Mini Comic Reviews, A Fistfull Of SPX - Part 3

Here are the links for Part 1 and Part 2 of this series.

Leon's Retreat - Falynn Koch : Another very cool small comic sold to me by a creator who was just lovely and a delight to buy from. Even better than that is the fact that in addition to having a cool cover with a sort of extra outer piece that was for decoration but added to the feel and the theme of the book, it's an extremely cute and fun story (so far). The cover and outer cover art is fantastic, but the art inside the book is even better. It is quality kid's book caliber illustration, and the premise is excellent and fun. It is about a man that inherited his father's campgrounds, which was frequented by hunters in the fall, but now is closed to humans in the fall so that the bears have a retreat to go to. It's brilliant. In Fact, don't take my word for it, here it is in her LJ

Festering Romance (Preview) - Renee Lott: This is a 14 or so page preview of a title that is being released in early 2009 through ONI Press. Renee Lott was giving these out at her table and was successful in distributing all she had, despite not being thrilled with the location they had. It is very much 'manga-styled' and is well done even in the rough pencil preview form that it is. It is about a woman who has a ghost for a roommate, although that seems to be just an incidental thing, and not what the focus is. Chapter 1 certainly reads well enough and is illustrated well enough to make me want to buy the book (plus I love to support people who make a good impression on me in person, and I adored meeting Renee... So... Good marketing idea! Again, you show people good stuff for free and they may want to pay you money for more.

The Fierce Operations #1 - Tyran Eades: This is a sort of old school image style team comic.  It is created, written and drawn by one person, and is one of the few 'Super Hero style' comics that I saw at SPX.  The art is really inconsistent, and the writing needs more editing for just small errors. This reads like an ad for the series. It is all intro, done with lots and lots of narrative. I am not crazy about this title, but that wouldn't stop me from picking up something in the future to see if it gets any better after the intros are out of the way.

A2 alien - (ett and tva) - aavrooman: These are really mini minicomics. They have blue cardstock covers and 4 single panels, one per page. If you follow the link you can see them. They are cute and kind of sweet. Not much happens in them, but they are cute, and mini and endearing.  The creator and the two other people at her table were the first people I talked to once i got past the Top Shelf table. They were all very nice.

1980 - 1985 - Robert Harvey: This is less of a standard comic, and more of an illustrated travelogue or memoir of a significant event in the authors life. It talks about his introduction to cricket in detail. It's interesting and well written. The art isn't great, but it is pretty good and has personality and works. He was at the table I mentioned in the previous review.

Layover - Liz Baillie: I think I may have already referred to something this way, but I am going to call this the perfect mini comic.  It was one dollar. It is seven very full small pages of art and story with a single page introduction that gives us a little background before we start. It is an account of the author's trip to attend her brother's wedding as part of the wedding party. This comic was drawn during layovers to and from the wedding. It is personal and funny and real and touching and indentifiable by any who have spent time in airports just waiting. It starts with a bit of an apology for the art, but I think that is misplaced self consciousness. Seriously, the art is perfect for the format and content.

I Will Feast On Your Whore Heart and Myrtle Willoughby - MK Reed : These two collections are like writing exercises, only they are brilliantly done single panel comics. I Will Feast On Your Whore Heart is a collection of one hundred cartoons based on one hundred different themes. Myrtle Willooughby is the first fifty cartoons of an even more ambitious two hundred theme project. There is a feeling of cohesiveness, without a sense that you need to see any other panel in order to enjoy any given panel. I enjoyed these a lot, and would love to see more of her work. The good news for you is that you can go to her site that I linked to and read them for yourselves, and then buy them when you see her in person. It's really good stuff.