Blog Archives
Golding, Mary – Rabies Babies
Rabies Babies
I’m clearly getting way too cynical in my old age if I read a lighthearted story about a baby with rabies and am disappointed when that’s not what was actually happening all along. Spoilers! Or maybe I’m lying, or maybe Mary was lying in the comic. Still, after that excellent (and apparently hand-made) cover, I was looking forward to some baby mayhem. Things start off with a baby who has been left alone in the woods, a fact that is never explained (which makes it much funnier). An ominous shadow approaches and it turns out to be a raccoon… who quickly befriends the baby and they have a very nice afternoon together. The parents (represented by pairs of legs, like all good parents in comics or cartoons should be) eventually remember that they have a baby in the woods and come to pick it up, and the trouble begins when they blindly drop the baby off at daycare. She finishes things off in a way that is probably a good defense against people who would call her a monster for even making a comic called “Rabies Babies,” but those are the types of people who will never be satisfied anyway. If nothing else this is worth buying just to leave it lying around your apartment for the horrified gasps you’ll get from any recent parents, but it doesn’t hurt a bit that there’s also a funny (if short) comic in here too. No idea on price, but contact Mary and I’m sure she’ll lead you through it.
Golding, Mary – Ex: Cloves
Ex: Cloves
One good thing about going through old minis is that I can find stuff that I should have reviewed ages ago. Mary (who always seems to go by Meg, but I was told to list her as Mary (or my brain fell out and I’m making that part up)) sent this one probably a year and a half ago and, even though it was a shimmering silver cover, it somehow got buried in the comics mounds. It’s a shame because it’s a damned fine comic and people should know about it, assuming that she still has copies. I didn’t see any on her website, but then again I didn’t see ANY comics on her website, and that can’t be right. Anyway, this tells the story of Mary trying to come out of a difficult breakup. Like all recovery periods, lying to yourself is a big part of it, as is hooking up with somebody on a purely physical level to ease the pain. This also happened right around the time when she was moving out of a city, so everything took on a sped up “what does it all mean?” quality. It’s heartbreaking and empowering at the same time, as she ends up being significantly happier with the guy who made her no promises than she ever was with the guy who broke her heart. Contact her if you want a copy, which you should if you’ve ever struggled through a difficult breakup, which is probably everybody reading this. Or maybe you’re one of the lucky few who only does the breaking up, in which case you might want to read this to see what happens after you leave. No price, but that fantastic cover alone has to make it at least $3.
Golding, Mary – Life in the Slow Lane
Life in the Slow Lane
“I seriously hope I’m not going to hell for drawing this.” That’s how Mary ends her introduction to this comic, which is a series of stories told to Mary by her parents about how their parents were getting really old. She also does mention that she’s not making fun of the elderly, that it looks like it could be interesting at times. Now that the explanations are out of the way, I do have to point out that this is a pretty funny comic. Stories include a singing lady, a dog on a shelf, a yelling senile woman, not being able to put on pants, a thieving woman using a walker, fear about going to the ambulance without makeup on, and the advantages of pretending to be senile. There’s no mean-spiritedness to any of these stories, in case you were wondering. Still, Mary is right: there are some interesting stories to be told, and frankly it’s a preview of where we’re all going to end up (unless we die first, and that’s a lousy alternative), so why not look into it now? It’s possible you could be offended by this, but you’d have to be wound pretty tight. If that’s you then avoid this book (unless you get things like these for the sole purpose of complaining about them, in which case I won’t deny you your hobby), otherwise it’s worth a look. No price again, I’m going with $2 for no reason.
Golding, Mary – Milkshake Club
Milkshake Club
Mary/Meg just sent me 8 mini comics, so expect to see her name up here a lot more often over the next few months. As for the review today, I just picked one out at random, even though a couple of them were crying out to me to review as soon as humanly possible. This one is all about the milkshake club, which started as an inside joke and is on its way to becoming a national phenomenon, or at least it is if Mary gets her way. A couple of her friends discovered that their favorite thing to do after sex was immediately go out and get a chocolate shake. This soon became confused with the idea of whether or not the shake was an intrinsically good thing or if it was just good because it always came after sex, but I think we can all agree that shakes are delicious. I had something similar for a while there involving Black Cow shakes from Arby’s, but we’re not here to talk about my personal life. So what’s the verdict on the comic? Well, it’s a tiny thing, so I can’t go into too much detail about her grasp of complex storylines or knowledge of intricate human anatomy, but she can tell a funny story that already has me thinking differently about chocolate shakes, so she’s certainly off to a good start. I’ll be able to flesh out that opinion a bit more over the coming weeks, but so far so good. No price, but a small black and white comic usually equals $1-2.
