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Friday, September 3, 2010
MOCCA Reviews Part 2
The comics
Skyscrapers of the Midwest #1
by Josh Cotter
AdHouse Books, $5
A group of tales set in a Midwestern America populated with robots and anthropomorphic cats. This book is totally effed up! Mike Dawson of Gabagool fame recommended this to me, and I have to say, it is vastly disturbing and creepily unsettling… but in a good way! Ironic, twisted, utterly sardonic and with a bleak sense of humor, the stories here will make you laugh at first until you realize what’s actually going on and then you’ll be like, waaaaaaait a minute… The ads and letters pages make for a nice touch as well and add to the dimension of this odd world. The art is quite good – maybe a little too much hatchwork and not enough solid black at times, but it remains clear. Great stuff. B+
Hester & Galatea
by Chari Pere
website, no price listed
Bullied, self-esteem-less pre-teen girl finds strength from an unusual source. Wonderful female empowerment story; simple, yet never condescending. Contains a nice sense of whimsy, mixed with a macabre undercurrent (Hester’s anorexia is less disturbing than the fact that it makes no difference in the way she’s perceived – not even, presumably, by her parents). Delightful Craig Thompson-like artwork with some lovely detail, plus a strong use of lettering. Very much in the tradition of other feminist cartoonists such as Trina Robbins, Sarah Dyer, and Rachel Hartman. I want to see much more from Chari Pere! A-
Unsichtbares/Sichtbares: Your Guide to Fashionable Living
by Marguerite Dabaie
website, no price listed
Sibling cabaret performers in 1930 Berlin struggle with their professional and personal lives; one in particular contemplates a drastic life-changing decision. Two years ago at MOCCA I discovered Fay Ryu’s remarkable art object miniature graphic novel Hello; this year I believe I’ve found something almost as rare and unique in this small press comic. Unsichtbares/Sichtbares, German for “invisible/visible”, is modeled like an old German fashion catalog, complete with period-specific outfits, descriptive copy, and prices (reichmarks, I believe). The prose that makes up the story is slipped in-between the copy for things like “Modern apparel SEMI-MADE tailored by experts for your convenience” and “NEW practical popular OVERALLS FOR WOMEN – dainty fadeproof colors.” The story text is in a sans-serif font while the copy is in a typical Times New Roman-style font. It takes a little bit of reading to notice. The models are the characters, both women and men, and most of the time they’re depicted in typical fashion poses. The black-and-white painted art is very good, not just with the models and clothing, but also the bits of hand-lettering and the overall art deco page layouts. In places, the ad copy reflects the story, an inspired extra layer of complexity worthy of Alan Moore (and I don’t say that lightly), especially later on when the copy reads more ironically. The prose writing hints at the big secret to come adroitly; you’ll find yourself going back and forth in the book after it’s revealed to see how you could’ve missed it. This is one of the most ambitious small press books I’ve ever seen, and Marguerite Dabaie does a superb job at making such an unusual format work. It’s material like this that keeps me reading comics. A
Panel-4 #1
by various
website, no price listed
An anthology of short stories from a group of working animators. Glyph Award nominee Danny Kimanyen is included in this bunch with some of his EboNYC strips, but I think I liked Michael Mucci’s “Nuclear Walken” strip the best (post-apocalypse Christopher Walken slaying mutated celebrities – what’s not to like?). Chris George and Euralis Weekes round up the lineup of very talented animators. Give them a look (and hire them if you can!) B+
Tear-Stained Makeup #3
by Marcos Perez
Cliff Face Comics, $2
Young woman survives a car crash and slowly comes to terms with the aftermath while recuperating in the hospital. Don’t recall why I bought issue three of this and not issue one, but it didn’t matter because this was a well-told vignette. Laura’s emotions run the gamut from anguish to rage to nonchalance to fear in only a few pages, and yet hers is only one story among several in this issue. I enjoyed how Marcos Perez weaves the threads of other people’s lives, including peripheral ones who don’t seem to be part of the story at first, in and out of each other (even the kids on the television show have an impact). The art isn’t quite at the same level as the writing yet – sloppy hatching and a little overkill on Laura’s tears. Still, this was a pleasant surprise and it left me wanting to know more about these characters. B
66 Thousand Miles Per Hour #0-1
by Michael Cavallaro
True Believers Press, $5.50 (issue 0), $3.50 (issue 1)
Small-town Jersey girl with boy problems dreams of excitement and an escape from boredom – and gets it, when an alien invades and demands she and the rest of the town vacate immediately. Nothing but a fun, rollicking adventure here. Evie is a sympathetic, engaging character, well-written, with a well-defined supporting cast. The familiar “hero’s journey” archetypes are in place, including the cryptic mentor and the Big Bad and the oddball secondary characters, and it’s all presented entertainingly. Beautiful Bruce Timm-like artwork is another major plus – the transition from color in issue one to black-and-white in issue two was jarring, I admit, but it remains no less strong, and the use of pencil is judicious and smart. The zero issue (which honestly, should be the first issue – too many creators have forgotten what a zero issue is supposed to mean) also includes a 2-song CD from a singer-songwriter named Shanti that’s meant to be the “soundtrack” for the comic. Very pop-rock, WB-demographic material that’s pleasant enough to listen to and fits the tone of the book well. Worth a look and listen. B+
Robots R’ Cool, Zombies R’ Jerks #1
by Devin Quin and Sean Z. Murray with Matty Cacerta and Stacey Lynne Zoe Martin
The Living End #1
by Devin Quin and Michael Lockwood with Josh Siegel
Dead Fish Comics , $1.75 (Robots), $3 (Living End)
Robots: Always be sure to have a robot chef handy so you can reprogram it to fight zombies in a pinch. Living End: Being a powerful magic-using superhero by night is awesome, but being a corpse during the day really sucks. To say that both of these books are lighthearted would be a massive understatement. I think I would’ve preferred to have seen the zombies put up a bit more of a fight in Robots, but you gotta admire the creative ways the Chef-Bot disposes of them. Plus, the way that his programming unexpectedly turns allies into… well, lunch, is a very clever and funny twist. The Stan Lee-isms in Living End were a bit much after awhile, but I liked seeing how Greg deals with his newfound powers. The art in Robots is the better of the two; it provides a great Mad magazine feel. The jokes in both books get stretched a bit far, but overall they remain fun. Both books: B
Pretty Female Assassin Pixie #0-1
by Vince Sneed & John Peters
Die Monster Die, $1.50 (issue 0), $2.50 (issue 1)
Android assassin gets field-tested by its creators until something unexpected occurs. Anyone remember Forty Winks? It was an all-ages fantasy comic from the 90’s that seemed to be on the verge of breaking out, like Akiko and Bone. Anyway, its creators, Vince Sneed and John Peters, are still around and still making comics, like this one. The over-the-top cartoon violence is pretty funny, as is the way both Ruth and Gabriel pit Pixie against each other in a Spy vs. Spy kind of manner. (“Anti-aircraft Nancy” – cute!) American manga art retains the rough-edged look that was also in Forty Winks; the crosshatching is used judiciously for the most part and is balanced with lots of solid blacks. Pixie is very different from Forty Winks, but just as fun. B+
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April 22, 2008:
February 4, 2008:
November 20, 2006:
A Comic-Con without the Captain
