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Various Anthologies – Monster Engine
Monster Engine
Here’s an anthology that has a monster in every story, real of implied. Pedro Boyd has a story about a dragon versus a pumpkin (I’ll bet you know who wins, too), Brian Canny and Toby Craig have one about some policemen who are out to get people who claim to have lost artifacts from famous artists, Peter Conrad has one about an existential zombie, Jim Rugg adapts the story of Jonah and the whale, Dalton Webb finds his inner demon, Todd Webb may or may not have a monster under his bed, and Tom Williams is dating Godzilla at goth karaoke. A pretty varied collection, mostly from people I’ve heard of, and you (mostly) can’t go wrong with monsters. It’s only $6, check out Toby’s website to order it.
Hawkins, Matthew – Unlucky #3
Unlucky #3 Now Available! $2
I’m going to assume that these things are just called “preview minis” and leave it at that. Maybe there’ll be a graphic novel of all these at some point and the name will make more sense, or maybe he’s coined a new term for mini comics, but who cares when the stories are this entertaining? Two more new stories in this one. The first, possibly the best of the entire series so far (and drawn by Matthew Bernier), deals with a young vegetarian woman who inhales most of a chicken after not eating meat for 6 years. To say there were disastrous results would be a bit of an understatement, but you have to add to the mix the fact that Matthew had a serious unrequited crush on the girl… and then she spent the better part of an evening puking and pooping in his bathroom. The next story, dealing with a random dead guy in New York (and drawn by Toby Craig), is surprisingly bland, given the subject matter. It’s mostly just Matthew and his friends driving around, trying to avoid dealing with the guy until they eventually have to call 911. Not a bad story, it’s just that the previous two issues and the first story here set the bar pretty high. Also, you may notice that there are new covers for issues 1 and 2. I think they’re a vast improvement on the old covers, but I’m keeping them both up here so you can decide for yourselves and to show off how awesome and “old school” I am for getting them way back when they had the old covers. $2
Craig, Toby – Engine #5
Engine #5
Do you like comics about robots fighting? Are you tired of comics with too much of a coherent storyline? Then you should check this out. Maybe I just missed it, but it kind of looked like a robot was fighting a bunch of other robots to try and find an arm that would help him out for some reason. It looks good, the fighting is just cool in places, but I’m not going to lie to you and say that I had much of an idea what was going on here. If that’s not that big of a deal to you then, by all means, check this book out. There’s also another story, this one clearly about a couple of guys who find a job testing robots and that, strangely enough, also turns out to be a giant battle involving robots. It’s drawn by Todd Gail and is fun, like the rest of the book, and that’s plenty to recommend it in my book. It makes no apologies for what it is, so there you go. Contact info is up there, it’s $3 and it’s random, fun mayhem.
Craig, Toby – Engine #6: Stone Cold Fish
Engine! #6: Stone Cold Fish
A comic made on a computer? What’s this world coming to? Seriously, if he didn’t mention how he did the art in the back of the comic I never would have known, so obviously it’s not that big of a deal. This is a story of loneliness and regret, about a man who’s getting prank phone calls and is depressed because he’s afraid that he should talk to that person more just to get some human contact. It’s a sad tale, sure, but it works well and there are a few pages of really great dialogue in the middle of the silent pages. Check out the website, it’s worth a couple of bucks to check out the issue if you’re looking for a synopsis of a wasted relationship. Looks like he’s done cheerier things too, at least judging from the descriptions of his other comics…
