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Cattapan, Brian – Zeek the Martian Geek Full Color Special #1

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Zeek The Martian Geek Full Color Special Now Available! $5

It’s about time he put out a full color book! Don’t get me wrong, usually I bitch about the cost of doing a mini in full color (to the artist and to the people who have to buy the books), but if there’s anything that screams for full color, it’s Zeek and his wanderings. In this one we finally get to see Mars (and why Zeek never seems to go there), Zeek tries to meet some earth women (then settles for videos of Winona Ryder), and Brian fills in the rest with assorted one page strips. I didn’t notice that the sampled page was one I used for an earlier issue, and I’m also not sure how much of this was already in older issues. It mostly seemed new to me, but I read many hundreds of these things every year and my memory for specifics is lousy. Either way, if you like his stuff, it’s never looked better than this. You can even compare color kitty strip down here to the black and white version above if you don’t believe me. Of course, if you’re new to the Cattapan universe and just want to check him out, chances are you’re better off working your way through some of the cheaper minis before buying something for $5, but I’m not the boss of you. $5

Cattapan, Brian – Zeek the Martian Geek #8

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Zeek the Martian Geek #8 Now Available!  $3

I’ve probably mentioned it before, but this page is officially getting out of hand.  Maybe I should break his comics down into separate pages for each title or something, except for the fact that he seems to be devoting all his energies to Zeek these days.  As for the comic, I mostly liked this one, as I do enjoy it when he puts out the longer stories.  About half of this book is one big story, and it’s all about Zeek and Nurdy falling into a place in space called The Zone and yes, it is an homage to Twilight Zone, as there are things floating through space and Nurdy breaks her (brand new) glasses upon landing.  There is also a cat in a spacesuit who shows up to get revenge on Zeek for all the cats he’s eaten over the years, and then the story degenerates into a series of pop culture references that eventually ends in an explosion.  Sorry, did I give away the ending?  Well, in this case I didn’t mention it it wouldn’t have made any sense when I praised how the eyeballs of the creature who exploded managed to stay in the exact same place when its head exploded.  The rest of the comic is mostly a bunch of one page strips, dealing with computer humor, matrix-frisbee, getting away from civilization, extreme bowling, learning from a child, and trying to find their way through the wilderness.  Good stuff, although I’m sure everybody on this website knows by now whether or not this is for them.  If it is there’s also a brand new collection of the first 7 issues available, so you should probably keep that in mind… $3

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Cattapan, Brian – Zeek the Martian Geek #7

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Zeek The Martian Geek #7 Now Available! $3

It’s been a long time since I’ve seen a Cattapan comic, so I was starting to wonder. It looks like he was just putting a lot of energy into making a really fun comic, so all is forgiven here. This issue is basically about Zeek and Nurdy trying to learn more about humans, with Nurdy being transformed into a girl so she can read books (not sure why either) and Zeek just going to Earth as his usual self. Occasional hilarity does ensue. There are also plenty of one page strips to break up the action, keeping everything moving right along. Frankly, I think Brian has come a long way. Even with some of the earlier works when everything wasn’t quite coming together you could see his heart was in the right place, and now it’s all clicking. The comedic timing, the art (in hindsight I’m glad he stuck with the charcoal style), he does good work. Granted, if you’re looking for the most intellectually complex book in the world you’re going to go away disappointed, but if you’re just for a fun comic you could do a whole lot worse.

Cattapan, Brian – Zeek the Martian Geek #6

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Zeek the Martian Geek #6 Now Available! $2.50

Look, a big comic! Well, it’s still mini size, but that’s still bigger than the usual Cattapan offering. He says he’s going to be making all his books bigger, just so the word is out there and everything. This one is all about Zeek and his new girlfriend, who just happens to be a flower who loves to dance. Wackiness ensues, and the flower’s um, family maybe, decide that she’s not allowed to dance. Zeek has to come to the rescue, but can he find her and let her dance again? Well, probably, but you’ll never know for sure until you read it. The art looks MUCH better with the bigger pages. Not that it was bad before, but the extra size really lets everything breathe. It’s $2.50, contact info is all over the place, and there are quite a few of his books available here now, if you’re curious…

Cattapan, Brian – Zeek the Martian Geek #5

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Zeek the Martian Geek #5 Now Available! $1

Good to see that he’s not using a parody of something in every issue. OK, so The Cat in the Hat from Dr. Seuss was in here, but just barely. This one is mostly about Zeek and his potential lady (?) friend dancing around and having fun. Zeek likes having a bit more fun than his lady friend, and that’s about as close as you get to a conflict in this. 8 pages or so of whimsical tomfoolery! Contact info is all over the place and he’s quickly amassing a pile of books to choose from, if you’re inclined to sample a couple…

Cattapan, Brian – Zeek the Martian Geek #4

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Zeek the Martian Geek #4

There’s a lot to be said for being prolific, and there’s also plenty to be said for keeping all the comics he puts out fun. There’s what, three series that he’s doing on a regular basis now? Kudos to him. This issue is a parody of the X-Files (called the Ex-Iles, I don’t know why he doesn’t just use the real name, it’s not like anybody is going to sue and I think that’s fine when used in a parody anyway), and it’s basically making fun of the fact that Mulder and Scully never kissed. Or maybe they did and I missed it, I missed whole chunks of that series and still only have the vaguest idea of what was going on. Anyway, another issue in, and his Plympton-like drawing style is really growing on me. Contact info is around here, see if you can find it!

Cattapan, Brian – Zeek the Martian Geek #3

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Zeek the Martian Geek #3

He sure can crank these out. Still looks kind of messy (I’m not sure if he’s using crayons for these or what), but it’s still fun. This one is about Elvis on Mars and Lisa Marie, along with his customary tremendous number of asides. One thing you can definitely say about the guy, he uses every little bit of the page. Eight pages of fun with a few parodies thrown in for a dollar, what’s wrong with that?

Cattapan, Brian – Zeek the Martian Geek #2

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Zeek the Martian Geek #2

Random, frantic fun. The book looks like it’s gotten a bit messier since the first issue. The panels are a lot busier (there are little asides everywhere) and I’m still not sure exactly what the heck was going on. I think the alien was trying to impress Winona Ryder (and he uses aliases for everybody famous, but I really don’t think that’s something you have to worry about when putting out a mini comic) by stealing all kinds of stuff. It’s a goofy, fun comic, without much substance. I also just found that he has a website, and it’s a pretty ridiculous place. Want to buy panties with Zeek on them? Check it out if you don’t believe me…

Cattapan, Brian – Zeek the Martian Geek #1

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Zeek The Martian Geek #1

Do I have a word limit that I have to reach with these reviews? No? Good. I ask that because there’s not much to say about this book. It had a few funny parts, in between the parts that weren’t so funny, and then it was over. It was cute enough to be worth a look, but I don’t know if I could say the same after reading a few more issues of this. It looks like it would get really old really fast. Still, I’m just judging this one issue, and it was pretty funny. Send the man an e-mail to see what else he has laying around, I think this one was a couple of bucks.

Cattapan, Brian – Zeek the Martian Geek Full Color Special #2

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Zeek the Martian Geek Full Color Special #2 Now Available!  $5

First things first: that is one fantastic cover.  Seriously, just sit back and enjoy that for a second.  As for the rest of the comic, yes, there were plenty of funny bits this time around.  The main story in here is a long piece about  Zeek falling into the, er, “Zone” (because apparently he couldn’t legally say Twilight Zone) and confronting an evil cat.  This piece has more geek references in it than you could shake that proverbial stick at.  Go ahead, read it and see!  Bonus points if you get them all, or should I say shame points, as that would confirm you as a total geek.  Other stories in here include the two of them going camping, bowling, playing matrix frisbee and discussing the true origins of the earth.  This is a bit “inside baseball” as it were, but Brian also wins the prize for “mailing most likely to survive a nuclear explosion”.  One thing about his comics, they always get here wrapped in a ball of tape so thick that I have to cut into the package o’ comics (hoping that I don’t chop anything vital), and when I get inside they’re usually wrapped in three layers of bubble tape.  It’s a good precaution, as my mail carrier usually takes “do not bend” warnings as a personal challenge, but maybe one less layer of everything the next time around?  Sure, you could call that rambling that is utterly disconnected to the comic being reviewed, and you’d be right, but it’s good to know for people who are going to be sending in comics, and they might be reading this, right?  Right.  Anyway, there are more than enough funny bits in here to make this worthwhile and really, kudos again on that cover.  Oh, and I know this should be down at the bottom of the page with his other full color special, but do you know how big this entire page is at this point?  I’m going to have to change the format of how pages are done one of these days purely because Brian makes so many comics.  $5

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