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Bastards
edited by Dan Lester and
Francesca Cassavetti
The British Artists Standing Tall and Reaching Distant Shores (B.A.S.T.A.R.D.S.) comix anthology has indeed crossed the pond and infiltrated the States as far as the left coast. As Lester and Cassavetti explain in their intro: "Publishing opportunities for comic book creators in the UK are extremely limited at the moment. Possibly as a result of this, there is exists a thriving self-publishing scene."
Bastards was created to provide a sampler of some of the best small press cartoonists on the British scene. It's always fun to catch a glimpse into the work of a new crop of cartoonists, and Bastards certainly does a good job of it. There's a short bio on each the creators at the rear of the anthology. I'll use the links listed to augment this overview of the book's contents:
Schmurgen Jonerhaffs, a London transplant from Norway provides five, one-pagers sprinkled throughout the book. Four of them feature his masked personification who tries to create meaningless relationships with women.
Paul Rainey (Book of Lists, There's No Time Like the Present) contributes an intangible tale of clairvoyance, paranormal investigation, and snark.
Dan Lester (Monkeys Might Puke) is featured in a couple of one-page movie reviews of Big Bang Love and the Mad Detective, as well as the off-color Conjoined Twins at the Strip Club and Cat vs Baby. He teams with Jake Harold (Justine Tyme) for a nine page story called Junkies in Space and a final solo effort called Speed Dating.
Dan Lester and Jake Harold's Junkies in Space
Francesca Cassavetti (Fabtoons), drew the cover art (colored by Lester) as well as four stories. Paris Break is a mother/daughter tale in which each sees the world from her own perspective. DHSS Assessment Blues provides an ironic quip on bureaucracy. The Snake is about perceptions of a young girl's friendship with a neighbor. And The Convention is about comic events and the community that fosters books like Bastards. One of the anthology's highlights.
One of my favorite cartoonists from the British scene, Sean Azzopardi (Ed, Twelve Hour Shift, and Necessary Monsters) teams with writer Douglas Noble (Strip For Me) on the haunting, experimental Sightings of Wallace Sendek. The pages in Bastards are selected from a longer story that's running online at The Sequential. Azzopardi also contributes a page of gags and caricatures from his sketchbook.
David Baillie's (Tongue of the Dead) pages feature eight of his aptly named Belly Button Bubble Chronicles. Lots of wacky fun.
Philip Spence (Ninja Bunny) contributes four pages of comics that provide amusing commentary on the human condition. His pages are another of the book's highlights.
In Sally-Anne Hickman's first one-pager an exuberant cake crushes her naive companion in a clinical cacophony of rationalization. Humor that hurts. Later in the book she has six pages of comic strips and one-pagers about work, bosses, and how people deal—or don't deal—with life. Her final story in the collection is reprinted from her work at The Sequential.
Oliver Lamden's wacky Bouncy Ball is a lovely comic rendition of the Ladyfuzz tune. His other piece, Curtis and Terrorist, is a wake-up call to vigilance.
Emma Price contributes a nice full page illustration of a famous hero's call to action.
Bastards is 76 b&w pages, plus color covers. 5.75" x 8", perfect bound. It's available for £5 in the UK and £7 internationally from Paul Rainey's Shop (scroll down). If you'd like a good look into the British small press comix scene and can't afford a trip to Gosh!, you can't go wrong with Bastards.
Midville High #3 & 4 by Matt Blair
The May 2007 and June 2009 editions of Midville High each feature a zine-length comic adventure with best friends Kyle and Barry. The two students' adventures at Midville are inspired by (or based) on real-life high school angst and academia. Blair has a natural, easy-going style of storytelling. His stories are clear and nicely paced. Like a well-written sitcom, the adventures of Kyle and Barry strike a good balance between plot and jokes.
In issue #3, Kyle, Barry, and June take a career aptitude test. The results indicate that Kyle's innate talents make him a natural for a career in farming. He heartily embraces the idea and immediately transforms into a folksier version of himself, complete with a countrified twang.
In issue #4, Mr. Rodberg, the band instructor, puts Kyle on a strict schedule of practice that must be verified with a note from his mother. The divisional contest is coming up quick and even his fellow band members feel Kyle is stinking up the band. Desperate measures are required.
Blair's cartoons are very simple, but his characters and the action both read clearly. The words and pictures work well together to tell the story and keep you turning the pages. For scene changes he throws in little static panels of high school related images—the Guidance Counselor's office, a school lunch-size carton of milk, etc. They work brilliantly, creating just the right pause between scenes and pulling the reader further into the world of high school.
Blair's Choosy Begger Books is credited with publishing the comics and he runs a sketch blog by the same name. When you click on the Books link you can download issues of Midville High and its companion title, Kyle & Barry as free PDFs.
Midville High #3 & 4 are both 16 b&w pages, plus covers. 8.5" x 5.5", printed, folded, and stapled. They're available for $1 each from Matt Blair or he's happy to trade with other comikers.
Here's a package so engaging it actually overshadows the comics inside it. The comics are fun too, it's just that the box is in a class by itself. It's a wonderful idea, brilliantly executed. It's printed in black ink on a sheet of light-weight cover stock, expertly trimmed, folded, and glued. The head, ears, limbs, and tail of the bear are separate pieces each carefully applied to a different side.
The set of ten mini comics inside also take a unique design approach. Each is a single sheet of 8.125" x 11.5" paper, folded down to nearly a square of about 2.75". To read them you unfold everything and then get started. When folded each book sports a front and back cover, which fall in the center of the page when it's unfolded.
Chandler's been publishing Tempo Lush since 2007, and completed the tenth issue in 2009. Here a brief run through each one:
#1 Lucy the Octopus is the daughter of a dysfunctional family of cephalopods. She stars in a series of short gags and comics. It looks as if Chandler was struggling a little with how to fit everything into his format in this first issue. From the second issue on, he'd figured things out and following the flow of panels was intuitive. Issue #1 is printed in full color on a satiny, thick paper stock. Very pleasant to the touch, with gorgeous color.
#2 14D is an over-the-top story about a strange animal that hatches in a lab, designated subject 14D. The story is told as diary entries with an illustration of 14D in each one. It's a clever device and the dates at the top of each panel provide clear guidance for the reading order of the panels. This issue is printed on graph paper—almost a vellum—with what looks like four spot colors. 14D is blue and the lab notes are a brownish green.
#3 The title of this one, Govinda the Meditating Rabbit, describes the issue clearly. Only Govinda's skills go beyond meditation and include the ability to conjure his ruminations. Another full color issue printed on bright, white paper.
#4 Mish Mash Mosh is collection of random gags with a few guest cartoons by Marie Lee and Tyrone Pierre and photographs of Ming Xien Yeo and Tibah Hussain. Printed in black and brown on the same paper as issue #3.
#5 My Half Term Holiday looks as if it was written and drawn by Jodie Russell, with Chandler adding snarky comments along the way. It's printed on what is made to look just like lined notebook paper, complete with punch holes running down the side. That artwork was rendered in colored pencils giving it a look like crayons. The story is about a grade schooler who recounts her amazing holiday.
#6 The A-Z of Absolute Truth is based on the lyrics of a song of the same name by Last Precious Cookie. It's two colors of ink printed on a loud, green sheet of paper.
#7 I Hate David Samson is an ode of hatred for a mailroom clerk from the head of marketing who imagines the young lad is trying to steal his job. The jokes and asnides nearly overwhelm the panels, crowding out the artwork, which is a bit sketchier than pervious issues. Chandler experimented with the layout of this one, with a sidebar and a diagram of the sort marketers and office folk are so fond of using to illustrate their points in PowerPoint presentations. It's printed in navy ink on yellow paper.
#8 The Sculptor is a wordless comic story that flows nicely from start to finish with solid cartooning, clever bits, and a punchline that delivers the goods. This was my favorite of the series. It's printed in full color on grey paper.
#9 22 Responses to an Insult consists of a collection of single panels with the insult, "You are such a pathetic loser!" and the response. As you might expect, some of the 22 responses are funny, others are merely amusing, and a few are pathetic. (Sorry, I couldn't resist.) The issue is printed in black ink on red paper.
#10 Believe it or not, The Heartache of Square McBear is a comic story about the box the mini comics are packed inside. An unusual, but imaginative premise. It's printed with black ink on a light yellow stock.
Chandler's work is clever and inventive. Each issue is fresh and full of experimentation. His stories are always light-hearted, with a childish wonder, a hard edge, or thick with sarcasm. His cartooning runs from tight renderings as in The Sculptor and Square McBear, to a sketchier style as in 14D and A-Z. He seems to love trying new approaches and the collection is full of surprises.
The Tempo Lush Mini-Comic Box Set is available for £10.00 (£1.95p for shipping to anywhere in the world) from the Richy Chandler Tempo Lush MySpace page, where you can see lots of samples, a very nice trailer, and a list of his other works.
Claptrap #2
by Onsmith
The second issue of Onsmith's self-published zine is jammed full of drawings, sketches, and gag cartoons. The images are wild and fun to look at—sometimes shocking and sometimes just plain goofy. He experiments with different styles and techniques that add to the fun. His abstractions run from sharply angled cartoon characters to jagged designs with only hints of realism. Some of the drawings are collaborations with Paul Nudd.
The pages vary from full page illustrations to collections of sketches. Several pages are filled with cartoon heads, dozens of unique characters with expressions that run the gamut of the emotional extremes.
Near the center are several pages gag cartoon with polished artwork and edgy humor. The centerspread is a full color piece, a beautifully rendered cartoon with sharp angled business guys sharing their lunch and excesses.
The cover is a two-color slikscreened print on colored paper. Claptrap #2 is 24 b&w pages, plus a 2-page full color centerspread, plus cover. 7" x 8.5"; handmade, numbered in an edition of 125 copies; with saddle-stich binding. It's available for $6 from the Poopsheet Shop. For a good sampling of Onsmith's work check out his blog at Onsmith Comics. He's also a member of the Trubble Club in the windy city.
I'm Not From Here
by Kenn Minter
Kenn Minter's comic strip I'm Not From Here is part autobiography, part commentary, and always amusing. The cover of this collection asserts the comics inside are "slightly embellished" versions of real life. That snarky sentiment is typical of the dry wit and sly humor that await readers inside.
The strips are about relationships, day-to-day life, cartooning, and an occasional digression into existential realms—conversations with a large bunny named Oliver. Some of the strips are downright hilarious, while others are simply observations, commentary, or even reportage. It makes for a nice mix that works primarily because you feel like Minter is drawing the strip just for you. But you never know for sure where he's going to take you next.
Minter's cartooning is loose, with bold lines. The artwork is simple but full of life and attitude. The layouts and perspectives are inventive. The fun Minter has with his comics comes through to the reader.
Minter's I'm Not From Here is part of Comic Related's webcomics, so there's plenty of strips to sample online. If you like what you see, pick up this first collection of strips to encourage Minter to keep making more. I'm Not From Here is 100 b&w pages, plus color covers. 5" x 8" perfect bound book, published by New Mint Press. Introduction by Joe "Oliver" Conkwright. It's available for $10.99 from ComiXpress. Check out the Kenn Minter website and the Not From Here Comic sketch blog.
8 Stories By Rob Jackson
8 Stories is exactly that. A collection of eight different stories created at different times over the years. Although not all the work is dated, it appears the more recent, the more refined Jackson's writing and artwork becomes. In terms of gravitas, the cover story, The City That Fell in Love with it's Own Reflection, is the book's standout. The writing (by Shonagh Ingram) and art create the feeling of a sobering parable, but it's filled with whimsy too and concludes with a crowning quip. I imagine this was a difficult story to translate into comics form, but Jackson did an outstanding job.
The book's other seven tales range from single-page gag strips to shorter stories that are either autobiographical or inspired from life events. Jackson's humor is a unique combination of cheese on wry, with an occasional chunk of something raw mixed in to keep things spicy.
8 Stories is 28 b&w pages, plus color covers. It's A5-size, handmade, with saddle-stitch binding. In the US, 8 Stories is available from the Secret Acres Online Store for $3.50. In the UK you can buy it for £2.50 from the artist. Check out Rob Jackson Comics for more samples of his work and to see all of his in-print collections.
Papercutter #10
edited by Greg Means
Most of the time when I hear the term "graphic novel", it's used as if it's a genre. Of course, it's really a medium—a code word for comics. The term was meant to bolster the status of comics or to differentiate a more worthwhile type of comic from the ones that used to occupy the spinner rack at the local convenience store.
The terms "art comics" and "literary comics" are also bantered around these days. They're meant to describe a storytelling approach that differs from the spinner rack fare. In popular fiction, plots are resolved and the fates of the main characters are clear by the end of the story. In literary fiction, the plot is often ambiguous as is the fate of the main characters. The story's purpose is to be a catalyst to evoke emotion or raise questions for the reader to explore. Literary fiction requires more work from the reader and seldom provides a neat or resolute ending.
Papercutter #10 includes three stories, just like previous issues. Two main features and one short comic. Both of the main stories end unresolved. If you expect answers, you won't find a sense of closure with either ending.
Willy by Damien Jay is about a restless spirit that can't find the peace required to cross over into the spirit world. The tension and mystery builds nicely as Jay carefully unfolds his story. The characters and their world are revealed through the action and dialog. The story is always moving forward. It's brilliant, but it's vague ending left me unfulfilled.
Perils of the Sea is a delightful collage of gag cartoons and comic strips arranged across the centerspread by Jesse Reklaw. Reklaw's slapstick and pun-filled interlude provides a nice bridge to the zine's final story.
Hello Neighbor by Minty Lewis seems a bit more lighthearted than Jay's piece, but that may be more a product of her style and character choices than the content of the story itself. It's about ordinary life in the suburbs using a cast of unusual characters. Their dialogue, lifestyles, and actions are just like a group of ordinary suburban office workers, but Lewis adds considerable interest by making them all pieces of fruit. However, the ending is—you guessed it—ambivalent.
Both Jay and Lewis deliver strong storytelling, interesting plots, and solid cartooning. But oh, those hanging threads. . .
Papercutter #10 is 32 b&w pages, plus full color cover. 6" x 9", offset printed, with saddle-stitch binding and machine trim. Excellent production values as always. Inside covers by Nate Beaty. In addition to Tugboat Press editor Greg Means also writes a blog on LiveJournal called Tugboat City. Damien Jay's Willy was nominated for a 2009 Ignatz Award for Outstanding Story. Jesse Reklaw publishes Slow Wave in newsweeklies and online. Minty Lewis is a previous Ignatz Award-winner and author of PS Comics. Papercutter #10 is $4 and available from shops listed at Tugboat Press.
Baltic Comics Magazine
š! #1edited by David Schilter
and Zane Zajančkauska
Here's a terrific comic anthology Rick Bradford turned me onto. It's mission is to foster the comics culture in the Baltic States. The contributors for the first issue come from several different continents but despite it's unmistakable international flavor, the entire contents is in English.
The book opens to a contents page and short introduction by editors David Schilter and Zane Zajančkauska. Issue #1 is the Green issue so the content is geared to teach as well as entertain.
First up is one of several one-pagers by Russian cartoonist Oleg Tischenkov, called The Cat.
The Hunter by Jari Vaara from Finland is a eight page wordless story in which the hunter becomes the hunted.
Emelie Östergren from Sweden also tries her hand at a wordless tale highlighting the plight of captive animals.
German, Henning Wagenbreth contributes a one-page comic composed of silhouettes that he created during a workshop he led in Riga during the summer of 2008.
Ingrīda Pičukane of Latvia presents a humorous tale about an archeological dig in the dead of Winter.
The center spread shares another The Cat comic with a short recipe on organizing an international environmental campout supported by Youth in Action.
Joonas Sildre, alias Zildre, from Estonia, provides a four-page wordless comic about a mountain climber who finds a treasure with strings attached.
Nicolene Louw from South Africa is a illustrator and designer who contributed a four page story about Taiwan.
A final page of The Cat is followed by a funny three page gag by Oskars Pavlovskis of Latvia.
König Lü.Q. provides a sassy one-pager called Recycling Politics.
The final comic is by cover artist, TeER from Germany, who provides a collection of one-page comics built around the environmental theme.
The last two pages provide short biographies on each artist. The Baltic Comics Magazine š! #1 is 48 pages in full color, including the cover. It's roughly 4" x 6" with saddle-stitch binding. It's well worth the $6 cover price and is available in the U.S. from the Poopsheet Shop.
UFOJA LAHDESSA #2
by Marko Turunen
The title of this intriguing Finnish comic means UFOs in Lahti. The book is mostly a series of interconnected comic stories written and drawn by Marko Turunen, but the center section, printed on bright green paper, is dedicated to reports of supernatural and unexplained phenomena.
Turunen's comics feature the strange adventures of an out of this world cast of characters with names like Graterwoman, Lemonhead, and Wild Man of the West. His scratchy, free-flowing artwork is filled with visually interesting textures and his characters are clearly rendered despite the looseness of his lines. After the opening splash page, his stories consist of two panels per page. Some are borderless, but most are loosely defined by the backgrounds that naturally grow out of the foreground and the story's action.
Turunen's word balloons are spontaneous boxes that shoot out of the character's mouths. The dialogue and narrative is usually in Finnish inside the panels, but at the bottom of the page everything is repeated in English, in good quality translations. It takes a little extra effort to correlate each balloon of dialogue with its appropriate translation, but it's worth it to explore an indie Finnish comic that would otherwise be unaccessible.
The comic stories include: Alien in France in which the young Alien takes a room at a modest hotel in Paris while attending the Monteuil Book Fair. However, the fair is quickly forgotten and Alien spends most of the story making amusing observations about his room, his neighbors, and French culture.
Lemonhead, Alien in France continues with the Alien's attempt to shop at a local grocery, but he's unable to communicate with the Manga-inspired French clerk behind the counter.
Next, Alien is on the move again. This time it's Alien in Russia, Prologue. A series of three interesting looking characters provide a seriously cautionary tale about Russian crime and corruption.
In Alien in Russia we find the Alien on a train back to Finland. Unfortunately he's ill. So ill, he may need to go to the hospital, but having been educated about what goes on in Russian hospitals in the prologue, he's determined to gut things out until he reaches Finland.
For the moment we part company with Alien, as the Wild Man of the West begins his quest for Pokemon Eggs and the treasures they hold inside.
Christmas Ham a la Wild Man of the West finds our anti-hero narrating a how-to guide to poaching and eventually enjoying a Christmas Ham.
The book concludes with another quirky holiday tale in which Alien and Graterwoman Present: Christmas Parade.
The center pages present short stories submitted by UFO Club members that recount their first-hand encounters with mostly supernatural events. Turunen is hoping for a better mix of UFO and supernatural, but issue two is weighted heavily toward ghosts and spirits.
The contrast and similarities between the comic stories and the UFO Club reports make an interesting combination; each influencing your reaction to the other. UFOs in Lahti is such a fascinating concept for a zine, I'm anxious to see how the next sighting develops.
UFOJA LAHDESSA #2 is 72 b&w pages, plus the color cover. (UFO Club pages are printed on green paper.) Roughly 7" x 10" with saddle-stitch binding, and machine trim. It's available for $9.75 from the Poopsheet Shop and 8€ from Pitkä mies in Europe. You can also follow Marko Turunen's blog by the same name, with select translations.
Candy or Medicine #7
edited by Josh Blair
Josh Blair is right on time with the seventh edition of his quarterly mini comic anthology, Candy or Medicine. Here's a complete look at the contents:
The front cover by Blair is an Andy Narwhal send-up of Jim Steranko's cover from Nick Fury Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. #6 from 1968.
Blair maintains top-notch production values for his mini comic and it really pays off on pieces like Adam Wilson's An Ice Cream Story. With average-quality repro all the subtlety of Wilson's delicate tones would be lost.
Wish Fulfillment is a deserted island gag strip by JB Sapienza. (1 page)
An Ice Cream Story by Adam Wilson is a little light on story for four pages, but his tonal artwork is so beautiful it's worth reading more than once. (4 pages) Wilson is Contributing Editor of Shrunken Wool and writer of Manifest Destiny.
Robocide by Morgan Kessler is a full page gag cartoon. (1 page) Kessler's work includes Bad Judgement, More Bad Judgement, and her latest, I Wish I had a Penguin Friend.
Untitled by Tyler Stafford is a wordless comic of cosmic proportions. (4 pages) Stafford self-publishes Folk and recently completed his fourth issue.
Untitled by Carl Alessi is a gag strip. (1 page) Alessi's work has appeared in Satyr #7 and Holy Titclamps #17.
Ed Keer contributes a couple of comic strips. (1 page)
True Facts Jam includes contributions from Tammy Lee, Rich Lillie, Will Broadbent, Blair, and Sapienza. (1 page)
The inside back cover acts as an issue index and includes a short bio on each of the contributors. The back cover is a charming full page illustration/cartoon by Alex Chiu. The more I see of Chiu's work, the more I like it.
All and all, another solid issue of one of mini comicdom's best mini comics. Candy or Medicine #7 is 16 b&w pages, including the cover. 4.25" x 5.5" with saddle-stitch binding. It's available for $1.50 (postage paid) from Candy or Medicine.
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