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Mitchell, Brian John & Branstetter, David – Ultimate Lost Kisses #15
Ultimate Lost Kisses #15
Did you ever have some completely happy news on your end torn apart by the person that you’re relaying the news to? That’s the subject of this comic in a big way, as the star of the story is a young married woman in her 20’s who calls her mother to tell her that she’s having a baby. This is almost universally a cause for celebration (at least to somebody in a stable relationship and living situation), but her mother immediately tells her to get rid of it, that it will destroy her life and her figure. It’s impossible to ignore the obvious implication: her mother feels like having her 20+ years ago ruined HER life. The rest of the comic is a tour through the childhood of the pregnant woman, her feelings about that and the reaction, and how she decides to go forward from there. It’s an intriguing story, and a good reminder that relaying news to loved ones can often uncover some unpleasant truths. $1 as usual, and as usual you should go nuts and get at least a handful of these comics when you’re ordering, as they are tiny.
Mitchell, Brian John & Johnson, Jeremy – Ultimate Lost Kisses #12
Ultimate Lost Kisses #12
Damn, I was hoping for another issue illustrated by Dave Sim. No disrespect to Jeremy Johnson or anything, as he’s more than capable of illustrating this comic, it’s just that there’s still a Sim-shaped hole in my comics world. Sure, he’s doing Glamourpuss occasionally, but the issues of that that I’ve read all seem… ah, I don’t want to get into it. Reading lengthy stories about very old illustrations mixed with satirical fashion periods doesn’t do a thing for me, that’s all. Anyway, on to people who were actually involved in the making of this comic. This comic starts off with a 16 years old girl coming home from school and needing a nap. She doesn’t understand why she’s so tired all the time, so she sort of rhetorically asks her mother about it and is informed that she must be pregnant. Seems like there are gentler ways to convey that news, but the fact that the mother had her when she was very young (implied but never stated) makes that cruelty more than plausible. Anyway, the girl escapes her house and ends up going over to a friend’s, but sadly she could never think of dating him because he’s too dorky. Do girls still think this way? Eh, it’s probably a universal truth. Anyway, this is another solid comic with a damned good ending. To all of you comics types who can’t manage to do more than an issue a year, take not of Brian. Sure, he “only” writes the books, but wrangling all of these artists can’t be easy, and he still manages all that while putting these things out at a ridiculous pace. If you’re looking for a sample of his work you should probably start with a series like this, as the individual issues aren’t connected. $1
Mitchell, Brian John – Ultimate Lost Kisses #11 (with Dave Sim)
Ultimate Lost Kisses #11 (with art by Dave Sim (!))
No, I don’t know if this is a continuation of the Lost Kisses series (what with the addition of “Ultimate” to the title), but as this is listed as #11 and the last issue with Lost Kisses in the title was #10, I’m going to assume that it is. I’ll get to the comic in a minute, but Dave Sim? I guess he has some free time these days, but kudos to Brian for getting him to illustrate a book of his. I’m actually finishing up the Cerebus series this week, as all the unrelated text pieces killed it for me the first time around and, while I have my problems with various theories by Dave (and his sucking all the joy out of his book for the last 50 issues or so), I doubt that I’d even still be reading comics if it wasn’t for his influence. I don’t know what his legacy is going to end up being, but I’d put the first 220 issues or so of Cerebus up there as one of the great achievements in the field. Isn’t there a comic somewhere I’m supposed to be reviewing? This issue changes the format of the previous Lost Kisses, as this is a fictional story (or at least I hope it is). A young woman gets a letter from her son, 18 years after she’d given him up for adoption and practically forgotten his existence. He’s on death row for killing a man and wants to meet her, but there’s nothing accusatory in his letter. She informs her husband (who she met ten years after her son was born) about his existence, tells him of her plans to visit her son, and she sets off. Brian is a master of taking the images given and expanding or shrinking them, using the images as a director would use a camera lens, and he does wonders with what he’s given here. It’s a powerful story, and I hope this gets Dave back into comics, assuming he even wants to after 300 issues of Cerebus… $1
