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Lindner, Ellen & Day, Jeremy (editors) – Strumpet #2
Strumpet #2
Who likes their anthologies to be international? Everybody? Then you’re in luck! Women from all over the globe contributed to this one. It’s a bit of a mixed bag, like all anthologies, but that mix still leans heavily in favor of entertaining/thought-provoking stories. Stories include the mundane aspects of a day in the life of an astronaut in the future by Myfanwy Tristam, Robin Ha’s trials and tribulations while traveling through Italy, Rachael Ball with probably the most visually striking piece about (literally) capturing shadows, Ellen Lindner’s work as an extra and her quest to meet Bill Murray, J. Homersham’s silent tale of a fish party, Patrice Agg’s story of communication problems and their unfortunate resolution, an excerpt from Nicola Streeten’s tale of her abortion (which I’m guessing also includes other subjects, but the excerpt just deals with the abortion and the immediate aftermath), Karrie Fransman’s tales of two different comic conventions, Shamisa Debroey’s plans for the future, Badaude’s story of artists at work and play, Lisa Eisenberg’s homesickness manifesting itself into a floating trip home, Emily Lerner’s tale of a road trip to retrieve some old items from storage, Julia Scheele’s love letter to a bus and Kat Robert’s delightful idea of a very brief interlude between this life and the next. I’m leaving a few out because hey, what’s life without surprises? Overall this is a damned solid pile of stories, more than worth shelling out $10 bucks to give this 90+ page book a shot.
Homersham, J. – Musetopia
Musetopia
A technical note: the website listed above is for J.’s boyfriend Gareth Brookes, as that seems to be the only place where you can get this comic at the moment. I hate to have that as the only link due to the generally transitive nature of relationships (not that I’m cynical about that subject or anything), but what are you going to do?  This is a collection of one panel gag comics, unique in that most of these are actually funny. The sampled image will, as always, tell you a lot about the book. Is that funny to you? No? OK, read it again and think about it for a minute. Is it funny now? Have you tried reading it aloud?  If none of that worked, it’s probably best to move on. If you smiled slightly or chuckled, you’re going to love this.  Most of the jokes here are homophones, which means I learned something today, as I thought they were all homonyms. Well, according to Wikipedia anyway, but they do seem to have a lot of brightly colored charts, which must mean they’re correct. You also have images of spoons spooning, donuts at a gunfight, hot potatoes, and I really have to stop myself there. What’s the point of my ruining all the fun by blandly describing jokes? The only thing you need to know is that there’s a pretty decent pile of funny in this comic, and it’s worth checking out. While you’re at it you should also get a pile of Gareth’s books and have a marathon of funny. No price, but let’s say $3.
