Random Thoughts

Prick Comix by Sean Brennan and Tom Giansante.

This comic reminds me a bit of those random underground comix that were published in the early 70s. Just goofing around (while high, most likely) without much ambition to do much beyond that.

That’s the Dalai Lama fighting against some kidnappers by playing a Kenny G tune.

See what I mean?

Or perhaps it’s more like a couple of teenagers.

Inventive but confusing layouts, too.

Apparently neither creator published anything before or after this. On the other hand, the 90s are lost to the mists of Google, so who can tell…

This post is part of the Fantagraphics Floppies series.

Cultural Jet Lag #1 by Tom Robert and Jim Siergey.

Cultural Jet Lag was apparently a weekly strip, and this might be a collection of some of those strips. However, the format varies wildly, and some of the longer stories don’t really seem like weekly strips, so perhaps it’s a mixture of reprints and new stuff?

I’d answer “nope”.

The main mode here is mashing up a literary piece with pop culture references. Your mileage may vary depending on how familiar you are with the works being referenced.

There’s also a sizeable number of strips that take quotations from people and build a storyline from those quotations, like this one with Dorothy Parker and Oscar Durant.

The art varies quite a bit from piece to piece. Jim Siergey is proficient at aping various styles.

And then there’s general silliness.

This post is part of the Fantagraphics Floppies series.

Griffith Observatory by Bill Griffith.

Bill Griffith’s most famous creation is Zippy the Pinhead, of course, which is still running today. These days, I mostly read them via Arnold Zwicky’s blog, where he explains all the references. (They can be pretty obscure.)

I’ve always enjoyed Zippy, but reading it in collections (which has been my main venue) has frequently left me feeling exhausted. When you pile up all those absurdities page after page, it’s a bit overwhelming.

Griffith Observatory was a full-page less-than-weekly comic strip Griffith did in the late 70s. In it, he looks a contemporary mores and gives humorous twists to them.

Fashion comes under scrutiny a couple of times…

… and Griffith here predicts Madonna! Very prescient.

Things have changed a lot since the 70s, huh?

The role of critics hasn’t, though.

In the final five page piece, Griffith sort of explains the entire “Observatory” concept, and explains the toll it’s taken on Griffith. Here we see Griffy analysing even restaurant booths.

It’s a really fun collection. It’s a period piece, and that makes it even more amusing.

Griffith is still very active. In addition to doing a daily Zippy strip, he also created a graphic novel the other year. It’s about his mother and the long affair she had with a comic artist, and Griffith delivers a sympathetic and thoughtful portrait. I think this is the most bizarre reaction to the book I’ve seen. It’s rare to see somebody read a work from such an unanticipated angle. Well, I didn’t anticipate it, at least…

This post is part of the Fantagraphics Floppies series.