Three Books from Julia Stein
Swell:Open Faced Sandwich is so huge that I couldn't fit it into my scanner. Swell is the story of Emmeline and Lucy - both of whom are at a point of change in life. Emmeline goes away to university and Lucy... well, Lucy just goes.

Despite the oversized pages, Julia still struggles with holding her thoughts and visions to these pages. Each page and panel is a kaleidoscope of shapes, patterns, and angles. Borders surround the panels and inside the borders images shift and undulate as Emmeline's emotions swell. Over 22 pages, nothing is stable, but you also aren't able to take your eyes off of Julia's art. Swell debuted at SPX 2007 as the first part of a longer story. Here's another image from Swell scanned properly from a website. Julia's current website, Juliacks is still under construction, but you can get some good info on her work here.

Antelope Eater is a 20 page mini-comic based on a performance.
Julia captures the tale of Andy Yak who can't accept that his mother is dying. Andy escapes and becomes the Antelope Eater. This mini is much more cotrolled than Swell or Old Lady Merrell. Page borders are wider and the story seems more contained, despite the constant presence of geometric shapes, swirling patterns, and dying cells.

The Tale of Old Lady Merrell is an engaging and visually exciting book. Julia mixes different types of art (watercolor, pen and ink, lithography) over the course of this tale and begins with these jagged words scratched into a black page: "The decaying house was contaminated. Each room was filled with mounds of what some call junk and others call antique." Old Lady Merrell's house may be disgusting to outsiders, but it's her home. To fill her empty life, she has created dolls that mean something dear to her, while outsiders find the dolls frightening. When her house is marked for destruction by the county, all she can think about is saving her dolls.

This is a very moving story and it fits that this book was born out of a performance. Julia packs these pages with little details that make the story more lifelike. An uptight county inspector becomes a rooster in mid-sentence. A pair of girls are frightened by Old Lady Merrell's upstairs doll room and you can see the tension around the eyes of one of the girls as she tentatively grasps the hands of her companion. When the unfortunate old woman decides on the course she must take, the pace of the narrative speeds up noticeably. At the same time, the selective use of color gives the story punch and emotion.

The Tale of Old Lady Merrell is a 68 page book with about a third of the pages in full color. You can get your copy at Lulu.com for $15.98 or download it for a ridiculously cheap $1.25. I would suggest getting the book to capture the intensity and feeling of the story.

You can also grab Julia's work, at least Swell, from Pittsburgh-based Copacetic Comics. Go get your $2 copy of the 11" X 11" Swell for the best buy in mini-comics I've seen in quite some time.

Two Mini-Comics from Katie SkellyThe Legend of Countess Saddenbrau, perhaps the most aptly named mini of last year, and Nurse Nurse from Katie Skelly are fun mini-comics. Countess Saddenbrau pokes fun at the gothier than goth sect in a gentle manner. Countess Saddenbrau and Duke Crestfallen, both very happy wallowing in their own solitude, stumble upon each other and find that they must act upon their feelings for each other. But would they be happy together when both so enjoy their time alone? Hmmm, probably not.

Katie's art for the The Legend of Countess Saddenbrau perfectly matches the setting and action of her tale. She uses crayon reproduced on a xerox machine to lend it that darker than thou look.

Nurse Nurse has a lighter feel and a more expansive topic. In the year 3030, three cosmic nurses travel to Venus, home of the hippest intergalactic band, the Quality Confections. Nurse Gemma, the star of the mini, is tricked by her two friends and ends up arriving late on Venus. Then Gemma is assigned to the case of a butterfly farmer where things end up on the sinister side as the mini closes. This is one of those endings where you immediately want to know what happens next. Nurse Nurse feels kind of manga influenced, though not in art so much as in content.
Both minis are $3 from Katie's Etsy shop. I'm not sure when Nurse Nurse #2 is coming out, but she needs to get on that. In the meantime, you can check out some of Katie's comics online at her website.

Ink Engine Issue 1The first issue of Ink Engine was out in December. Ink Engine is a 24-page mini-comic of drawings created by the five person collaborative of the same name. Alea Adou, along with partners Dajana, Daniel, Lindsay, and Matt, all recent graduates of the University of Wisconsin graphic arts program, take turns crafting 3-4 pages of art along a common theme.
Their styles are different enough to add variety to the project, while also preserving a common feel. My issue came with a ziploc bag of goodies to accompany the mini-comic, inlcuding a fold out camera named the Cutie Cam: Twin Reflex Camera and a tiny envelope with the legend, ""What can you do with this junk?" Inside the envelope was an orange button, a tiny piece cut from a magazine illustration, a few small illustrations from the mini, and backing paper from a sticker - sans sticker.
Isue one of Ink Engine is $4. Visit their MySpace page or or blog for details.

Warren Craghead’s New Site
From Warren:
“I've updated and moved around my website - it's now at www.craghead.com. The old wcraghead.com will still host my blog and will point to the new site. I've added a couple new things: links, bio, press, plus more sample pages of books and a new blog of my postcard drawings postcards AHOY.

One brand new thing is a new book Lisboa, Lisbon which is based on my trip to Portugal last fall. Lisboa, Lisbon is available for reading on the new site or as a free PDF download that you can fold up, staple and play with. I'm releasing it with a Creative Commons license which means you can copy it to your friends, send it to anyone and even remix it as long as I get some credit and you don't sell it.”

Warren is a great guy and I really love his work. Peaceful, contemplative lines converge on the page in a way that immediately relaxes you. Be sure to check out his postcard blog as well.

Entropy Issues Three and Four by Aaron Costain
Both issues three and four of Aaron Costain's Entropy are cat-centric. Issue three is a silent cat story that begins with a cat waking from a nap in the forest and ends with the same cat curling up on a comfy living room couch. In between, the cat stalks birds, stretches its legs over short graceful sprints, and stumbles upon another cat.

Aaron's art is very precise. The lines forming shapes and figures are very bold and deliberate. Although he uses organic shapes like leaves and bushes, he also generously uses non-organic patterns to fill in backgrounds. In one three page sequence, he moves simple black ink backdrops to tightly grouped vertical lines to four different types of foliage and then finally to tightly grouped horizontal lines. This lends the panels a feeling of movement. The reader's eyes quickly follow the cat's lithe body through these changing backgrounds.

Issue four of Entropy is less focused on art and backgrounds, but more focused on plot. Once again a cat takes center stage, but this time she interacts with an eagle and a wild boar. All three characters are mothers laden with growing broods.

Crafty as any cat can be, this cat gains the confidence of both the mother eagle and mother sow. The cat slyly plants nefarious thoughts into both eagle and sow's minds, playing on their maternal instincts.

This is a brutal story that leaves you cautiously eyeballing your own cats as they slink through your house. Both of these minis are a nice addition to the Entropy line of comics. Check out Aaron's website. You can find his comics at The Beguiling, Quimby's, Chicago Comics, and Strange Adventures in Halifax. You can also contact Aaron directly at acostain@gmail.com.

Entropy issue three is 8 pages for $3. Issue four is 24 pages for $4.

The Rosie Stories by Diana Tamblyn
You know how mini-comics can be about anything the artist wants, right? Well, Diana Tamblyn's The Rosie Stories is about her love for her new baby, Rosie. This comic feels so personal and so right with the world, that you start to feel a kinship with Rosie, Diana, and her husband. That's part of the charm with mini-comics; while the big comic publishers push the same old crap on a captive audience, minis and small publishers are free to explore the important things in our lives. With Diana's new comic, you know exactly where her passion lies (not to pigeonhole her though, she also sent me a neat litle mini that mixes up some single panel pages, Poor Sailor style, devoted to some local musicians).
The Rosie Stories is split into four sections and an introduction over 16 pages. It begins with a prelude to Rosie's birth. Diana has the fears, uncertainty, and then the overwhelming joy as Rosie is born. A highlight of the mini to us outsiders are the crazy-cute "Lil Rosie" stories. In these two stories, Diana's Rosie reminds the reader of a younger Lucy from Peanuts. She's cute but headstrong.

Diana's art is a good mix of bold lines and strong black and white art. Occasionally you feel overwhlemed by her facial expressions and heavy line, but you always know where she stands in relation to ther art. She's never indecisive. I always appreciate her commitment to her work and she gives everything up to the reader in this very personal story.

Check out her website for samples of her work. Diana has a nice back catalog of minis available and she's a very consistent and honest artist. Tthe Rosie Stories is still available for $3 from her website.

The Chunky Gnars by Chris Cornwell For those of you lamenting the early demise of Cold Heat in pamphlet form, you'll be happy to find Chris Cornwell's salute of sorts - The Chunky Gnars. The cover of Chris's mini takes the form of a flier for a Chocolate Gun tribute band called The Chunky Gnars. Inside you'll find a tight little story starring Castle and the ultra creepy Senator Wastmor. The Senator is still pissed off and hopes to use the lead singer of The Chunky Gnars for revenge.

Over 16 pages, Chris does his usual fantastic job of mixing up panel structure and patterns, moving effortlessly from four or six panels to 36 tiny panels of silent images. The story feels comforting and familiar to Cold Heat readers and Chris is talented enough to play with the characters in a way that doesn't feel cheap or inappropriate.

If you're infamiliar with Chris's work, check out his stuff on the Locals Rule page at Pittsburgh's Copacetic Comics or past reviews here at Size Matters.
Get your own copy of Chunky Gnars from the Picturebox website for only $3.