Blog Archives
Various Spark Plug anthologies – Orchid
And to think that I was regretting saving this one for last. After that Bogus Dead book in the middle of the week I was pretty sure nothing else was going to touch it, then along comes this book. In my opinion. there are two ways to make a great anthology. You can either have a lot of pieces, fast and furious, and you’ll come away with a good impression of the book as long as the majority of them are solid, or you can have a book with only a select few, long pieces. Orchid is comprised of seven long tales adaptations of gothic stories. The only one that didn’t do anything for me was Poe’s “The Raven”, and that’s mostly just because I’ve seen so many adaptations of it at this point in my life that I just don’t want to see it again. A personal problem of mine, granted, but that doesn’t change the fact that everything else in here is creepy and good. Kevin Huizenga (the back says that he “used to do a comic book named Supermonster”. Please don’t tell me that he’s done, that’s one of the best series out there and I only just found out about it!) has the longest piece, a disturbing tale about the power of visions. Here’s a list of the other names, and let me know if you need and more convincing: Lark Pien & Jesse Reklaw, Ben Catmull, T. Edward Bak, David Lasky, and Dylan Williams. It’s only $8 and I couldn’t recommend it more highly. Get this and Bogus dead and your anthology needs for the year should be pretty much met. If the website still isn’t working, you can send money to: Spark Plug Comics P. O. Box 10952 Portland, OR 97296-0952.
Pien, Lark – Long Tail Kitty: Outer Space
Long Tail Kitty: Outer Space
Now that is one adorable comic. Or disgustingly cute, probably depending on your mood, but I liked it. Kind of reminded me of some of this obnoxiously cute anime cartoons where everyone has the giant eyes and they’re always yelling at each other, but in a good way. The yelling, I mean. Anyway, this is the tale of Kitty getting a “be-boo” out of a tree for some aliens. Yes, that’s already pretty cute. Then Kitty mentions that hr/she has never been to space, so you know what’s coming next. Like I said, more than a little cute, but still well worth a look. It also serves as a pretty stark contrast to her Stories From the Ward. All the contact info you need is above, go check it all out.