the school band and the monotony of having to practice while still not making much headway in advancing in the band. It’s another solid issue showing Grant’s musical development and his gradually powering through despite growing up in a pretty religious household. $7.50

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Thomas, Grant – My Life in Records #3

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My Life in Records #3

I’ll say this right off the bat to save some suspense: this comic probably has the most realistic depiction of playing with toys that I’ve ever seen. Not just the simple act of playing with them, which is easy enough to show, but the ways that the experience changes when he plays with his brother, how the music from the “Star Wars” soundtrack enhanced the experience, and even how his brother making sound effect noises added on top of it all combined to form a completely immersive experience. If you grew up playing with toys it’s hard not to get more than a little bit nostalgic for the simplicity of it all, and the magic that was required to make it all work. Do kids today play with toys or is it mostly computers and handheld games? If that’s what they mostly use, they’re missing out. Anyway, the rest of the comic deals with Grant’s grandparents and the way that his grandfather had an amazing video/audio system at home, taping movies off TV so that the kids could watch. Well, when I say movies I mean “The Empire Strikes Back” specifically and, again, it’s hard to appreciate what an amazing experience that was back in the day when you could think of almost any movie right now and be watching it within five minutes. Crikey, this is getting far more nostalgic than I intended. Grant also deals with the time that his gerbil got lost after they left it playing in their Ewok village, and how they were so excited to watch “Return of the Jedi” that they took a wrong turn and ended up getting slightly lost going to their grandparents. I should also add that there was a great finale to that story (with the reaction of the grandfather being priceless), but I won’t ruin it for you here. It’s another solid issue in the series, and it looks absolutely gorgeous. This is a little pricier than past issues at $7.50, but it’s full color and worth it.

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Thomas, Grant – Dodo Comics #4

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Dodo Comics #4

I don’t know how people with kids have any time to make comics (I have no kids and barely have the time to review comics), but Grant seems to be making it work. Granted, he says he makes comics “before daybreak, on weekends and while his children nap,” but he’s managed to maintain a pretty high level with his work. He also included another comic that I’ll be getting to soon, which makes him more prolific than lots of comics creators who don’t have kids. Now that I have shamed those people for the lazy folks (who don’t know how good they have it) that they are, how about the contents of the book? Three stories in this one. The first is the story of how the raven and the loon got their colors, and kudos to him for picking two birds with black and white tones for a black and white comic book. Next is his attempt to find the meaningful thing between things, and his conclusion strikes me as more than a bit autobiographical, but maybe I’m reading too much into it. Finally there’s the story of a man who kept a stone in his mouth for three years to teach himself silence, and a quick history of some of the interactions he had during that time. The art for each story is unique and distinctive for the story being told (and I didn’t even notice the family of birds growing for that third story until just now), and it’s just a thoroughly engaging comic from top to bottom. His letter lists it as $4 while the cover lists it as $3, so just stick with the higher price and know that if you’re wrong, at least you gave an extra dollar to a small press artist.

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Thomas, Grant – My Life in Records #2: Into My Heart

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My Life in Records #2: Into My Heart

Who says that you need free time to make comics? Grant is an art teacher with two small kids and this is still his second full color comic produced within the last year (unemployed slackers with one comic out in the last three years, take note). He also apparently put his master’s thesis into comics form, although I don’t know if the world at large will ever see it. But enough about that, how’s the comic? The music is much less prevalent this time around, but it does effectively take over a scene when it is used. Things start off with Grant (age three) being annoyed that he’s been confined to the kiddie pool and taking matters into his own hands by jumping into the big pool. Where he proceeds to sink like a stone and is rescued by another swimmer (the details are still hazy for the guy). There’s an abrupt transition from this section to Grant remembering older Christian records that he listened to as a kid and the idea of a giant box of crayons, then comes the Jesus. The rest of the book deals with Grant trying to work up the nerve to get baptized after his near-drowning and gradually coming around to accepting Jesus. Which will always and forever be a little creepy to me when that “decision” is coming from a kid and not an adult, but that’s my own personal bugaboo and not something that should concern you or take away from this comic. This is another gorgeous book, and it will probably hit you spiritual types a bit harder than it hit me. Don’t get me wrong, it’s still an interesting story even for us cranky atheist types, but a journey to Jesus is probably most appreciated by other people who have journeyed to Jesus. Here’s hoping his schedule eases up a little bit (not likely with two small kids, but you never know), as I curious to keep reading the “origin story” of this man and how music factored into it. $6.50

Thomas, Grant – Dodo Comics #2

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Dodo Comics #2

Does everybody out there know of Sergio Leone? I know that this is going to sound like a stupid question to everybody over 35 or so (I hope), but I don’t know how much the youth of today know their film history, and christ do I feel stupid saying “youth of today.” Anyway, Sergio Leone directed a few of the more famous spaghetti westerns (and who know what a spaghetti western is… aw, forget it) of all time, and the first story of this book is a silent tribute to his film technique. Before certain dramatic moments, like a gunfight, you’d see a series of quick cuts between the eyes of the gunfighters, the fingers twitching near the triggers, a bead of sweat slowly rolling down one of their faces, all that stuff needed to build tension without having to beat you over the head with it. Grant does a really nice job of conveying that feeling although, if I’m being honest, that last panel was a bit of a mess. Still, everything leading up to it was nicely done. The comic takes a turn from there to deal with the remaining three stories, and I don’t mean that in a bad way. There’s a piece about Grant’s early years with his first nude models (and how one of the ladies loved talking to the college artists with her robe wide open), a comic pantoum story (with tricky reading of the panels required) dealing with going to see an ex singing, and a nice little story with the devil trying to trick a hermit. A nice mix of stories, and there’s even a funny panel on the back showing Grant trying to draw comics while surrounded by his two baby daughters. It’s a solid comic and I’m enjoying his willingness to mix things up with his stories. Hey, that’s why these things have more than one story each, right? $3

Thomas, Grant – My Life in Records

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My Life in Records

It’s always a little tricky to pull off music in comics, but I think Grant nailed it here. This one is split into three stories, and the first one is  entirely about music. There’s his first record, how certain songs trigger a nostalgic reaction or bring up distinct mental images, the air guitarist gradually moving up to the actual guitarist, all ending in a cacophony of sounds and images. Next up is a story of Grant growing up (Grant must be his middle name, as he’s called Tom in this one). It starts off with explaining the items that meant the most to each of the three brothers, then moves on to drawing in the early Saturday hours and how his only knowledge of Sesame Street was through a record with Bert and Ernie. There are also bits about growing up in a small room with two brothers (then the shock of moving to a house where they all got their own room) and trying to get a few glimpses of television when they visited their grandparents. This is the bulk of the book and it looks like the start of something bigger, and he’s gotten off to a fantastic start. Finally there’s a story about seeing Pinocchio in the theater when he was a kid, how he tried to make a Halloween costume of Pinocchio as he was changing into a donkey, and how he learned the difference between the “good” and “bad” record players. All of this is full, gorgeous color, so for $5 I’d call this a damned good deal.