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COCO PUMPERNICKEL

($2-3.00 ppd from Kat Meow (Aherza) / 20 Jamieson Cres. / Brampton, Ontario / L6S 3W3 / CANADA)

Review by Mark Campos

The reviewer is conflicted. On the one hand, he would like to say nice things about this book, as it seems to be Kat's first, and one wants to encourage new talent. On the other hand, he was deeply disturbed by the thing.

The story's a rambling tale of a guy forced at gunpoint to marry an ugly, blobby girl by her incestuous father; the guy dresses in the girl's clothes and escapes, is picked up by some serial murderers. Necrophilia, crucifixions, Oedipal foot wounds, suicides, and chainsaws occur: all odds and sods from the Grand Guignol array, down to the crucifix hanging from the serial killer's rear view mirror.

All this is detailed in a Pentel-etched style that is so hyperrendered it's like woodgrain. I think she's drawing a capella, that is without pencilling first, like Jennifer Daydreamer; and like early Daydreamer her writing is unique but her art is not there yet. What happens at the end is unclear to me, and there are a few panels where I can't figure out what the hell is going on. Still, in no other comic are you going to hear a guy begging his would-be assassin, "Please, please don't shoot my pastry ass." 32 pages from any newcomer is noteworthy, so check it out if you don't offend easily, and keep tabs on Kat's work – with the burnishment of time, she could wind up in the pantheon.

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ALMOST NORMAL COMICS AND OTHER ODDITIES #1

($3.50 US/$4.90 CAN from WE Elliott / Almost Normal Comics / PO Box 12822 / Ft. Huachuca, AZ / 85670 USA. Web: almostnormalcomics.tripod.com)

This is WEE's new anthology of comics and odd text pieces. My favorite work is probably by Mike Dawson of Gabagool! (he contributes two separate stories, the first of which is the best) and John Miers (a noir detective story featuring his inventive Slab characters). The most unusually fascinating contribution, though, is koak's "Missing Kisses". It seems to be a remorseful piece about failed romances populated with misshapen humanoids and much sadness. Also of interest: an interview with Puppet the Midget Killer (a midget wrestler), creepy folklore, "fun facts" about severed heads, and plenty more comics by Jim Sumii, Rafer Roberts, Jamie Craw, WEE (he does a nice epilogue to close out the issue) and others. WEE says he's looking for work to publish in future issues so check out the website if that interests you.

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THE RAINBOW ORCHID Part One

(£4.00 ppd from Garen Ewing / King Rat Press / 57A Heathcote Drive / East Grinstead / West Sussex RH19 1NB / ENGLAND. Web: www.kingratpress.co.uk)

Review by Tim O'Neil

There’s no question in my mind that Garen Ewing can draw, and he can draw a far sight better than many of his peers in the worldwide indie comics scene. I am left wondering, however, if it's even fair to judge something like The Rainbow Orchid as an indie book, because it's quite obvious that Mr. Ewing has his mind on more lucrative prospects.

The Rainbow Orchid is a boy’s adventure yarn set in the deep shadow of Hergé’s Tintin. Ewing showcases a deep understanding for both the form and function of his pages. Much as with Hergé, you will never be confused by Ewing’s layouts or panel compositions. His linework, a fusion of the aforementioned Hergé with Rick Geary’s more labored ink-line, succeeds in imbuing the story with a distinctive and historically plausible air.

However, while there is much to recommend Ewing as an up-and-coming creator, there is ultimately little to recommend The Rainbow Orchid on its own merits. There’s just enough wrong with the book to safely support my assumption that this is still the work of a journeyman. The plot is overly elaborate, the figurework, while competent, remains somewhat amateurish in places, and the printing, while decent, is simply not good enough to transfer the deep and clean blacks Ewing obviously intended. This is the work of someone with a lot of talent, but his journey isn’t over.

Based on the evidence of The Rainbow Orchid, the next five or ten years will make Ewing a creator to watch. I predict that if he can keep up a steady rate of production he will easily outgrow the problems presented herein. I would be greatly surprised if the coming years did not see him graduate to the full-size album format he clearly longs to achieve. On that day we shall hail Ewing’s arrival, but that day is yet to come.

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SOAP OPERA

$4.50 ppd from Emily Blair / PO Box 558 / Brooklyn, NY / 11211 USA. Web: www.scenerychewer.com)

Review by Sean Bieri

We see Jenny's face before we see Megan's. Jenny is easily the coolest character on Megan's favorite soap opera; she's the "tough, funny, smart one who didn't take crap from anyone" but she's in danger of being pushed to the show's margins by a sudden change of fortune (and clueless writers).

Megan can empathize. Her friends have all left town for college, leaving her alone with her soaps. When Natalie comes home to visit, Megan has nothing to report but Jenny's on-screen romantic troubles. Later, on her way to Manhattan to meet Natalie's new friends, we see Megan gazing pensively at nothing, soap opera-style; framed in a TV-like subway car window she's the star of her own daytime melodrama. Fortunately, a visit to an art gallery and an unexpected encounter promise to raise Megan up out of her doldrums.

"Soap Opera" is a funny, smart one too, well written and expertly structured. There's no shortage of angsty young people in indy comics, but Megan's sense of humor and her conviction that she's the Jenny on her own personal soap make her endearing. Blair's casual dialogue resonates with deeper meaning but never seems pretentious. Her strong design sense and excellent handling of the scratchboard technique offset the photo referenced appearance of the art, giving it a shimmering feeling that reminded me somehow of the animation in the film Waking Life. Plus there's a page skewering soap opera clichés that's hilarious. This is a strong debut from an artist with a natural knack for the comics form.

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BLUNDERING POP #1 & 2

(SS-Sunda / Bon Voyage Press c/o Alessandro Zanotti / Via Scipione dal Ferro 3 / 40138 Bologna / ITALY. E-mail)

You want extreme comix? This is extreme comix. SS-Sunda's work in Blundering Pop should appeal to fans of the Mike Diana school of art. In other words, it's ultra-violent, sexually graphic, defiantly perverse and downright bizarre. I'm sure this stuff would fit right in the pages of Sick Puppy/Atomiser (R.I.P.) or Thank God It's Ugly (although I'm guessing on that one as I haven't seen an actual issue). Unfortunately, for me, it's entirely in Italian. Still, it's not to difficult to get the gist. The main storyline (which runs in both issues) concerns a large group of freaks (as in the sideshow variety) seeking retribution of some sort ("The Fucking Freaks Revenge"). The second story in each issue focuses on different (apparently) masked wrestlers and their otherwise freakish companions. If you haven't read much of this sort of thing then prepare to be shocked. If you happen to have a freak fetish you've probably already got money shoved in an envelope, but the uninitiated should be warned: the cover is only a small taste of what awaits inside.

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CRIMEWAVE #15

Content by various contributors including editors/publishers Mark Maynard and Linette Lao.

($4.00 from Crimewave U.S.A. / PO Box 980301 / Ypsilanti, MI / 48198 USA. Web: www.crimewaveusa.com)

Review by Randy Osborne

“This issue almost killed us,” writes Mark Maynard, in his half of the introduction. Echoes his partner Linette Lao: “Putting this magazine together hurts.” You gotta believe them, but #15 bears the same playful, funny, and altogether intelligent tone of Crimewave U.S.A. #14 (they took “U.S.A.” off the cover this time around. Who can blame them? We’re all ashamed). My favorite piece here is “Off The Charts,” an article by Linette titled after the PBS documentary about making song poems – a phenomenon Linette explores through an interview with Jamie Meltzer, who’s responsible for the PBS film. Song poems are lyrics made up by some ordinary Joe or Jane (or not so ordinary!), maybe scribbled with a pencil stub on a greasy paper bag, and then sent away to musicians who – for money – put the words to their own melody and mail back the completed record, filling the lyricist with quiet glee. “Essentially, a song poem is the result of a collaboration between two random strangers through the mail,” Linette explains. Lyric writers find song-poem services amongst the classifieds in the back of magazines, headlined “Music Composed To Poems” and such. The result is pretty much what you would imagine, except that in some cases you couldn’t possibly.

What else in Crimewave? Plenty. Steve Hughes’ “Stupor,” for example, a masterful, serious essay, beautifully laid out in a two-page spread. “Cook on Cold Water: Journal Entries from an Arctic Fishing Trawler” by Dan Danguilan is hilarious. He’s a cook on the boat and the journal entries are letters sent to his sister. Check out the toothy sea lion who gets on board, wreaking havoc. "It lunged and I instantly teleported halfway up the stairs … " The brave confession by former telemarketer Chelsea Lowe, “Dial N for ‘Nasty Little Creature’” is an in-your-face treasure, and … well, there’s too much excellence here to speak of without gibbering. As I sense I have begun to do. Buy it, read, celebrate – and hope Mark and Linette continue to suffer, but no more than is necessary to keep the thing coming.

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