Blog Archives
Macedonio – Space Trucking
Space Trucking
We don’t get to hear enough origin stories about comics. Oh, I don’t mean the crap about how Superman came to Earth or Peter Parker got bitten by a spider, that kind of thing is part of American mythology at this point. I’m talking about where small press stories come from, as much as that question can ever hope to be answered. For example, Macedonio answered a Craigslist ad for somebody who was looking for an illustrator to make a “space panda”, she liked his drawing but didn’t think it was right for the project, he got inspired and drew 80 pages with his own space panda and a friend, she threatened a lawsuit because that’s just what people do these days even if they never pay for an original idea to begin with, and Macedonio ends up with a comic series. This is the first 26 pages of that story, and it follows a pretty clear path, although it gets a little whacked out on occasion. I mean that in a good way, of course. Panda & Monium (no, I can’t tell what Monium is supposed to be either, if anything real at all) come from “an obliterated planet of miscreants and social refure”. Instantly intriguing, and it’s clear that they’re basically wandering around space aimlessly. They are discovered in hostile territory, make their way to the planet more or less as prisoners, leave some, uh, droppings behind, and manage to escape. Still, droppings to you are treasure for certain aliens, so they’re asked back and start a minor revolution of the culture. It’s funny and wildly inventive and Macedonio, if you read the last review of his I posted, is a guy who has more than paid his dues over the years and deserves all kinds of riches. I won’t spoil the ending more than I already may have, but this definitely worth a look, and I will say one thing: three boobs. $2 (or so)
Taylor, Dan W. (editor) – Pork Belly #2
Pork Belly #2
Ah, another tiny comic where I try to make it seem like I have something relevant away. Oops, gave away the game there. I may be able to squeeze a few good points out of this review, but no promises here. That has nothing to do with the quality of the comic (which was excellent, for what it’s worth), more about my own shortcomings, and this review isn’t about me, is it? There are three stories in this mini, and I didn’t pick Dan’s because it was the only one page strip. No, it was because it took me until almost when I started writing this review to get the joke, and anything that gets an honest chuckle out of me is definitely worth a sample. The other stories are The End Of Me by Meeah D’zasteur (about a worm, its life and wonderings about the mysteries of the universe, followed quickly by a brutal death) and Obsessive Compulsive Order by Macedonio Garcia (four silent pages of the various household items that are needed to keep OCD in check). I think Meeah’s use of the number 4 on one page and 5 on the other, compromising the background behind the four panel pages as they were repeated enough to cover the whole page, was an interesting choice fora background. Maybe not a good thing, but for somebody like me who is always complaining about the lack of backgrounds in comics, at least some effort was made. Of course, I was talking about the backgrounds IN the panels and not behind them in general, but why quibble? It’s another solid mini edited by Dan, and his master plan to get as many artists as possible out there into the comics world is proceeding nicely.
