What I Read Last Month…

What I read in… 
September 2012

This Is Not Your Mini Comic…

by Pat Grant.

www.patgrantart.com

A heartfelt start to the latest iteration of The Mini Comic of the Month Club. 

Superman: Earth One. Volume 1

by J. Michael Straczynski and Shane Davis, et al. 

www.dccomics.com/graphic-novels/superman-earth-one

Despite the sweeping brief of retelling and somewhat updating and modernising Superman's origin story I found this quite bland, both in the plot and the art. 

Mad Bonaz 4 Lyfe, Good and Beach Balloon

by Andrew Fulton. 

smallercomics.limitedrun.com

Another batch of Fulton comics that didn't disappoint and certainly did delight. Full reviews over on the Australian Comics Journal site here, here and here. 

I Will Beat You at Mario Cart and You Will Cry

by Ive Sorocuk, Andrew Fulton, and numerous other brilliant Aussies. 

smallercomics.limitedrun.com

A fabulously fun little mini that grew out of an equally fun little rivalry between Ive Sorocuk and Andrew Fulton about who was the better player of Mario Kart. Numerous fabulous Australian cartoonists added their voice to choruses of #teamive and #teamandrew, but the winner here is surely #teamcomics. Great fun! 

Review: The Littel Dragun.

The Littel Dragun. 
Chris Downes. 
Self-published, 2010, 20pp, A6. 
www.sirwdchosen.blogspot.com  

With mini-comics currently appearing in my mail box from the latest incarnation of The Mini Comic of the Month Club, it seemed appropriate that I post up this review from one of the minis I got from it's initial iteration. The Mini Comic of the Month Club was a simple and brilliant idea from Australian comics and zine maker Pat Grant (original pitch here). (Caveat: Maybe it wasn't his idea, maybe he appropriated the idea. Regardless…) Basically, I joined the club for $20, and then received a mini comic in the mail every month for 12 months. (Or that was the plan anyway.) There was a limit to the number of members (50 I think, including the 12 contributors), which added an alluring tinge of exclusivity to the whole deal. The fact that the mini is delivered in the mail each and every month adds a lovely sense of anticipation too, waiting for an exciting little comic book jewel that could arrive at any time. Andrew Fulton has resurrected the idea and the gems are currently arriving ever four weeks or so now. If you see this being offered again (maybe at the end of the year, or next year) jump on it. 

The first mini that I received was by Chris Downes titled The Littel Dragun. (The misspelling is intentional, cute, and persistent throughout the equally cute mini comic.) Downes is an amazingly talented illustrator from Tennessee, USA, now residing in Tasmania. I feel a little mean reviewing this mini because I don't think there's any other way to get it except at the time through The Mini Comic of the Month Club, so I'll be brief but glowing in the hope that you'll track down other things that Downes might do in the future. 

From the personalised title page all the way through to the hilarious ending, this is indeed a little gem. Quick, witty, cute, surprising, and charming. I tend to feel that it may have been quite quickly created, but there's no complaints about that, as that's probably an important factor in the writing of it. The cartoony art has a chunky, rushed line, a brevity of detail, only depicting what's necessary, and a cute style that plays directly into the faux-storybook plot and telling. Using a landscape A6 format, Downes has a maximum of three panels on a page, but prefers to stick to just one. As such you would think the story moves very quickly through the 16 pages, but due to the captivating nature of the drawings and the great acting, you can't help but slow down to take it all in. That is, until the final few pages which really fly by, appropriately, to the hilarious crashing halt. A very well crafted tryst.

The aforementioned title page is but one small part of the greatly appreciated attention to detail and design for this — good lettering that is story-supportive, nice "end-papers", design elements like an ex libris page and corner frames on the front and back covers, etc. 

So as a reader hopefully now interested in picking up a copy of this comic that's not available to you, I do suggest that you get along to Downes' blog, where he currently mostly posts his editorial cartooning, and see what other comics he may have there for you to enjoy. 

Above: Trevor and the Littel Dragun. I did this totally digitally on a Wacom DTF-720 digitising screen. 

Review: Lumpen #8

Lumpen #8.

By Pat Grant.

Published by Pat Grant.

patgrantart.com

"Lumpen" is the name Pat Grant gave to his ongoing series of zines and comics, of which this is #8. I assume most of them were available where you would normally buy zines and the like, but this particular edition was only available through another of Grant's brainchilds; The Mini Comic of the Month Club — a limited edition subscription to a different creator's mini-comic every month for a year during 2010. (http://www.patgrantart.com/mcotm/page.html)

As might be expected from a true zinester, this has a real hand-made quality to it, from the pages that were obviously hand trimmed, to the silk-screened cardboard covers that look like they may even be left over off-cuts from previous projects.

The story is witty and whimsical, with a tinge of Dr. Seuss. Is it a commentary on the west's obsession with ownership, especially of land? Is it a commentary on the fleetness and ultimate futility of life? Or perhaps it's simply a humourous story, making a few wry observations about growing up and growing old. Regardless, it's well crafted and well told.

The artwork is very simple — really only stick figures — but the characters are imbued with amazing life and expression. To do any more with the art, to be more elaborate or ornate, would only detract from the "silent movie", pantomime feel of it all which is not only charming, but also helps make a potent distillation of the character's journey over the 20 pages. This style of cartooning, and of course the addition of a top hat, gives it an almost timeless feel.

The format is A6, and being reasonably there's a lot of whole-page panels. These are never used lazily however, always appropriately in service of the story. There are also numerous pages where multiple panels per page are used as required by the pacing needed for the storytelling.

It's a quaint little gem of a comic (although Grant calls it a zine, even though I think it's obviously a comic) and even though you couldn't get it except through The Mini Comic of the Month Club, Grant has made a number of other brilliant little zines and comics. Of course he currently has a magnum opus on the stands called Blue which I'll no doubt review sooner or later. Get along to his website and see what takes your fancy.

http://patgrantart.bigcartel.com/