We’ve got a lil storm here…
And the wind is blowing from just the right direction so that my oldee windows are leaking!
And I’ve got my unread comics on a windowsill!
EEK WATER DAMAGED COMICS THE WORST THING THAT CAN HAPPPEN EEK
Yeah, the windows are scheduled to be changed next year — they’re not really that old (from the 80s), but they’re bad and the temperature inside here in winter is brrrr. Got offers for new ones, but it’s been a slow process…
Anyway, I guess this means that today’s a day for reading comics? Damp comics? Yes indeed — gotta read them all before paper does that papier maché thing that it does.
| Agriculture: The Spiritual Sound |  |
13:23: Roy #1 by Gilbert & Natalia Hernandez (Fantagraphics)
Eep. This book is very moist indeed.
Beto’s story is very associative — it feels like it’s been totally improvised, panel to panel. It’s cool.
Natalia Hernandez’s story is more straightforward — it’s an alien abduction riff. It’s also cool.
13:31: Uckboy #1 by Mathew Calvert
This is elaborately put together — I think it’s (mostly?) screenprinted, and on various paper stocks. The two intertwined stories are told in an original way.
(The story may be illegal to read in some jurisdictions.)
13:38: Ms. Understood at the Menagerie by Juliette Collet
This is very short — it’s the first episode in a longer story, apparently. It’s more pensive than Collet’s stories usually are? I’m intrigued.
Love the colours.
13:43: Record #1-3 by Jason Overby
Man, it’s really blowing outside now… but it’s stopped raining, so I have a break from drying out the windowsills.
These are appealing books.
Overby does kind of ruminative, chatty pieces, but with pretty wild artwork.
It works really well.
Heh heh. That comic artist anxiety…
| Paul Davies and Tujiko Noriko: Surge OST |  |
14:01: Sugar Shack by Lucy Knisley (Random House)
Oh, I think I missed a book in this series. I know I’ve read at least the first book, and this is apparently the final one?
I know these books are for small kids, but I like them anyway. But they sure feel like books from a different era: They’re very didactic, and almost every scene feels like it’s there to teach you a lesson. It’s like an editor sat down with Knisley and went “so how can we make this Christmas tree buying scene educational?”, in a very methodical way.
But it’s fine — I can totally see lots of kids finding these books comforting in a cynical world.
| Boris: Fangsanalsatan Vol.24: Boris Live at Fever 20241125 |  |
14:54: Buff Soul by Moa Romanova (Fantagraphics)
Hm… this looks familiar…
Eeep! I’ve got the Swedish edition of this! *sigh*
| Lencinho: Só As Melhores |  |
14:57: Pavil’s Mask by Jeremy Perrodeau (Black Panel Press)
Eh… this art style isn’t very appealing to me. It’s obviously very inspired by American artists (perhaps Ron Rege Jr.?), but it’s just so tablet-ey and lifeless. And the colour scheme is like they pushed a “make it kinda riso” button in whatever programme they’re using.
The story is about a spy from some empire who’s investigating a very spiritual, natural, in-balance society… and is he going to betray them!?!? IS HE!?
It’s all so paint by numbers.
The storytelling is kinda on point, though.
15:40: The Week by Jeff Lok
This is pretty unique little book.
I mean, autobio comics have a history of letting it all hang out, but this crosses a lot of lines people would normally have. It’s really well done, though. (I bought most of these mini comics from Domino Books.)
| Cheetah & Nia Archives: Get Loose |  |
15:56: Double Take by Kat Foyle (Fieldmouse Press)
This is a very brief book about meeting a Youtube celebrity.
I’m not sure I really get it? But the artwork is attractive.
| ganavya: Nilam |  |
16:00: Acacia Craft: Not Quite a Tall Tale by Olga Volozova
Man, you can really see the difference in the paper absorbance in these comics. Some are perfectly fine, and others are totally soaked. This one is particularly badly damaged.
This is very intriguing. It’s fairy-tale like, but avoids many of the pitfalls of fairy-tales.
I like it.
16:10: The Scene by Juliette Collet
At least I guess it is? I’m not sure I’m going to be able to even open this newspaper thing… it’s so soaked.
It’s pretty cool!
| Earth, Wind & Fire: All ‘N All |  |
16:15: A Strong Woman by Valentine Gallardo (Fieldmouse Press)
OK, I have a complaint: Why is Fieldmouse Press doing most (all?) of their comics lately on very shiny paper? It just looks offputting and inappropriate for what they’re publishing. Is shiny paper a lot less expensive than matte paper these days? If so, that’s a reversal from how it was in Ye Oldee Timey Dayes.
This is a collection of stories — most very short.
It’s funny — it’s very 2025.
For instance, it has the first allegory about using LLMs too much that I can remember reading a comic strip about.
| Kieran Hebden + William Tyler: 41 Longfield Street Late ‘80s |  |
16:52: Tsunami by Ned Wenlock (Pow Pow Press)
Within the confines of this extremely limited (and frankly, offputting) character design, Wenlock manages to make the characters pretty expressive.
It’s just hard to tell them apart. You have to start memorising “she’s the one with the hair that covers the eye” etc etc, and that’s annoying.
The story is mostly the usual — a nerd protagonist that’s beaten up a lot by the neighbourhood bullies etc. The storyline does take some original turns (nerds are really the worst), but it’s not really, you know, “good”.
17:39: Elated #3 by Marco Pickett (?)
Hey, nice.
This has a distinct 60s underground vibe going on. It’s fun.
17:44: New Dark Tales by Margaret Ashford-Trotter
I got this from here.
This one is almost dripping wet…
Anyway, the artwork’s very attractive — it’s got a 90s indie thing going on. And it’s a proper, actual spooky ghost story, and it works very well.
| Nia Archives & CLIPZ: Maia Maia |  |
17:55: How To Quit Smoking Cigarettes by Nick Bunch (Cram Books)
Heh heh. Nice.
| Xiu Xiu: Kick Out The Jams |  |
This starts off as being just about quitting smoking, but then it develops into a storyline about finding a printer and stuff. It’s very entertaining. Very striking artwork.
| Pere Ubu: Datapanik In The Year Zero (5): Terminal Drive |  |
18:15: Beneath the Trees Where Nobody Sees #1 by Horvath/Otsmane-Elhaou (IDW)
Oh, somebody’s been extremely inspired by Blacksad, I guess? Well, that’s not a bad series to take inspiration from…
And… as these things go, it’s not bad? It’s very one note, though. Which is appropriate for a noir pastiche, really, but if you smear it on too thickly, it can become pretty annoying. But I’m aboard for the series.
Oh, this is a followup from a previous series? I guess this is just going to be six issues or something, then?
18:24: G.O.D.S. #1 by Ryan North/Francesco Mortarino (Marvel Comics)
I’m just reading the North-scripted bits of this crossover, and they’ve been a lot of fun, for the most part.
This one, however… While the artwork is much better than on most Marvel comics these days, the story isn’t all that exciting.
18:37: A Scientific Study of Transsexuality by Oscar Woodiwiss (Fieldmouse Press)
Hey, this is fantastic. It’s funny, but also gripping and horrifying (complimentary).
A really solid little book. Is it going to land on a lot of “best of” lists this year? Possibly?
You can get it from here.
18:46: Lifehole #1 by Mary Moore Dalton
This is very good. Perhaps it should have been printed in newspaper format, though? (Probably difficult to do in small editions, though.)
Anyway, this is perhaps the best talking-about-dreams-and-memory comic book I’ve read — these things have a tendency to be very sleep inducing, but this one isn’t at all. The storytelling totally works. Ace.
| Julie Tippetts & Martin Archer: Ghosts of Gold |  |
19:03: Flea by Mara Ramirez (Fieldmouse Press)
I like the storytelling here…
… but I found it a bit hard to get involved with the stories, which seemed somewhat undigested.
19:27: Tif et Tondu: Fort Cigogne by Lapiére & Sikorski (Zoom)
Wow, this is the wettest book. It’s more water than paper.
This is from the mid 90s. It’s much better than 80s Tif et Tondu, that’s for sure.
It’s a classic fun/action French(ey) album — the pacing is very 60s, but it’s been thoroughly updated to the 90s. I don’t quite understand why Zoom waited until now to publish a translated edition — I think they’ve just about done all the albums now, but in random order. And they did a lot of really dreary albums first (which were published originally both before and after this); so bad that I had given up on the series. (But then I forgot that I had, and started buying again.)
19:52: Lava by Annika Linn Verdal Homme (Aschehoug)
Oh, right, she did Picture of a Burning Tesla a few years back. That one was pretty good.
Hm… this is one of those books about parents getting divorced, and neglecting their (teenage) child, but the parents here are hilarously inept and self centred.
It’s both funny and heartbreaking at the same time. It’s great!
And she keeps on upping the parents’ awfulness — ratcheting everything up until…
… we get a fantastic denouement on Tenerife (where everything goes even more pastel, which I didn’t think was possible).
I laughed out loud several times. It’s so good — the pacing is perfect; the length is perfect (not a page too few or too many); and the ending is just absolutely perfect — it makes you want to go “yeah!” out loud.
What a fantastic surprise.
| Sade: Love Deluxe |  |
20:32: The End
And I think that’s probably enough (wet) comics for today.
