Reviews - Illustrated Fiction 25

2009 Birdcage Bottom Books
12 b&w pages, plus cover printed on brown paper with white screen print added for accent
Digest (5.5" x 8.5"), saddle stitch binding, with trim
$3
Website: Birdcage Bottom Books
Blog: The Holy Yost
Store: Birdcage Bottom Books Shop

J.T. Yost has several projects going. One is a series of comics based on dreams. Snoop is the first. According to his blog, he's also done one on Arnold Schwarzenegger, has one on Dick Cheney in the works (perhaps for SPX), and a backlog with Roseanne Barr and Henry Rollins.

Snoop features comic reenactments of three dreams Yost dreamt in 02, 06, and 07. Each one is about what you'd expect from a dream—an odd little vignette with threads of humor and unexpected twists. Each one is two pages long and Yost does a nice job structuring these random episodes into relatively coherent comics.

The final (6 page) story is told in first person, past tense, so I'll go out on a limb here and assume it's autobiographical. It recalls an awkward instance of coming of age in which Snoop Doggy Dogg's music plays a part. Again, Yost demonstrates his ability to clearly tell a story using the comics medium.

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Yo! Burbalino #1-3 by Greg Farrell

#1 & 2 (2009) #3 (2010)
20 b&w pages each, plus cover
Digest (5.5" x 8.5"), handmade, with saddle stitch binding, no trim
$3 each, 2 for $5, 3 for $8 (postage paid)
Website: Yo! Burbalino
Shop: Yo! Burbalino Buy Comics!
Facebook: Yo! Burbalino Comics

Greg Farrell, aka Gargle Farley, is the mastermind behind Chef Don and his screwy foil, Earl Squirrel. A former rapper, now "retired", Farrell has a penchant for spontaneous rhyme and his comics are sprinkled with verse in the second and third issues. He also includes a few favorite recipes, courtesy Chez D.

Farrell is very dedicated to creating comics. He posts new pages to his website with admirable frequency and began posting daily drawings of Chef Don last April (2010). Still, I get the feeling he doesn't take any of it too seriously. His comics seem more spontaneous than carefully calculated gags and storylines. It looks like he has a lot of fun creating his comics and they're best appreciated from that perspective.

Farrell's shortest gags—the three- and four-panel comic strips on the inside front and back covers of issue #1—are hit or miss. There isn't much to them except the punchlines. I enjoyed the full blown comics more. And in general, the longer the stories, they better they played.

Farrell's humor aims for the slapstick, the outrageous, and the absurd. Some of his ideas and gags work better than others. I felt there was improvement in both the writing and the cartooning between the issues, with #3 being the best of the lot. It features the longest—and I thought the best—adventure. A nine pager.

The books have occasional moments of ribald humor, like the collage of cocks on the cover of issue #3 (not shown). It's moments like these that narrow the audience for all three comics to adults only. If the samples here pique your interest be sure to check out Farrell's website. He's posted lots of his comics there so it's a great opportunity to see what Chef Dan and Earl Squirrel are all about.

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Stitching Together by Ed Choy Moorman

2010 Bare Bones Press (BBP #17)
20 b&w pages, plus cover printed on green paper.
Digest (5.5" x 8.5"), handmade, with saddle stitch binding, no trim.
$3, contact Ed for ordering into
Website: Eds Dead Body
Blog: Sinew and Bones

This book is a reissue of material mostly pulled from The Love Song of Kermit the Frog, which was reviewed here on Midnight Fiction about a year ago. If you missed that edition, think of this as a new and improved reprint.

Moorman culls the best from the previous title (cover, Scenes from the Life and Death of Jim Henson, Halved Ping-Pong Ball and His Mother's Old Green Coat, and a page from Sing into My Mouth) and adds a three page postscript and a new back cover illustration.

The PS features illustrations that mimic polaroids of a visit to the grounds of the "exhibit of Jim Henson's Delta boyhood" (aka museum). Unfortunately, the small building was closed on the day of Moorman's visit, but he was able to peek inside and see most of the one-room display. A poetic farewell to Mr. Henson: All the wonders of his fanciful creations, just beyond reach.

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Collections by Josh Blair

March 2010, self-published
8 pages, black ink on colored paper, includes self-cover
Mini comic (4.25" x 5.5"), handmade, with saddle stitch binding, no trim
$1 postage paid, from
Candy or Medicine Etsy Shop
Website: Candy or Medicine
Blog: Candy or Medicine

In the fall of 2009, Josh Blair worked as a bill collector for a four month stretch. This mini comic, created several months later, serves as both therapy and a tribute to his fellow collectors.

After a short introduction, Blair cuts loose with the comics—each one a single-page, six panel gag. The humor is rapid-fire slapstick. Set-up the joke and deliver the punchline—ba da boom!

The bill collector and his victims are drawn in stick figure form or in a few cases, just slightly more. The jokes themselves are mildly amusing. Where Blair excels is in the telling. He sticks to the action, with minimal dialog, creating efficient communication. The rapid succession of the pages and gags improves the cumulative effect of the jokes.

Blair also provides a Bill Collector Bingo board that creditors can play while making their calls. This could be the highlight of the issue and a real boon to the boiler room.

The back cover is a tribute to the brave souls dialing for dollars every day by Candy or Medicine contributor JB Sapienza.

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Front cover and an interior page from Norman: Tales from Amazon #1

Norman: Tales from Amazon #1 by Kelly Froh

When Kelly Froh landed a contract position at Amazon.com she thought it was going to be a cool gig. Boy, was she wrong. Plugged into one of six front-line operating desks Froh served a six month term fielding customer calls and complaints.

Norman is one of perhaps more Tales From Amazon, and another fascinating character study by Froh. Norman was a stoner, recovering drunk, and co-operator who took a turn for the perverse with the ever-present Indian security guard.

The conflict escalated to the Dexterous hands of corporate HR where justice is culpably dealt with business-like efficiency and extreme prosecutory aversion.

Norman's Amazon tale is told in illustrated first person narrative. Froh's storytelling is authentic and entertaining. The moments she portrays are close-up and emotionally packed. In the end it's Norman who acts in his own defense. Froh simply presents her recollection of the case and its epilogue.

Norman: Tales from Amazon #1 (2010 self-published) is 16 b&w pages, including the self-cover. 4.25" x 5.5 ", handmade, with saddle stitch binding and the leading edge nicely trimmed. It's available for 50¢ from Profanity Hill. (This is one title you won't find on Amazon.)

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Candy or Medicine Free Comic Book Special 2010 front and back covers

Candy or Medicine Free Comic Book Day Special 2010
edited by Josh Blair

Unlike some free comic book day comics, this special edition is only a sampler in the sense that it presents in-kind comics. Nothing here is reprinted from previous editions of the regular quarterly mini comic anthology, Candy or Medicine.

If you want to get a flavor of what CorM is all about, you can't go wrong downloading this free edition, which is available as a PDF file (800 kb) on the Candy or Medicine website.

After the cover by Faminas Faminosas, editor and publisher Josh Blair contributes a silly one-page comic about a Tired Ghost.

Tornado (3 pages) by Patt Kelley is the book's standout piece. The artwork is quite wonderful and if you enjoy quirky humor, you'll love the random progression of this whirlwind adventure.

The one-pager) by Domen Finzgar plays an illustrated game of 5-finger fillet with a sharp pencil.

The contributors page is cleverly delivered as a comics page by Tyler Stafford (who also drew the back cover), that even includes contributor URLs.

Candy or Medicine Free Comic Book Day Special 2010 is 8 b&w pages. The printed version handed out at select comic shops is 4.25" x 5.5", printed on good quality white paper, with saddle stitch binding. For news and update on the CorM world see the Candy or Medicine blog.

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The Former Room-Mates of Gary Jones by Kelly Froh & Gary Jones

Cartoonist Kelly Froh says Gary Jones might be the world's greatest room-mate. Why? One word: tolerance. When most people's patience is long gone, Jones' welcomes back even those that robbed him or walked out the door on him.

This comic zine is a sometimes disturbing portrait of Jones' former room-mates. Each page is a full size cartoon reenactment of their colorful mugs with Jones' recollections below. It's a simple, but intriguing premise. The only question is: Just how colorful are they? Instead of a comic zine, imagine this book as a test. As you read each profile, ask yourself, "Would I welcome this guy/gal into my rooming house?" Keep track, because a score of 21 could make you the next world's greatest room-mate.

The Former Room-Mates of Gary Jones (2010) is 24 full color pages, including the self-cover. 5.5" x 8.5", handmade, saddle stitch binding, with no trim. It's available for $2 from Profanity Hill and select outlets listed on Froh's blog, Slither.

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Candy or Medicine #9 edited by Josh Blair

Josh Blair's quarterly mini comic anthology is still going strong. With higher production values than many of its brethren, CorM continues to present the work of a wide variety of indie cartoonists with top notch repro.

Here's a run down of issue nine's contents:

Temptation (3 pages) by Dan McEwen lets the pictures do all the talking as a headless body and a street urchin each explore the temptation of companionship.

Mister Toast & Monsieur Croissant (1 page) by Danny Ferbert and Sarah Bunker shows how two half-baked chick magnets vie for a serving of honey.

Scrambled Circuits (2 pages) by Cameron Callahan serves up a sampling of Thanksgiving patter heard 'round the dinner table.

Alex Chiu provides a lovely Candy or Medicine centerfold, that's one of the book's highlights.

Robo Rabbit (1 page) by Joseph Carlough is a gag comic about—what else—robotic rabbits!

My Interview with Sherlock Holmes (3 pages) by Maggie Morrill is an impertinent romp in which the ever-serious sleuth encounters a modern day media maven and her pop culture questions.

Become Inspired (1 page) by Sean "STU" Steward reveals the answer to the age old question, "Where do comics come from?"

The inside back cover features short, snarky bios of each of the issue's contributors and a preview of issue #10.

Candy or Medicine #9 (2010, Josh Blair) is 16 b&w pages, including the self-cover. 4.25" x 5.5", handmade with saddle stitch binding and no trim. This issue's cover is by Jonny Smeby and the back cover is by Tyler Stafford. It's available for $1.50 (postage paid) from Candy or Medicine.

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Bad Energy by Aaron Norhanian

The experts advise, "Write what you know." Obviously, Aaron Norhanian knows mini comix. This over-the-top mini is all about the adult male cartoonist who—honest to God—wastes an inordinate amount of his time creating, publishing, and then trying to sell his tiny cartoon book to an uncaring, uninterested, much larger, real world.

Fortunately, there is a niche world where this sort of thing is actually celebrated, and Bad Energy is exactly the type of mini its citizens crave. As you might guess, Bad Energy is full of 'tude, exaggerated slapstick, and yes, plenty of energy.

Norhanian is a fine cartoonist. His grotesquely charming characters flail across the pages as the desperate panels seek to contain them. The story grows wilder and more out of control as it charges forward to its inevitable closing response. It ends badly—but in a really good, bad way.

Norhanian is a capable writer and storyteller. The story's flow is fast paced and crystal clear, a nice combination of spontaneity and planning. I particularly enjoyed his clever placement of the narration in select panels.

Bad Energy (2010 Gimme Shelter) is 8 b&w pages, plus color cover. 4.25" x 5.5", handmade, saddle stitch binding with no trim. It looks as if it's printed on an ink jet printer, with very crisp images and saturated blacks. It's available for $2.00 from Jim Hanley's Universe and Forbidden Planet in NYC; Cosmic Monkey in Portland; or add 50¢ for postage and get it direct from Gimme Shelter Press, where you can also purchase Johnny Opensore.

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Exploded View
by the Cloudscape Comics Collective

Cloudscape is a Vancouver-based comic collective where Canadian cartoonists can meet and advance their art and storytelling. The collective holds weekly workshops to share ideas and feedback about their work. The collective's leadership includes Jeff Ellis (President), Jonathon Dalton (Communications), and Anise Shaw (Promotions). Exploded View is the group's fourth comic anthology. Its theme is visions of the future (aka science fiction).

The book makes a great first impression with high quality production values and substantial heft. (I have to abuse the perfect binding of a thick book like this to provide scans of sample panels, and the binding doesn't always hold up as well as this one did.)

Like all anthologies, this one is a great way to sample the work of many indie cartoonists for a single cover charge. The overall quality of the work in this one is very high. I also appreciate the length of most of the stories—longer than many small press anthologies I've read. The extra space provides more room for readers to see what each storyteller brings to their craft.

With two dozen stories, there's a great variety of styles and depth in Exploded View. Several of the stories are based on twists, where the ending reveals an unexpected surprise that changes the meaning of what came before. A few focus primarily on characters and their emotions. And a few combine both plot twists and rich characterization like Breakdowns and Tinker, two of several favorites from the book.

The cover is by Camilla d'Errico. What follows is a contents list along sample artwork and a brief story summary for each entry.

1. Replacement Parts (3 pages) by Kevin Forbes and Aaron Bouthillier explores advances in prosthesis.

2. Man VS Machine (7 pages) by Eric Zawadzki is a wordless, sprawling battle in futuristic fisticuffs.

3. Ethicon (9 pages) by Scot Ritchie is about a retired cop's investigation into an ethical automation (aka robot) that survives its inventor.

4. The Mechanics (8 pages) by Angela Melick tells the story of a class of robots (mechanics) designed to fix other machinery.

5. The Spy (4 pages) by Curt Steckhan delves into espionage, robot-style.

6. Uncanny Likeness (15 pages) by Jonathon Dalton explores the affinities humans attach to lifelike replicas.

7. Conversations at Hara's (11 pages) by Wei Li presents a shopping experience of the future.

8. Mes Amis (4 pages) by Jason Harris extrapolates on social communication and virtual life.

9. Three to Go (9 pages) by Edison Yan is a wordless comic that takes anime stylings and video game action to the next level.

10. Burn (5 pages) by Camilla d'Errico is really just a preview of a longer story between two robotic brothers with conflicting directives. The note on the fifth page directs readers to Burn #6 from Arcana Comics.

11. Breakdowns (15 pages) by Jeffrey Ellis takes us to a lonely planet peopled by a girl and her robot. When the rescue team arrives, rescue does not compute.

12. Faulty Wiring (13 pages) by Paul Soeiro probes at the question, "Can robots be more than their programing?" If there's no record, who can say?

13. Five in Love (14 pages) by Aliena Shoemaker and Chloe Chan present a breakthrough in artificial intelligence—romance.

14. Virtually Ever After (12 pages) by Cat Tang proffers the reality of mundane virtues versus the alternative.

15. Aquanaut Zero (10 pages) by John Christmas exchanges the depths of space for the icy waters, dangers, and delights of the deep.

16. The Adventures of the Hitlerbot (2 pages) by Erik and Chris Zawadski plays it for laughs as the Fourth Reich falls on its face.

17. Last Drive (9 pages) by Colleen MacIsaac prepares for off-world life on a road trip with two sisters.

18. Tinker (12 pages) by Kevin Forbes uncovers the truth about the cogs and their willingness to continue to honor the ancient treaty.

19. Spaceship Zero (5 pages) by Toren Atkinson and Ed Brisson previews the start of an adventure in which a spaceship is discovered in a frozen wasteland. A footnote on the fifth page references an album and RPG at Spaceship Zero, but no mention of when and where the comic will continue. Too bad, the story is off to a great start and the artwork is outstanding.

20. It Came from the Heavens (15 pages) by Colin Upton imagines a primitive world invaded by aliens cloaked in benevolence.

21. Relativity (5 pages) by Lou Ford combines futuristic science with a mind-bending reality.

22. Ctrl Z (15 pages) by Megan Furesz explores breaking the rules in a corporate world where robots live to serve and vice versa.

23. Shopping Lists (14 pages) by Christopher Leinonen reminds us that futuristic technology can overtake humanity, but doesn't have to define it.

24. Outage (12 pages) by Jordyn Bochon introduces us to a world of extremes and the measures it takes to survive them.

Three full page illustrations are included to create a momentary pause between stories and/or even out the pagination. These pages were drawn by Toren Atkinson, Steve LeCouilliard, and Jonathon Dalton. The back of the book also includes two pages with short bios on each cartoonist.

Exploded View (2010, Cloudscape Comics) is an excellent anthology for fans of small press and/or science fiction comics. 236 b&w pages, with color covers, 4.5" x 7.5", perfect bound, with machine trim. It's available for $10.95 (plus $5 shipping) from the Cloudscape Shop, where you can also purchase the preceding Cloudscape anthologies.