Monster Parade

I ran across this book at the Fantagraphics table back at Stumptown in October. I’d never seen it or heard about it before, but creator Ben Catmull happened to be there signing at the time. The little image here doesn’t really do justice to the cover, which is a subtly textured combination of various paints and ink linework. It’s intricate and moody, and sets the stage perfectly for the contents.

Monster Parade is an odd, non-linear collection of stories that flow into and out of one another, their only connection being that they feature strange creatues of some sort. The first section, “Winter Storm,” brings a series of giants and gargantuan beasts that personify the titular weather as the artwork gradually darkens, becoming more rich and ominous. The black and white brushwork and washes abruptly segue into warm burgundy tones for the tale “Monster Express,” a shift in color that mimics the sudden shift in narrative style. In this story, we find one Professor Williams sequestered to a train compartment with a fellow traveler, whose conversational topics and personal habits grow increasingly disagreeable during the journey. He’d leave is unpleasant companion if he could, of course, were it not for the monster loose on the train…

This lighthearted episode is followed by a return engagement of “Winter Storm,” featuring a new batch of storm creatures, brought forth by the rain and dark clouds, clouds which match the smoke rising above the setting of the final story. “Civilization Studies Illustrated: An Overview of the Industrial Civilization of [unpronounceable]” reads like the Lonely Planet guide to a city dreamt up by Dr. Seuss and Edward Gorey. A handy list of sea creatures, both edible and inedible, tourist attractions including “haunted cellars where no living person should tread,” and an extended detour into the history of a war between Louse Land and Mite Ville, on the underside of a local dock.

There’s a whimsical yet morbid feel to this collection, an imaginative surrealist spirit. Apart from “Monster Express,” there’s really no narrative to speak of, just a series of images and ideas that are as inventive and charming as they are sombre and eerie. Catmull’s illustrative style is clear, despite purposefully murky tones. Even with his relatively simple figures and cartoonish faces, he manages to convey a dark sensibility.

Project: Romantic

The way I think about comic anthologies is the way that Freaks and Geeks character Daniel Desario explained being pigeon-holded into the ‘dumb’ category as a kid: you’ve got the A group (the smart kids), the B group (the normal kids), and the C group (the dumb kids). As I read anthologies, I subconsciously put each story I read into one of those categories: awesome, okay, and bleh.

The only anthologies I haven’t done this with are Project: Superior and Project: Telstar. Either Chris Pitzer is the super-god when it comes to editing and directing an anthology or Adhouse has some special goggles that it uses to filter out the mediocre, boring cartoonists.

That being said, I wasn’t sold on the idea of an anthology dedicated to “love and love stuff.” Call me a cynic, but the sacchrine sweet nature of pulp romance stories has turned me off of the romance genre in general and, to be honest, it makes my blood run cold. But I figured that some of my favorite cartoonists, including Hope Larson, Kaz Strzepek, Aaron Renier, Liz Prince, and Randall Christopher, wouldn’t butcher the subject as I fearfully imagined.

Thankfully I was right.

Kaz’s story about randy, love-struck boys wanting some action from sewer girls was well drawn and fun to read. Hope Larson’s “When I was a Slut” was beautifully drawn and colored and the story dialogue device of an instant message conversation was a nice departure from the norm. Liz Prince’s story of a love lost was touching and genuine - two of her strong suits.

The most exciting story for me to read was Maris Wicks’ twist on a “choose your own adventure” story, using simple art and reader interaction to develop the outcome. The clean lines and lack of background action really focused the attention of the reader to the story they can construct. It was a unique twist on something familiar, which should be applauded.

My favorite panel in the book came from Evan Larson. The story is of Cupid going on a vacation and leaving his gear in the hands of an assistant. Pained by the all the hate and sadness in the world, she began to shoot everyone who was in distress. The story was good, but the art was better. His art is exciting to look at and it helps move the action along. And really, who can resist Batman having relations with a roll of toilet paper?

All in all, Project: Romantic is fantastic anthology to close out Adhouse’s trilogy, which will most likely be lauded in the future as the best anthology works around.

*apologies to all artists for defacing your beautiful work with the shitty scans

Castle Waiting

Yawn.

That is what my reaction was when reading a synopsis of Castle Waiting. I fancy myself a bit of a harsh reality lovin’ type of gal, so the idea of fantasy and fairy tales and “happily ever” make my eyes glaze over.

But I questioned my inital reaction after picking up the collected Castle Waiting by Linda Medley at the new Fantagraphic Books store. After admiring the beautifully bound, gorgeously printed book in the damage room, the mere 15 dollar price tag coupled with my growing curiosity won me over.

And wow, did I devour this book. I read with the fervor of the worst breed of fangirl and the intellectual curiosity of a scholar. Awed by the subtle weaving of Greek mythology (like a character referring to herself as the boulder to Sisyphus), fairy tales, drama, romance, and humor, I am humbled by how enthralled I am by this story. The construction of the plot keeps the reader on their toes, as the character Lady Jain weaves in and out of childhood memories and real-time events. The art is impeccable and perfectly suited for this fantasy world filled with sprites and pregnant women and walking horses.

I think what makes me the most happy is that I am not one of the first fans - the ones who had to wait years for a new installment of the story. Since Castle Waiting’s inception in 1996 (it was a blessed Xeric inception, by the way), publishing has been unpredictable at best. Since Fantagraphics restarted the series, there has already been two continuation issues and one more scheduled for November. I’m hoping the healthy pace continues as I will now be one of the many waiting with baited breath for the next issue.

Steaming Pile

Fantastic Four - not only am I late to the game on this movie, but I am joining the chorus. There are only two things that don’t bring out the rage in me about this movie. One is that I checked this movie from our library, so I didn’t spend any money to watch it. The other is that the actor who played Doom at times looked like Morrissey. Other than that, the steaming pile of dung was a waste of time to watch. Dylan seemed a bit more amused than I did at the movie, but overall it sucked. Don’t make our mistake and stay far, far away from this movie, even if it’s at the risk that you don’t see Jessica Alba skimpily clad.

In other more exciting news, we are taking the long and arduous three hour trek down to Portland in a few weeks for Stumptown Comics Fest. If any of you are going, we should get a drink. We also need to remember to stop and congratulate Farel Dalrymple on his shift to the darkside in his move to the Pacific Northwest. And pick up Meathaus 8.

Oh yeah, sorry for not posting so much. We’ve been busy with an electronic music festival and Halloween costume shopping and stuff.

Forney hearts Led Zeppelin

Back in December when Dylan and I became official Seattlites, I picked up an issue of The Stranger, Seattle’s alternative weekly paper. Within its inky pages was a small interest story about a local female comic artist marrying someone from my neighborhood co-op. It caught my attention mostly because of the illustration of the couple that the cartoonist did. It was fun and sassy while maintaining sincerity.

The style felt familiar to me, so I started going through my “inventory of cool things” (see: mental catalog of that which I give my stamp of approval to). I realized that I recognized her from a cartoon she did for my favorite magazine Bust. Even with this recollection of work I’ve seen of hers, I would have most likely forgotten to seek out her work if it weren’t for her weekly feature in The Stranger: “Lustlab Ad of the Week”. It is what it sounds like - you could be so lucky as to have the ever-talented Ellen Forney highlight to all Seattle whatever perversities you put in your personal ad through her crafty cartoons.

Then one day while perusing the selection at Half-Priced Books I came across one of her offerings. It is called I Was Seven in ‘75, and I was instantly hooked. She was funny and smart and quirky and talented and someone I would love to drink beers with.

In our neighborhood of Capitol Hill it’s hard to not see Ellen’s pervasiveness…if you are looking anyway. Once familiar with the name, I saw her work popping up in the most random of places. I saw a postcard she did for a yoga studio while waiting in line at Caffe Vita. I saw her illustrations in The Stranger. I considered myself a fan for sure, but other than her website, there wasn’t a whole lot to get my greedy little hands on.

Until now.

Enter I Love Led Zeppelin, brought to you by Kim Thompson and Gary Groth of Fantagraphics Books. For a mere $19.95 you can absorb everything from “How to be a successful call girl” to her enlightening stories of viriginity lost with Dan Savage, the best damn newspaper editor and sex columnist to call Seattle home. There is a lot more variety to her style than I previously thought, as evident through her work in “Wednesday Morning Yoga,” and a lot of depth to her stories than a one panel illustration provides.

Monologues For the Coming Plague

Comics as a medium isn’t very friendly to minimalism, and I have a feeling that a large reason for that is economic. Your typical “standard-size” pamphlet these days costs $2.99 for about 22 pages of story, and there are hundreds of them released every week. Readers like to feel like they’re getting something for their three dollars, and they’re likely to be disappointed if they can breeze through a comic in under 10 minutes. For that same three dollars, they could’ve rented a DVD at their local video store and had 2 hours of entertainment (more if it’s a TV series on DVD). The minimalist precept that less is more doesn’t have much sway over someone who feels their entertainment dollars are better spent on quantity.

There’s definitely a tension between the concepts of quality and quantity at play when reading Monologues For the Coming Plague, the deceptively gargantuan new collection from Anders Nilsen, published by Fantagraphics Books. First impressions of the book are of a thick, perfect bound collection, similar in size and heft to an upscale paperback book with heavy matte covers. It’s apparent without opening the book that there are two different paper stocks used; a blue-gray tinted stock that’s unusually heavy, for roughly the first 4/5ths of the book, and a more typically weighted white stock for the last portion. It’s a nice package, distinctive and eye-catching.

Artistically speaking, it’s a triumph of content over form. If you’ve never seen Anders Nilsen’s work before (the Dogs & Water graphic novel, his ongoing Big Questions series, and contributions to anthology series like Mome and Kramer’s Ergot), it’s likely to initially strike you as sloppy and amateurish. His drawing style is fluid, in the sense that it changes depending on the context of his work, and it should be no surprise that these sketchbook excerpts are rough and unrefined. In fact, they’re visually reminiscent of something that would be doodled on a notepad during a phone call. Each “story,” or monologue, or dialogue, presented here is paced at the brisk rate of one “panel” per page, often with a repeated visual surrounded by generous white space, with text providing the only variation. There are a handful of characters and scenarios, all equally absurd and introspective. Typically, there are either two characters having a conversation or otherwise addressing each other, or there is one character addressing the reader. It’s a simple setup, and it’s played out over and over again, with either extended interchanges, or a series of variations on one scenario. It’s quite literally a page turner, at an average of 1-3 sentences per page, occasionally no text.

Nilsen uses this simple setup to great effect, however, with unexpected insights and sight gags popping up during repetitive sequences. The one-panel-per-page trick is actually an effective device for pacing out the stories, and allowing for surprises to hide behind a turned page. It allows a little more flexibility in the pacing than tiered panels would, where the “reveals” would have to be paced in multiples of the number of panels.

Some of the material here will be familiar from anthology appearances, notably some of the sequences with Nilsen’s scribble-headed character, a cipher who plays strangely undefined roles in usually philosophical conversations. This character appears throughout the book, either talking with the vaguely drawn man from the cover, or talking directly to the reader. Here, he fills the roles of devil’s advocate, secret conspirator, trickster, everyman, and more. There’s also an extended gag-cartoon style setup, with a bird and an old woman with a bag of seeds saying surreal or unexpected things to each other. These scenes work on a simpler version of the central concept of Big Questions, using animals (specifically birds) as stand-ins for humans to allow us a more detached view of human nuance. While Big Questions tackles exactly what its title implies using this narrative device, the scenes here are more about quick jabs at human quirks.

It’s strong material that takes advantage of its format, but the format itself may serve as an obstacle to many. Despite the high production value and quality content, it would be easy to see this book as padded, and overpriced. Despite its high page count, it’s a quick read, with most pages containing no more words than a children’s book. Combine that with an illustrative style that eschews craft in favor of roughly symbolic, almost iconic simplicity, and the overall impression to the general public is going to be somewhat skeptical. And at $18.95, that skepticism is going to be hard to overcome. A superficial evaluation of the book probably won’t win over any potential readers. It’s a prime case of conflict between art and economics; it’s unlikely that the book would be as artistically successful in a different form, but it’s the apparent conflict between form and content that may prevent it from getting the recognition it deserves.

Spiral Bound

Aaron Renier’s Spiral Bound is a book that I’d had my eye on for a while, before I finally picked up a copy at APE earlier this year. I liked the art style on the cover, and the book was attractively designed, with a great attention to detail. It was made up to look like a hand decorated spiral bound notebook, as you can see from the image above. What you can’t see from that image is how far that idea was taken: the spine has an image of metal spirals with a pencil tucked into them; the back cover is made to look like a typical cardboard backing, complete with faux price stickers; the page edges have half-toned rule lines like notebook paper, which are visible on the edges when the book is closed. It’s a charming book, without even getting into the contents.

But the contents are where this book truly shines. Renier has created a rare thing here, a book with the superficial trappings of a children’s story that is nevertheless emotionally complex, and moving without being manipulative.

The story takes place in Estabrook, a town of anthropomorphic animals of all species. The world of Estabrook is well thought out, although it works on it’s own odd logic. The town has a small-town feel, where all the characters know each other and gossip spreads quickly, in part due to the underground newspaper, The Scoop. The events of Spiral Bound take place during a school vacation, when the younger children are enrolling in various camps. Our protagonist, a shy young elephant named Turnip, chooses sculpture camp, at the urging of his new friend, the exuberant dog Stucky. The sculpture camp will culminate with a sculpture garden event near the town pond. Thing is, the town pond is rumored to be the home of a large monster, and controversy erupts in the town when this plan comes to light.

It all takes place in a world where anything goes. A free public sculpture class taught by a whale? Why not? A haunted pond? Sure! A series of underground tunnels and secret passageways into seemingly every business in town, known only to the staff of the underground newspaper? Hell yes! A rock band with a giraffe drummer, rhinoceros turntablist, feline singer, and bear accordionist? You betcha! Renier’s Estabrook is that sort of wildly imaginative place. And the characters who inhabit it are well-developed, with distinct personalities and flaws. There are no evil characters, but plenty of conflict arises out of their misunderstandings and differences of opinion, and this is a touch of realism that really helps sell the idea of Estabrook, and it’s otherwise fantastic goings-on.

The story arcs of various characters loop around each other, until they all become intertwined around the question of what exactly is in that mysterious pond? While the staff of the Scoop, including new reporter Ana Rabbit, do some digging for answers, Stucky is working on his own plan to discover the truth, using the submarine he’s building at sculpture camp. Meanwhile, Turnip struggles with his frustration with art and his unrequited crush on Viola the mouse, and inadvertently gets caught up in the intrigue.

One interesting creative choice Renier made is to keep a realistic sense of scale betweent he various animals of Estabrook. Ranging from the diminutive (Junebug, who runs the deli, Emily the bird, Viola the mouse) to the gargantuan (Turnip’s father, an intimidatingly large and short-tempered bull elephant, Ms. Skrimshaw, whale who teaches sculpture from inside a huge rolling fishbowl), with all range of sizes in between. It’s an interesting change from the typical anthropomorphic animals in many comics, who often seem to be generic human-proportioned bodies with animal heads. It’s more reminiscent of the character designs in Walt Kelly’s Pogo (a clear artistic influence here), but with a wider range of sizes. It’s not just a stylistic conceit however, but is exploited for dramatic effect as well, like the terrifying moment when Turnip’s father finds Ana Rabbit and Emily snooping in his bookshop.

It’s become a cliche at this point to say that a book (or movie, etc.) is truly all ages, but Spiral Bound is certainly that. It’s young protagonists’ hijinks are straight out of the textbook on young adult adventure fiction, but it’s their solidly depicted emotional arcs and growth that really drives the story and gives it a wide appeal. It’s an amazing book on all levels, and excellent value, with 184 dense pages for only $15. I can’t recommend it highly enough.

Mixed Bag #4 Reviews

Chris “Lefty” Brown, being the super awesome person he is, challenged fellow bloggers to a mix cd challenge. See my director’s notes post if you wish, but here is what I thought of the discs I received from the other participants of the Mixed Bag #4: Death and Taxes.

GENERAL IMPRESSIONS:

Chris “Lefty” Brown - DISC #1 ROCKIN’ LIKE DOKKEN
Highlights: I loved the Ben Folds song “Get Your Hands Off My Woman”, The Police to Prince transition, and the inclusion of my super secret (though not so much anymore) favorites, the Beastie Boys. There was a nice variety in tempo and styles throughout the mix.
Constructive Criticism: I am a fan of odd transitions - as long as the music flows into each other. But the Sufjan Steven’s “John Wayne Gacy Jr.” movement into Dokken’s “Tooth and Nail” wasn’t my cup of tea.
Requisite Grading Scale: 7.5/10 awww-yeahs

Chris “Lefty” Brown - DISC #2 I SEE DEAD PEOPLE
Highlights: I was so excited to see this mix, because I was thinking of using this same theme for my mix. But I had problems trying to go from Otis Redding to Elvis to Notorious B.I.G., so Chris proves far superior in this talent than I. The enclosed list of birth and death dates is a nice nerdy touch.
Constructive Criticism: I would have liked enclosure of some other musical genres, like rap, but that’s just me. I know I have ecclectic taste.
Requisite Grading Scale: 9/10 awww-yeahs

Eddie - SOUNDS ED-CLECTIC
Highlights: Apparently everyone got together to discuss my love of The Clash, as this is one of a few mixes to include the iconic band. But seriously, how could one go wrong starting off a mix with “Know Your Rights”? I also liked the fact that Eddie used his entire disc. It’s nice to know there are other neurotics out there. And thanks to my Grandpa I have a deep rooted love for Ladysmith Black Mambazo, so that was a nice sentimental touch (even if it was unintentional).
Constructive Criticism: When I complained about lack of variety in some mixes, apparently Eddie read my mind and went running off in the other direction. At times, this mix feels really disjointed and unfocused. But I guess that supports his theme, so more power to him. It just made me feel like a crazy person. Nice hidden track too.
Requisite Grading Scale: 8/10 awww-yeahs

Gordon - …THIS WORLD, THEN THE FIREWORKS
Highlights: I love, love, love, love the mid-section starting with The Breeders and ending with Television. It’s like a Serene’s favorite music sandwich. This feels like a good soundtrack to a beer party with political friends. I’m not sure what that means, other than this is a very smart mix, while still being low-brow.
Constructive Criticism: The U2 song didn’t fit very well in the last half of the mix, but that’s just my opinion. I liked the variety of generations represented on the mix, but most of the songs had the same feel and tone. It would’ve been nice to reach out a little further, but I liked the sound, so it didn’t bother me much.
Requisite Grading Scale: 8.5/10 awww-yeahs

Greg - THE TOTALLY UNSAFE FOR WORK CD
Highlights: Any mix that includes Prince, the Magnetic Fields, Scissor Sisters, and the Beastie Boys is alright in my book. While I am admittedly lukewarm on Cinderella and the entire genre it is in (hair metal gone ugly), I appreciated it on the mix for tapping into my inner fourteen year old who finds dirty words and loud guitars funny.
Constructive Criticism: There are some questionable transitions (ie. From the Magnetic Fields to Suicidal Tendencies) that feel really abrupt, but considering the variety there really isn’t room for gentle movement.
Requisite Grading Scale: 7.5/10 awww-yeahs

Kelly Brown - MAN VS WOMAN
Highlights: I really liked this mix for two very different reasons: her dedication to the theme throughout the mix and the use of Motley Crue. The use of a washed up rock band from the 80’s may seem to be a silly reason to like the mix, but it’s used in an unironic way. And it’s fun.
Constructive Criticism: Since it was a gender defined mix, I would have liked to see more females on the mix. It feels a little masculinated, so apparently the men win this time around. But you best watch your backs…..
Requisite Grading Scale: 8.5/10 awww-yeahs

Kevin - (FOCUS)
Highlights: I was lukewarm on Saint Etienne until this mix. Perhaps I should give them another chance. This mix deserves to be listened to in a stark, hip martini bar with sexy people dancing around. Fantastic music choices paired up with a nice spring-jazz feel to the mix made me feel very sophisticated and worldly just listening to it.
Constructive Criticism: There isn’t anything sticking out at me, other than the fact that Kevin obviously is a snob and thinks he is better than everyone else by using such a high-brown theme with his arty photograph cover and hoity-toity music. Pfft.
Requisite Grading Scale: 10/10 awww-yeahs

Logan - DISC #1 - THE GOOD
Highlights: Opening with a quote from Mystery Men is a way to get in on my good side. In addition, the theme being clearer on this disc and a wider variety of music made it my favorite of his bunch. Also, though I hate Rollins Band, I appreciated the nod to The Crow with the inclusion of the song.
Constructive Criticism: There is never an excuse to use Creed on a mix - in my world, anyway. They are nails on a chalkboard for me.
Requisite Grading Scale: 8/10 awww-yeahs

Logan - DISC #2 - THE BAD
Highlights: I really liked the Prince track “Partyman” in this mix and the inclusion of Green Day’s “Nice Guys Finish Last” (random trivia: this reminded me of my brief stint as the bass player in an all-girl pop punk band which was basically a Green Day cover band). I enjoyed the wide WIDE variety of ‘bad guys’ on this mix.
Constructive Criticism: I previously mentioned two of my mix cd cardinal rules: odd transitions okay if music matches up and no repeats of an artist. Both were violated on this mix (Green Jelly to Prince - riddle me this and two GNR tracks - though it’s a tough one to call since both tracks were covers).
Requisite Grading Scale: 6/10 awww-yeahs

Logan - DISC #3 - THE UGLY
Highlights: This was the first of his three discs I listened to because I love the MC Chris song “White Kids Love Hip-Hop” and I really really love Rocky Horror Picture Show. Plus, I liked the Dangerdoom album, which tapped into the eternal Adult Swim fan in me. Looking over the rest of the list, I was startled by the sheer variety of songs on this mix. In such a good way.
Constructive Criticism: It was hard for me to follow the theme because there wasn’t a lot of “ugly” in this mix for me, other than the Bubba Sparxxx “Ugly” track. I thought maybe it was implied that the artists are ugly, but then I thought maybe it was that the songs were ugly or about ugly people. And as far as I’m concerned, this could have included at least one female artist .
Requisite Grading Scale: 7.5/10 awww-yeahs

Mike - DO NOT BRING YOUR EVIL HERE
Highlights: I was told to expect crazy from his mix, so I was sort of prepared. Even with the warning, I was still startled by the opening track being a soundbite from The Swamp Thing television show. Overall, the mix has fun and unpredictable, which made it entertaining to listen to. My favorite off the mix was the Devo track, which delivered a punch only the awesomely costumed men of the synth-pop 80’s can deliver.
Constructive Criticism: One of my cardinal rules is to never use a band more than once on a mix. In Mike’s defense, Young Fresh Fellows are pretty awesome. But three times was too much for my taste.
Requisite Grading Scale: 7/10 awww-yeahs

Roger - IT AIN’T EASY BEING GREEN
Highlights: The Nick Cave and Johnny Cash song is phenomenal and I’m so happy to hear it on this mix. I was also happy with the variety, from Talking Heads to Etta James (both great musical touchstones). Also, knowing that most of this mix is a autobiographical exercise makes this mix awesome by default.
Constructive Criticism: The Jeopardy theme seemed to be a bit much and not really needed, but I would probably brag a bit too if I were on the show. And in my final display of nitpicking, I really didn’t like listing of “Drive My Car” by the Fab Four rather than The Beatles - even if we all knew who it was.
Requisite Grading Scale: 9/10 awww-yeahs

Thom - IN ONE EAR: MY OWN CHAPTER
Highlights: The cover caught my attentions and the track listing kept it. I really liked the Elbow song “Forget Myself” and I know I cannot be alone in loving the Welmore Mile’s “The Bee Song”. My overall impression of this disc is that it was well put together and fluid.
Constructive Criticism: I wasn’t sure what the Eric B. & Rakim song was doing on this mix. I enjoyed it for a change of tempo and flavor, but both the transitioning song in (Elvis Costello’s “Deep Dark Truthful Mirror”) and out (a very awesome “Under the Sun” by Sound Transmission) made it stick out like a sore thumb to me.
Requisite Grading Scale: 8.5/10 awww-yeahs

A Free Comic Review

Dave over at Yet Another Comics Blog has been so kind and generous to send out some free comics to his readership, so I figured it would only be polite to review what he sent me.

Hummingbird by Gregory Benton, SLG, $4.95

Since I was appropriately labeled an “indy comix” fan, Dave definitely scores a high mark for sending this comic. This comic can definitely be considered indie; partly because of the publisher and partly because of the whacked-out story line and art. Gregory Benton art is sloppy and creepy and weird. And it works perfectly with the story line that from the very beginning is shocking and disturbing. Within the first four pages we see the mother eating the insides of the family cat and gnawing on her boyfriend. And to clarify, this is not a zombie comic. The namesake of the book is a little girl, smart and wise beyond her years, who is forced to deal with her psychotic family and re-establish a relationship with her father to survive. If I were to pick this up at the store, I’m not sure I would buy it, so I am grateful that Dave sent me this copy (signed, no less).

The Goon 25 Cent Issue by Eric Powell, Dark Horse, 25¢

I have heard about this story and have seen the trades of it, but I have never been inclined to pick it up and read it. And it’s actually pretty cool - if you are into the whole fighting zombies and other creatures that go bump in the night storyline. The art is awesome and the story is funny at times, so this was a nice bonus addition to my free comics package from Dave. I don’t know if I am convinced enough to go catch up with the series, but this was certainly a nice palate cleanser.

SPAZ!

Some of you may remember my previous post that mentioned Kaz Strzepek’s minicomic series The Mourning Star, a sci-fi fantasy epic that I continue to recommend highly. Well, the book pictured above is Spaz, another Strzepek book that shares many of the same qualities that makes The Mourning Star such an excellent read.

The book itself is produced in a similar manner, with a heavy cardstock cover in a light, cool, gray tone, with three-color screened artwork. The binding is a piece of colored thread looped through the pages and cover, color-coordinated with the green of the cover art, and tied in a neat little knot in the center. This clean, attractive presentation is what initially caught my eye about his work, as it’s several notches above the typical Xerox and staples production values of the minicomics world. The attention to detail is striking.

But where Spaz truly shines is inside. This book collects a series of gag cartoons about a trio of roommates. One of whom is a mute, anthropomorphic cat, and the other two are an odd-couplesque pair of college buddies, one straight-laced and put-upon, the other rather lacking in social graces. Not an especially original concept, but the execution is spot on. Each page is typically a complete “scene,” from setup to punchline, but the scenes are strung together in a larger narrative. Not really a plot, as there’s no overarching storyline in any grand sense, but there is in internal continuity to the strips, and several of the one-page scenes connect into longer storylines.

The characters are rather broad, but well-thought-out, and their interactions are the source of the humor here. Booie, the wild roommate, is the instigator of almost all the hijinks, which range from harmless pranks and drinking mishaps to stealing cars from crackheads and exposing children to hentai. There’s also an incredibly funny sequence detailing the pitfalls of trying to combine nerdy pastimes with sexual fantasy.

There’s an infectious rhythm to the book, with solid laughs coming at the end of every page, and usually smaller gags filling in the space between setup and payoff. In a lot of cases, the jokes build on top of each other, making each page progressively funnier and leaving few comic possibilities unexploited. There were a few times I had to stop reading to wipe the tears of laughter from my eyes.

Spaz would be completely at home in one of the many alt-weekly newspapers that run comics like Maakies or Red Meat. It’s a dark yet lighthearted sort of humor for adults that functions well in small doses, but pays off even higher laugh dividends in concentrated doses. I’m not sure if there are more episodes of this series in the works, but apparently there is some more Mourning Star coming sometime this summer.

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