SIZE MATTERS: The Mini-Comics Blog

The Good Minnesotan Issue Three by Various Artists I’ll let my earlier post this week provide the background and details of The Good Minnesotan and spend more time on this third issue of TGM. Raighne and Meghan Hogan have brought more people into the fold, welcoming Noah Harmon, Toby Jones, Madeline Queripel, Abby Mullen, Anna Bongiovanni, Reynold Kissling, and Danno Klonowski to their stable of contributing artists.

Twelve stories are featured over 104 black and white pages. Many of the stories are short two to three page affairs, while the longest story, “Fuckleberry Hinn,” by John and Luke Holden clocks in at 23 pages. The third issue of TGM seems less daring and more in line with traditional panel comics. Overall it’s less interesting visually, but probably more solid story wise.

For the purposes of this review, I’ll hit the highlights. In “It’s Much Worse,” Toby Jones tells his tale of battling a mouse and what happens when he finally prevails. Toby’s comic is honest and engaging. The art is a bit cartoonish, but it matches his story well. Madeline Queripel, who draws the twitching mouse in Toby’s story, has one page in TGM 3. It’s a great page though. Her art is tight, expressive, and very appealing.

Ed Moorman’s “Polaroids” shows off his solid cartooning chops. He tells an engaging story paced by his appealing style and smart use of shading and black space. Anna Bongiovanni’s “To Take Back” is a startling two-page, wordless piece that either features a mother’s brutality or overwhelming love. Nicholas Breutzman, who appeared in issue two of TGM, provides the best story in this book. “My Town” shows us what happens to the meth addicts of his town, men who have taken to the surrounding pine forests for safe haven. Nicholas does a masterful job of setting the visual stage for his monologue; teenagers who venture to o close to the forest are depicted running away screaming and the meth heads peer from the darkness of the trees at houses flooded by the light of day. He floats the text of his monologue above, below, and inside his panels. Sentences are broken up almost randomly and words and spaces are stretched to meet his space needs. The third issue of The Good Minnesotan is $12 and available at the 2D CLOUD website. Also check out the Good Minnesotan blog.