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While regular Snap Judgments are on hiatus, I'll be doing these "spotlight" columns on indy books and graphic novels in my review pile. This time out: Two more graphic novels and a focus on anthologies.
GRAPHIC NOVEL SPOTLIGHT
THE AMAZING JOY BUZZARDS VOL. 1 TPB
by Mark Andrew Smith & Dan Hipp (Image Comics)
Format: Graphic novel
Price: $11.95
Website: www.imagecomics.com
 Thanks to a job in comics retail, a voracious appetite for mainstream and small press books and a steady flow of comps, I manage to keep pretty well on top of the industry. That doesn't mean stuff doesn't sometimes squeak by me, either because I didn't "get it" right away or just because I needed a nudge to check it out. In the case of Amazing Joy Buzzards, it's a bit of both, as I had the four issues but hadn't quite gotten past a flip-through stage, and when the trade paperback hit, I resolved to give it a shot. And boy, did I miss the boat in not getting onboard earlier, because The Amazing Joy Buzzards is awesome. Fun, imaginative, packed with adventure and featuring some exceptional artwork, it's a must-read for fans of Cartoon Network's The Venture Brothers, Jim Mahfood's work or Bryan O'Malley's Scott Pilgrim series.
The Amazing Joy Buzzards is a big stew of various influences. Smith and Hipp blend in equal parts of Scooby Doo, The Brady Bunch, the Monkees and cheesy monster movies to create the story of a rock and roll band whose fame and weirdness magnet natures get them into all sorts of adventures. What's kind of strange, and what threw me at first, is that Amazing Joy Buzzards isn't a humor book, not really, even with this bizarre blend of goofy influences. The graphic novel is classified as "Adventure," and that's pretty much exactly right. Oh, there's some moments here that'll give a chuckle or two, but overall, the vibe of Amazing Joy Buzzards is light-hearted, over-the-top adventure comics with references and style that will appeal especially to those reared on '70s and '80s pop culture.
Smith and Hipp do include any number of references in this book. There's a great riff on Bendis and Oeming's Powers interrogation sequences, a tip of the hat to Burton's Batman, a sequence that beautifully blends and spoofs Sam Raimi's Spider-Man and Zemeckis's Back to the Future and any number of other references, both direct and just stylistically, to pop culture. However, the book, for all its obvious influences, is still very original and full of imagination. Their unusual relationship with the CIA and the presence of an imaginary Mexican wrestler are two of the more unique touches, but even the elements that have been seen before, like a story of an adventurous band, are carried off in an original and fun way.
If the frenetic pop culture riffing and introduction of crazy characters and situations is present in the writing, it's reinforced even more with Hipp's crazy cluttered (and yet easy to read) artwork. Reading like a cross between Jamie Hewlett, Mike Oeming and Jim Mahfood, Hipp does killer crowd scenes, slick and instantly identifiable character designs and has incredible storytelling chops. There are little tricks, like the laconic Stevo speaking only in images or the bold use of old-fashioned special effects and splashy intro text for new characters ("Get Brannigan!"), that help to accentuate the energy and inventiveness of Hipp's artwork, but really, it's all there at a glance. Some of the early work is a little too cluttered, and the use of pink was ill-advised and a bit garish, but it's all solid at least, and by the time the book had gotten into issue two, Hipp had clearly gotten into a groove and continues to improve with each chapter.
The Amazing Joy Buzzards has its rough edges, including some typos (or just spelling errors) and a bit of a slow start in getting us into who and what the characters are, but once you get onboard the ride, you'll be onboard for the duration. It's funny, I've had four issues of this book sitting around waiting to be read, but after reading this trade, I'd like to tear into issue five right away.
BIG DUMB FUN GN
by various creators (Oddgod Press)
Format: Graphic novel
Price: $19.95
Website: www.oddgodpress.com
 This is exactly what it says it is: Big dumb fun. It's a strange anthology graphic novel from a variety of creators, some of whom are known to me but most of whom aren't, and the subject matter ranges from a bizarrely sexual superhero brawl to autobiographical tales to science-fiction to surreal storytelling experiments that defy genre. The overall craft is excellent, and there are more hits than misses, at least for me, which is all I ask out of an anthology. I suspect that anyone giving this book a try will find at least one new artist to pursue elsewhere (their work, I mean, not a stalking kind of thing), and indeed that those with an indy bent will enjoy a pretty good selection of the stories in this volume.
I am inevitably going to leave someone out in this review, as this book contains almost thirty stories and about that many creators as well. So I'll tackle the stuff I liked, or which stuck out at me as particularly unusual for one reason or another. The biggest standouts of the anthology for me were the two tales by Royal Academy of Illustration and Design studiomates Ben Shannon and Kagan McLeod. Their two tales feature a band of female pirates, and each one comes with a clever and funny twist on the ending and gorgeous artwork. McLeod's style, full of fluid action and long, sinuous bodies, not to mention the visual equivalent of deadpan sarcasm, perfectly captures the unusual twist in "The Capture" and Shannon's crazy speedlines and exaggerated angles are great for the action on "The Rescue."
There are a number of stories in Big Dumb Fun that fall into the category of parody/action. John Ownby's "Beaverman" is a dead-on parody of Dick Sprang's Batman, Reilly Brown's "Orath the Intergalactic Caveman" is not the easiest story to follow but has a likable Silver Age energy and terrific artwork that reminds me of Invincible's Ryan Ottley, and Crawdad Jones's "E" is a strange, fourth wall-breaking science-fiction opus with rich, inky artwork not unlike Doug TenNapel's work. There are a few stories that go beyond parody/action into parody/ultraviolence, and these stories were both disturbing and disturbingly funny. "Go Away" by James Callahan features gorgeous and intricate artwork and an ever-shifting cartoon landscape that reads like a more adult riff on the classic Warner Brothers short "Duck Amuck," Patrick Godfrey's "Max Asshole" is like a gonzo version of Duke Nukem with an amusing set of villains in sentient alien tacos and "Sooperhero Scronchfest" by Josh Simmons takes the sexual undercurrent of superhero in tights battles to such extremes that reading it will cause both hilarity and visions that won't be easy to get out of your head... ever. Then there's "Da Game of Def" by Oura, a Mahfood-ish piece laden with cursing and violence that doesn't have a great deal of point to it, but which is a fun read anyway.
There are just as many stories, though, that are quieter, either autobiographical or slice-of-life. Many of them have a touch of the weird as well, whether from the vibe in the art or the writing or both. Jonathan Adams and Rebecca Rice turn in a creepy, funny little tale of a precocious little girl and the clueless parent and "friend" she's forced to deal with, Peter Conrad tells a funny tale of the foibles of the young in "Sailin'," George Tautkas's "Krunk: Jimy and Tara" is a story about the strange truths of life that others don't see, and Jai Nitz and Kelley Seda offer up a poignant tale of childhood memories in "Empty Nest." Then there are the features, usually very brief, that are just plain odd, like James Kochalka's "Flowar the Defender," Richard Hahn's conversational "Clemenza & Tessio" and Jeffery Sharp's almost zen "Caesar."
There are probably a half-dozen other stories in Big Dumb Fun as well, and while not every one of them struck a chord with me, almost every single one had something to offer in terms of sharp artwork, a fun moment or some solid writing. "Baker's Son," a wistful tale in the style of fairy tales by Joel Priddy, is probably my favorite story that doesn't fit easily into any of the other categories I mentioned, but there are also stories by Scott Mills, Dash Shaw, Ian Sampson, Joseph Holsapple, RS Paulette, Duc Nguyen, Joe Mirabello and Erica Vess. Run a Google search on some of these creators, check out their art style, and I'm pretty sure those of you with an indy mindset will make Big Dumb Fun something to check out sooner or later.
ANTHOLOGY SPOTLIGHT
Ah, the anthology. Is there any comic book format more maligned in the direct market? Anthologies are a tough sell in this market, and they have been basically throughout the entire 20+ years that I've been reading comics. They seem to have found a foothold, however, because there's always someone trying a new anthology, and they're actually pretty common in the indy market. Digital Webbing Presents is a long-established anthology that has broken a lot of new talent, AdHouse, Top Shelf and Image have all put out some memorable anthology trade paperbacks in the recent past and there are any number of creators (hell, maybe most of them) who have an anthology story out there somewhere from their early days. Even I have a couple anthology stories to my credit, as the two published stories I've written for comics are both in indy anthologies.
I must admit, while I know that the anthology is a tough commercial sell and I absolutely understand why (variance of talent and story, among other reasons), I'm always glad to see folks giving it a go. So this time out, I'll be looking at a handful of comic book anthologies from some up and coming publishers. There's no format listing this time, because these are all black and white anthologies in comic book format (although Stalagmite is perfect bound).
 Frontier Publishing presents free serialized fiction on their website, and while they've previously published a novel, Frontier Publishing Presents is their first venture into print comics. The artwork is very much on the rough side, but the stories are reasonably entertaining nonetheless. Michael Exner III and Trevor Carrington provide a pair of text stories with illustrations by Shelton Bryant that are sort of modern-day street (I'd hesitate to say crime, it's more like the "white trash fiction" genre that David Lapham is tackling in Stray Bullets), while the other two tales are comics. "The Skiff" is the weakest in terms of art, with Tamas Jakab's work a little too abstract and very sketchy, but the story is the best in the book, about a mild-mannered guy in love with a professional troubleshooter who fits into the quiet and deadly category. "Dillon and The Escape from Tosegio" is a strange mix of modern sensibilities (cell phones, modern boats, modern idioms) and pulp (the sidekick is actually named "Awesome Times," which was so silly I found it distracting, and the story centers around a kidnapped princess from a hidden high-tech society) that features stronger but still undeniably developing art by Alex Kosakowski and Andrew Mangum. Both "Dillon" (written by Derrick Fergesun and Russ Anderson) and "The Skiff" feature the lead character basically narrating for the audience, and while some might not like this affectation, I found that it suited the noir tone of "The Skiff" and the pulp sensibilities of "Dillon" pretty well.
KNEE POCKETS #2
by David Tang & various creators (Australia Council for the Arts)
Price: $10.00
Website: www.mr-tang.com
 Don and I reviewed the first issue of Knee Pockets, and remembering my review and looking back at it, I was a bit lukewarm on the whole thing, if impressed by the potential being shown. With Knee Pockets #2, Tang realizes a lot of that potential, crafting a very enjoyable collection of quirky, funny and occasionally thought-provoking stories with improved art on his part and some exceptional artwork by some of his collaborators. At $10, it's a bit on the pricey side for 56 pages, but it's still worth a look, because the overall craft here is very strong. Tang's autobiographical stories, which he illustrates himself, are across the board entertaining, and he's married his earlier strengths in storytelling with stronger consistency of style, especially in his work on "Satoko."
However, I'd be lying if I said that Tang's art was my favorite in the book. He's found a number of talented collaborators to contribute to this book, either in the form of the hilarious one panel "critiques" at the back or by providing art for his stories in the first half of the book. Daniel Douglas's "Blackout" makes excellent use of heavy black borders and gray panels, as well as stark, sharply designed characters to capture the creepy yet kind of funny vibe of the story and Nathan Soehardi's work on "Absent" features an equally sharp use of both white space and heavy blacks to really convey the emotions and the humor of that story. By far my favorite art in the book is Doug Holgate's work on "When We Were Friends," a lively, cartoony style that is reminiscent a little bit of Scott Morse and has all the youthful energy needed for the story at hand.
Knee Pockets has a tone that is genial and funny, but Tang touches on sometimes uncomfortable and occasionally even painful subjects, blending these seemingly incongruous tones very effectively. Knee Pockets #2 steers away from the more off-beat tales found in Knee Pockets #1 featuring robots and ninjas into stories that all feature daily life events, albeit sometimes the stranger bits of daily life, and while the off-beat bits were my favorites in the first issue, I was impressed by Knee Pockets #2 both as a standalone read and a notable improvement on the first book.
 Myriad breaks one of my personal rules for anthologies right off the bat, in that it features mostly continuing stories rather than self-contained tales. I generally prefer my anthologies to be pretty standalone, and continuing tales tends to mean less satisfactory chunks of story, which means less satisfying issues overall. However, Myriad is actually a pretty good read, with five ongoing features that mostly aren't ground-breaking in their concepts but which feature some enjoyable writing and artwork. "Discount Stories" is probably my favorite of the bunch so far, a series of tales from workers at a Wal-Mart-like store that really gets to the heart of the despair that comes from working retail. John Ward captures the ennui of the job in a serious way that also has some satirical edge to it, and while Steve Doty's art is a little inconsistent, it has a sketchy quality to it that I really like. "Discount Stories" is also the most self-contained of the stories, as the chapters share a setting and general tone but no actual story points, making them standalone reads.
"Frail" is the other standout for me, a story by Christopher O'Bryant, Jason Hazel and Brian Laframbiose that starts off as an enjoyable tale of a first date but goes into much darker and more unusual territory at the end of the first installment and really gets going with the second. This is easily the hardest to predict of the stories so far, and I find myself wondering if it is just a tale of psychological breakdown or if there are supernatural elements involved.
I'm not as gripped by the other stories, despite the solid craft of the creators involved, largely because the actual genres at work are so familiar. "Chi Sai" by Bart Thompson and Steve Fox is basically another urban vigilante tale, "The Adventures of Molly Be Damned" by Richard Nelson, Eli Ivory and Brian Laframboise a swashbuckling fantasy that seems a tad overwritten and doesn't have the sense of freewheeling fun or exciting action sequences that the genre really calls for. "Lineage" by Jay Jacobs and Chris Tsuda is slightly more interesting, a blend of futuristic science-fiction and magic-based fantasy with intriguing apocalyptian overtones, but it veers a bit into buddy comedy/superhero territory in the second installment for me, so I'm not sure where it'll wind up in terms of tone and style.
At any rate, the general craft level of Myriad is high, and the storytelling is very much straightforward, about entertainment rather than artistic experimentation. Those looking for a solid exploration of a variety of genres, including science-fiction, fantasy, superhero and horror, might want to give it a look.
 My first exposure to Stalagmite was to issue one in 2001, and I thought then that it offered some of the cream of the crop of up and coming indy artists. Reading Stalagmite #2, I continue to believe that, because there are a number of impressive creators at work in this volume. Whether it's names I know, like Ezra Claytan Daniels (The Changers), James Sturm (The Golem's Mighty Swing) and Robyn Chapman (Theatre of the Meek) or creators I'm hoping to see more of like Daniel Miller (Creased from Image) and Jonathan David Hanh Vu Hill, Stalagmite offers up a veritable treasure trove of new or relatively untapped talent.
Though it is by no means true of all the stories in this volume, there's a definite trend toward the autobiographical in the pages of Stalagmite, and the resulting stories are often painfully honest, true to life and absolutely engaging. Probably my favorite story in the book is Ezra Claytan Daniels' tale of his struggle with and acceptance of his racial identity in "Disposable Boy 3," which also features artwork significantly stronger than his work on The Changers, a book that I thought had pretty solid artwork. Daniel Miller's "Rose" is a fun story of airline travel and those meaningless but memorable encounters we all have in our lives, Justin Hall's "Bewitched" is a spellbinding tale of a homosexual relationship that will have many a reader squirming uncomfortably at the vivid description of both sexual activity and a violence in the relationship that resulted from the self-loathing of one partner in it. Robyn Chapman tackles a lighter side of gay relationships by admitting her fetish for "sissy boys" in a fun, light strip and Kelli Nelson tackles youth and gender identity in "Good Boy," featuring a light comedic touch and sharp, angular artwork. All of these tales, though miles apart in tone, share a certain similarity in exploring self-identity and how it develops.
Also tackling gender identity (but not, most likely, autobiographichally) is Jonathan David Hahn Vu Hill's hilarious "The Johns Teach Tommy Tomkins How to be a Man," which has beautiful art reminiscent of a cross between Steven Weissman, Scott Morse and Ted Naifeh. "Naked Lunch," an adaptation from Ernest Hemingway by McKenney and Aon, is also not autobiographical but otherwise fits into the general mold of the aforementioned story, being a tale of the "scorched earth" word bombs we often lob at ex-lovers as we leave them in order to pay them back for slights real or imagined.
Then there are the tales that are not quite in that same vein, but still fit nicely alongside the others. "People Who Need People" by McKenney and Angel Mosquito is a funny and odd tale that seems like it may have been inspired by a weird newspaper story, Jonathan Russell's "Real Guys Wear Boxer" is a lightweight but fun two-pager about the quirks and flaws of underwear and Sturm's "Paul Bunyan Dreams" is an effective if somewhat unfinished tale about minor league baseball that is very similar to his work on Golem's Mighty Swing. There are also a couple of memorable text pieces, an interview of cartoonist Seth by Alan David Doane and the strange tale of comic book quilter Mark Newport, and a terrific little color short by Rama Hughes on the back cover that serves as a nice closer to an excellent package. Stalagmite is what indy anthologies should aspire to, a beautiful-looking book filled with interesting stories from a variety of talented creators.
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