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SPOTLIGHT ON MINICOMICS
It's time for another round of mini-comics review. This collection is from a few different sources, including new offerings from the comp pile, but a lot of them are books that I picked up in San Diego. In July. So yeah, I'm still a little behind in getting stuff reviewed. At any rate, the presentation here ranges from folded, stapled and copied to a couple full-on mini trade paperback style books, and the creators are everyone from animation professionals to comics professionals to tyro talents, but I'm covering them all under the heading of "mini-comics." The one thing they all have in common is that they're self-published and creator-owned. Since these books are unlikely to be available at your local shop, I've included links in the publisher name of each review to the website where you can find out more or, failing that, an email address for the creator.
 As far as I can tell, Stan Wenches's Cornflakes strip hasn't been updated on his website for about a year and a half, but it might still be running in Tastes Like Chicken. At any rate, whether it's still running or not, this older collection of Cornflakes material is profane, occasionally outright disgusting and mostly pretty damn funny. I'd describe Cornflakes as half inside jokes that are still accessible to the regular reader, a quarter pop cultural influences and a quarter political humor, all framed by a twisted and funny sensibility. Wenches's best bit is probably his takeoff on the funny page, recasting a classic Charlie Brown strip as a racial profiling gag or putting Ziggy into an S&M situation, but I also had some appreciation for the pure bizarre pop culture stew that was Santa Claus partying with Q*Bert, Dabney Coleman, Meredith Baxter Burney and the robot from It's A Small World at Disneyland. Wenches's brand of humor borders on the nonsensical, but there's a manic energy and insane imagination that makes it all work. The art style is vaguely familiar but doesn't easily map onto any style that I recall, although I can see parallels to everyone from Jim Mahfood to Peter Bagge to Evan Dorkin. If you're a fan of any of those guys, or for that matter of fellow Tastes Like Chicken alums Dave Crosland and Debbie St. Sinclair, it's worth looking out for Stan Wenches's stuff.
 I previously reviewed Me and Edith Head by Sara Ryan and Steve Lieber, and I was wildly impressed at how good a book this husband and wife team could create with only 16 pages. Well, they've done it again, and with only 14 story pages this time. This is a "pilot episode" for a series of stories, and I hope that Flytrap does indeed go to series, because I would love to read more. In fact, at this point, I'm pretty much dying for Ryan and Lieber to do something big, like a graphic novel, as they're proven to be excellent collaborators who bring out the best in one another. Ryan's ability to craft a character in such a small space is amazing, and Maddy, a public relations professional with some personal issues, is a fantastically likable and very real character. Juggling Act takes place in the course of one really bad day, but Ryan's script gives the sense that it's sort of a confluence of events that have been running ragged over Maddy's life for a while now. Despite the obvious failures of Maddy's boyfriend, it's remarkably easy to believe that she wouldn't quite see them, even while she remains an intelligent and self-aware character in general, and it's this kind of balancing-act characterization that Ryan excels at. There's also a lovely quirky sensibility at work in the book, what with one of the main sets of characters being a traveling circus looking for representation.
Steve Lieber tailors his artwork to the script, presenting a touch more of a quirky, cartoony vibe along with his usual polished realism. Given how many artists are getting credit for "realistic" artwork that looks more or less like Photoshop manipulation, it's refreshing to get a reminder that realistic artwork can still have a liveliness and freshness to it. Lieber spares no detail in showing us Maddy's home, her office, her car, her clothes, but there's also a terrific sense of motion and an expressiveness to the characters that shines. I have to admit, it boggles my mind that Lieber is not considered an A-list artist, because all of his work on various indy projects, from smaller ones like this to larger ones like Whiteout, has been just jaw-dropping beautiful. I suppose I should be thankful, though, as I'd much rather see Lieber working on smaller, personal stories like this one than yet another superhero book. Flytrap is a minicomic, but it's a professional product, and I'd go so far as to call it must-reading for those who want more than superheroes out of their comic book medium.
 I had previously known Travis Fox as a poster on the Oni Press boards, but after reading Foxymoron, I am forevermore going to think of him as a cartoonist first. Foxymoron is a mix of daily life observational humor and some of the angriest (and dead-on) political humor I've seen this side of The Daily Show. Most of these issues are pre-election, and so have an optimism to go with the anger that we were only going to have to deal with four years of this bullshit (I was just longing for those more optimistic days myself), but there's also a ton of anger aimed at the Iraq War, the pre-election apathy and all the rest of the Bush Administration crap that has become daily routine for us suffering moderates and liberals. Better yet, it's anger tempered with facts and a wicked sense of humor. Because these strips are older, a lot of the points that Fox is making have been made elsewhere, and there are occasions where it feels like the easy joke, but it's not hard to appreciate arguing with someone who can only respond with bumper sticker slogans or the hypocrisy and assumptions that drive so many involved in the "culture war." I live in Austin, Texas (and just to clarify, since Fox makes this mistake as well, "Don't Mess With Texas" is a litter control program of the state, not a "don't fuck with us" motto, although some have appropriated it as such) and see more "W" stickers than I'd like, but it's still the liberal sanctuary in the midst of red state hell. Fox clearly is more smack dab in the middle, or at least that's the impression I get from his writings on Missouri, and I can certainly relate to the frustration of thinking so many people around you are polar opposites of what you believe and that too many of them base those opinions on slogans and rhetoric rather than facts.
If you are by some chance still on the Bush Administration's side, well... first of all, I'm shocked you're still reading my reviews and second, yeah, Foxymoron probably ain't for you, because it'll probably just piss you off. However, it should be said that Foxymoron is not just a home for Fox's political positions, laid down with a humorous style. Indeed, my agreement with most if not all of what Fox has to say about politics has little to do with how much I enjoyed my favorite strips in these Foxymoron books. "Widescreen" in issue three is a great take on the occasional joys and more frequent annoyances of customer service where you actually care about the product, be it movies or comics, "First Date" is a hilariously awkward story of a first date and "Ron Jeremy's Cock" is a laugh-out-loud funny tale of a journey to a porn store. Actually, Foxymoron #6, which contains those last two stories as well as Fox's amusing speculative tale about being a casual gamer at E3, is probably the most apolitical of the bunch, and it is also just as funny as the rest.
The X-Mas Comic Collection 2004 deserves to be singled out, because it's slightly different from the rest. Not in tone or style, but in approach, as it seems to be made up largely of a collection of strips that Fox ran in the Kansas City newspaper. I enjoyed every one, but I admit to a special love for Molly's "Dick Cheney" gag. Fox also has a couple one-page images that I found very effective, and I dug both the Fox News bit and the football hooliganism piece on the facing page. If the casual reader wanted to sample Fox at his best, I would suggest either the X-Mas Collection or #6, although really any given issue has plenty to offer.
The art style is familiar in a way that is just nagging at me, but I can't put my finger on who it reminds me of. Obviously I can see broad parallels to the work of Jim Mahfood, but the general style reminds me as much of a couple artists whose work I primarily know from syndicated comics strips, Foxtrot's Bill Amend being one example that comes immediately to mind. At any rate, Fox is a good artist in the indy vein. Foxymoron is funny and has a strong personal voice, and you can't ask for much more from a good mini-comic. I'll definitely be keeping an eye out for more.
 Halloween Man is a comic that you can find online, but Raw Meat is a print collection of some of the stories. I previously reviewed the Solar City Monster Guide in my STAPLE! coverage, and a lot of what I had to say about that book is true of Raw Meat as well. The printing is sometimes a little shaky, as with the last page of "Better Dead Than Red," the artwork varies in quality, but the general spirit of the book as well as the art that stands out makes it well worth a read. "Con Thing," the opening story, features an amusing take-off on Alan Moore's Swamp Thing and fandom, with a particularly funny gag aimed at a veiled Vertigo imprint. "Better Dead Than Red" is a pure adventure story with a touch of '50s satire and an especially nice skeleton monster by artist Joe Singleton and "Dig Those Cats... They're Real Gone" is probably my favorite story of the bunch. It features the art of Terry Parr, in the "good girl" vein of Adam Hughes and Dave Stevens, and presents Halloween Man's girlfriend, Lucy Chaplin, in the swashbuckling science hero role generally reserved for male heroes. I wasn't as taken with "Legends of a Goat Knight" because Jeff Wood's more Silver Age Marvel approach to the artwork didn't seem to click as well as some of the other artist's interpretations, especially of the Man-Goat himself, although Edwards does offer up some fun gags about Man-Goat's power over women in the course of the story. Overall, Halloween Man: Raw Meat #1 is a good sample of what to expect from Halloween Man, an entertaining venture that successfully combines the sensibilities of Silver Age Marvel, cult films and pulp entertainment. I'd especially recommend this one for fans of Hellboy, as I think the mixture of horror archetypes and pulp adventure would find favor with those fans.
 Stop me if you've heard this one before: A man walks into a bar... and then engages in a spectacular brawl with a variety of monsters who had been patronizing the bar moments before. That's the heart of Hector Spector, and while the plot isn't overly deep, the storytelling and art are exceptional and there's certainly plenty of promise in the tidbits of characterization glimpsed in the course of this story. Pruett and Pose are, I believe, animators by trade, who had been among the many Pixar and other animation vets presenting new comics at San Diego this year. The professionalism shows through, as the art here is polished but exciting, distinctive in style but not at the cost of clear storytelling and generally just beautiful to look at. Pose's characters have a lot of character in their faces, from the humans at the bar to the lead character of the piece, and there's also some really imaginative and fun monster designs at work. There's also exceptional work on the shadows and the background detail, and there's a lot to take in visually in Hector Spector. In addition, though the meat of the book is a big brawl, there's clearly more to Hector Spector than that, as the solidly-written finale with Chris and Private Elders and the familial relationship that drives the brawl shows. As with Halloween Man, this is a book that I think would find favor with fans of Hellboy and the BPRD. And as with Halloween Man, you don't have to take my word on it. Hop over to Richardpose.com and you can see the entire story online.
 Horus is in rarified company, that brand of exceptional cartooning that is truly all-ages, riveting to any given reader no matter how old or young they are. Matte creates a story that is part Egyptian mythology and culture and part universal kid concerns, and it really does read like a great Disney or classic Warner Brothers cartoon in a lot of ways. Matte's story is perfectly straightforward, but has some nice nuance to it as well. The political aspects of the story, with a young Pharoah and his co-regent Aunt, has a lot of story potential, and I enjoyed that in volume one of Horus, we didn't get the stereotypical "evil adult takes over." Instead, while there are hints of a power struggle, there's not a sinister sense of conspiracy against the young King. The central story in Horus, however, is that of young Nofret, a girl whose chance encounter with a young god (Horus) leads to her being thrust into the center of something bigger, which fits her non-traditional ideals of what she could do with her life just fine. Matte has a good cast of characters and an intriguing central plot, but what really makes Horus stand out for me is the detail that Matte puts into the setting and her comedic timing. There's definitely a sense that Matte has researched day-to-day life in Egypt when you read both Horus & Hieroglyphics, and she includes this breadth of knowledge in a way that is accessible to the casual reader. Though the setting is specific, the human emotions and conflicts driving the story are more universal, and the result is a gripping and oftentimes very funny read.
Then there's Matte's cartooning, and I really can't say enough about her artwork. Matte's animation background shines through in her sharp storytelling skills and expressive characters, but there's also a stunning amount of detail in the backgrounds. Matte's art is just drop-dead gorgeous from an aesthetic point of view, and nearly flawless in terms of storytelling as well. She also excels in terms of comedic timing, and the sequences with the hippos and Horus near the end are perfect examples of Tex Avery/Chuck Jones style outrageous comedy.
Horus is a 64-page book, with 47 pages of story and several pages of extras material, including sketches from Matte's friends (all amazing to look at) as well as design work and "A Few Notes on Ancient Egypt" by Matte herself. It's a format reminiscent of Oni Press's Love as a Foreign Language and Northwest Passage. When I picked up Horus in San Diego, I also got Hieroglyphics, a stapled paper minicomic that represents sort of a companion piece to Horus in some ways. In this volume, Matte has two characters explore the nature of hieroglyphics, the Egyptian alphabet, and the results are educational and often uproariously funny. In some ways, I was reminded of the work of Jay Hosler, who can take some of the most dry subjects and make them come to life without losing any of the educational value. Both of these books are fantastic, and worth a look for anyone with an interest in Egyptian culture and mythology as well as anyone with a fondness for books like Bone, Northwest Passage or Clan Apis.
 Jake Parker is a commercial artist whose comics work has included one of my favorite stories in Flight 2, "The Robot and the Sparrow." His Agent 44 book is actually mostly a sketchbook, with a 10-page story as an opener, but one thing is clear from reading through Agent 44 Art Digest: Parker is tremendously talented. The story, about a space girl adventurer meeting up with a sci-fi monster, reminds me of what you might get if you crossed the approach of Michel Gagne with a touch of the art style of Cameron Stewart, which is to say that I liked it a lot. The rest of the book features a variety of sketches, and Parker notes in the sketchbook section that he thinks that the more an artist explores in their sketchbook, the more well-rounded they become. It's hard to argue with the visual evidence, as Parker's work here covers the gamut, from detailed technology to flights of fancy, from almost photorealism to exaggerated cartoony. If any of you followed my advice and checked out Chad Townsend's Duk! Soup, I think you'll be just as pleased by the Agent 44 Art Digest.
 In Qwerty, Farkas lays out a bad day in the life of a single mom. Farkas gives a warts-and-all look at single parenthood here, as his lead character is definitely no saint. She tries to use her child to guilt an employer into keeping her on, and she leaves him alone so that she can go to a job interview, but there's no doubt from the way Farkas presents her that she's trying, that she loves her son and that she's doing the best she can in some awfully bad circumstances. Farkas really captures the increasing pressure and despair that can come when things are piling up on you, whether it's in life or in a series of events on a bad day or, in the case of our protagonist, both. However, he also offers up a nice uplifting note to the story, reminding readers of the joys of parenthood as well as the pressures, and though the problems of Christine are hardly over by the end of Qwerty, there's definitely a sense that they're survivable. Farkas's artwork is reminiscent of the work of Alex Robinson, although it still has some rough spots, notably a bit of weakness with expressions (Christine has a smug expression leaning over her boss's desk on page two that can't be intentional) and silent storytelling (there's a page where a couple is talking and watching Christine and her son, but I couldn't really tell exactly what they were supposed to be making fun of). It's solid work in general, and captures some of the emotional beats quite well, but definitely still needs polish in some areas. In general, though, Qwerty is an intriguing snapshot of a life in progress, something worth looking into for the slice-of-life fans.
 When you first crack the covers of Enrico Casarosa's Sketchcrawling, it can be a bit daunting. There's a lot of art and a fair amount of hand-lettered text on each page, and the casul impression is that it might all be a bit crowded. It is worth sitting down and giving it a read, though, because Casarosa's story is actually quite easy to read despite the lack of traditional panel borders and very casual and funny despite what looks at first to be an intense bit of heavy sketching. I'm frankly stunned that Sketchcrawling is a result of the 24-Hour Comics Challenge. Sure, Casarosa cheated, as he admits in the "Making Of" comic immediately following the 24-page story, but the method of his cheating makes the accomplishment no less impressive. He took an eight hour nap between finishing the watercoloring of the book, but still produced a 24 page, watercolor comic in 27 hours. That's not bad! Especially when the finished product is such fun, as regular guy cartoonist Enrico goes through his day, tormented by the angel and devil on his shoulder. Casarosa gives a great visual tour of San Francisco, skipping the big landmarks to instead give a sense of the places that he might walk by on an average day, and provides a lot of laughs in the form of his coffee-addicted alter-ego as well as his trash-talking "devil on the shoulder." It's funny and self-deprecating and beautifully illustrated. Even better, the tail end of the book features Casarosa's watercolor sketches of San Francisco and they are just amazing, the kind of one-page illustrations that you'd more expect to find framed in a gallery than tucked into the back of an unassuming comic.
 The Travels of Gulliver is a wordless, full-color booklet of "snapshots" that chronicle the trip of Gulliver, a turtle, in his journeys through various locales in North America, Europe and Asia. It's not really a story, as there's no conflict, but it's a little bit more than a sketchbook, because it's clear that there's a narrative going on as Gulliver travels from country to country. At any rate, Spangler's art style is terrific, with a nice blend of whimsical cartoonishness and attention to local detail that reminds me of the work of Scott Morse. The illustrations show off a clever sense of humor as well, such as the "Autobahn" picture that is essentially a blur of traffic or the incongruity of Spangler's adorably cute protagonist holding a beer or blowing into a digeridoo. The Travels of Gulliver is a quick read, but the attractive artwork will continue to draw you back time and again, and if you have a fondness for cute comics like Owly or travelogue stories or, ideally, both, The Travels of Gulliver is worth checking out.
 All I really wanted out of Wannabee was to see some of Johnston's snarky, industry-savvy sense of humor from Lying in the Gutters come through. And indeed, that's what I got. Wannabee is an exceptionally, intentionally silly book about a fanboy time traveler whose attempts to become a star comic book writer lead to encounters with Alan Moore, Joe Quesada and a snake god, all witnessed by the poor girl/would-be comic book writer he joins up with in the first part of the book. Johnston mostly (but not entirely) avoids the easy fanboy jokes and overly inside references, and instead serves up a story that will cause a chuckle for those who keep up with even the barest of comic book gossip. Those who don't follow the industry at all may mostly wonder why any of this is funny. OK, maybe the line "Alan Moore... I have come for your hair!" has a sort of universal humor appeal to it.
Art on Wannabee is by Austin native Thomas Reidy III, and I'm sad to say that I've seen better from him. The general storytelling is clear enough, but the subtleties required to really make the jokes hit home are mostly absent in what is a pretty heavily inked art style. For example, the clothing of our time traveller is meant to evoke Doctor Who, but it doesn't quite give that sense, even if the script makes the gag clear. The scenes with Alan Moore shivering naked in a cage are mostly repetitive panels instead of the beat panel comedy they are meant to be, and Reidy's version of Alan Moore looks rather more like a generic version of white-bearded God than Moore. As I said, it gets the storytelling job done, but I can't help but think how much funnier it could have been if Reidy were stronger on expressions, body language, clothing, architecture and all the other details that help transition art from "capable" to "great."
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