Monitor Duty
by Randy Lander
"STAPLE Part Two"
Back again with part two of my reviews of shows from Austin small press show STAPLE. If you haven't heard the buzz about STAPLE, by the way, you might check out any number of sites, including Toby Craig's livejournal, Girls With Slingshots, Comixtreme or even the official forums at STAPLE. Long story short, some two weeks or so after the show, it looks like everybody had a great time and that small press creators should definitely look into attending STAPLE next year.
As for how it all relates to me, as I said in the first one of these columns, I agreed to help out by reviewing basically everything that was given to me at STAPLE. Chris Nicholas, the show's organizers, told everyone it was a "one per" guarantee, but I'm trying to review 90% or more of everything given to me. Which means that this will likely be a three or maybe even four part column, when all is said and done. For now, though, here's round two of reviews from STAPLE.
THE ADVENTURES OF MOON MAN
by Zach Taylor (Gnourg Press)
Format: Minicomic
Website: www.gnourg.com
I've had some experience with Moon Man before, having read an excerpt from it at a stapling party for You Chose Right The First Time. I am fairly certain that this mini-comic isn't the finished product, because the story doesn't really go anywhere, but then that's part of the charm (and part of the frustration) of the comic. Zach Taylor's darkly funny tale centers around a man with super powers who finds cassette tapes advising him of his origins (he's from the moon), his powers (they suck the happiness out of a room when he uses them) and his goals (he's supposed to help people with them). Of course, the darkly funny part comes in when the titular Moon Man avoids all of this advice, leaving any number of people to their certain doom and causing barroom brawls while drinking and wandering aimlessly. There's not much of a plot in there, but it's pretty funny and out there, and Taylor's art style is very enjoyable. I was particularly pleased with one little bit of storytelling that uses a page to show the Moon Man downing shot after shot, with a last panel that features a subtle but all-important change, and that page is pretty indicative of the general tone of Moon Man's life and adventures.
GIRLS WITH SLINGSHOTS STAPLE PROMO BOOK
by Danielle Corsetto (Girls with Slingshots)
Format: Minicomic/Promo
Price: FREE!
Website: www.girlswithslingshots.com
 Girls With Slingshots is just barely a mini-comic, basically just five strips from the Girls With Slingshots website reproduced in a very small paper format. Normally it's the sort of promo thing I wouldn't really review, but Girls With Slingshots is really, really good. Funny, sexy and outrageous, and Corsetto's artwork is really strong, with a style that looks to me like what you might get if Jim Mahfood's art and Terry Moore's art got together and had beautiful mutant children. The good news about this particular review is that if you want to check out Girls With Slingshots, it won't cost a thing, as it's available twice weekly at Corsetto's website. I know that I for one have a new weekly reading habit after checking this out.
HALLOWEEN MAN: SOLAR CITY MONSTER GUIDE
by Drew Edwards, Terry Parr, Mike Short, Sergio Calvet, Mike Furth, Aristides Iliopoulos, Nicola Scott, Mike Murphy, Larry Williams & Jesse Farrell (ATP Publishing)
Format: Minicomic/Promo
Price: FREE!
Website: www.halloweenman.com
 This is a small (but nicely produced) little "Who's Who" style pamphlet on the denizens of Solar City, the home of Halloween Man. I haven't actually read any Halloween Man comics, which have appeared in anthologies like Across The Pond Presents and on Drew Edward's website, but after reading this little tour of the universe, I definitely plan to. I'm a sucker for these types of profile books anyway, but Edwards and an array of artists have created a pretty interesting little intro to the world of Halloween Man. Basically a mixture of superheroes and horror, this is largely a guide to the generic monsters and specific personalities of Solar City, a fictitious town created after Dallas/Fort Worth was destroyed during World War II. The art ranges in quality (Iliopoulos's "Dwarves" and "Santaborgs" didn't reproduce real well, and look sketchy and pixellated, while Nicola Scott's work is across-the-board great, with a special nod to his work on "Man-Goat"), the copy isn't always perfect (the italics aren't always consistent, and the placement sometimes winds up losing it in the artwork), but the sense of fun permeates the whole thing. Edwards has three scientists of different stripes commenting on these monsters, and in these comments, he hints at past Halloween Man stories. The real fun, however, comes in the actual rundown of each character's "stats," as the somewhat quirky personality of the Halloween Man comics comes through loud and clear in the presentation. Like the Girls With Slingshots promo book, this one does its job and has me interested in seeing more of this character and his world.
ISABEL #1
by Gary Bartos & Geoff Sebesta (Austerloo)
Format: Minicomic
Price: $2.95
Website: www.austerloo.com
 The story of Isabel is one that is on the borders between reality and fantasy, a grounded tale of a boy and girl coming of age in a culture that I'm fairly certain is fictional but which has enough verisimilitude to be real. The first issue fails in that it doesn't really have any conflict to speak of, nor does it give any indication where the story might be going, but as a meditation on a coming of age ceremony, it's a pretty interesting read. Bartos infuses his two lead characters with some nice personality, and the interaction with the street vendor has some funny moments as well as indicating the personalities of both lead characters very well. Geoff Sebesta's artwork is a little rough, but there's undeniable potential there, with beautiful gray tone work and imaginative designs for the Native American-Mayan architectural elements in the backdrop. His character designs are a little inconsistent, and don't convey emotion as carefully as I like in comic artwork, but there's something likable in some of the stylized characters nonetheless, especially the almost abstract, Mignola-esque guard at the Great Hall.
 This book got off to a good start with me, because the format is gorgeous. Thick cardstock covers, a stark and effective color cover image, very professional production values. The story inside, however, didn't quite click with me. Williams's story shows a group of guys out on a patrol in Vietnam (or something similar, it's never made entirely clear but it has that Vietnam "vibe") who run across a few strange things. The moment-to-moment interaction is decent, but the story just doesn't make a lot of sense to me, and some of the key action moments, like the bomber crashing, the "ghost" appearing in camp and the resolution with the sniper weren't entirely clear to me. While I couldn't always follow the storytelling, however, I did like Williams's art style, heavy on the blacks and shadows. It has the effect of being a little cold and distancing, which I think hurt this particular story, but I can definitely see enjoying it more on other work.
SOME OTHER DAY
by David Hopkins & Brian Kelly (Antihero Comics)
Format: Minicomic
Price: $2.00
Website: www.antiherocomics.com
 David Hopkins handed me a whole bunch of stuff at STAPLE, and I intend to get to all of it (probably in part three or maybe four), but for now, I wanted to focus on his minicomic collaboration with artist Brian Kelly. Some Other Day is a strange snapshot of several lives in small-town Texas and how they're affected by what looks like a cosmic event but turns out to be something a little more grounded in reality (if still kind of odd.) So we get the story of a mother and son stranded by car trouble of the explosive sort, the less-than-enthusiastic welcome of a new "Dal-Mart," the bitter relationship between a mother and daughter and the friendship of a pair of fishermen, one of whom has ties to the house of the Lord. Hopkins ties all of this together with something falling out of the sky, and there are a few other links as well, notably from the Dal-Mart to the mother-daughter story. It's a lot of story to bite off in this small package, and most of the stories come to something of an abrupt end, but there are some very true, effective moments in each one as well. Kelly's artwork perfectly matches this blend of mundane, everyday and more outrageous happenings, and he's got great storytelling skills as well as a style that reminds me of early work from both Steve Rolston and Mike Norton, two Oni Press mainstays. I see promising futures for both of these guys.
 This is another comic that has gorgeous production values and artwork, but which didn't quite connect with me on a story level. That's entirely my fault, though, as the sort of "stream of consciousness" style that LeVine employs just generally isn't my thing. However, it's undeniably well done, with panels floating in white space and representing separate, loosely linked thoughts as the protagonist moves through his life. Watching Days Become Years seems to be sort of the ethos, as well as the title, of the book, as LeVine shows how the many mundane daily events add up to become our lives in retrospect. It's a little too loose and free structure for my taste, but as an examination of many small moments adding up to a larger life, it's pretty good.
WHEN ARE YOU COMING HOME
by Christine Pointeau (River by Night)
Format: Minicomic
Website: www.riverbynight.com
 Christine Pointeau's When Are You Coming Home is a series of vignettes that feature a strange mixture of dream logic and philosophical exploration. It doesn't always entirely make sense to me, and runs the risk of disappearing up its own ass as so many comics of this nature can, but it never quite crosses that line. Instead, Pointeau's character's musings on the nature of fear, what stories a tree might tell or even just a brief interaction with a talking panda have a sort of wistful energy, a child's innocence mixed with an adult's analytical need for questions. I was also quite taken with Pointeau's artwork, which looks like a backdrop of gray-toned brushwork alongside a detailed, expressive lead character whose bright eyes and happy demeanor helps to keep the book from seeming like a ponderous exercise in philosophy and more like the sheer joy of a child posing questions.
YOU CHOSE RIGHT THE FIRST TIME #1-4
by Chris Nicholas & Dave Lamplugh (Bivage Salvage Ltd.)
Format: Minicomic
Price: $2.50
Website: www.cafeshops.com/you_chose_right
 Disclaimer time again: Both of these guys are very good friends of mine. I've known Chris for a long time, and he's in my small circle of close friends, and I've known Dave less time, but he's a good friend as well. But it's not my friendship with these guys that makes me say You Chose Right The First Time is a great crime comic, well worth reading especially for fans of Stray Bullets. Nicholas's twisted sensibilities can be seen in the dark humor and dialogue of the piece, not to mention the twisted, convoluted plots winding in, around and through one another. Lamplugh's particular brand of crazy can be seen in the inky, stylish artwork and the fact that in issue four, he depicts a phone call by using the side story of a trucker ambushed by an evil squirrel, and then brings it all around to the guy on the phone. You Chose Right benefits from being read all at once, because Nicholas jumps around in time and has a pretty complex plot going, but when read all at once, it really rewards the reader. These characters are motivated by the darker elements of human nature (greed, lust and occasionally a psychotic hatred of canines), and YCRTFT is a pretty gripping exploration of those darker elements which nevertheless manages to have actual laugh out loud moments as well. It's violent, twisted and unstoppably readable and should be on every crime comics fan's wish list.
Email Randy Lander comments about this review.
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