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Nugget #3

Sweet Christmas, but is this ever one gorgeous comic. It’s a double-sized issue compared to the last two, and it’s in full, glorious color. I would have said before this that the little dude would do just fine in black and white, but this proves me wrong. Before I spoil a single thing, if you’re wondering when you should get on this Nugget train, the answer is now clear: start right here. I’ve liked his previous work quite a bit, don’t get me wrong, but he’s on another level with this one. This is one of those cases where a sample image really should say it all. For those of you who prefer a little more detail before parting with $12 (which is a steal for this much comic), fine, I’ll do that reviewing thing. Stories in here deal with things like dreaming and waking up in an existential crisis, the mental image of what will happen when several floating squids are collected versus reality, peeking behind the veil, the cycle of drunkenness, Nugget making himself into a tree (which leads to an absolutely stunning double page center spread) and the impression that other people would get after seeing said tree, a normal day out with a pal, increasingly terrifying dreams while sleeping outside, and a funny bit on the back inside cover about dealing with a rough critic. The back cover is also something else, but I’ll leave that as a total surprise. The two biggest stories in here, and maybe the best (but don’t make me rank them, because I’m not capable in this issue), were left out until now, so’s I can spend more time on them. There’s an extended adventure where Nugget gets sucked into the monster (or benevolent deity?) in the sample image, only to be spat out as four separate pieces, each of which gets into its own adventure. It’s spectacular, and I’m running out of superlatives here, but if this comic only contained that story I still would have left satisfied. And there’s a deeply disturbing piece about Nugget coming across a few dead people/creatures in the forest, and his sudden ability to pluck out their eye and see their last moments through it. Alarming and wonderful. Are there a few other stories I’m not mentioning at all? You’d better believe it. Get yourself a copy, you absolutely will not be disappointed. $12

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Nugget #2

What a spectacularly unnerving comic. I mean that in the best possible way, of course! Otherwise I’d be curled up in a ball in a corner, too traumatized to even write a review. Apparently I missed making this comparison the first time around, but his work does remind me a little of Jim Woodring’s Frank. Outwardly cute protagonist, silently wandering around a world that’s trying to kill him in all sorts of creative and disturbing ways. Still, that’s where the similarity ends, and it’s possible that Tony never read Jim’s comics. Anyway! This is another collection of a few short pieces, and I’m not going to try quite as hard to avoid spoilers this time around, so look out! First up is Dogs, about our hero (I’m just going to assume his name is Nugget) narrowly avoiding being eaten by a monster at sea. He heads home for a peaceful nights sleep, which may or may not be what he ends up getting. Next up is Cake, which is too horrific for me to talk about. I’m still getting chills when I think about that one. Mother is up next, which is only marginally less disturbing, and even then it’s an obvious matter of opinion. Nugget does end up meeting his mother, or maybe he does. But, like everything else that happens to him in an average day, he’d probably have been better off never leaving the house. Finally there’s Bubbles, which is the sample image I used below. Balls of goo dropping from the sky interrupt Nugget’s card game, and they have a profoundly negative effect on his friend. He and his other friend make a run for it, but how do you fight black goo balls falling from the sky? If anybody is looking for a quote to sum up my thoughts, how about “adorably nightmarish”? That seems to be the long and short of it, which is one of those phrases I’ve never fully understood, but I’m still sticking with it. Once again I should point out his spectacular cover, and once again I hope that convinced some people seeing it at comic shops. Check it out, unless you demand happy endings in your comics.

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Nugget #1

Now that there is one heck of a cover. I mean really, if you were to see that in a comics shop, that sucker practically jumps off the shelves. This is a collection of the surreal adventures of a little dude (purely guessing on the gender over here) called Nugget. It’s also a collection of silent stories, meaning that if I go too far in describing them I’m going to end up writing the whole comic in the review. So, in the interest of pulling off the balancing act of telling you about the stories without telling you THE stories, I’ll just say that the stories in here feature our hero getting sucked into a cup, finding a bottle at sea at ending up in a series of increasingly disquieting adventures, eating eggs and the horrific results (including one solid double page spread in the middle), finding his own twin and the desperate pull of the void, and the horror of the red doppelganger. It’s occasionally funny and often unnerving, which is a solid combination in my book. If that’s the case for you too, give this one a shot! $7.25