FF1992: Butt Biscuit

(September 30, 2016)

Butt Biscuit by Dean Williams and Ted Couldron. What a thoroughly unpleasant comic book. The plot is about a kid with Down’s who’s kidnapped by a producer of speciality porn. I guess the idea is to be as offensive as possible, and then it’ll automatically be funny? So it’s a papery version of 4chan. The … Continue reading FF1992: Butt Biscuit

FF1992: Test Dirt

(September 30, 2016)

Test Dirt #1 by Tony Fitzgerald. As we get to the 90s, my “collection” of Fantagraphics comics grows spottier. I bought all the major long running comic books at the time, but the less known stuff passed me by: I was a poor student. And had to pay attention to other things. Like getting started … Continue reading FF1992: Test Dirt

FF1987: Frazetta

(September 29, 2016)

Thun’da Tales #1 Untamed Love #1 By Frank Frazetta and various. There’s no text in these comics to explain why they exist beyond what’s on the covers: “finally presented in a quality full-color edition!” So my guess is that these are comics from the early 50s that had somehow fallen into the public domain, and … Continue reading FF1987: Frazetta

FF1982: Gil Kane’s Savage!

(September 29, 2016)

Gil Kane’s Savage! by Gil Kane and Archie Goodwin. I think this is Fantagraphics’ third comic book, after The Flames of Gyro and Love and Rockets, so it’s historically interesting. It’s a reprint of a magazine published in 1968, and RC Harvey gives some context in an opening essay: He then goes on to talk … Continue reading FF1982: Gil Kane’s Savage!

FF1990: Hate

(September 28, 2016)

Hate #1-30, Hate Jamboree, Hate Annual #1-10 by Peter Bagge. Hate is Peter Bagge’s smash success series after winding up Neat Stuff. (Which wasn’t, I guess.  A smash success.) It’s also the last of the, er, “institutional indie” comics that Fantagraphics published in the 80s/90s in this blog series, after Love and Rockets, Eightball and … Continue reading FF1990: Hate

FF1990: Lust of the Nazi Weasel Women

(September 27, 2016)

Lust of the Nazi Weasel Women #1-4 by Mitch Manzer. Manzer had previously done the very amusing Rory Randall, the Singing Cowboy serial, but Lust of the Nazi Weasel Women is his first (and only, I think) solo series. As with the Rory Randall series, what we have here is a number of really silly … Continue reading FF1990: Lust of the Nazi Weasel Women

FF1990: Kuper

(September 26, 2016)

It’s Only a Matter of Life and Death Bleeding Heart #1-5 Wild Life #1-2 By Peter Kuper. Around this time, Fantagraphics published a number of magazine-sized single creator collections of work previously published in various anthologies: Mostly Fantagraphics anthologies like Prime Cuts and Graphic Story Monthly. It’s Only a Matter of Life and Death is … Continue reading FF1990: Kuper

FF1990: Har Har Comics

(September 25, 2016)

Har Har Comics #1-2 by Mike Kazaleh. After Captain Jack was cancelled, Fantagraphics gave Kazaleh another go with this very short-lived series: One issue in 1990, and another in 1992. (The indicia in the latter issue lists it as being published “bi-annually”, which I guess is right in some jurisdictions.) The two issues mostly consist … Continue reading FF1990: Har Har Comics

FF1990: Fission Chicken

(September 25, 2016)

Fission Chicken #1-4 by JP Morgan and Kyle Rothweiler. Fission Chicken ran in Critters for most of that magazine’s run. I think I mentioned in that blog article that I wasn’t much fond of Fission Chicken when I read it in Critters as a teenager, so I didn’t buy this series when it came out. … Continue reading FF1990: Fission Chicken

FF1989: Grootlore

(September 24, 2016)

Grootlore #1-2 Grootlore volume 2 #1-3 By Peter Gullerud. I’ve always known that Kim Thompson was the one of the two Fantagraphics owners who’s into anthropomorphics, but I wasn’t aware that it was so clear-cut: Anything funny-animal (Critters) or European(ish) (Sinner) is edited by Kim Thompson, and anything sci-fi-ish (Threat) or art (Flash Marks) is … Continue reading FF1989: Grootlore

FF1989: Teaser and the Blacksmith

(September 24, 2016)

Teaser and the Blacksmith by Timothy H. Glass. This is a very strange comic book by a New Zealander called Timothy H. Glass. I don’t know whether that’s his real name: I could well understand it if whoever created this would want to do so under a pseudonym. It seems to genuinely be from Australia … Continue reading FF1989: Teaser and the Blacksmith

FF1989: Fox Comics

(September 23, 2016)

Fox Comics Special Fox Comics #24-27 Edited by David Vodicka. The first twenty-three issues of Fox Comics were published in Australia, but they apparently wanted to get wider distribution by publishing through Fantagraphics. And that worked: Just see, I bought those issues. I’ve been trying to find the Aussie-only issues over the years, and here’s … Continue reading FF1989: Fox Comics

FF1988: Christmas with Superswine

(September 23, 2016)

Christmas with Superswine by Gary Fields. This is rather weird. It sounds like a special edition of a running series, but Superswine wasn’t published as its own series until three years later. But perhaps the point was just to publish something seasonal. The indicia says that it was published in February, which sounds typical for … Continue reading FF1988: Christmas with Superswine

FF1988: Flash Marks

(September 22, 2016)

Flash Marks by Carel Moiseiwitsch. This is a collection of short pieces that have previously appeared in various anthologies in the 80s. It is, unfortunately, the only major collection of her work, and it isn’t very major. I mean, it’s bigly excellent, as the vernacular goes, but it’s just 32 pages. Magazine size, though. The … Continue reading FF1988: Flash Marks

FF1988: The Tell-Tale Heart and Other Stories

(September 22, 2016)

The Tell-Tale Heart and Other Stories by Edgar Allen Poe. From what fetid hell did this magazine arise? It reprints three Edgar Allen Poe stories (that you’ve probably read before), illustrated in this fashion: The borders are repeated throughout each story, so this magazine has three borders, one cover and twelve illustrations (by Daryl and … Continue reading FF1988: The Tell-Tale Heart and Other Stories

FF1987: Jim

(September 21, 2016)

Jim #1-4 Jim vol 2 #1-6 Jim Special: Frank’s Real Pa Frank #1-4 By Jim Woodring. Jim (the series, not the author) started off as a collection of material that Jim (the author, not the series) had published in the 1982-86 period. The first four issues are magazine sized… and very strange. The dedication in … Continue reading FF1987: Jim

FF1987: The Wandering Stars

(September 21, 2016)

The Wandering Stars #1 by Stuart Hopen and Sam Kieth. Another entry in the “Fantagraphics sci-fi cancelled mysteriously” series, this one lasted only one issue and ends with the words “to be continued…” And it’s a very nice issue indeed. Kieth would later switch to a more decompressed art style, but here he crams a … Continue reading FF1987: The Wandering Stars

FF1987: Dinosaur Rex

(September 20, 2016)

Dinosaur Rex #1-3 by Jan Strnad and Henry Mayo. What a fun series. This is another one of the comics from the Upshot imprint, edited by Jan Strnad.  The imprint was supposed to be action oriented entertainment, I think. They only managed to publish three series before cancellation (Dalgoda: Flesh and Bones, The Miracle Squad … Continue reading FF1987: Dinosaur Rex

Gwene Is Up Again, Too

(September 19, 2016)

After a month-long hiatus after the troubles, Gmane’s sister web site, Gwene, is back up again, too. Gwene allows you to sign up RSS feeds via the web site, and then you can read those feeds by pointing your news reader at news.gwene.org. Gwene also used to have a web-based interface to browse the contents, … Continue reading Gwene Is Up Again, Too

FF1987: Dog Boy

(September 19, 2016)

Dog Boy #1-10 by Steve Lafler. Lafler had (self-published, I think?) Dog Boy under the Cat-Head Comics moniker for a few years, but moved to Fantagraphics in 1987, and restarted the numbering. I didn’t read Dog Boy back in the 80s. That is, I had the first issue, and I vaguely remember being vaguely puzzled. … Continue reading FF1987: Dog Boy

FF1986: The Miracle Squad

(September 18, 2016)

The Miracle Squad #1-4 by John Wooley and Terry Tidwell. This comic book was part of the Jan Strnad-edited Upshot line of comics, which didn’t last very long. And this was, I think, the only one that Strnad didn’t write himself. It’s in colour, which I guess means that Fantagraphics thought that this 30s B-movie … Continue reading FF1986: The Miracle Squad

FF1988: Itchy Planet

(September 17, 2016)

Itchy Planet #1-3 edited by Leonard Rifas. Leonard Rifas published a number of comics in the 70s under the Edu Comics banner, and Itchy Planet continues pretty much in that vein: Informative pieces and political agitation. There’s even a motto. So you have reviews, text pieces and things like this page: A survey of comics … Continue reading FF1988: Itchy Planet

FF2006: Castle Waiting

(September 16, 2016)

Castle Waiting #1-18 by Linda Medley I haven’t done this series of postings in anything resembling chronological order, but I did decide to try to do the remaining ones in an orderly… order… But then I flipped past Castle Waiting in the boxes once again, and I just had to re-read it. Again. Castle Waiting … Continue reading FF2006: Castle Waiting

FF1986: Threat!

(September 15, 2016)

Threat! #1-10 Anthologies usually do not have a set roster of contributors. There are some, like Zap Comix, but it’s usually a revolving door sort of thing. Threat! was a 32 page, magazine size, monthly anthology with four running serials, each taking up eight (or fewer) pages, and didn’t deviate (much) from that format until … Continue reading FF1986: Threat!

FF1986: Doomsday Squad

(September 14, 2016)

Doomsday Squad #1-7 by Joe Gill and John Byrne. This series was supposed to be called “John Byrne Classics” and reprints the old Charlton Comics series Doomsday +1. Apparently Byrne protested and it ended up being called Doomsday Squad instead. He was also apparently supposed to supply the covers, but only did two, while most … Continue reading FF1986: Doomsday Squad

FF1991: Aesop’s Fables

(September 14, 2016)

Aesop’s Fables #1-3 adapted by Charles Santino. This series has a slightly odd motivation for its existence: So the project wasn’t started by somebody with a passion for fables, but just somebody looking around for something to adapt. You’d think that this would result in some pretty shoddy comics, but they’re quite amusing. The majority … Continue reading FF1991: Aesop’s Fables

FF1988: Critters Special

(September 13, 2016)

Critters Special #1 by Stan Sakai. I should have covered this one in the Critters article, but I forgot. Anyway, the series lasted only one issue, and featured Nilson Groundthumper (and Hermy), characters developed for the Critters series, I think. Sakai would, of course, go on to do Usagi Yojimbo (which he’s still doing), but … Continue reading FF1988: Critters Special

FF1994: Alex

(September 12, 2016)

Alex #1-6 by Mark Kalesniko. This is a quite unusual Fantagraphics floppy series: 1) It’s not a single-author anthology, but a proper story that 2) seems to be designed to last for six issues and 3) wasn’t cancelled before it was completed and 4) was published on a strict bi-monthly schedule (which may be a … Continue reading FF1994: Alex

FF1998: The Nimrod

(September 11, 2016)

The Nimrod #1-7 by Lewis Trondheim. This series is a collection of various of the more “indie” Trondheim works: Autobio, a McConey story, and several shorter pieces, so I can see why it looked like it might make sense to publish this stuff in English in pamphlet format. It’s like US indie comics, so publishing … Continue reading FF1998: The Nimrod

WFC United States: Deadpool

(September 10, 2016)

Since I did France, I might as well do the US. There are really funny, exciting scenes here, and the dialogue is mostly on fleek. But the mixture of exciting and funny with slow and heartfelt makes the film kinda limp along for stretches. There’s a lack of rhythm… The funny bits are really funny, … Continue reading WFC United States: Deadpool

WFC France: Made in USA

(September 10, 2016)

I’ve kinda consciously postponed watching films from the major film-producing countries (from my point of view, of course: people in India may disagree): France, The United States of America and Britain. (And I couldn’t quite make up my mind whether to treat the UK as four contries or not.) Like, where’s the challenge in finding … Continue reading WFC France: Made in USA

FF1992: Collier’s

(September 10, 2016)

Collier’s #1-4 by David Collier. This series was published in a variety of sizes (two standard comic book, one standard magazine, and one in the middle somewhere) at a glacial pace between 1992 and 1998. I think I remember seeing work from David Collier popping up in various anthologies around that time, but I would … Continue reading FF1992: Collier’s

WFC Belarus: Ідзі і глядзі

(September 9, 2016)

Oops. This isn’t a very Belarussian film: It’s from the Soviet era. And this DVD is just ridiculous. It looks like it’s been recorded off the TV and then somebody has blurred the English subtitles, and then added new Korean and English subtitles on top. But I’ve made krambambulya! It’s too late to back our … Continue reading WFC Belarus: Ідзі і глядзі

WFC Senegal: Touki Bouki

(September 9, 2016)

What an odd film. It’s kinda nouvelle vague, but insane. Me like! I suspect the RSPCA wasn’t present at the filming. Paree, paree, paree… Touki Bouki. Djibril Diop Mambéty. 1973. Senegal. Bissap Shake 1 cup of dried hibiscus flowers 1 cup of sugar quarter cup of orange juice mint sprigs cucubmber slices vodka Heat two … Continue reading WFC Senegal: Touki Bouki

FF1987: Centrifugal Bumble-Puppy

(September 9, 2016)

Centrifugal Bumble-Puppy #1-8 edited by Joe Sacco. Sacco announced in the last issue of the Honk! magazine that it’d be changing its name to Centrifugal Bumble-Puppy, but it did more than that. The page count dropped from 48 to 32, the interviews disappeared and the text features mostly disappeared, and a new roster of regular … Continue reading FF1987: Centrifugal Bumble-Puppy

FF1993: Frederick & Eloise: A Love Story

(September 8, 2016)

Frederick & Eloise: A Love Story by Brian Biggs. Here’s another pretty odd one, both in format (slightly wider than high) and content. There’s two panels per page and not too many words, so it’s a very quick read. The plot, as it is, doesn’t really go the way you think it’s going, which is … Continue reading FF1993: Frederick & Eloise: A Love Story

FF1993: Holy Cross

(September 7, 2016)

Holy Cross #1-3 written by Malachy Coney. Well, this is an odd series. It’s written by Malachy Coney and drawn by three different people; it’s set in Belfast during the troubles; every issue is of a different size; and it’s three separate but somewhat interconnected stories. Let’s take a look. The first issue, shorter and … Continue reading FF1993: Holy Cross

Gmane Alive!

(September 6, 2016)

A few weeks back, a DDoS was the final straw that broke this Gmane camel’s back, and I took my marbles (as they were) and went home. I mean, I shut down the web interface of gmane.org. But now it’s back, and under new management: Yomura Corporation.  Not all things are up yet, but it’s … Continue reading Gmane Alive!

FF1993: In the Days of the Ace Rock ‘n’ Roll Club

(September 6, 2016)

In the Days of the Ace Rock ‘n’ Roll Club by Eddie Campbell. I totally forgot about this one when I did the blog article on the other Fantagraphics Eddie Campbell comics… but since this one is from before the “Alec” period, and I called that article “Alic(ish)”, let’s just say I had this planned … Continue reading FF1993: In the Days of the Ace Rock ‘n’ Roll Club

FF1995: Black Hole

(September 5, 2016)

Black Hole #1-12 by Charles Burns. This book is Charles Burns magnum opus on being a teenager, doing drugs and having sex. And, of course, having horrible mutating diseases. He’d been doing work in this area pretty much from the beginning, but only scratching the surface. So to speak. He finally went all out here, … Continue reading FF1995: Black Hole

FF1986: Honk!

(September 4, 2016)

Honk #1-5 edited by Tom Mason and then Joe Sacco. Hey! Comics aren’t just about serious stuff any more! Honk! was Fantagraphics’ first humour magazine. It’s a mixture of comics, interviews and features: It sometimes reads a bit like a version of The Comics Journal that somebody has stuck a lot of comics pages in. … Continue reading FF1986: Honk!

WFC Zimbabwe: Neria

(September 3, 2016)

“Oh, look! Diplomats!” Well, of course this is a very low budget film, and it looks like it. Was it filmed on video? In the early 90s? (imdb says that it’s from 1993, but the DVD cover says that it won awards in Egypt in 1991 and South Africa in 1992, so it’s all very … Continue reading WFC Zimbabwe: Neria

WFC Israel: למלא את החלל‎‎

(September 3, 2016)

It’s an interesting film, and I like the funny bits. There’s also squirmy embarassing bits that are very… squirmy. Yeah, squirmy. I’ll go with squirmy. Where’s my thesaurus… Anyway, while there are really good scenes in here, I feel like large parts of the film are fairly pedestrian. Good actors, though. Fill the Void. Rama … Continue reading WFC Israel: למלא את החלל‎‎

FF1993: Brain Capers

(September 3, 2016)

Brain Capers #1 by Mario Hernandez. This book mainly collects various comics Hernandez had published in other Fantagraphics books (I think). I recognise pieces from Real Girl and Street Music, at least… The original pieces are pretty light on story, but they’re interesting graphically. Here we seem to be going off in a slightly more … Continue reading FF1993: Brain Capers

WFC Mauritania: Timbuktu

(September 2, 2016)

This is a very pretty film, and the way it portrays ISIS as buffoons is very amusing. And then it isn’t amusing any more. Some of the actors are compelling, but most of them are really, really stiff. I assume they’re not-professionals, but still… Timbuktu. Abderrahmane Sissako. 2014. Mauritania. Mauretania Mauritania peppermint tea mint leaves … Continue reading WFC Mauritania: Timbuktu

TSP2015: Dreams Rewired

(September 2, 2016)

Dreams Rewired was released on DVD recently.

FF1992: Cud

(September 2, 2016)

Cud #1-8 by Terry Laban. Cud was Terry Laban’s more explicitly underground comics series after the relationship dramedy series Unsupervised Existence. Confusingly enough, the main serial is about a gross performance artist named Bob Cudd, but it’s a different character than the gross performance artist named Bob in Unsupervised Existence. Reuse before recycle. Slight digression … Continue reading FF1992: Cud

Funniest Comic Book of 2016

(September 1, 2016)

The funniest comic book of 2016 must be Lisa Hanawalt’s Hot Dog Taste Test. It’s got everything, like thoughtful ideas on time travel… Helpful slogan reinventions… Practical how-to pages on how to do incredible food photography… And then sudden beauty. Not nearly as many hot dogs as you might surmise from the title, though.

FF1989: Eightball

(September 1, 2016)

Eightball #1-23 by Daniel Clowes. I was very curious about how re-reading Eightball would feel like. I read Clowes’ latest (very acclaimed) book Patience a few months back, and I thought it was crap. (There. I’ve now statistically alienated about 97% of potential readers of this blog article.) It was so bad that it started … Continue reading FF1989: Eightball