Random Thoughts

Girltalk #1-4

The cover of the first issue says “1st full issue”, but that’s because a sort of “preview” issue was included with issue seven of Real Girl.

No editor is listed, but Isabella Bannerman and Sabrina Jones seem to be the central people here, perhaps. This anthology sprang out of the venerable World War 3 Illustrated anthology (which is still going strong).

And the concerns, at least in the first issue, square up with a typical WW3 issue pretty well, what with stories from squats and stuff, like in this piece by Fly.

Art-wise, most of the features would also fit well in WW3, like this teriffic spread by Melinda Beck.

And they apparently had support from a grant from New York.

It’s all very New York, isn’t it?

Anti-Catholic gags are always fun. (The pope later gets turned into a nun and realises what a dick he’s been. (By Peggy Doody.))

Wowza. A cubismo story of rape by Vicky Rabinowicz.

I love the drummer’s pose. (By E. Fitz Smith.)

And another ob/gyn strip. Ursula O’Steen.

I love the artwork on this two-pager by Luella Jane Wright. It’s slightly adjacent to Chantal Montellier? Hm… Perhaps not… Very pretty, though.

Actually, I find myself with not much to say about Girltalk. I enjoyed reading these comics back in the 90s, and I enjoyed re-reading them now, but it’s not an anthology that’s very distinctive. It doesn’t really cohere — the pieces don’t seem to “come together”, thematically or emotionally. And great anthologies do. So it’s just a nice, good anthology, but not very… er… interesting.

This post is part of the Fantagraphics Floppies series.

Tales from the Outer Boroughs #1-5 by Douglas Michael.

This is a pretty odd series, even as odd series go.

I guess I can see the inspiration here from people like Rick Geary, Ben Katchor and Chris Reynolds, but the artwork isn’t as distinctive as any of those, really. He does have the oblique weirdness going for him, though.

And speaking of Katchor, he supposedly shows up on the inside front cover of issue number two, with what I suppose to be a joke of some kind? If it’s serious, it sounds quite serious, so… I guess it isn’t?

For the second story (which ran two and a half issues), Michael switches to this storytelling format, with “said Dan” stuff underneath the panels. I’m not sure it works? It’s just a bit annoying? And now I’m upspeaking all these sentences?

Anyway, the second story is pretty entertaining. I hate reviews that do nothing but retell a plot, but I just have to here, because it’s just so original:

A very mentally disabled guy is sentenced to death after a shooting. But the law in that state says that the condemned has to show remorse before he can be executed, so the prosecutor convinces the governor to produce a film that’s supposed to awaken the mind and conscience of the condemned.

Hilarity ensues.

That’s a scene from the film, and kinda illustrates the awkwardness of the approach. The clown is thinking about drilling a head in that evil boy’s head (I guess), but is that something that’s shown in the film? Is he (in the film) saying that that’s what he wanted to do?

The simple gag pages flow better. (And: Tee hee.)

The third and final story is a pseudo fairy tale told in Joke German. It’s amusing, but it wears thin.

As far as I know, Douglas Michael hasn’t published a lot of comics after this series was cancelled, but have you tried googling him? Even with quotes and -“michael douglas” it’s pretty much impossible.

This post is part of the Fantagraphics Floppies series.