THE LAST SANE COWBOY
THE HOUSE THAT WASN’T HER
THE GIRL WHO TALKED
Written and Drawn by Daniel Merlin Goodbrey
Find them at the Author’s Website

THE LAST SANE COWBOY won this year’s Isotope Award For Excellence In Mini-Comics, and there’s nothing in any of these three efforts by Goodbrey that suggests that he couldn’t dominate that award for years to come. This stuff is spectacular.

All three books are set on “An Unfolded Earth,” a planet much like ours where reality has gone just a bit askew and left only a bizarre mirror image of itself behind. In COWBOY, we meet a young cowgirl on the way to a town called Insanity. Her mission: to bring home her missing brother… who is now occupying the body of a goldfish. HOUSE is the tale of a man who comes home to find that his domicile has been replaced by an “almost” exact duplicate, but one that can never replicate the memories of his dead lover. GIRL tells three tales of the Unfolded Earth, the most captivating being the lead story of a young woman raised by mimes, who didn’t speak until she was six years old.

The stories are accompanied by some rather stunning and creative photo-referenced artwork, lending a feel of authenticity to the Unfolded Earth that give the tales the feel of a true reality, no matter how strange they might be. And each in their own way provides a glimpse of the modern human condition in our own world, as Goodbrey examines emotions and values like grief, abandonment, and loyalty through his warped mirror.

I first read these books almost two months ago, and at the time, I felt like they were better than many of the regular comics I read every month. After rereading them yesterday, I stand by that opinion. These are class “A” material, no matter the format, and prove that mini-comics don’t deserve to be ghettoized as the bailiwick of artists and writers who aren’t ready for “prime time.” Daniel Merlin Goodbrey is very, very ready.

NO IN-BETWEEN #1-3
Written and Drawn by Marion Vitus
Find them at the Author’s Website

NO IN-BETWEEN is Vitus’ autobiographical tale of how she left her soul-sucking job, struck out on her own, and followed her artistic dreams. We meet her as she exits most of what makes up her life: the job, her boyfriend, her haircut, and her apartment. From there, we follow her on a European trip that she was supposed to be on with the boyfriend and watch her discover herself, as well as some of the great treasures of Italy.

These books were created and released across a span of over two years, so part of what makes them interesting is watching Vitus’ art begin to refine itself, as her figures become fuller, and her inks become more striking and bold. There’s a quaint and simple honesty here, and you find yourself rooting for someone who believed so powerfully in their dreams.

TAKE OUT #7
SMILE #1
Written and Drawn by Raina Telgemeier
Find them at the Author’s Website

Also in the autobiographical arena, TAKE OUT and SMILE present two very approaches to Telgemeier’s life. SMILE, which has been running as a serial online and gets it’s first “collection” here, tells the story of how Raina knocked out her two front teeth as a pre-teen and the trauma she went through as she went through years of dental work and surgeries. TAKE OUT shows us a different Raina, suffering through a family vacation and discovering an interesting lesson about nature and the stars along the way that changed her perspective on the world.

I read the first six issues of TAKE OUT after San Diego last year and was taken by Raina’s simple, clean art and the way she could squeeze a lot of emotion out of the eyes of her characters. I thought at the time that she was a star in the making, and when her graphic novel adaptation of the BABYSITTERS CLUB novels hits the shelves soon, I suspect I’ll be proven right. Fun stuff.

LIBERTY FROM HELL
EBIN AND MAY
BUREAU OF MANA INVESTIGATION
Written and Drawn by Christina Hanson
Published by Radio Comix

These three ashcans are actually preview books for Hanson’s healthy body of work that she’s put out at Radio. EBIN AND MAY has already run twenty issues, LIBERY ran six, and BUREAU eight. That’s pretty impressive.

It’s also somewhat indicative of just how tough the comics market can be on a small publisher. I’d say I’m better informed about indy material than 90% of the comics audience, and I’d never even heard of these books or this talented creator. Think about that, and then think about the number of announcements you see every month about new publishers opening up for business. It ought to scare the Hell out of you.

Hanson probably faces further uphill battles because her books focus on things like magic, period drama, sexuality, and anthropomorphic lead characters.

Still, that shouldn’t stop a discerning reader. Story-wise, we don’t get quite enough to completely hook you, but when you add Hanson’s fetching art, these packages do a fine job of advertising some material that seems like it’d be worth the read. And for an ashcan, that’s definitely mission accomplished.

JOURNEY INTO MISERY #2
Written by Joshua Cottingham and Drawn by Stephanie Lantry
Find it at the Creators’ Website

Here we find another approach to the mini-comic: using it the same way you would the standard floppy. In essence, JOURNEY jumps in and continues a tale of the fantastic, a story about a young human male captured by aliens and taken for what would seem to be the equivalent of a future zoo. It’s easy to believe that minis are best served for autobiography and experimentation, but in some cases, creators don’t have the dinero to pay Quebecor to print up their book, so they need to go this route to get their story out in front of the public.

Of course, they do offer a nod to traditional mini-comic storytelling by throwing in a couple of back-up strips and gags, but the main story would have been strong enough to make this worth your time without them. The art loses some of its focus on some pages, but it’s a minor quibble. I wish they’d had copies of issue one at their table as well.

FROM WHAT SCHOOL?
Written and Drawn by Gregg Schigiel
Find it at the Author’s Website

This book actually announces itself as “a collection of mini-comics, illustrations, and other experiments in comicism” on the cover, so you know you’re in for a very traditional mini-comic experience and a long search in the dictionary for the non-existent word “comicism.” But I digress.

Schigiel is actually quite an interesting talent in development. The notation about experiments is no boast; there are seven different stories/gags in this book, and he alters his art style and storytelling approach for each one of them. It’s somewhat of a thrill to see someone stretch themselves like this, and the fact that he throws in some text matter at the back discussing the genesis of each piece adds an interest factor to the work. Yes, the quality of each experiment is quite variable, but some of it is very, very good, and he gets extra credit points for the attempt all the way around.

HEE
Written and Drawn by Ivan Brunetti
Published by Fantagraphics

There maybe an immediate reaction that this book is out of place in this column, but dammit, when your effort measures a hearty two inches by two inches, that’s a mini-comic. Plus, it’s great, so bite me.

Brunetti is a brilliantly sick and creative cartoonist. HEE consists of one-panel gags that have something to offend just about anybody. Whether it’s the creepy guy asking the adoption agency where they keep “the sexy ones” or Jesus slapping a guy for “talking shit about him”, Brunetti leaves no stone unturned on his quest to appall, frighten, and scare up a lynch mob. Sure, this stuff is so wrong that it would get him executed in a number of foreign countries. Sure, distributing the book in a Baptist church would likely cause widespread heart attacks. But somebody has to be on the front lines, tilting away at society’s windmills.

I’m damned glad it’s Brunetti.

VALENTINE PREVIEW
Written by Rick Spears and Drawn by Vasilis Lolos
Published by Gigantic Graphic Novels

This effort is a quick ashcan for an upcoming graphic novel. For the first time, Spears collaborates with someone other than the excellent Rob G, and he’s picked a winner: Lolos’ work here is excellent, with an appealing and tightly drawn Ameri-manga look and feel to it.

I really couldn’t tell you much about the story. Two young women, one of who is celebrating a birthday, part ways at the edge of some woods that are supposedly filled with some supernatural baddies. We are left to wonder what happens next. In most cases with an ashcan, you get some sort of synopsis for the story so there’s a hook to draw you in, but that’s surprisingly absent, perhaps in the hope that Lolos’ work and the itty-bitty glimpse you see here is enough. I like Spears’ other work enough to give it a chance, but I’d still have preferred to know more. You might, too.

PARADIGM SHIFT: PART TWO: AGITATION
Written and Drawn by Dirk I Tiede
Find it at the Author’s Website

This, on the other hand, is almost too much.

I reviewed volume one of Tiede’s “cops vs. the supernatural” book in this space around a year ago, enjoying it very much. Tiede’s fine Ameri-manga art, combined with solid plotting and likeable characters, made for a gripping and entertaining read. It’s also very cinematic stuff. So it was much to my pleasant surprise when I saw Tiede selling this 50-page update to the story at San Diego this year. After all, nothing was really settled by the end of volume one, and there was plenty of room for the plot and characters to breathe.

However, it’s sort of brutal to get this much of the story and feel stuck by the end of it. Think about it: you have over two regular monthly floppies work of material here in mini form. We’re seeing perhaps a full half of a complete graphic novel. There’s some reader investment here that you don’t normally have when it comes to a mini-comic. So when you get to a cliffhanger at the end of this thing, it’s kinda annoying. Don’t get me wrong; what’s here is just as good as what we saw in volume one, and I enjoyed it very much; but at least at the end of the full volume one, we had some resolution. I’m just not sure that this very cruel route was the best way for Tiede to go. The bastard.

See you in seven.

Review materials may be sent to: Marc Mason, P.O. Box 26732, Tempe, AZ 85285. You can also find me at Happy Nonsense and The Comics Waiting Room

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