I read a lot of independent books, and I've read a fair amount of independent anthologies, and I've noticed that they are by nature a bit of a mixed bag. Unless the whole thing is held together by an editor with an almost totalitarian focus, the stories are going to be so varied in subject matter and approach that it's impossible to like them all, and even if the editor does have a strong guiding hand, the reader is just as likely to wind up disliking the whole thing because the creators didn't get to spread their wings. While Exit 13 isn't one of the best small press anthologies I've ever read, I'm glad that it (and books like it) are out there, and that creators like the ones involved are doing this kind of thing. On the whole, the majority of the stories here didn't really work for me, but there were a couple that really did, and a lot of artistic talent that I can see blossoming into something pretty good in the future.
While you can't really generalize too much about the tone of this anthology, it's fair to say that a number of the stories are of the comedic variety. Certainly my favorite stories in the volume are comedic in tone. Exit 13 actually opens with what I think is the strongest story in the book, as S. Pliff tells a tale of Christ's second coming as hilarious and blasphemous as I expected from Mark Millar's Chosen, winding up with a bit of comparative religion and settling down in mediocrity that tickled this particular atheist in all the right spots. David Perry's "Brotherhood of the Four Suits" is likewise hysterical, a bizarre, almost stream of consciousness tale of an otherworldly being who tries to fix the world and just winds up making it worse. The artwork matches the frenzied tone of the story, which winds up confusing matters more than is probably necessary, and a little more polish and distinguishing backgrounds from foregrounds could result in a stronger story, but overall this is a fun read.
I'm a tough guy to really offend, but unfortunately, one of the stories in here managed to nail one of my particular pet peeves, namely the abuse of animals. 95% of the time, I just can't find it funny, even when it's fictional, and so Bob Suarez's tale of an animal torturer's twisted romance, well-crafted as it is, left me mostly disgusted rather than entertained. A shame, because his artwork is probably the best in the book. I thought that animal abusing rednecks was the direction Kim Arndt was going for as well, but instead that story heads in a slightly predictable but reasonably enjoyable tale of just rewards in classic horror movie fashion.
One of the other things I have a hard time enjoying in comics (or any other medium, really) is true surrealism. I don't mind surreal touches, or bits of nonsense like that found in The Goon or Scurvy Dogs, but true artistic experimentation generally just doesn't fit my sensibilities. So it is that the weirdly hallucinogenic tale "Sleeping With the Fishes" about people turning into fish leaves me mostly cold, as does the bizarre and yet one-note nature of Scott Vincent's "My Critics are Everywhere." Also in the surreal vein, but paired with clearer storytelling, are "Imagination Planet" and "Arthur's Unfortunate Departure." The former has kind of a neat, childlike glee to it, but the amateurish artwork sort of put me off. The latter has better artwork, although still of a highly stylized variety, but the story is a bit too simplistic to really amount to much.
All in all, Exit 13 is a project of clear passion and budding talent, but not one that is as polished or consistent as I usually expect from even my small press reading. However, there are a couple of enjoyable diamonds in the rough, and it wouldn't surprise me if any of these creators turned out something more impressive later down the road, because the potential is clearly there.
