There was a whole lot of buzz behind this mini at MoCCA 2008 (I heard they ran out of copies FAST) and after finally reading it I can totally see why.
For starters, the title alone of this “Star Wars Fanbook” is enough to tickle any open-minded Star Wars fan pink. Taking such a throwaway line (spoken by the small-worldish and over protective Uncle Owen in Star Wars) out of its original context and turning it to such an agnsty, emotional title was a stroke of genius—especially accompanied by what I assume is an homage to Luke gazing off into the Tatooine sunset on the cover (the glossy inset picture used is a cool aesthetic touch).
The contents of the mini range from the darkly humorous “Biggs In Space” one-pager, the uproariously funny, Tag & Bink-ish “Under 21,” to the non-narrative “Yo-Duh!”, all wonderfully illustrated. AND EWOKS! Heavens are there ever so many Ewoks!
I can’t help but remember that indispensable indie/alternative issue of Star Wars Tales when reading Harvest, and think, “Why don’t they do that again?”
I know Tales is no more, but a one-shot, anthology style issue like this would do the trick. What I’m saying here is I love these kinds of Star Wars comics and wish I could read new ones more often, in a hand held capacity.
Anyway, kudos to the Harvest team for a job well done.

The Klassic Komix Klub by Johnny Ryan, Buenaventura Press

If the title of this hardback comic collection didn’t tip you off already, this book is not for the easily offended. In fact, I’d imagine that even the most open-minded reader would still be in awe of Johnny [cartoonist of the highly revered series, Angry Youth Comix] Ryan’s “adaptations” of classic literature that vastly surpass the barriers that publications like MAD Magazine could never cross. For example, one strip features Ryan’s version of “Hamlet,” which stars none other than Marvel superhero Spider-Man. That doesn’t sound too outrageous…until you read on to witness the floating ghost head of Uncle Ben urinating on Spider-Man, who then visits his Aunt May to find that she has married the Vulture, whose genatalia (which has the head of a buzzard) bites her face off and blows a bubble with her face-skin like chewing gum.

And that’s one of the tamer strips.

But this over-the-top ridiculousness is Ryan’s point, of course. After experiencing the utter absurdity of each and every one of his 114 one-page strips, you just have to chuckle. You may be ashamed afterwards, but you gotta hand it to Ryan – this book is a testament to his imaginative and original ideas that he has been giving us since the early ‘90s. If you can stomach the first few strips of this book, then you, my friend, are about to enjoy a collection that doesn’t let you down in the gross-out, jaw-dropping, mind-blowing department.

This one kind of caught me off guard.
I saw that Microcosm was putting out a collection of cartoonist Ken Dahl’s engrossing work in May and remembered really enjoying a story he did in the indie anthology series Papercutter. I asked Wizard Entertainment Editor/mini comic junkie, Rickey Purdin if he had any of Dahl’s books and he brought me these two fancy-looking numbers. My, what pretty screen-printed covers!

I had no frame of reference for what Monsters was about (which I’m very thankful for), and the slow realization of what was going on was one of the most jarring comic reading experiences I’ve had in a long time.
Spoiler alert? (This book’s about herpes.)
Monsters is told in an auto-bio style, though Dahl vaguely clarifies in issue #2 that it is a work of fiction. In the first two issues the protagonist, unaware of his own condition, gives herpes to his girlfriend and the relationship slowly deteriorates to the point where they both start sleeping with other people.

Dahl brutally drives home the effect having a disease like herpes would have on a person, how they view themselves and their lives moving forward.

Personally I’ve got to say that Monsters is incredibly depressing in an incredibly addictive way. Dahl really has a handle on how to write the interpersonal drama and introspective narration. His use of daydream-y manifestations of the protagonist’s feelings, like when a cluster of microbes tackle him when his girlfriend first tells him she has herpes, also give it that extra bit of unique artistry.

Reviewed by Dave!

Don’t they seem like a fun bunch?

I find it interesting that last year’s judges are sticking together for two reasons:

1 – When the nominees for the 2008 Eisner’s are announced later this year, it might be fun to look back at the above lists to see how the Class of 2007’s picks match up against the Class of 2008’s picks and whether or not there’s an actual critical consensus for what the best comics of the year are.

2 – I find the idea that a group of judges sticking together over the years leading to an eventual “Jets Vs. Sharks” style showdown at the Hyatt bar at Comic Con very funny. Of course, I may just be weird like that.

While I’m at it, I should also remind folks that this year’s judges are Bookazine Company’s John Davis, writer Paul Di Filippo, retailer Atom! Freeman, Entertainment Weekly writer Jeff Jensen and librarian Eva Volin. Also, you can check out out a rad interview with Vandermeer and crew about their picks for last year’s awards at The Pulse, which is where I nabbed the above photo from.

– KP

I’ve got a new favorite comic.
Jeff Smith, the WORLD renowned comic book creator behind Bone and Shazam! The Monster Society of Evil debuted his most recent venture this past week through his own Cartoon Books—RASL.
RASL is the story of a dimension-hopping art thief—who we currently know as RASL—whose reality-defying exploits finally catch up with him. RASL mysteriously alludes to “The Drift” in this first issue as his means for traveling though realities, and talks about how it’s starting to take to take a lot out of him physically. We also find out that his way of traversing “The Drift” is getting less reliable (when we see that he lands in an alternate reality that he thought would be his own) and someone, that RASL is aware of, has gotten smart to his system and has sent an assassin after him. For the cherry on top, the book opens and ends with a flash-forward of RASL, bloody and beaten wandering the desert.

And there you have it—an incredibly enticing sci-fi mystery read. Smith puts just enough cards on the table to get you interested. SOMETHING bad is eventually going to happen to this guy. In the “present” it’s a double-edged sword of intrigue watching RASL march toward his fate while Smith slowly reveals secrets about this universe. It’s probably going to get pretty interesting when Smith, a self proclaimed fan of theoretical physics, gets more into the technology and science, but for now its just fun to let your mind wander as Smith throws all these crazy elements at you. Like what is that machine? What is that mask RASL is wearing? What is that thing he notices poking out of the assassins arm? What is up with that assassins face?!? That moment where he slithers around that corner freaked me out. You can tell he’s there as you see the page as a whole, but following the panels sequentially gave me jump—like that scene in Mulholland Drive where the homeless guy appears from behind the dumpster (sounds random, but see the movie). And speaking of the art, Smith really is at the top of his game here. Whether it’s the sense of movement in the chase scene or his attention to detail in the desert scenes —everything is perfectly in place.

While it will always be rough waiting for new issues (RASL is currently on a quarterly schedule) what’s presented to me here has more than enough promise to pay out in the long run. Smith is a proven creator and it’s a lot of fun to get to see him stretch out his creative muscles.