Comicsgirl

It’s that time again — when my stack of unreviewed minicomics has gotten out of control. There will be a part 2, but it may not get done until Sunday. (Also, if you’ve sent me something and it’s not in this group, it should be in the next one. If it’s not in the next one and you think it should have been, please let me know.)

Moe: Piotr Nowacki
In this wordless comic, a dog is antagonized by a shapeshifting black blob. The dog ends up in jail, in the clouds and underwater. Piotr Nowacki’s art is open and cartoony and he conveys exaggerated movement and expressions with delightful skill. While I think Moe basically pushed its simple concept to the limit, this is still inventive and fresh. I’m interested in what Nowacki will do next.

The Turtleneck Dialogues: Turtleneck Boy Volumes 1-5: Suzanne Baumann and others
The title character of Turtleneck Boy is a goateed young man, who, yes, wears a turtleneck. In Baumann’s comics, his conversations with the other characters here are mostly quick little jokes — simple misunderstandings and light-hearted social awkwardness — in her loose, playful style. The comics here that aren’t by her don’t always work as well for me, although I enjoy the community spirit in which they were done. Turtleneck Boy is basically a blank slate, after all, and so he can be put into just about any situation. It was a fun, surprising little book.

Blaster Al Ackerman’s Tales of the Ling Master #1: E.J. Barnes
This is trio of stories based on Al Ackerman’s writings veers almost immediately into the surreal and bizarre, but E.J. Barnes’ crisp, precise art makes it work. She takes joy in illustrating the weirdness of these stories through intentionally disproportionate faces and inventive layouts. While the subject matter isn’t to my taste, I couldn’t help but be enthralled by Barnes’ ability in bringing these stories to the page.

Suggestion Box #1-2: Katie Omberg and Matthew Smith
We’ve all worked retail at one point or another, haven’t we? We’ve all dealt with stupid customers or coworkers, people who are too chatty, people who’ve demanded too much of our attention and then don’t buy anything. Suggestion Box is all too easy to relate to. The first issue, written and drawn by Katie Omberg, is about a customer in a frame shop who is a little too impressed with her own meager photography skills. Issue #2, written by Matthew Smith, involves the vague, dumb questions people shopping in music stores tend to ask. Both are borderline cruel in their criticism of people, but we’ve all been there and it’s all too easy to relate. Omberg’s sketchy, free art is great at illustrating the mundane interiors of retail stores (it’s all shelves and counters and racks of goods, after all). It’s a fun idea that’s executed well. And also makes me glad to not be working retail anymore.

Lucky Girl #1: Terrance Hanley
Lucky Girl is a young superheroine who is — you guessed it — lucky. She’s also brave and resourceful, too, and this allows her to get to the bottom of crimes. These crimes are pretty innocent — the first story is about the theft of some Uma Thurman dolls and the next is about a missing instrument — but Terrance Hanley brings plenty of noir-ish drama to these proceedings. His art is full of crosshatched shadows and menacing angles. Lucky Girl herself is cute and plucky, though — she’s adorable in her bulky sweater and black mask — and she definitely brings a lightness to these two tales. I hope there are more Lucky Girl stories — this isn’t quite enough for me.

Review copies of Moe and Lucky Girl provided by the creators.

Latvia isn’t necessarily the first place you think of when you think of comics. Publisher Kuš! is trying to change that. Through its comic magazine, it is highlighting home-grown and international talent as well as promoting the art form throughout the country.

With its Mini Kuš! collection, released in December 2010, I think they will quickly become someone to watch. A selection of four 20-page mini-comics, showcases. While two are wordless, the other two are both accessible for English-language readers (one is in English, the other has “subtitles” at the bottom of the page). All four are in full-color and are beautifully designed and printed. I think these would almost be worth having as just objects.

But, fortunately, as comics, they’re diverse and fascinating individually and all together, they form an inventive, progressive collection.

The Story of Gardens – Kuba Woynarowski
In sharp black and white with spots of bright red, Polish creator Kuba Woynarowski brings a graphic designer’s sensibility to this dreamlike look at life after humans. Without a doubt, there is something uncomfortable and apocalyptic about this, but Woynarowski’s gorgeously detailed drawing of plants and insects taking over the world is intense and moving.

Bearslayer Returns – Ruedi Schorno
Swiss creator Ruedi Schorno expands on Lativan folktales of the Bearslayer and updates him to the present day. Here, Bearslayer is just a man who goes about his every-day life, which increasingly begins to feel like a less-than-exciting existence. Less traditional comic and more a series of paintings with captions, Schorno shows a lot of wit and humor in the loose facial expression of his characters juxtaposed with deadpan statements like “He is a skilled driver.” Even though it doesn’t particularly go that deep, it’s both a funny and sympathetic criticism of modern life.

Weeding – Till Hafenbrak
This is probably my favorite of the four. German creator Till Hafenbrak creates a tale that’s both cute and a little scary wordlessly. It’s a little hard for me to know exactly what’s happening, but a friendly gardener discovers a horrifying plot involving headless bodies and heads growing like flowers in the basement of a mansion. It’s really more fun than it sounds and is not gory. Our gardener, of course, saves the day (with a bit of help) and even gets the girl. With bold images and a limited color palette of magenta, turquoise, black (although it’s a soft blue-black) and white, this is thrilling and actually pretty sweet.

Being – Mārtiņš Zutis
Without a doubt the most philosophical of the four, Latvian creator Mārtiņš Zutis meditates on the meaning of myth, truth and existence itself. Zutis’ loose images that switch between detailed pen and ink drawings to sketchy watercolors give this comic an unexpected feel and kept me intrigued about what was coming next. While I respect what Zutis is trying to say here, I’m not sure if it really amounts to much, though. Still, I have to wonder if that was somewhat the point.

While the comics here can be purchased individually, the set is only $11 for all four (they are available here) and I think they all work best with each other. If this is the quality of work Kuš! is nurturing, Latvia may become a comic-producing country to watch.

Review copies provided by the publisher.

I told you I had too many, which is why this was broken up into two parts. You remember yesterday’s batch, of course.

Zombre #2 – The Magic Forest: Ansis A. Purins
A friendly but awkward zombie awakens in a campground overseen by a hippie park ranger. After causing some accidental mayhem, he befriends Acorn, a lonely girl with an overprotective father. Entirely cute and fun, this is probably the sweetest, friendliest comic featuring a zombie you’ll ever read. Even the scary part turns out to be OK (the lesson is obviously that zombies are misunderstood and just trying to be nice). The sight gags and general slapstick tone, as well as Ansis A. Purins’ art, reminded me of old Hanna-Barbera cartoons. This was a delight.

Conniption: Erin Gallagher
A beautiful and elegantly designed comic, the story — about a little girl (presumably Erin Gallagher herself) throwing a fit and refusing to do what she’s told — is almost secondary to the format. With bold, screen-printed pages and vellum inserts, this is artistic and moving.

Team Girl Comic Vol. 2: Various artists
The collective Team Girl Comic are back with their second volume. Longer and more diverse than the first, this has some familiar creators from the first volume, including Gill Hatcher and Emma McLuckie, as well as introducing some new ones, such as Karena Moore and Mhairi Hislop. The result is once again an exciting collection of young female creators having fun. I’m glad they’re continuing with this project and I know I’ll be happy to keep reading.

Papercutter #10: Damien Jay, Jesse Reklaw, Minty Lewis
Who does not love Tugboat Press’ anthology series Papercutter? Admittedly, I am not a regular reader of the series, but I’ve loved everyone I’ve picked up.

I know Damien Jay mostly from “Frankie Pug Dog” (although, sadly, that’s not all of it) but his story here, “Willy,” is much more somber. A young woman is the only one who can see her dead brother, who keeps coming to her every night. It’s a moody, inconclusive story that Jay’s loose art done in washes of ink compliments perfectly.

Jesse Reklaw’s contribution is much more fun — a two page-spread called “Perils of the Sea.” It’s full of throw-away jokes and funny images.

Minty Lewis offers another of her office dramas featuring anthropomorphic fruit with “Hello Neighbor.” The content is depressing — mostly about urban (and suburban) loneliness and the disconnect of being coworkers with people without really knowing them. But since it’s fruit, it’s also hilarious. Lewis has a wicked talent in capturing awkward work situations unflinchingly and her spacious, clean drawings are always wonderful.

I’m not going to write a full review of Prison for Bitches: A Lady Gaga Fanzine, but it is pretty awesome and I’m happy to own it. It has a selection of ridiculously good contributors and I think if you’re even the most casual of Lady Gaga fans, you’d probably like this (although, understandably, at $10, it’s probably a bit more than you’d want to pay).

Review copies provided by Ansis A. Purins and Gill Hatcher.

These are comics I’ve accumulated during the past few months. I was waiting until I had several different things and then before I fully realized it, I had a huge stack. I think I’m catching everyone who has sent me something recently, but if it’s not here today, it will go up tomorrow.

As always, in no particular order.

Urban Nomad #1-3: Alisa Harris
There are a ton of creators making autobiographical comics and so they can often become a blur of relationship dramas and pretentious introspection. Alisa Harris, however, has a charming eye for the ups and downs of city life. The vignettes presented here showcase a smart young woman with a sense of adventure and her clear-eyed style capture moments perfectly. My favorite is the story of how she and her boyfriend Allan became domestic partners (for health insurance purposes — which I think is totally great). It’s sweet and simple and if you don’t want to hang out with them after reading this, something is wrong with you.

And speaking of Allan …

Things I’ve Seen at Shows (#1): Allan Norico
This is what it say: things (and people) Allan Norico has observed at rock shows. His commentary is funny and all-too accurate. Norico’s art evokes Jaime Hewlett at times, but he has a cleaner, bolder style filtered through a designer’s eye. I would love to see his work on T-shirts.

O.G.: Road Trippin’: JustJENN
Everyone’s favorite stationery-designing, Star Wars-party-throwing, cake-maker to the stars also makes comics. Based on actual conversations Jenn had with her grandmother while driving, this is hilarious and adorable. Jenn’s art here mostly consists of basic, bold shapes, but the simplicity works perfectly.

Thanksgiving Party and Hey!: Chris Uphues
Chris Uphues draws adorable cartoon hearts with arms, legs and big eyes. As a vegetarian, I dislike the punchline of “Thanksgiving Party” but it’s gentle and obvious enough (and suggests that his work may not be as cloying as it seems). “Hey!” would make a lovely Valentine, however. Uphues also sent along a book of images draw on paint chips. Looking at his website, he’s obviously interested in color and surreal design. I’d love to see more of his art, comic or otherwise.

Spaz #3: Emi Gennis
Emi Gennis presents herself — or at least, a version of herself — as a highly neurotic young woman. I actually had the thought while reading this that she’s like a younger, more vulgar version of Cathy, and I mean that as a compliment. Her one-page comics “Shit I Worry About” and “More Shit I Worry About” has small panels illustrating everything from the plausible “Everyone laughing at me” and “Debt” to the less-than-likely “Being pushed in front of the subway” and “Being poisoned.” She also feels conflicted over possible procreation — illustrating conversations with a person-sized zygote. Her art is cartoony and loose — all huge, round eyes and just enough detail. Her comics aren’t going to be everyone’s thing, but there is fun to be had here.

Review copies provided by Chris Uphues and Emi Gennis.

Newave!: The Underground Mini Comix of the 1980s Buy at Amazon.com

I wanted to like Newave!: The Underground Mini Comix of the 1980s (Fantagraphics, 2010). Part of me actually wanted to love it. Taken as a book that records a history, it’s pretty awesome. But as a book that’s supposed to entertain or inspire, it missed its mark for me.

Collecting mini comics from the 1970s to the early 1990s (despite what the subtitle says), editor Michael Dowers certainly had an aesthetic in mind. So mostly, this book is full of post-Robert Crumb-inspired art by adolescent males (even if it’s they’re just “adolescent” in terms of mindset and not actually age). There’s plenty of graphic sex and graphic violence, mostly done in a tittering kind of “ha ha, look at how shocking we are!!” kind of way.

I completely understand that most of this book just doesn’t appeal to me. I didn’t feel particularly offended by any of it (although there are some disturbing things) but just bored. There are only so many drawings of women with grotesquely large breasts I can look at before I lose interest. You, of course, may be different.

There were some really lovely things I did like, though, such as William Clark and Mary Fleener‘s “Dead Girl” with its high-contrast, stylized art, Tom Christopher’s pop-art inspired “Vivian” and Molly Kiely‘s dreamy “Lulu.”

It’s only coincidence that two of pieces that stuck out for me were by/co-created by women. But it is worth noting that these seem to be the only two female creators featured in this book. I understand that comics — even underground ones — have always been male-dominated, but I’m also pretty sure that women were making minicomics in the ’80s.

But I think that may go back to the issue of the aesthetic choices of this book — Dowers was including the comics he was interested in and liked, and those aren’t necessarily the ones I am interested in or like.

Still, I think that does make Newave! feel less like an overview of minicomics and more like selections from one guy’s collection.

Newave! does include essays about minicomics and interviews with some of the creators. These are fun and provide a great look at how all of this came about. The chunky shape and size of the book is also fun (it’s only slightly larger than a sheet of 8 1/2 by 11 paper folded in quarters, evoking the size these comics originally appeared in).

I’m disappointed this book didn’t excite me more — I love minicomics and I enjoyed learning a little bit of the history of them (at least, a certain type of them). But ultimately, this book isn’t really for me and it’s not something I’m going to revisit.

A review copy of this book was provided by the publisher.