The Natural Inquirer by R. L. Crabb.
Crabb is mainly known for his underground series Tales of the Jackalope. This book has a few pages of jackalope lore, but most of the pages concern other species like:
The is not a comic book per se, but is just a series of these drawings and descriptions.
Crabb is still active today.
This post is part of the Fantagraphics Floppies series.
Uptight #1-5 by Jordan Crane.
This is one the very last floppies Fantagraphics has published, and it doesn’t look much like Fantagraphics comic book comics usually look. There’s no verbose indicia (“any similarities to etc”), no UPC code, it’s cheap, the cover stock is the same as the interior stock, and the first three issues are only 20 pages each. (Well, plus the 4 from the cover. Everything has to be divisible by 8, you know.)
All of this makes me wonder whether this series is really more distributed by Fantagraphics than really published by them. Jordan Crane used to self-publish his work… Let’s see… Hm, didn’t the URL used to be different? Anyway, I’ve bought quite a lot of things from him directly, and his own things have pretty much the same aesthetic as Uptight. Although he screen-prints a lot of stuff instead of having it printed on an offset.
Anyway! Uptight started in 2006 and the fifth issue was published in 2015, so that’s a pretty lethargic publishing schedule. The main serial here is Keeping Two, which I’ve read before in a different format… Oh, yeah, he self-published it in a smaller pamphlet form. But wasn’t that a while ago?
Confusingly enough, Keeping Two isn’t concluded in Uptight, but I think it was in the pamphlets? So confuse.
Anyway anyway! Keeping Two is about a guy sitting at home imagining what may be happening to his girlfriend who’s late, and stressing out completely. The shifts between reality, remembrance and fantasy are really well done: It’s almost always clear what’s going on, but it’s still unnerving how fluid this all is.
Crane switches between various art styles a lot. The Keeping Two one uses nose-less faces, for instance, while his other pieces don’t. There’s a prevailing feeling of unease and melancholy in all of the stories, though, even the funny ones.
This story, about a guy who imagines (perhaps) his girlfriend being unfaithful is very handsomely rendered, and again very differently from the other pieces. However, I did find the “guy obsessively pondering his girlfriend” repetition somewhat worrying: By returning to the same theme in the same issue, the reader may well start thinking more about Crane’s motivations than the characters’.
And then there’s this really goofy and funny story about these kids (and their cat) getting lost in the air conditioning system at their school, drawn in this open, bright style.
When I reached the back cover I thought “hah! Fantagraphics put some UPC stickers on there!” and then I started scratching at it with my nails. And it’s not a sticker! It’s a perfect trompe l’oeil of a sticker. You can tell that Crane is a designer.
And then we’re on to the fifth issue, which isn’t a thin floppy at all, but a hefty squarebound one. While all the previous issues were printed on thick, absorbent paper (in Canada), this one is printed on thin, shiny paper (in South Korea). The paper is so thin that there’s a lot of bleed-through, and the whole thing feels rather read. As a physical object, I mean.
Crane’s also using these more abstract sound effects more prominently here, possibly inspired by Japanese comics? Of course, there the sound effects in Japanese comics aren’t really abstract to people who know Japanese…
This is still from the Keeping Two serial, but this is from the bit where the protagonist is chilling out by reading a book, and this part is from the book he’s reading. I think. So we have these shifts between reality and fantasy (or rather, depicting the emotional state graphically) in the story-in-the-story, too…
And then there’s a sci-fi thing in colour. More loss and despair, of course, but that’s what we like.
Hm… but what’s Crane up to these days? Hm… Wow. That’s a much expanded version of Keeping Two as a web comic? Huh.
Oh! Wikipedia claims that Keeping Two will be getting a collected release in 2017. Well, that makes sense. I’m looking forward to it, and it’ll be the third time I’m buying it.
This post is part of the Fantagraphics Floppies series.
The Pogostick #1-2 by Al Columbia and Ethan Persoff.
We’ve seen both Al Columbia and Ethan Persoff before in this article series, and here they turn up with a collaboration. This book has an unusual format, being smaller than standard-size comics and printed “sideways”. Sort of.
Based on the indicia and guessing, this was probably written by Columbia and drawn by Persoff.
Well… “drawn”… I guess the artwork was created in a very computerey process. It looks like each element was created once and then moved around on the screen a lot.
The story is about a very unpleasant, possibly insane guy who works the night shift at a rivet design company. So it’s what you’d expect from both Columbia and Persoff, really.
The second issue is printed much lighter, ink-wise, than the first issue: It looks slightly bleached out. I would assume that this is a printing error, but you never know…
Persoff’s approach to the artwork isn’t very appealing, I think. Of course everything looks stiff and awkward, but that can work to your advantage. The main problem is that it’s just difficult to tell these people apart, or to read their intentions when they all look like that.
For instance, in this pivotal moment, I was wondering whether the guy to the right up there was the same as…
… either of these two guys here, but he isn’t. Flipping back and forth this way to clarify stuff like that doesn’t really help much with enjoying the book.
The first issue was 32 pages and the second was 24, and I have no idea whether any further issues were planned or not. I guess you could say that the plot, as it is, had reached a natural conclusion, or they could have continued in this vein indefinitely.
This post is part of the Fantagraphics Floppies series.
Angry Youth Comix #1-14 by Johnny Ryan.
I guess Ryan works in the gross-out humour comics tradition exemplified by people like Sam Henderson, but he’s most similar to Ivan Brunetti in his most deranged moods. Or perhaps there’s a Mike Diana influence going on here, although I think Ryan probably doesn’t really mean it the same way Diana (or Brunetti) does.
So we have a lot of outrageous violence (and sex), and plotlines that usually aren’t very… developed.
Ryan works hard at trying to be as offensive as possible, but it’s the kind where you can just picture him tittering behind the drawing board, so it’s neither that shocking or that funny. In my opinion.
In the early issues Ryan has some stories that have semi-coherent plots (like this one where Loady must get a job, so he transforms Sinus’s pets into mutant hookers (yes, that’s a semi-coherent plot)). There’s almost a sitcom like pacing to these stories.
And then there’s the one-line gags, which mostly consists of some gross absurdity. I think the point may be to be really unfunny, and then that makes it funny? It’s OK.
The most frequent target for Ryan’s fake ire is other cartoonists: I think there’s like five or six pieces in this run about how awful serious comics are. Which is fair.
I can really get behind Ryan’s hatred of stand-up comics. Or perhaps it’s just Loady’s.
Next after other comics, the most frequently recurring subject is racism.
Well, race-based jokes.
Loady’s origin is revealed.
Those are good concentration camp jokes.
For some reason or other, I stopped buying Angry Youth Comix after issue three. I picked up #7-13 easily enough this autumn, but I was completely unable to find the rest at any price. Then I had a look at Comixology (boo hiss Amazon) and all the issues were there, so I cheated and got those instead.
It’s very easy to pick up copies of comics published in the 80s and 90s, but it’s very difficult to find newer alternative comics. I guess the print runs are tiny. You snooze you lose.
But that’s a good disclaimer up there.
The Comixology issues seem to be complete: Even the letters pages are included.
Ryan gives his perspective on working on comics.
And the ever-popular holocaust skits. (That’s Hipster Hitler, or Hipler for short.)
I’m not sure Panter is right here: Just because somebody works at their artwork doesn’t necessarily mean that they aren’t just having nihilist fun. I think.
On the other hand, there’s this story done in a completely different, 70s underground style. I didn’t think it was by Ryan first, but I couldn’t find any other name attached to the piece, so perhaps it is?
Ryan loves poking fun at Seth and the rest of the Drawn & Quarterly gang.
But that’s a Charles Burns parody (of Black Hole fame). It’s well-observed.
I think this summary of Blankets (by Craig Thompson) is way too kind, myself.
Ah, the letters pages. Half of them are about how great and outrageous Ryan is, and one third is like this. It’s a good guess.
While I’m rather on the fence about whether these comics are “good”, I think that’s the best speech balloon ever.
I may also be more than a bit burnt out by this stupid blog series. Not too many to go now… Just a few more…
Anyway, by this point all the longer stories in the series seem like improvised goofs. “Plot” morph into “plot” aimlessly, and sometimes circle back, but mostly just weave and bob.
The tenth issue is 48 pages of gags like this. Very Sam Hendersonesque.
Noooo!!!
That’s a really weak defence. The old smug “How come you’re discussing offensive comic books when there are children dying in Darfur?” gambit. It’s a moronic line to take, and may give us an indication of Ryan’s level of thoughtfulness about the entire project.
Angry Youth Comix was cancelled after issue fourteen, but a collected hardback edition was published last year. Ryan has continued to publish, and his most well-known series of books is probably the Prison Pit books, which is more violence and less jokes, if I remember correctly. I’ve only read the first book.
This post is part of the Fantagraphics Floppies series.
Omaha the Cat Dancer #1-20, vol 2 #1-4 by Reed Waller and Kate Worley.
Reed Waller started Omaha in the mid-70s, and the earliest instalments were published in underground anthologies like Snarf and Bizarre Sex by Kitchen Sink.
It’s an anthropomorphic tale of sex, politics and corruption that focuses on Chuck Katt (real name Tabey (yes, feel free to groan at the surnames)) and the titular Omaha, who’s a stripper.
While there’s a lot of sex in the first issues, it’s not that major a part of the page count. It’s well-integrated. But…
… it’s integrated into a story that doesn’t really make that much sense. In the scene above, that evil beaky guy up there has arranged to spike the drinks of all the politicians at the opening of an underground bar (literally: it’s in a basement) so that an orgy starts so that he can… er… something… and then there’s an assassin that’s going to shoot Katt I mean Tabey but misses and shoots etc etc etc.
The artwork starts off charming and rapidly becomes more than that. Well, rapidly for a reader: Waller isn’t very prolific, and while there’s a constant refrain of “we’re going to be bi-monthly now” during the entire run, I think there’s on average one issue per year. With some multi-year gaps.
Waller has a very appealing art style. While everybody has strange animal heads, they’re extremely expressive and cute. I also love the way he draws a white outline outside the black outlines when there’s a black background (which happens a lot). Everything looks slightly embossed.
The first two “proper” issues were published by Steeldragon Press, but Kitchen Sink took over with issue three (and reprinted the first issues). With the second issue, Kate Worley was brought aboard as the writer, which would continue until the end of Omaha.
Plot-wise, there’s a lot of the stuff like the above: Omaha made her escape to San Francisco, and happened to walk past the restaurant of nephew of the owner of the restaurant above the underground night-club, and he recognised her and pulled her back into the plot.
*phew*
I like funny animals, but funny animal fans *really* like funny animals. Does it make sense to advertise for a children’s funny animal title on the back of a very not-allowed-for-children-at-all funny animal title? I guess so.
Like I said above there, Waller’s characters are extremely expressive.
There’s a lot of firebombing in Omaha: It seems like the go-to tactic for the evil conservatives.
Waller explains his approach to anthropomorphism: He doesn’t really take it that seriously. These are just people who are drawn with animal heads and tails, and the animal chosen may be a shorthand for a personality trait of that character. But it’s not more nerdy than that.
Wow. Bizarre Sex 9 (which was an all-Omaha issue) had sold 50K copies. That’s pretty respectable, and there were probably further reprintings later. It was eventually republished as Omaha #0 a few years later, but I don’t have a copy of that…
Heh. All the characters have only four fingers (which is a funny animal trope since the 1920s, at least), but here he says “four stars” and holds up only three fingers. Waller sticks to his “these are really people no matter how I draw them” philosophy.
The inside front cover of each issue has a recap of the preceding issue. At first I thought this was rather odd: Wouldn’t it make more sense to give a proper recap of the entire plot to bring new readers up to speed? But instead this really is more for faithful readers that may need a slight nudge to be reminded what has been going on.
I remember that, at the time, I did read those pages, but they didn’t really help that much. I had forgotten most everything that had happened, and who all these characters were. Omaha has a cast of more than a dozen characters, and there are several parallel soap opera plot-lines going on. Reading it back then (in the late 80s) as the issues trickled in, I found myself pleasantly confused most of the time, and that led me to believe that Omaha had a quite complex narrative structure.
But re-reading it now (for the first time ever, I think), it’s all very, very straight-forward: Omaha is all text, no subtext. The storytelling is clear as Vodka Lemon. Which is a bit disappointing.
I loved this book at the time, but my main feeling while rereading it is lethargy.
In issue 12 they start running short backup features. This one, by Ken Fletcher, is typical.
A recurring theme on the letters page is that people think there isn’t enough sex in Omaha now, and that it’s probably all Worley’s fault. But this letter writer mentions Yummy Fur as something that compares positively to Omaha in that department. Which is… er… Hm.
There was quite a lot of merchandising around Omaha after a while. Prints, t-shirts, and a porcelain statue. Most 3D versions of characters designed for the comics page often look grotesque, but that’s not that bad, is it?
Hm.
The best backup feature is this one by Howard Cruse. It’s just a reprint of four strips that were created after the recently published collection, so it probably made sense to just chuck them in here. But they’re really funny. Hm… Has there ever been a really complete complete Wendel collection? I’ve got like four, but none of them included these strips… Yes! There’s a “The Complete Wendel” from 2011! Into the cart you go!
Another recurring theme on the letters page is reports of obscenity cases against various comics shops in the US for carrying Omaha (and other comics). They’re mostly pretty tragic (people lost their shops etc etc), but this one is funny, and it’s from New Zealand. The Tribunal read Omaha and found that “the artwork and writings are of an extremely high standard”, and that it isn’t obscene, and didn’t put any age rating on it.
That’s the way to do it.
The plot in the final Kitchen issues of Omaha is such a bummer. While Omaha usually trundles along on a pretty placid place and nothing really horrible happens, the way things turn out during the last issues is rather distressing.
The final issue inexplicably switches to white paper (the rest are on newsprint), and Waller’s artwork becomes rather sketchy at the same time. Both Waller and Worley suffered through major health problems during this time, which may explain the depressing atmosphere.
Finally we’ve arrived at the subject of this blog series! Fantagraphics! We revert back to newsprint and the page count is lowered to 24, but the storylines continue from the first volume without a hitch.
Oh, yeah, there’s a lot of different plotlines that proceed at a glacial pace. Sorry, that’s slandering glaciers.
Omaha is mostly taken up by pages like this where people are talking relationship stuff. That doesn’t leave much room to have any progress among the various plot strands (there’s a murder, there’s a demonstration to keep a block from being redeveloped, there’s missing parents and husbands, and…) and it’s kinda… boring. Yeah. I said it. The last 15 issues of Omaha are boring.
Here’s the explanation for why Waller and Worley changed publishers. Kitchen Sink had “bought” Tundra (or the other way around — has this manoeuvre ever been properly explained?), and Omaha was no longer a good fit. I think that sounds rather odd, because Tundra would have been a pretty good fit for Omaha, I think? Or did they have a “no erect penises” policy? I don’t know.
Waller’s artwork during these last four issues is very nice, and the storylines seemed to perhaps get a bit more development, and sales must have been nice… so why was this the last issue?
Oh! Googling a bit seems to indicate that Waller and Worley broke up and refused to work together. There was a reconciliation a decade later, and they published a few more issues before Worley died. After this, Worley’s widower continued to write the series from Worley’s notes. NBM published the conclusion to the saga in 2013. I have not read any of this newer material and I’m not sure I feel motivated to do so, either.
This post is part of the Fantagraphics Floppies series.