tekcop 0 Report post Posted June 4, 2005 I don't want all my "hard work" to go to waste so I'm sticking my indie comic thread here until JWing's back. Don't like it? Fuck you or something to that extent. --------- One of my favorite things in the whole world is independant/small press comics. There just something about a writer and artist actually getting to show people exactly what he or they wanted without having to worry about making anyone happy. I stopped reading comics all together a little over year ago, but I'm starting to get back interested in the little guys. I plan on writing reviews for just about everything I can find. That way, I have something pushing me to find more cool stuff besides just entertaining myself. I'm helping out these self publishers by getting their name out, even if it is only to a select few on a mesageboard. I'll will warn you, though. I'm not much of a writer, I'm just doing this out of love. Also, if anyone her reads any indie comics and has any recommendations or would like to review something, this is the place for that. First review: Teenagers from Mars by Rick Spears and Rob G Original issues published in 2001-2003. Collected in 2005 Macon's your typical, starving comic book creator living in Mars and Mars is your typical, American suburbian town. It has a MallMart, a comic book store, some grave robbing kids, and a mayor with a hook for a hand. Macon writes and draws his comics during the night, copies and prints it on the mornings his buddy works at the copy store, and works at MallMart during the day. He's got a pretty normal life going on until an overly up-tight mother comes into the store complaining about the violent nature of a comic her son had been sold. Words are exchanged and the woman promises to never come back again. Pissed off, the manager tells Macon to get rid of all the comics on the magazine rack. A comic lover, Macon can't bring himself to do that. Words and fists are exchange and our hero is suddenly jobless. While this is going on, on the other side of the store a creeping sexual offenders picks the wrong girl to try and sneak an upskirt look. Our heroeine, Madison, beats the crap out of him fo her troubles. Our girl is punk, that's all you need to know. Madison's is being escorted out by sercurity when Macon notices her. As fate would have it, these two meet up at a party later that night and leave together. After some stupid, teenage vandalism and kiss they part ways and go home. Only this is a night they'll never be able to forget about no matter how much they may or may not want to. Macon gets the stupid idea breaking into his old place of employment and spray painting "Comic Book Liberation Army" on the front of the store, garnering the attention of the mayor and a hard nosed investigator. The mayor goes on television claming that comics are destroying the moral values of kids today, Macon is arrested, the comic book store is pickited, and comics are burnt. I guess that means it's time to fight back. So a comic book about a starving indie comic book creator and the general stupidity of small towns with large groups of self-righteous people, sounds like a neat concept. Unfortunately, the plot doesn't quite live up to the idea. My biggest complaint is that the underlying storyline is very bland. There's a lot of interesting subplots such as the mayor trying to make an example out of Macon and the Comic Book Liberation Army to show off how tough he is on crime since it's election month, and the three kids trying to scrape up enough money through any means necassary to buy a collector's item comic. Issue #4 ended on a bit of a cliffhanger on that storyline and it was never brought up again for the rest of the book. Another big problem I had with the book is that it took it's time to get halfway then rushed to the finish. In the first few issues we meet the characters, they meet each other, and a little vandalism is done on all parts, then, suddenly, characters are assaulting town officials, getting arrested, shot, and stealing cars and then it's over. As for the art, I don't really have an eye for that kind of thing, but I do like it. There's some manga influence, but not much. It's done in grey tones, like color, but in black and white. Ultimately, I'm not sure what I think of Teenagers from Mars. I like it, but it doesn't feel like it could be as good as it could. I'm stil going to recommend it as something for anyone looking for something in their funny books besides spandex. Recommended Edit: I'd like to mention that while everything that happened in this book was imaginary it was inspired by the real life treatment of a man named Mike Diana. Story here. Next up: Dan Berger's Gutwallow -------------------- Bride of Freakshow #1 by C. G. Kirby and a slew of artists. $2.99 Published February 2005 by Digital Webbing I know I promised all four of you who read my other review that I'd do Gutwallow next but I found this while cleaning off my shelves yesterday and I felt like reviewing it. Digital Webbing isn't quite as small press as I plan on doing, but when I first started reading DW published books years ago they were really small and almost entirely done over a message board, so it still feels ok with me. Anyways, on to the review. Bride of Freakshow is a collection of short stories written by C. G. Kirby, a regular contributor to DW's Digital Webbing Present's anthology book. While all of his stories that I've read have followed a certain pattern, although they are generally well written and sometime spooky. It's kind of like reading a comic book version of the Twilight Zone; either the good guys lose or they think they win while the viewer is shown that whatever evil they thought was gone isn't quite. There are four stories, all of which end with a foreboding tone. You never see what happens to the characters or the world they live in, but you know it's not going to be good. The art for each story is handled by a different artist. Greg Scott pencils and inks "Shell Shock," a WWII story about experimental warfare weapons. Scott has a very dark, almost inky style that works well with the given plot. Enzo Pertile does the work on "Flu Bug" which is about a sick kid who realizes his virus isn't quite normal after it jumps out of his nose and attacks him. The only real way I can find to describe Pertile's art is "cartoony Mcfarlane." Not my cup of tea, but certainly not bad. The visuals for "Medicine Men" is handled by Steven Perkins. It's about an extremely strange illness that happens in a small tribal village in Tanzania. Perkin's art is awesome. Parts of it are painted, some of it is colored, and some's in black and white; very unique. The last story, "Drones," is about a corporation's experiment with replacing regular office workers with half-ant half-human workers. It's drawn by Steve Morris. I can't reall recomend this book enough, I don't think. It's the perfect single issue anthology comic. Four short stories, all really good. If you're a fan of The Twilight Zone, you should probably like this. Recommened Next up: Hopefully I can do Gutwallow before this weekend. I need to re-read it first. ------------------- I'm using this thread to pimp a web-comic screw you haters and all that. I'm a part of the Ferret Press newsletter and it seems that Dara Naraghi, one of my personal favorite writers at the moment, has his very own web-comic at Movie Poop Shoot. I urge everyone who reads this thread to give it a shot. Naraghi's got a great sense of dialogue. He's probably my favorite "talking heads" writer currently doing things. Here's the link. Admittedly, the first strip isn't great, but give it a shot and if you like it, buy his stuff. He's good people, I tell you. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
tekcop 0 Report post Posted June 15, 2005 Copy and pasted from JWing to spread the love. AKA by Dara Naraghi & Steve Black Issues #1-2 of 3 Self Published 2002 Ferret Press I started rereading these books thinking I had all three. After reading the first one I looked at the other two and realized that I had two copies of issue #1 and no #3. Oh well, I'll just review the two I have. AKA stands for Albright/Kristopher Agency which is a Private Investigator agency run by two young women. The story starts off with our two heroines snooping on a cheating husband and almost getting caught. After they bring the pictures to their client she askes them to do her a favor. The woman's husband has a video tape of her acting out sexual fantasies for him from back during the early parts of their relationship that he keeps locked up in his office. She's sure that he'll show it to all her friends and family if she files for divorce and want the two girls to break into his office and steal it. Both issues are pretty short, only sixteen pages each, so there's not too much room for character development. But this is where Naraghi's writing seems to shine the most, having interesting characters in short stories. Through dialouge he's able to show both of the main characters' personality without seeming forced or out of place. There's a real sense that these women have plenty of stories to tell and you're just looking at a small part of their lives. The plot isn't overly original, there is an interesting twist once they watch the tape and there are some exciting moments, but it's really not anything you haven't seen before. It's the dialouge and the way he tell the story that makes you want to read more of Dara Naraghi's work, not the plot. As for Steve Black's art, I can see people not liking it. It's not pretty by any means. Thick lines and jagged faces and bodies are preveliant, but I personally love it. I have to sketches of his actually stuck up on my walls. Overall, this is a good short story and really shows that comics came tell many stories outside of just action/adventure and superheroes. Slice of life is the new big thing in comics. Recommended Next up: I'm not sure, I ordered some stuff published by Alternative Comics so it may be that. Gutwallow is also a possibility. -------------- Perverso by Rich Tommaso One-Shot Published by Alternative Comics 2004 $4.95 This is one of the more unique books I've ever read. Basically, it's about this pornagraphy photgrapher whose life gets turned upside down after he takes picture of an underage girl he though was 28. It's you basic 24 page single issue comic where you meet the character, something happens, and everything gets wrapped up by the end but it's very well done. As you can probably imagine, there is a lot of nudity and sex to be seen here. It's actually incredibly cool to look at because of the art style. Most drawn nudity is over the top with gushing pussies and humongous dicks, but everything here looks exactly like it should. Also, it's not there to give you an erection, but to actually convey the story. The art itself is very good. It's sort of like a modern take on 1930's-ish Max Fleisher cartoons. This is good stuff. A little expensive at five bucks plus shipping but it's very unique. Which is great as that exactly what I'm looking for when it comes to indie comics. Recommended -------------- Fancy Froglin's Sexy Forest by James Kochalka One-Shot Published by Alternative Comics $12.95 "I am wearing little pants to hide my genitals. It is the law!" Fiftey-six pages about a frog and his boner. Yes, you did read that correctly. A frog, his tight pants, and his boner. Kochalka has been on the top of my "to read" list for the longest time--three years at the least--and this is the first of his work that I finally get around to reading. Awesome. This is my new favorite book. Fuck Kingdome Come. Fuck 1984. Fuck every work of fiction I've ever read. I don't understand how a book about a frog walking around a forest with an erection can be this charming, but somehow it is. This book makes me love life. It makes me love people. It makes me love comics. Screw Perverso, this is the reason why I read indie comics. Highest Reccomendation I'm so buying that Fancy Froglin shirt now. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
