Blog Archives
Kulik, Missy – Dork Lifestyle
Dork Lifestyle
Here’s another short comic from Missy. This one is collection of one page stories, about things like walking on a fortune, stealing a pen, picking things up off the ground (a favorite of mine too), wearing odd things, growing up, things she has done or never done, and a dream about a giant deer. Good stuff all around, although I’d still like to see a bigger book by her. This one is only $.50, so why not buy it? Contact info is up there!
Kulik, Missy – This Is Your Toy And I Want It
This is Your Toy and I Want It
This is the story of a little hot dog in a bun toy, except that it looks more like a little pill in a bun. Whatever the case, Missy sees it at a friend’s house and decides that she has to have it, so makes a compromise where she watches the toy for a little while. Next she visits the land of the toys, but I’ve said too much already. This is a fun little book, although a bit short, but it’s only $.50 so that’s OK. I’ve been hearing about Missy for a couple of years now so it’s good to actually see a comic. I was impressed, but I get the definite impression that the hype is for the later work (this is from 1999) more than this cute book.
Kulik, Missy – I Heart New York
I Heart New York Now Available! $1
If you’re looking for a perfectly adorable story about New York, you’ve found it. Missy tells a brief tale of a young girl wandering through the city, taking in the sights that adults often miss. There’s a sense of wonder throughout this mini, as Missy observes the sights of Central Park (horses, squirrels, an Alice in Wonderland sculpture, and Calder’s circus) and marvels at the Empire State Building. This was made in 2000, and possibly that sense of wonder is gone by now (full disclosure: I’ve never been to New York. I know, I know). This is one of those “gateway comics” for kids though, if you’re looking to get your young ones interested in comics, or even if you’re just looking for something to feel good about for a few minutes. $1
Kulik, Missy – Half Boy/Half Stupid (with Rowboat)
Half Boy/Half Stupid (with Rowboat) Now Available! $2
You don’t go into one of Missy’s minis expecting tales of drunken misadventures (or at least I don’t, but I’ve read relatively few minis from her so far so what do I know), but that’s what you get here. Missy illustrated a collection of stories told to her by her friend Rowboat, dealing with being misunderstood, breaking in the door on an unsuspecting crush, making a fool of yourself over the phone to an ex, ending a Halloween night in a state of drunken disarray, a nigthmarish cat, a pack of wild donkeys, smoking a telephone and a perfect romantic evening that doesn’t go as planned. A pretty great pack of stories, with Missy’s art bringing the whole thing wonderfully to life. $2
Kulik, Missy – My Word! (with John Porcellino)
My Word! (with John Porcellino) Now Available! $2
Missy and John teamed up on a fairly unique mini comic here. They each came up with 5 words for the other person and that person had to draw five comics. I don’t think I’m giving away a thing by telling you the words: postage, camel, decision, honey, sidewalk, sick, bedtime, violets, catsup, and fly. Who gets which word? What do they write about? Those questions can only be answered by reading this, as it’s fairly silly to give something like this a regular review. Even if your black, black heart prevents you from loving Missy’s work because you think it’s too cute or something, I can’t imagine needing to go to a lot of effort to convince anybody to read anything that John P. has ever done. It’s a fun and occasionally melancholy book, what more can you ask for? $2
Kulik, Missy – Cloud Picnic
Cloud Picnic Now Available! $2
Yes, in case you were wondering, this book is exactly as adorable as it appears from the cover. This is the silent tale of a couple of sock monkeys, floating along a river on a a flat smiley face, meeting another couple of… things. Mostly featureless dolls, vaguely shaped like humans. Then they all run across their friend, a solo teddy bear, who decides to climb to the top of a circular slide. This circular slide leads the bear to land on a cloud which, in turn, leads to the cloud picnic. This was apparently also made on Super 8 film (possibly on that website), which I’m curious to see. As for you and this comic, do cute things frighten or alarm you? If so, this should probably be avoided. If you have a healthy capacity for “Awww”, then you won’t regret checking this out.
Duncan, Sean (editor) – Garlic
Garlic
I was going to just write the names of the contributors here to try and convince you to get this, but that scan came out nicely, don’t you think? You’ll notice that I really like most of the people on there, so it shouldn’t come as a surprise that I think this is amazing. I can’t even say that I didn’t like whole stories, just certain panels. People talking to cats in comics is either cute to me or way too cute, and Dave Lasky’s entry fell into the latter category. The rest of his story was good though. The bit by Austin English didn’t do much for me one way or another. Everything else is more than just worth reading, it’s required reading. That’s right, I’m forcing you to buy this. The only thing I’m not sure of is the price… $5 maybe? It’s a pretty big book. Eh, go to the website (down as of 7/22/07) for this (it’s the first in a series of anthologies about food) and e-mail the guy to see how much it costs. You can’t go wrong with this assemblage of talent.