Navigate Poopsheet

 
< comics/x >



AS THE MILLER TOLD HIS TALE: The Art of John Miller

($2.00 US, $3.00 CAN/MEX from Larned Justin / PO Box 471 / House Springs, MO / 63051 USA. Web: www.candidcartoons.com)

I've been reading John Miller's work for years now, mostly in the White Buffalo Gazette and Out of the Blue. I really like some of John's drawings and design work, but I'm not his biggest fan. This is mostly due, however, to the fact that his strips are hit-and-miss for me as far as subject matter goes. I'm happy to say, however, that this collection has the good stuff insofar as my tastes are concerned. Lots of cool '60s references/inspiration (music, comics, tv), some nice pin-ups, campy fun and a bit of autobio. My favorite strips are two pulpy actioners which both, coincidentally, star cats as the protagonists. John has an unusual new wave sort of style that seems to belong in 1980s UK (John's Scottish). I don't think that's a bad thing, but it is oddly retro. It's also one of the things that makes his work unique.

[ Link to this item ]

---

 
< comics/x >



ATTIC WIT #5

($3.00 from Matt Dembicki / 3148 Hartwick Ln. / Fairfax, VA / 22031 USA. Web: www.waspcomics.com)

Like the recently reviewed Warburger, this issue of Attic Wit is an anthology centered on the theme of war. There's quite a mix of talent and approaches in this two-volume set. I believe my favorite story is one by editor Matt Dembicki in which he recounts a harrowing experience suffered by his father's family in World War II Poland. He demonizes the German soldiers in such a striking way yet they still retain their humanity. Dembicki also contributes another interesting piece about World War I troops on a particular battlefield taking a Christmas Day break from the war. Two others I like quite a lot are a chilling two-pager by Marcel Herms and James V. West's chat with a WWII vet. Other contributors are Colin Upton (the first installment of his Iraq invasion diary), Pazura (with a really great illustration), Stuart Sparks (a piece on East Timor), Rafer Roberts, Marian Mirescu and Mike Hall.

[ Readers in the Austin area can find Attic Wit at Funny Papers. ]

[ Link to this item ]

---

 
< art >



FIELD TRIP

(Souther Salazar / 106 N. Chester Ave. / Pasadena, CA / 91106 USA. Web: www.southersalazar.net)

This is really just a collection of sketchbook excerpts, but I personally love that kind of thing and wish more people would publish them. In fact, if I were a rich man I'd publish a series of artist sketchbooks myself. Anyway, Souther and Saelee went to an aquarium and a zoo and he documented what he saw. It charmed my socks off (now my feet are cold; thanks a lot, Souther) and reminded me how far away I am from a good aquarium or zoo. Recommended.

[ Link to this item ]

---

 
< zine >



YOU IDIOT #2

($1.00 from Nate Gangelhoff / PO Box 8995 / Minneapolis, MN / 55408 USA. Web: www.pickyourpoison.net)

You Idiot is about our crap culture that holds so much fascination for twenty- and thirtysomethings (myself included). Nate's a pretty funny writer, but what really makes the difference is that he researches the subjects of his articles. It shows that he really puts some time into it. The articles in this issue are depressing, embarrassing and hilarious all at the same time. Features include: an examination of ridiculous (most of them are) anti-drug tv commercials in the US, including the guilt angle of "supporting terrorism"; an indepth review of Hulk Hogan's album, Hulk Rules (man, I'd like to hear this); reviews of products bought from his local dollar store; and lots more still. My favorite feature (well, maybe tied with the anti-drug stuff) is "Selling Your Product Through Video Games", a funny rundown of video games designed to promote products from Reebok, McDonald's, Pepsi, Coke, etc. Screen shots, gameplay description, quotes from the manuals and the sheer absurdity of it all make it a fun read. Recommended. I feel dirty inside, but I kinda like it.

[ Link to this item ]

---

 
< comics/x >



THE BANANA/SKIN JOKE

(Malcy Duff / 24 Belmont Gdns / Edinburgh, EH12 6JH / SCOTLAND. E-mail)

Malcy Duff's comics are typically experimental puzzlers starring grotesque characters and The Banana/Skin Joke is no exception. The story, for lack of a better term, is somewhat disjointed but also surprisingly linear. There are people slipping on banana peels, there are lighthouses, there's swimming and then there's another banana peel. See? No point in trying to explain it. I can honestly say, however, that I found it satisfying. I suppose it doesn't make a lick of sense (except, perhaps, abstractly), but all of the elements are tied together in a way that appeals.

[ Link to this item ]

---

 
< recource >



HOBNAIL REVIEW

(£3/$6.00 from Hobnail Press / PO Box 44122 / London, SW6 7XJ / ENGLAND)

Born out of the ashes of the late Dragonsphere, this is a new resource for zine reviews and listings. There's a pretty heavy emphasis on poetry and social struggle in this first issue, but other other expected categories are here, more or less. My favorite part of this issue is an article by Steve Sneyd about the headaches caused by opening submissions packets. Along with the humor are some common-sense tips for submitting work to editors. Also included: a handful of poems, a look at Johnathon Clfford (one-man campaigner for honesty among the UK's vanity presses), a quick overview of the football fanzine scene, a bit of news, a page of art by Claudio Parentela and a chat with Revolutions Per Minute's Mark Metcalf. It appears that some of the non-review/listing content is reprinted from items listed in the issue. Look for the next issue in February.

[ Link to this item ]

---

 
< comics/x >



JAPE #9

(50¢ from Sean Bieri / 12033 Lumpkin / Hamtramck, MI / 48212 USA. E-mail)

There are lots of one-liners and throwaway gags in this latest issue of Sean Bieri's one-man anthology, but no matter because even his throwaway stuff is worth checking out. I think the funniest pieces in this issue are a strip about a zombie panhandler and a Mad magazine-style page of Antiques Roadshow gags. Also, two of the funniest japes herein have to do with religion, a comedy arena I've got a particular soft spot for. Always recommended.

[ Those in the Austin area can find Sean Bieri's work at Funny Papers ]

[ Link to this item ]

---

 
< comics/x >



TALES OF FANTASY #20

($2.50 ppd from Larry Johnson / 9 St. Peter St. #4 / Jamaica Plain, MA / 02130-497 USA. Web: groups.msn.com/LarryJohnsonartist)

Larry Johnson's Tales of Fantasy has seen 20 issues in 15 years, but originally began as a one-of-a-kind homemade comic in 1964, when Larry was only 10 years old. This issue celebrates the title's history and includes articles and stories featuring his most prominent characters: Madame Boogala, Zooy and Lew Brown. In this issue, Madame Boogala experiements with powerful magicks using a television as a conduit and Lew Brown recounts how he nearly had his youth stolen. Both stories have a fun Twilight Zone/Outer Limits feel to them and the Lew Brown one is novel in that he's visiting a psychiatrist (a necessary move, maybe, due to all of his peculiar supernatural experiences). In the remaining story (from 1991; reprinted here in full-color), Zooy meets a race of trolls that inhabits the nation's landfills. Also, on the back cover is a cover gallery of all 20 issues (in color). It's pretty remarkable in the zine/mini-comics world for a title to last this long and I think a retrospective/showcase sort of issue is a great idea.

[ Link to this item ]

---

 
< recordings >



GET AWAY
by Moossa

(www.moossa.com)

Review by Mark Campos

Comes now a four-piece led by and named after singer John Moosa, hailing from Richmond, Virginia, and promising "Original roots rock with a reggae feel." Their cover letter describes their sound as "a cross between Bob Dylan and Bob Marley".

I had such hopes. I imagined wild Virginia-grown Rastas jamming out a heavy riddim in the midst of bizarre echo tricks and chanting cryptic, neo-Biblical exhortations. But I didn't hear much of either Bob on this album – the only song even approximating reggae, "Dragon's Den", was a near cousin to "Watching The Detectives". As for "roots rock", the ancestors of Moosa's sound are closer to Dave Matthews than Robert Johnson.

The playing is adequate, but if you listen too close you'll hear it go awry once in a while. Where there should be a brilliant guitar solo to close "Night Rider", for example, Jim Fabricatori vamps the same twelve bars over and over, no progression or transplendence. And there's a snarky tone in John Moosa's voice that makes him sound arch and insincere, a fatal flaw when trying to put across lyrics like "Flicker drops of candle wax / Melted thoughts all relax".

Yes, and the songs are the usual preoccupations with road trips, girls the fellows know, and the Way Things Are Today. Check this profundity from John's "New War": "Jealousy, hatred, these wars between races / Unfortunate aspects of man ... kind." (Long pause at ellipse.) Sadly, "I Can Hear You Coming" is one of the political songs, not one of the girl ones.

Bassist Ryan Davis kicks in four songs (two road, two girl) full of snarled imagery. How can anybody write a song called "Reno" and not mention the glories of the buffet at the Cal-Neva? Instead, we get "Quiet seventeen ways the only conversation / exchanged in the understanding look of an eye", which is like something off a Yes album. (Moosa's voice works well for this snide song, by the way.) And God strike me, I can't listen to "Althea" past the line
"Armageddon is coming soon."

"Get Away" isn't really bad. You could learn to love it after a few plays, once the rough edges burnish off, but I'm afraid it isn't surprising or unique enough to play through twice.

[ Link to this item ]

---

 
< comics/x >



WARBURGER

(Strip Core; distributed by Top Shelf and others)

These Stripburger specials keep getting bigger and bigger. This one is a whopping 400 pages and boasts talent from around the globe. The covers by Stéphane Blanquet are pretty disturbing (wait 'til you see the back), but once I noticed that this kid – in the middle of a warzone, bombs going off around him – appears to be on the brink of sticking an army man up his nose, I realized that it's touches like these that make the Stripburger specials what they are.

Inside you'll find efforts from 90 international contributors and a variety of approaches for the grim theme. The work that really stands out for me includes: "Zyklon Boy" by Knut Larsson, about a kind of gas-chamber-created superhero; Peter Kuper's "Screwed", which suggests that power will get you in the end; Kati Kovács' rape allegory; Ulli Lust's staggering adaptation of school essays by Berlin kids of 1945; Rocco Lombardi's story of tear gas and a son's love for his father; Eric Braün's gag strips; "Noir Canada", David Lester's adaptation of Canadian Prime Minister MacKenzie King's journal entries from his 1930s visit to Germany (sobering); Letac's cartoon journal drawn during the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia in 1999; and... well, I'm just going to stop there, even though there are still more that really struck me. So I'll say that, in addition to the above, there's also very good work by Mr. Stocca, Ulf K, Jean Bourguignon, Gomé, Roland Trost, Carol Swain, Squaz, Niklas Asker, Maaike Hartjes and others.

Also included are contacts for the artists and even a page of stickers. It's an impressive collection and certainly one of the more positive things to come out of the recent "war" with Iraq.

[ Link to this item ]

---

 
< comics/x >



YELLOW BABY #1

(Alternative Comics, Jed Alexander)

Review by Mark Campos

Here's one I thought I was going to hate: going by the gilded looking guy riding the pig on the cover, I assumed it was another ugly-art exercise. I flipped it open idly just before going out to forage for dinner, and wound up reading half of it right there.

Dinner was late that evening.

This is Jed's big lunge for the brass ring (the cover boasts "All Sellout Issue!", and the cover pig is eating greenbacks), and let's hope he does good enough to go for a while, because I want to read more of "Turtle, Turtle", his projected serial. The narrator of "Turtle" is an alienated Mex-Am/Jewish kid living with his grandmother in San Juan and growing more alienated. The art's fairly lumpy, printed in dark brown and light green duotone, but it suits the bitter story well.

Less sucessful is "Free Ideas", in which Jed clears out a clogged pipe full of concepts. They already have a Jesus theme park, so nothing too special here. "Fil's La La" is more conventional ugly stuff: Fil breaks everything in the house, including but not limited to his TV, his kid, and – yes – his La La. "Making Little Boys" has a Daydreamer-esque edge to it, disturbing and dream-rational.

Give that golden pig a feed, and pick this up next time you score some comics.

[ Link to this item ]

---

 
< comics/x >



GABAGOOL! #5

(mikedawsoncomics.com; available through Diamond)

Ever wanted to go to Hedonism II in Jamaica? You know, the anything-goes party resort? Well, that's exactly where Chris Radtke and Mike Dawson have sent the Gabagool! cast and this issue covers their first day. Unfortunately, they don't do a whole lot in that day other than the usual party business – scoping out chicks, scoring weed, etc. – but the party is just getting started by the final panel, so next issue should be "off the hook", as the kids say. Don't get me wrong, this issue's chapter is still worthwhile reading, but its concentration is less on comedy and more on introducing the Jamaican setting, new characters, etc. Clearly it's a transitional piece, something to set the scene. If you haven't read this comic before, I'd advise picking up the previous issue, #4, and then continuing on. The back-up story in this new issue, drawn by Tony Consiglio, is about a janitor and an unusual vandal and is recommended to scat enthusiasts. The panels wherein the vandal is discovered are priceless, but that's all I'm saying.

[ Link to this item ]

---

 
< web:travel >

POCKET TOFU

(Web log with photos, free, at www.angelfire.com/blog/pockettofu)

Review by Alan Rankin

Amber and her husband Kevin recently moved to Zhengzhou, China to teach English. They’ve started keeping a blog of their writings and photos, and it’s quickly turning into one of the coolest travel “zines” I’ve ever read. It’s full of details and (frequently hilarious) stories about those little cultural differences you never think about until you experience them – transportation; the media; even getting a haircut in central China is a whole new world. Recent entries have focused on local food and various Chinese delicacies (paging Carrie “Food Geek” McNinch…). Some of them sound damn tasty, too (“a 'Black Angel' – a scoop of vanilla ice cream and a scoop of chocolate ice cream in a Coke”).

Anyway, check out Pocket Tofu – particularly “10 Descriptions of Chinese Edibles” (October 9), “Pizza Hut in China…oh my god” and “I Have One Minute To Live” (both October 3). Funny and fascinating.

[ Link to this item ]

---

 
< comics/x >



KING-CAT COMICS AND STORIES #62

($2.00 from Spit and a Half / PO Box 300367 / Denver, CO / 80203 USA. Web: www.king-cat.net)

Did you catch the issue number above? Sixty-two issues. Man, that's impressive. John Porcellino has become something of a cartooning legend and has inspired many in the area of self-expression. And with good reason. King-Cat is a mixture of personal comics, poetic observation, updates on his life and reader interaction. My favorite piece in this new one is a funny two-pager that tells the story of how John wound up with a beard one summer day. Other stuff in here includes a zen fable, a bit about Catalpa trees (another piece I like a lot), driving in Chicago, John at work, stories with Misun Oh (of the Tearjerker zine; they married last summer) and "The King-Cat Top 40", which is an interesting, regularly-occuring rundown of what the author is currently interested in. John P's comics are charming, personal and quite appealing. He points out beauty that others may miss and I find that encouraging. I especially recommend his work to fans of autobio comics and personalzines. Oh, and rumor has it that John and Misun may be moving soon, so you might e-mail first before ordering.

[ Those in the Austin area can find King-Cat at Funny Papers. ]

[ Link to this item ]

---