Earth Minds are Weak #8 by Justin J. Fox

First, a translation: Kaiju are the giant monsters in Japanese movies, and a Jugoruma is a giant bullfrog monster. That being said, this particular issue doesn’t have much to do with either of those things, but hey, it’ll probably be useful information down the line. Why? Justin has decided to do another continuing story, and he threw the first four chapters together in here. He’s never been afraid to take his mini comics (although this “mini” is 43 pages) in wildly different directions, and this issue is no exception. Some influences, listed from his afterward and in no particular order: Moebius, 2000AD reprints, Veronica Mars, old Warner Bros. cartoons, ABC Warriors, The Cosby Show, and Blue Velvet. If you’re not curious after that listing, there’s no hope for you. This is set in a futuristic world and we’re still, to this point, only seeing glimpses. The bulk of the story follows a man (in his flying car) trying to run errands, but his plans are thrown off by a moustached man, following a mid-air gunfight, landing on his hood and putting a gun to his head. We get to see the huge differences in lifestyles for people from different sectors of town and the obvious resentment that would come from the people who weren’t able to get a flying car. I have no idea if this is turning into a giant, sprawling epic or if this is going to fizz out in a few issues, but for now it’s great to see Justin taking some serious chances and trying something completely different. Futuristic sprawling epics are fine by me, so here’s hoping he keeps this up for a while… provided he still brings the funny in various other mini comics, of course. I’ll leave you with my favorite quote from the book, as he always has at least one quote that sticks in my head: “I’m gonna whittle his textbooks into spikes and stab learning into his skull.”