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Young, Jason and various artists – Veggie Dog Saturn Special
Veggie Dog Saturn Special
I do love the collaborative comic. There aren’t too many of them, what with so many people scrambling just to put out their own comics on any semblance of a schedule, but they’re pretty much always a ton of fun. This is a collection of stories that are written by Jason (except for the story that was written by Brian John Mitchell and illustrated by Jason) and drawn by the people that you’ll see listed in the “tags” section, or I’ll get to them as I continue rambling on about the book. Pretty much all of them have other comics listed on this site if you get curious about them, and they’re all very much worth you getting curious about if you’ve never heard of them. Things start off with a story illustrated by Kurt Dinse about a gigantic bully from grade school who would steal bits of food off all the trays of kids who didn’t eat quickly and how that affected him in later life. Well, it’s told by a very old man, so I’m guessing maybe some of these aren’t literally true. That part was a little vague in the introduction. Hey, as long as the story is entertaining, who cares, right? Next up is the story of a house party (illustrated by Jason Martin) where the bands show up and the author steps in to play a little guitar. PB Kain is next with the shame of depositing large chunks of money to the bank on a regular basis and how he’s sure that the tellers think he’s a drug dealer (when he actually works at a comic store). Chris Hoium has a story about a brief conversation of the worst things that people had done to their grandma, Carrie McNinch illustrates a piece on the dangers of having too much store credit at a tattoo parlor, Joe Grunenwald remembers a friendly neighbor who would show projected cartoons when he was a kid, and Eric Shonborn shows what happens when pranks involving a label maker go horribly wrong. There’s also the piece illustrated by Jason Young and written by Brian John Mitchell, dealing with an implausible vomit configuration that I couldn’t help but sample below. It’s a pile of fun, in other words, and if you’re a comic artist/writer out there who would like to do something like this yourself, Jason does mention in the introduction that literally every person he asked to be in this said “yes,” so maybe your hypothetical project wouldn’t be as hard to get off the ground as you may think. $3
Grunenwald, Joe – Post-Script
Post-Script
This comic does not get off to a promising start. I love that cover, but “buyer beware” indeed, as it’s from Jason Young (of Veggie Dog Saturn fame). The first page of the comic, the first thing that anybody standing at a comic store or at a table at a convention is going to see, is a flat image of a villain and hero getting ready for some kind of battle. No background, the movement lines on the hero looked more like smudges than anything else, and the costumes of both of these two are simple as can be. Nothing to catch the eye, that’s what I’m trying to say. Luckily for Joe I’m one of those people who just tries to get a variety of comics at cons more than anything else, and luckily for me the comic gets a lot better after that first page. This is ostensibly a comic of a typical action scene, one in which the villain uses a few underhanded tricks, tries to hurt a few innocents and ends up safely back in jail by the end of the comic. What makes it unique is that the fight itself is silent and the text we see throughout is a heartfelt letter from the mother of the villain trying to figure out what went wrong with him over the years and whether or not it was her fault. It’s a haunting piece, made all the more impressive because it’s told over such a ridiculously stereotypical fight scene. Every one of those villains (assuming they were real, but in this case let’s just go with the actual villains in the world) had a mother and the vast majority of them tried to do the right thing by them, but some people are bound to turn out bad. Like I said, the art is a bit rough, but it gets better as the comic goes on, and it’s a unique enough idea that it’s worth taking a look. No website, but Joe does have an e-mail if you’d like to drop him a line. Do people still say that, “drop them a line”? If not, they should. That and “new-fangled”, that’s also a good one. Can you tell it’s a weekend? I’m stopping now. No price, but a buck or two should do the trick…
