Last night’s Comics Daze went so well that I’m doing another one straight away.
| Melvin Gibbs: 4 + 1 equals 5 for May 25 |  |
08:58: Animals With Sharpies by Michael Dumontier & Neil Farber (Drawn & Quarterly)
This book is what it says on the tin: It’s animals with sharpies.
It’s really good. It’s oddly affecting.
| Body Meπa: The Work Is Slow |  |
09:09: Rebecca & Lucie in the case of the missing neighbor by Pascal Girard (Drawn & Quarterly)
Oooh, such gorgeous colours.
This book is pure delight. It’s all so unexpected — it’s a thriller/mystery, but done in this style. It’s witty and it’s exciting. I’ve liked everything Girard has done, but this is his best book.
| Body Meπa: The Work Is Slow |  |
09:44: Let’s Not Talk Anymore by Weng Pixin (Drawn & Quarterly)
This day starts off very D&Q heavy… did they drop a whole bunch of books all of a sudden?
Such lovely colours.
The structure here is very interesting — we follow five generations of fifteen-year-old girls… but the storytelling’s kinda choppy? I mean, on a panel-to-panel transition level? Often?
But it’s a good book.
| Blectum From Blechdom: DeepBone |  |
10:19: It’s Not What You Thought It Would Be by Lizzy Stewart (Fantagraphics)
This is quite nice. It’s got that 30s-being-wistful-about-beeing-a-teenager vibe going on — most of these stories are about that sort of thing; thinking about what happened to your best friends from when you were a teenager.
As nice as it is, the dialogues just don’t work for me. It’s like reading dialogue from a British indie movie — nothing they say sounds like something an actual human being would say. But perhaps that’s on purpose? Reality’s overrated anyway.
| Dntel: Away |  |
11:14: Nap Time
| Stephan Mathieu: Radiance (11): Music with Magnetic Strings |  |
15:37: World War 3 Illustrated #51: The World We Are Fighting For edited by Ethan Heitner, Peter Kuper and Seth Tobocman (AK Press)
Oops! I must have been tired, man. That nap was way too long…
I didn’t know that World War 3 Illustrated had switched to this handsome squarebound, slightly smaller format from their classic floppy magazine format. It makes it all seem quite oh la la how chic, which may or may not kinda work against the aesthetic of the work. Well, whatevs.
The variety of approaches and artists is pretty amazing. And I was surprised to see people like Ben Katchor showing up here. Pretty cool.
The funniest bit here is this thing by Deb Lucke where she weighs the evidence for and against Trump being a witch. (Spoiler: He totally is.)
There’s a lot of younger artists here, but Seth Tobocman is still present and correct, and Sue Coe shows up for a number of single page pieces.
World War 3 Illustrated exists kinda outside the normal comics continuum — it rarely gets mentioned in comics blogs and stuff. But it’s 51 issues?! And the latest few are over 200 pages long? So we’re talking more than 5K pages of interesting comics that are just… kinda… hidden…
Get the last few handful of issues directly from AK Press. It’s good comics. (And cheap.)
| Caro: Heartbeats & Heartbreaks |  |
17:06: Mouse Guard: The Owlhen Caregiver by David Petersen (Archaia)
I’ve picked up an issue here and an issue there of the Mouse Guard series, and I’m always super puzzled about what it’s all about. Perhaps I should just make an effort and finally pick it up from the start or something, because there’s something very enjoyable about the elegiac tone Peterson has in this book.
The artwork’s really pretty, too. I’m not sure whether these books are meant for children or not? There’s a lot of dying and sadness in them.
| Boris: No World Tour -In Your Head- 2021 |  |
17:22: J&K by John Pham (Fantagraphics)
Oooh! This is like a cornucopia. All this stuff! Included in a pouch on the inside front cover.
Even the little booklet has inserts.
The book itself looks like it’s been reproduced from a riso book? But looks slightly too clean for that to be the case, so … did Pham go to the trouble to make it look like riso in Photoshop?
We first get one long story, and then several shorter things, and it’s all kinda aimless. It feels like something somebody with a day job in animation would do in the evenings — no real urgency, and there’s a lot of video game references.
Totally not my thing.
Wat!? A 5″ single? I’ve never seen one before. The single is mentioned in the book, and so was the booklet included in the front cover — Cool Magazine. It’s an impeccable package — I mean, the book, as an object, brings joy, as they say.
The single plays, even. Nice. The music’s got a video game kinda vibe.
| Elysia Crampton: Elysia Crampton |  |
18:05: Non #9 edited by Eric Reynolds (Fantagraphics)
Raquelle Jae opens the issue with a forty-page things that’s totally unique. I mean, I can see the connections to, say, Phoebe Glockner or Dori Seda or David Heatley, but it’s a new thing.
The rest of the issue is lighter, like this Emil Friis Erns ditty.
WHAT NEW HELL IS THIS! Ben Nadler? I’m guessing he’s another animation guy — this is pure, 100% crap.
And then we end the book with a piece about the existential angst of being a youtuber (by Ethel Wolfe).
The issue started off strong, but…
| Leslie Winer: When I Hit You, You’ll Feel It |  |
19:40: Aposimz #7 by Tsutomu Nihei (Vertical)
Uhm… I thought I stopped the subscription to this thing? It’s pot boiler Japanese post-apocalyptic sci fi, if I remember correctly.
The artwork’s kinda attractive in its wispyness…
… but none of the words used here have their usual meaning, and there’s just tons and tons of this incomprehensible technobabble.
And all the characters look the same. I tried reading this volume, but it’s pretty impenetrable.
| Peaches: Pussy Mask |  |
20:01: Le Maître Chocolatier: Le Boutique by Chetville/Corbeyran/Gourdon (Zoom)
This is very French — and it feels, perhaps, a bit too calculated? I mean, there’s chocolate and intrigue and drama…
… and even a cat! It’s got everything. But even if you can’t help feel that you’re being manipulated according to a cynical checklist, it’s a very charming album. I couldn’t stop smiling: It’s a fun, breezy read.
Hm, I should sneak off and make some dinner…
| Laurel Halo: Quarantine |  |
21:16: Inner City Romance by Guy Colwell (Fantagraphics)
*burp*
This book collects Colwell’s series from the 70s — I bought it a few months ago after reading the fifth issue, which was all kinds of spacy and interesting.
The first four issues are very different. They’re interesting, though.
| Hood: Noise, Warmth and Unassuming Grace |  |
22:01: What Did You Eat Yesterday? 15 by Fumi Yoshinaga (Vertical)
I’m flagging — reading comics is exhausting! But just one more…
I love that it’s so low stakes but high drama. Here the drama is that whatsisname has to figure out what gift to give to his friend’s son! *gasp* It cannot be!
I also love these pages of him cooking, even if I’m never ever going to cook any of this stuff.
It’s weird how the series works as well as it does, but I’m still entertained 120 chapters in.
| John Zorn: The Bagatelles (4): Ikue Mori |  |
22:48: The End
And now I’ve definitely read enough comics. I think I may have sprained my brain.