The Monkey & the Crab by Shawn Cheng and Sara Edward-Corbett
Brooklyn-based Partyka artists Shawn Cheng and Sara Edward-Corbett deliver this well-crafted and ultra charming mini based on a Japanese folktale.

The Monkey & the Crab is wrapped in a silver silk screened cover punched and tied together with purple yarn. Inside is the usual high quality Partyka mini-comic. The monkey finds a persimmon seed; at the same time the crab finds a dumpling. The conniving monkey jealously eyes the crab’s dumpling. The crab eloquently shows the monkey that a persimmon seed, once planted and tended, provides a lifetime of sustenance, while the dumpling only gives a moment’s satisfaction. The monkey, a vagabond without a family, then forces a trade with the crab who has a family to support. After reluctantly agreeing to the exchange, the crab carefully tends and nurtures his persimmon seed. The seed grows to a beautiful and fecund tree, capable of feeding the crab’s family and friends.

Then the jealous and hungry monkey comes back.
This is a fantastic mini-comic – compact, moving, and eloquent. It’s a fairy tale and a moral lesson neatly packaged in a striking cover. Purchase the 64-page The Monkey & the Crab at the Partyka webstore for $7. Check out sample art from their other minis while you’re there. The Partyka gang puts out some of the best mini-comics you’ll ever find.

Stay tuned for a review of Matt Wiegle’s fish tale Seven More Days of Not Getting Eaten.

See-Saw by Sara Edward-Corbett

Continuing our Partyka theme this week, we’ve got Sara Edward-Corbett’s See-Saw. This mini is a collection of her See-Saw strips from The New York Press and it’s a gorgeous book.

First off it’s kind of big (8.5” x 9.25”). I had a difficult time arranging it to fit in my scanner. The cover is double-layer stiff red paper with a three color silkscreen design on the front. I think the Partyka offices may have run out of staples at some point, because this one also has a hand-stitched binding. Inside the back cover she has sewed a piece of thick felt fabric that has a silkscreened picture of a duck holding an umbrella. This felt creates a small pocket that holds a neat “cootie catcher” (I had no idea that that’s what they called those things) with sketches on each of the folded surfaces. She has put a lot of work into this collection, it makes me weary just thinking about it.

On the inside there are 36 pages with full page strips from The New York Press. The art in these strips is meticulous and warm. The backgrounds are heavily detailed; Edward-Corbett has definitely got skills when it comes to creating interesting backgrounds and objects. Her classroom desks and walls are so well-rendered that you almost feel like you’re back in grade school. On a couple of pages, you’ll notice a picture of a duck on the classroom wall that matches the felt duck on the inside back cover. You don’t see too many ducks with umbrellas.

The strips in See-Saw are solid and often hilarious. The cast of characters revolves around two girls and two boys and the very weird things that they say and think. As in Peanuts, out of the mouths of babes comes very adult conversations and phrases, but then there’s also plenty of juvenile fare. Chucky’s favorite term is “Fart Knocker,” and yes, one of the characters actually tries to puzzle out what the term means. The set up is this: One of the girls, Meals, is in love with Chucky, but he wants nothing to do with her attentions. Olga and Georgie are brother and sister. Olga is best friends with Meals and Georgie has a weird relationship with Chucky. Georgie and Chucky are friends, but Georgie takes a lot of abuse from Chucky in these pages.

See-Saw is 36 pages and it will set you back $8. Feast your eyes on
a four page preview, though it’s really eight pages as each preview page actually shows you two facing pages.

Once again, here’s the website for you to explore.

A short introduction to Partyka, if you need it Okay, I’ve got this bulging envelope full of Partyka comics that I’ve just cracked open, and starting today I’ll share the contents with you, dear reader. If you’ve never heard of Partyka, please stop reading my rambling and go check out their website, especially the online catalog. Come back when you’re finished though; I’m not quite done.

Partyka is a small group of like-minded artists and cartoonists that make crazy and inventive comics. Every comic that I’ve read from this group has challenged me and my idea of what a comic could and should be. They’ve also got a few talented friends that join in on projects from time to time. One of the really cool features of their website is the feature “Daily Drawings” from the four members, Shawn Cheng, Sara Edward-Corbett, Sean McCarthy, and Matt Wiegle.

Here is the Partyka “mission statement” from their website:
“Why Partyka?

1. To present to the public a new drawing, every day, from one of its four members.
2. To make available for sale a number of comics and zines by its members, friends and allies.
3. To promote the work of artists of whom we are fans, friends or allies.”

They are very humble. They do imaginative, often daring, work that stands out in any arena. Spend a little time shuffling through the sample pages in their online catalog and you’ll get an idea of the range of artistic styles and sensibilities of each artist. Over the next several days, I’ll explore works from each Partyka member, as well as Sean McCarthy’s See How Pretty See How Smart, which features works by a number of artists.