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Panel Anthologies – Panel #14: Panel of Horror
Panel #14: Panel of Horror
I was a little let down with this one. Oh, there are still great stories in here, but with a cover like that and with this crew finally tackling horror stories I probably just had unrealistic expectations. I did enjoy the intro and outro by Brent Bowman, although it could have done with a cringe-worthy pun or two. Dying Chords by (mostly) Craig Bogart dealt with a washed up singer, a never-was singer and how the former was trying to steal the one good song from the latter for a comeback. A an actual surprise ending in a horror anthology is always welcome, so kudos for that. Next up is Country Roads by Brent Bowman, which is one of the strongest pieces in the book, dealing with a man and his relentless quest to hunt down a werewolf. OK, fine, I saw the ending coming a mile away, but I also watch FAR too many horror movies. Molly Durst has the longest piece in the book with Monster Racers, and I could go either way on this one. On the one hand I like her simplistic art and enjoyed the madcap nature of a gaggle of monsters (I believe “gaggle” is the correct term) who are trying to get to a castle before Dracula. On the other hand it’s a story of several monsters traveling from point A to point B and we never even had much of a clue why it was so important to get to the castle first. Tom Williams, as always, saves the day with The Basket, a story of a evil basket and its place in history. Yes, it is just as awesome as it sounds. Finally there’s Healing, the creepiest piece in the book by far, by Dara Naraghi and Andy Bennett. It tells the story of a man who has long distrusted doctors but ends up having to go to a dentist. He got back in some considerable pain but decided to take matters into his own hands and ends up going a little bit too far. Like I said, I don’t hate this anthology, but in all honesty I probably wasn’t going to be happy with anything that wasn’t 100 pages long and featured serious gore and/or scares. They still put out a hell of a comic, as always, and you do have to buy this one to keep your collection of Panel anthologies intact, so lucky for you there are still some exceptional stories in here. $4
Panel Anthologies: Panel #13: Superstition
Panel #13: Superstition
This group of Ohio folks keeps going strong, and naturally superstition is the perfect choice for their thirteenth anthology. Before I get started on the actual comics I wanted to talk about the peripherals fora bit. First, the production design of these things has always been top-notch, and this one is no exception. They sent some other issues along, and I was so impressed that the gushing has carried over to other reviews. Not that there’s anything wrong with this one, but they have an uncanny ability to top themselves in this department. This one was done by Brent Bowman, I wonder if he’s the one who has done all the covers? Ah, what I wouldn’t give for a photographic memory. Anyway, A+ on that end of things. There is also always an introduction that both lays out the point of the book and manages to be genuinely funny, which is tricky but they manage it. Well, Tony Goins manages it this time around. Then at the end of the book you have the author bios, which are also always amusing and informative. What I’m trying to say with all this build up is that by the time I get to the first comic I’m already smiling and impressed, and when I finish the last comic there’s another page of bios to put that smile right back on my face. Maybe all of the content has been lousy and it’s all a diabolical trick on their part. Let’s check over these stories again to make sure… nope, they’re good too. Damn. So! Stories in here are two pages of baseball superstitions by Sean McGurr and Tony McClurg and a declaration of fidelity to the Cleveland Indians, Molly Durst & Brent Bowman’s tale of exactly what happens if you go around killing spiders in your home, Molly Durst tackling the broken mirror superstition, Tony Goins & Tom Williams with their take on the evil eye, Dara Naraghi & Andy Bennett with what looks like a small piece of a larger story about the Twilight Order and psychic parasite, the page I sampled by Sean McGurr & Tim McClurg and the tale of how picking superstitions as the theme managed to prevent the book from ever being made by Craig Bogart. Oh sure, it actually did get made if you want to quibble about it, but it’s a funny take on what could have happened. The only minor complaint I have is that having no page numbers makes having a table of contents significantly less convenient, but there were only so many stories in this one anyway and I was able to puzzle it out. Other than that everybody out there should support this crew, as they’ve been consistently putting out two quality anthologies a year for ages now and deserve some love. They don’t seem to have this listed at the website, or any of the recent Panels for that matter, but I’m sure an e-mail to the proprietor will get you a copy. How much it will cost you is another question. $5?
Williams, Tom – S.P.B.: Rise!
S.P.B: Rise!
It’s been fun watching Tom grow as an artist through the years, even if I had to play catch-up on the progress starting a few years ago. This issue has it all in one place though, as the main story here is a perfect example of his frenetic, crazed artwork at its best, and the backup story (actually an earlier version of the main story), shows his artwork as a bit more “by the numbers”, although still showing signs of future brilliance. The story here is that a young man gets his head bitten off by the family dog and makes a deal with the devil to come back to life. In the original story it’s a pretty simple concept, in the new version we get to see a lot more of the area in which this young man lives and bits of his family. The sample below should tell you everything you need to know about his artwork, but there are really few artists working today whose style is more definitively their own than this. Well worth checking out, and if you were looking for a good starting point for his work, this one is perfect. $4
Williams, Tom – Pussy Galore
Pussy Galore
As you can see from the cover page, this is one of them there 24 hour comics. These are pretty much immune to criticism, as they are SUPPOSED to look rushed and sloppy, the plot (when there is one) is obviously going to be rushed as well, and how can you say anything bad about such an obvious labor of love as this? That being said, this was a wonderful comic for anybody who has ever had a really crappy customer service job but has lived to make it to their last day. This is all about a man working his last day for a copy shop (obviously a Kinko’s but I don’t think he ever used the name) and all the stupid, stupid crap he had to deal with on a regular basis. Most of the people reading this can probably relate to stupid folk in the copy shop, as most of the folks reading this probably have made their own comics at one time or another and have either had to deal with it themselves or seen it in action. In other words, another fun 24 hour book, and another book that I really liked by Tom Williams. Here’s a website, this one was $2!
Williams, Tom – Hades’ Indecision
Hades’ Indecision
In case you can’t read the top of the cover, the hero of this story is Guston Phillips, Cyclops Cowboy. Guston decides that he wants to free Sisyphos (that’s how he spells it in the comic, although it sure doesn’t look right to me), and spends a lot of time trying to get the man free. Lots of little jokes about Hades and Greek mythology here in general; it’s obvious the man has at least a fair knowledge of the material. An interesting book, and I’m constantly amazed that Thomas is able to keep his book so cheap when they’re so huge, especially with the color covers and all. If you like cyclops and a lil’ baby Achilles, then pick this up for $2! The e-mail address is way up there, just scroll a little bit and you’ll find it…
Williams, Tom – Looking at the Front Door (written by Sean McKeever)
Looking at the Front Door (written by Sean McKeever)
I honestly can’t remember if I’ve ever read any of the Marvel comics that Sean wrote, but this is a good first issue of his “mini comics line”. It’s the story of a man who feels trapped in a smothering relationship (so says the website and it seemed concise enough for me to rip it off), wondering what he can do to change. But then, there are always the good moments to think about too, right? Even when you can feel a relationship on its last legs, it can be damn near impossible to forget about all the wonderful things that bring two people together, and that’s the problem here. It’s a poignant and true theory. I like the fact that the guy’s sick of the situation he’s in but doesn’t have any easy answers on how to change it. At $3 it’s kind of expensive for how short of a book it is, but at least the cover looks great. If you’ve ever been in a relationship, you should check this book out.
Williams, Tom – Crash Comics #7
Crash Comics #7
Hm, wonder how long ago I wrote that “a week or so” comment regarding this series. Hey, give or take a year, I was right on. This is a complete departure from the other book that I had read, and it’s nicely done. This is a wacky, slapstick bunch of stories about evil children who feed babies to dogs, walk a man around on a leash, trick Death, pimp out grade school girls, and get ripped in half. If you don’t think you’d find any of that funny, well, maybe you shouldn’t read this book. Here, check out the sample.
Look like the kind of thing you’d be into? Because if the answer is yes you’re going to be thrilled with this, if it’s no there’s a lot more of the same in this issue. I’m really curious now to see what this series is all about, as I’ve seen two drastically different comic styles so far. Contact info is up there, or you could just go to The Laughing Ogre if you’re around Columbus like me…
Williams, Tom – Misa By
Misa By
Who likes auto-bio? Anybody who reads this page knows that I do, especially when it’s done well, and this one is done extremely well. It’s told as a letter to an old girlfriend about yet another girlfriend. Confused? Don’t worry, it’s pretty simple. He realizes pretty early on that the two of them don’t have much in common and he confesses to never really knowing what she’s thinking, but sticks with the relationship after graduation basically out of a lack of anything better to do. It’s always been a bit unbelievable to me that somebody could just stay in a relationship when they knew that it wasn’t the right thing for them, but I’ve seen it happen too many times to believe that it’s just fictional. Anyway, this book is well worth a look. He also has a regular series (although this book is from 2001 so that might not still be true) called Crash Comics, which I’m going to be digging into in a week or so, I’d guess. E-mail the man or send him $3 at: 630 Riverview Dr. Apt. #C7 Columbus, OH 43202.
Panel Anthologies – Panel #5: Myth
Panel #5: Myth
I don’t think a scanner can adequately convey how great that cover is. That rip you see is an actual rip in the cover, which leads me to believe that these were either a huge pain in the ass to produce or they’ve found some way to easily tear the covers of all the copies of this issue. Either way kudos, and we’re also treated to different interpretations of the cover inside by all the artists. This issue deals with something I spent a fair amount of time with in the ancient days when I was in school: mythology. Craig Bogart sets the bar pretty high with the first story, a whodunnit it involving Jesus, Hercules and Odin all as suspects as to who murdered a very annoying bird. Next up is The Sun-Mother’s Home by Dara Naraghi & Andy Bennett, detailing a journey by a group of people who have been cast out of their home and the legends they tell along the way about the origin of the earth. Tony Goins follows with a story called America, abiout our future wars, what we have to do to get out of them and how we’re doomed to repeat the same stupid mistakes we’ve been making for years. Glenn Brewer’s story about the origin of the seahorse is gorgeous, although a few of the finer points might have been lost on me (it was one of them there silent stories, all kinds of room for interpretation). Matt Kish has the visual highlight of the book next with what is essentially a series of giant trading cards with various characters from his own Spudd 64 mythology. Tom Williams is then kind enough to wrap thiings up with a story about a guessing game among the gods. Oh, and in case you can’t tell by the scan, this issue is huge, magazine-sized. All in all, once again they’ve put together a solid anthology on another interesting topic.
Panel Anthologies – Panel #3: Space
Panel #3: Space
That cover is a whole lot cooler if you can see the woman whose arms are wrapping around the cover, but what are you going to do? This is an anthology from creators in Columbus Ohio with a loose theme of “space”. That can be taken many different ways, and is in a wide variety of stories. Dara Naraghi & Tom Williams have a fantastic story of the juxtaposition between space exploration and war. Glenn Brewer has a good shortie about, um, well, read it for yourself. Sean McGurr & Steve Black take Zeno’s Dichotomy Paradox and run with it (literally). Tony Goins & Andy Bennett have the highlight of the book with a story about a random hookup at a party and what happens when you run into that person randomly the next day. Or at least what happened that time, but it’s just a frank and honest take on the whole thing that it became my favorite in this book. Craig Bogart has a giant smashy alien, and Dansen Stahl & Tim McClure have a wraparound for many pages about unintentionally interlocking conversations on a busy city street. Really the perfect anthology, as nothing was anything less than interesting, which leads to a great reading experience overall. Check it out, they have other anthologies from past years available too, and I’m curious about them now. I think I was kind of harsh on at least some of these people in their individual comic, but now I feel compelled to pick up some other issues and give them another chance (everybody should know by now that I’m always willing to read other issues from people I previously panned, as that’s the only way I’m going to have an informed opinion about anybody, as it’s impossible to discard someone based on one book). OK, ramble over, here’s the website, it’s $3, check it out!
Williams, Tom – Crash Comics #6
Crash Comics #6
Ah yes, the dreaded “it’s still in print but you’re not going to have any idea what’s going on” comic. I think my love for the work of this man is well documented throughout this page, so for this particular comic, I’ll just come right out and say it: without a synopsis of some kind this is damned near indecipherable, something useful only for those people who like pretty pictures alone and/or future comic historians, after Mr. Williams becomes famous. The second story in this book, the bulk of the comic, is part 6 in a series and, with the first five issues out of print… well, good luck with that. It involves telepathically controlled giant fish monsters, a centaur professor, Amazons, a man who can’t die, and Atlanteen guards who ride around on telepathically controlled air bubbles. Right around the time things start coming together even a little bit, the story is over. This is an odd complaint, I know, as anybody reading this in 1999 was probably very happy with it, but this is 2008, and I’m at sea over here. The first part of the comic was great, dealing with the Amish, sudden parental death and living in denial, so it’s not like the comic is all bad. Hell, even the parts that were over my head were still gorgeous. Maybe a little raw compared to his later work, but hey, this comic is early days for him. So if you’re already a huge fan of the man and can’t get enough, it’s worth picking this up, but if you’re just here to see what’s worth getting from him, I’d start with Misa By or any of the last three books on this page and work your way up. $2