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Various Columbus Artists – Panel #19: Green
Panel #19: Green
One thing struck me right off the bat in this 19th (!) installment of one of the better anthologies out there: they really could have raised a bigger stink about this being printed on recycled paper. Or, if that “recycling” symbol on the cover is just for show, they missed a golden opportunity to release this book on recycled paper. Either way, making fun of environmentally conscious folks for their preachiness is just too big of a target to ignore (obligatory disclaimer: I agree with the goals of environmentalists, obviously, but their lack of a sense of humor is quite a target). But hey, at least the paper itself is green. This is the usual pile of short pieces by various Columbus artists, and once again the vast majority of the stories ranged between pretty good and damned great. Things start off with a silent piece by Dara Naraghi and Matt Kish detailing the “life” of a can of soda, and it’s a fantastic example of exactly how many things one piece of trash can affect. Andrew Lee and Ben Smith are up next with a piece about the evils of drugs, as told to a pair of stoners by a cartoon anti-drug man. KT Swartz, Brent Bowman and Dara Naraghi are up next with a story about military training and the dangers of not paying attention to your surroundings. I guess this one was “green” because it referenced the military? Or was it because they were outside? I need to stop taking things so literally. Anyway, the next piece called “Luck of the Irish” by Ross Hardy deals with the death of a leprechaun and the search for his gold, because how could you make a book with that title and not have a story about a leprechaun in it? Finally there’s a space adventure by Tony Goins and Craig Bogart that didn’t do a lot for me (five pages isn’t very much room to jump into a space adventure, but they still managed a few good jokes and some effective shouts of “silence!” by the big baddie), but at least they were nice enough to mention that the space explosions were silent, which is something that most movies don’t even manage to get right. There are also a few full pages spreads, one with that delightful Yoda fellow that is also required by law to be in any anthology with this title. I’d probably rank this somewhere in the middle of the pack in terms of quality in this Panel series, but considering the fact that a few issues of this series are among my favorite anthologies out there, “the middle” is still pretty damned good. And they managed to keep it at an affordable $3!
Kish, Matt – The Solar Brothers Volume II
The Solar Brothers Volume II
What do you call a comic that isn’t a sketchbook but also isn’t a comic with any sort of linear story? Let me know if you come up with something, because that’s what this book is. Here’s how Matt describes the contents: “being a record primarily of the extra-planetary inhabitants of the pre-main sequence ternary star system AB Doradus”. So, in other words, this is a comic with Matt doing what he does best: drawing completely random but somehow vaguely connected creatures that could not possibly exist in this world but quite possibly should. Is that too long to use a description of his work? Probably. Personally, I miss his Spudd 64 story, but he seems to have gone in the direction of this and drawing an image for each page of Moby Dick (and you should really click on his website to check that stuff if ever read Moby Dick, he has over 250 images up already and it seems to be increasing steadily). Usually there would be something here remotely resembling a review, but for this I got nothin’. I can’t get enough of his artwork for whatever reason, so picking this up at SPACE was a no-brainer for me. If you feel the same way about his stuff then it’ll be an equally easy choice for you. If not, well, maybe you should try it out, either through this or some of the old issues of Spudd 64. I had trouble picking the sample image, which is the only seal of approval a book like this needs from me. No price, so I’m going to go with $4.
Panel Anthologies – Panel #11: Work
Panel #11: Work
The Panel crew is at the point where they could coast. They have a solid, consistent group of contributors, a near-limitless capacity to come up with new subjects for the individual issues and (I would hope, anyway) a group of people who will check out any future issues. And still they manage to keep everything fresh, starting right away with the packaging. Yes, that is a plain old interoffice envelope, familiar to any of us who have spent any time in an office, signed apparently by all the creators. Inside of this envelope is a series of individual mini comics (and one printed on a large sheet of paper), meaning that they can all be sold by the creators individually at cons or whatnot. To top it all of is the “memo” inside, an introduction to the comics, using all the appropriate buzz words like proactive, impactful and synergistic. An instant work of art, and I haven’t even mentioned any of the comics. The big sheet of paper is Broken, a silent story by Brent Bowman of a repairman witnessing the end of a relationship. Next is All in a Night’s Work by Dara Naraghi & Matt Kish, another silent tale about a day in the life of a henpecked knight, and you know I’m going to love anything that gives Matt the chance to draw dragons and various odd creatures. Pyramid Scheme by Brent Bowman & Sean McGurr is a tale of a man trying to convince his friend of the validity of his pyramid scheme, and this comic is actually shaped like a pyramid, although this point I think they’re just flaunting their creative awesomeness. Craig Bogart is up next with A Strange Farewell to Reginald Everbest, in which the people of a town don’t show enough respect when the town mortician dies, leaving the dead to rise up and do it themselves. Molly Durst has Wink! Wink! An Interview Gone Wrong, in which the interviewee has a nervous twitch that makes him wink, but I’m not going to spoil the punchline. Finally there’s Goby by Steven Black & Tim McClurg, another silent piece, and the one that made the least sense to me. There’s a little fish, see, and it gets thrown back after getting caught by a fisherman. Then said fish is swallowed by an octopus, which gets captured and cut up, which reveals the fish, which then transforms into a mermaid, and then time moves forward about 50 years, bringing a snail onto the scene… Sorry, that one lost me. It looks gorgeous though, and that has to count for something. The fact that this is still going strong at #11 is impressive as hell to me, as is the fact that you can pick up just about any issue of this series at any given con and expect a quality anthology. $4 and worth every penny…
Panel Anthologies – Panel #5: Myth
Panel #5: Myth
I don’t think a scanner can adequately convey how great that cover is. That rip you see is an actual rip in the cover, which leads me to believe that these were either a huge pain in the ass to produce or they’ve found some way to easily tear the covers of all the copies of this issue. Either way kudos, and we’re also treated to different interpretations of the cover inside by all the artists. This issue deals with something I spent a fair amount of time with in the ancient days when I was in school: mythology. Craig Bogart sets the bar pretty high with the first story, a whodunnit it involving Jesus, Hercules and Odin all as suspects as to who murdered a very annoying bird. Next up is The Sun-Mother’s Home by Dara Naraghi & Andy Bennett, detailing a journey by a group of people who have been cast out of their home and the legends they tell along the way about the origin of the earth. Tony Goins follows with a story called America, abiout our future wars, what we have to do to get out of them and how we’re doomed to repeat the same stupid mistakes we’ve been making for years. Glenn Brewer’s story about the origin of the seahorse is gorgeous, although a few of the finer points might have been lost on me (it was one of them there silent stories, all kinds of room for interpretation). Matt Kish has the visual highlight of the book next with what is essentially a series of giant trading cards with various characters from his own Spudd 64 mythology. Tom Williams is then kind enough to wrap thiings up with a story about a guessing game among the gods. Oh, and in case you can’t tell by the scan, this issue is huge, magazine-sized. All in all, once again they’ve put together a solid anthology on another interesting topic.
Kish, Matt – Taproot
Taproot
Anybody out there who has read and loved Spudd 64 has probably imagined it in glorious color, and Matt shows what it would look like in a perfect world with this issue. Well, that and there’s plenty of color pencil sketches of various things from the series, so if you’re one of those people who like to linger over the art, this is the thing for you. And me, as there’s always been something about these characters and these places that has kept me riveted. The color bits of Spudd come from a proposed #0, a bit of an intro to the world of Spudd. If I remember correctly this was $5, which some may think a bit pricey, until you realize that this is all color and a nice companion piece for the series, assuming that the series gets moving again some time soon. Yes, that is my version of a subtle nudge in Matt’s direction, assuming he sees this…
Kish, Matt – Spudd 64 #3
Spudd 64 #3 Now Available! $2
Have I mentioned yet that every cover has a different image or is a different color, or both? And not juts for this issue, but all three? Thought that was worth pointing out, just to show the level of detail that goes into this. So how about this issue? Well, it’s a (mostly) wordless tale, which is a great idea for Matt. Why? Because I could stare at his art for days, so why clutter it all up with all those pesky words? As with a lot of wordless tales, the story is up for a bit of interpretation, but I’ll give it a shot. Spudd goes into space and eventually lands on a planet. He runs into some Sea Monkey looking creatures, who give him some sort of power. He’s a bit freaked by this, so he runs away, right into a giant monster (who doesn’t look all that intimidating because he looks like he’s smiling), and if I keep going I’m just going to tell you the whole story, and what fun is that? Three cheers for a comic with no angst, no autobiographical stuff going on and no silly drama. This one is 100% imagination and comics like this are a lot harder to come by than they should be. Contact info is up there, this is available in the store, and he has a website that he says is going to launch on May 15 of 2005, so don’t bother to click it until then…
Kish, Matt – Spudd 64 #2
Spudd 64 #2 Now Available! $2.50
This reference will only make sense to about two people, but this series reminds me a lot of the one I tried to do a number of years ago, but couldn’t pull off because of my lack of drawing ability. Oh, and the story didn’t resemble this one at all. Trust me, there’s a similarity there, somewhere… Anyway, this comic. It’s huge, about 40 pages, with the first half being the ongoing story and the second half being something of an origin story. I compared this to Beanworld in the last review, and that’s still the closest real thing to compare this to, but he’s quickly building his own unique niche in the comics world. Most of the drawings in here are completely unique, obviously coming from his own brain and not just a rehashing of another comic. A number of people do that, consciously or unconsciously, especially when they’re first starting out, but Matt seems to have skipped that step altogether. This series is fantastic in the most literal sense of the word, and I can see from the level of detail in each image just why there’s a long gap between issues. Great stuff and and I couldn’t recommend it more highly if you like truly bizarre stuff. Contact info is up there, it’s $2.50…
Kish, Matt – Spudd 64 #1
Spudd 64 #1
Before I say anything here, I want you to take a look at the sample:
It’s a bit large, sure, but I think it’s absolutely gorgeous. Look at that detail! This might be Matt’s first book out too, in which case I’m thoroughly impressed. The story here is in its very early stages, as we get to see the birth of Spudd, which is apparently an offspring of a dying… um, giant thing, maybe a ship. OK, some of the finer points were obviously lost on me, but I’m sure they’ll become a lot more clear as the series moves along, and it had better move along! I threaten because I care… Anyway, e-mail him to make sure he keeps at it and to see if he has anything else around. If I had to compare this to anything I’d say it a cross between Beanworld and Neil Jam, but the latter one only because of the giant black eyes…
Kish, Matt – Spudd 64 #4
Spudd 64 #4 Now Available! $3.50
I’m going to give you both of my opinions about this issue, just to confuse everybody. That’s right, I said both of my opinions, as I can’t decide if I should go deeply pessimistic here or totally optimistic. The pessimist in me thinks it’s a terrible sign that, on the fourth issue of a series, Matt has already called in friends to help him out with an issue, for art and for some stories. The optimist in me can also see this as a great sign, as the sheer number of people involved (Steve Black, Leighton Connor, Coly Kegley, Tim McClurg, Sean McGurr, Dara Naraghi, Kyle Wallace and Tom Williams) indicates that Spudd is taking off big time and all sorts of folks want to put their interpretation in before it turns into a huge behemoth of a series, loved by all small children and furry animals. The truth of the whole thing probably lies somewhere in the middle of all that, as usual. What about the actual comic? There are all sorts of full page spreads, mostly by Matt (but not all, by any means), but the main story in here is written by Leighton Connor and drawn by Matt, about Hafez first leaving his people and his brother starting a long search to find him. He also goes into greater detail later about some of the deities involved in the Spudd storyline, which is what’s making me lean towards my optimistic view that he has this whole huge story planned out already and this “jam” issue is a blip on his path to fame and fortune. Don’t get me wrong, it’s still a fun issue and will serve as a good reference point in the future when this stuff gets (more) confusing, but, speaking purely for myself here, I’ll be happy to see a regular sized issue of Spudd 64 done totally by Matt to keep things humming along at their proper pace. If, two issues from now, we get a “best of Spudd” issue, I’ll know that the pessimist was right all along, but I have genuinely high hopes for this series…