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Good Minnesotan #1

More like this please! I’ll get to the actual content in a second and yes, that could be better at times, but this book as a concept is exactly what’s needed to keep this medium going strong: regional anthologies. Columbus has been taking over the anthology world with their Panel books for years now, and more cities with anything remotely resembling a comics community really need to sit down, get together and put out some anthologies. Sure, there’s almost no financial reward for a whole lot of work, but people who do comics generally aren’t in it for the money anyway. Seriously, if you find yourself living in a random city like Boise Idaho, check around the area, see if you can find like-minded people to get something like this going. So how about the actual comic, after that extended rant? Good and bad, but the good bits are excellent. First up is Cookie by Raighne Hogan, in which a bully tries to steal a cookie when he gets hungry, but the other kid manages to push him down, and there’s a brief panel (called a commercial break) with a spaceman in it… ok, he managed to lose me completely on this one. Moving on, there’s the strongest piece of the book, also by Raighne Hogan, called Teddy Bears And Time Travel. Raighne goes into (autobiographical?) detail about a childhood, sudden death, and running out on fatherhood and marriage. Revenge Fantasies by Justin Skarhus and Raighne Hogan gives free reign to some wishful thinking regarding old school bullies getting what’s coming to them. Monkeys On The Bed by Meghan Smith is maybe the most visually impressive piece of the bunch (and that’s saying something, as Raighne’s art, when decipherable, is pretty impressive too), and who can’t get behind monkeys, acrobats, a sleeping little girl and a bossy old lady/grim reaper? Finally there’s Portraitist by Raighne Hogan, dealing with what appears to be the final days of a moon colony. The main problem with that one is that some of the words are either illegible or have things drawn over them, which is good for effect in some cases, but in this case it just left me confused. Overall a pretty solid collection, and for the love of pete Minnesotan’s and all other regional comic people, keep this kind of thing up. Here’s a website for the curious… $5