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Clotfelter, Max – The Cumplete Warlock Volume One
The Cumplete Warlock Volume One
I’ve often seen the work of various artists and wondered what their earlier work was like, what kind of creative background they came from. There are, of course, times when that information is better left to the imagination. Max made these comics in junior high and high school, so this is lacking the lavish detail that’s in his other minis. And, as he was only a wee lad, most of the writing skills aren’t evident either. These are one page joke strips, where the joke always ends with somebody (usually a family member) getting beaten/stabbed/raped to a bloody pulp. If I was in junior high or high school, these would be hilarious. As I sit here now as one of them there adults, meh. It was funny and shocking for a little while, then the shocking wore off, followed by the funny. I would recommend just about everything else from Max on this page, if you have a strong stomach and an open mind. There are more volumes to come, so it still has a chance to pick up, but as this is all stuff that was done years ago, I kind of doubt it. Can’t beat the price anyway: $1
Clotfelter, Max – Vittle Chin
Vittle Chin
Aren’t I the guy who’s always asking for people to focus on longer stories and avoid the short pieces? Well, that usually lasts just as long as it takes for me to find a good comic with short pieces, and that’s how I’d describe this one. Apparently at least a few of these stories have been in various anthologies, so it’s all new to me. In here you have stories about white trash, a crack whore, a magic banjo, sex with a sleeping husband in bed, a naked dumpster detective, a bashed snake, hobo slop, a demanding microwave, drunken fighting, bogarting that joint, feetloaf, and roadkill. There’s so much more to it than that, with a lot of his stories, as very few people use more sheer imagination in their strips. In the writing, sure, but mostly I’m talking about the amount of content in each of his panels. Even the strips that didn’t do much for me were strips that I could appreciate because he was trying something vastly different from the strip that came before it. He used the rat with the magic banjo more than once when that was probably a one-strip gag, but other than that I don’t have much to complain about here. Good stuff all around, plenty of stuff to discover even if you have seen a few of these in anthologies, contact info is up there, $2!
Clotfelter, Max – Shore Leave Showcase #1
Shore Leave Showcase #1
You know what’s a great idea for a comic? An ongoing three panel strip showcasing the lives of a couple of violent, racist skinheads. OK, maybe I wouldn’t have thought it was the best idea either, but after reading this I’m convinced. This is all about a couple of skinheads as they deal with a hippy dad, try to satisfy Odin, and, of course, drinking and fighting. It’s a lot funnier than it might sound, and I had a real hard time coming up with only one sample, but it’s too small for me to give too much away. It’s “to be continued”, so there’s more, which is a good thing, and I can’t imagine this is much more than a buck or two. Oh, there’s also an unrelated second half to this, which is completely indescribable. Don’t you hate it when people say that and then go on and on trying to describe it? Me too. Website!
Clotfelter, Max – Snake Meat #2
Snake Meat #2
Picture the most vile and disgusting thing you can in your brain right now. Seriously, go ahead and do it. Chances are really good that whatever you have in there, Max has something worse than that in these sketchbook pages. And I’m not talking about a horrible act, just a horrible thing. He manages to find the inherent ugliness behind almost everything in these sketches of his. It seems like there are a few more regular strips in here than the last issue of Snake Meat to go along with all of this sketchbook pages, so I sampled one page of each to give you a better idea of what you’re getting here. I do love to look at these sketchbook pages, even if it does hurt my soul at times to do it, but I’m yearning for the day when he puts out another regular, story-based comic, as all it takes is one look at the samples on this page to see that the man has a serious gift for the funny. Contact info is scattered around here, this one is $2…
Clotfelter, Max – Snake Meat #1
Snake Meat #1
So how exactly are you supposed to review a sketchbook again? Never have figured that out… Well, I like Max’s art a lot, if that tells you anything. And, as this is a book of him drawing, I’d have to call that a recommendation. There are a few bits of actual story here, but mostly it’s just a series of unconnected pictures. The pictures are mostly solid though, not much in the way of half-finished sketches, so the book looks great. If you only read comics with a coherent story in them, the last two pages are fantastic. The rest of it’s all over the place or, as Max puts it in the disclaimer, “Yet another half-assed zine consisting of nothing more than sketches I’ve scribbled on typing paper over the past four months”. That’s a whole lot harsher than I would have put it, but I guess it’s technically accurate. $1, contact info is up there, check it out!
Clotfelter, Max – Abandon Ship
Abandon Ship
I very much want to point out the brilliant ending to this comic, but doing so would ruin it, so I’m not sure what to go on about here. The story? OK, sure. It’s the tale of a young man who finally has enough at his crappy fast food job and quits, which causes his girlfriend to throw him out of his house. This leads to his decision to become a bum and enjoy a carefree, living-out-of-dumpsters lifestyle, which of course ends up being more complicated than he might have thought. The art’s good too, there are wonderfully detailed panels all over the place. I don’t think crosshatching has ever made a book look bad, and that’s true here. Don’t know how long he’s been doing comics but this has a really professional feel to it, so kudos if he’s just started or something (or even if he’s been going awhile, obviously, but especially if he’s just starting and is already this talented). E-mail the man to make sure but I’m guessing that this is a couple of bucks. Anything else would reveal too much, but I will say this in a last-ditch attempt to get you to check it out: he draws a mean retard.
Clotfelter, Max – Stewbrew #3 (with Kelly Froh)
Stewbrew #3 (half Max, half Kelly Froh)
Ah, television. Good luck finding an American from the ages of five to forty five who can’t relate to memories of television. Max and Kelly team up here to do one page stories (Kelly on the left side and Max on the right) detailing their previous, constant television watching, how patterns change over the years and what television taught them, often due to the fact that in a lot of crucial areas they didn’t learn a whole lot from their parents. There are embarrassing stories a’plenty here, with Max talking about his first time masturbating (without really knowing what he was doing but I’ll leave out the gory details until you see the comic), being forced to play sports instead of watching tv, wanting to learn the theme song from MASH, being too attached to children’s programming, finally getting his own personal space to watch tv, going into tv withdrawal at camp, a hilarious (in hindsight) couple of injuries resulting in a Vietnam flashback dream, finally relating to his Dad because of Beavis and Butthead, watching porn with his Mom taking a bath in the next room, and a detailed listing of his high school tv watching routine. Kelly has her fair share of embarrassing stories as well, involving her first “boyfriend”, running away from home when the tv is taken away, a living warning against doing drugs, being really creeped out by the “sent to hell” episode of Fantasy Island, four tv people who made her feel funny “down there”, Showtime porn, and her late night viewing habits. Another solid effort from these two, and unless you grew up Amish, I’m sure you can relate to damn near everything in here. $3
Clotfelter, Max – Stewbrew #2: Coot’s Day
Stewbrew #2: Coot’s Day
Just to make sure this is perfectly clear: this mini, along with “Meet Erin” by Kelly Froh, come bundled together as Stewbrew #2 for a measly $3. So now that the technicalities have been established, how’s the comic? Well, it’s based on a day in the life of a man named Cooter, so how on earth could it be bad? And yes, there is a real man named Cooter, unless Max is lying shamelessly in his intro. We get to see Cooter wake up, watch high school girls, get high, get drunk, watch Star Wars, smoke, and everything in between that makes up his day. It’s a very quick read, as it’s mostly wordless except for the caption at the top of each panel, but it’s funny and gorgeous, which are two things that are pretty much necessary for a good comic. The second half of this should be up tomorrow (4/3/07), so you can decide if it’s worth your $3, but this is certainly a good start.
