Contest Winner!

Hey folks, thank you SO much for all the nice comments and emails. Your kind words really mean a lot to me. I've met a lot of great people through this blog and am lucky to have my life enriched by knowing many of you.

Twenty-six people emailed to enter the contest for the box of comics and Kate picked the winning number. And the winner is... Sarah Morean. Congrats, Sarah!

It's kind of cool, because Sarah review minis too over at The Daily Crosshatch. The box of mini-comics will be on it's way shortly.

So long!

Pockmarked Apocalypse by Jeff Lok Here is a large-sized mini that makes good use of the extended real estate on each page. In issue one of Pockmarked Apocalypse, Jeff immediately sets up a sparse and isolated backdrop for the main character. We see him wake up alone, walk through a barely furnished house, and confront an empty refrigerator. It definitely feels post-apocalyptic and we haven’t even seen outside the house yet. Then Jeff opens the vantage point considerably with a full page panel showing the view outside the man’s window. An Exxon station sits halfway down a pockmarked highway. The first issue of Pockmarked Apocalypse is well crafted to create a sense of foreboding and the unknown. Jeff drops some plot points (a love interest and a man wandering on the cracked highway) into the mix as he goes, but he’s cagey enough to leave the reader wondering who the main character is and what's led to this point.

Jeff's art relies heavily on repeated, slanted lines as shading. As a result, the pages are lighter in tone and feel than one might expect for the setting of the story. Although, midway through this issue, he mixes things up by using black panels dotted with the headlights of semi-trucks. The pencils are a bit shaky at times, especially in close shots of fingers or hands, but the shakiness isn't necessarily distractingfor the reader.

Pockmarked Apocalypse is 24 pages and this issue is the first of eight planned issues. Contact Jeff for details. You can get your very own copy for $5 at the I Know Joe Kimple online store.

Here's another nice review by Sarah Morean over at The Daily Crosshatch.

A word of advice: if you have a nagging, bone rattling cough for more than six weeks, it’s probably not a good sign. And if you try to battle said cough with massive amounts of Nyquil and whisky instead of reluctantly submitting to a round of antibiotics, you may have signed up for a nice case of bronchitis that leads to pneumonia. The Nyquil and whisky will certainly knock out the cough and help you sleep, but you’ve got to wake up and function in the real world at some point. Caffeine is a big help unless you’re piling a venti Starbucks and two Diet Cokes on top of the Nyquil. Hello heart arrhythmia.

Six weeks of dry coughing, an echo stress test, and a heart event monitor later, I feel pretty damn good. But that was a bad six weeks. Unfortunately, you devoted mini-comic crafters have continued cranking out fun stuff while I’ve been out of commission.

Some great things have been arriving in the mailbox. The Partyka gang sent some new stuff. Oliver East has another episode of Trains Are Mint, and Craig Atkinson sent in a few awesome books. In a moment of lucidity I snuck a review of Sarah Morean’s Bad Time for a Polar Bear in, but she also sent a couple of other minis, including the following mini-comic novel.

Human by Sarah Morean At 120 pages, Sarah Morean’s Human encompasses ten years of her romantic life. Sarah doesn’t shy away from honesty in her subject or art. One of the most charming aspects of her story is that she just draws. She doesn’t bother trying to perfect her line, she just draws. As a reader you’ll watch her style morph and change from chapter to chapter. She subtly alters ways of rendering her hair and glasses and other details to suit her mood and the story. It’s a very refreshing way to tell a long form tale.

About a third of the way through the story, things turn serious. Sarah shows a great deal of maturity and humor when her life changes. A things grow serious around her, she adapts, even making mini-comics for her latest beau. Now I want to see a copy of “Monkey Explosion.” “It is how all monkeys are born BOOM!”

Here’s a few samples of Human that show how Sarah’s art changes through the 120 pages. Get your own copy of Human from Sarah’s website. Human is a steep $9, but it’s much larger than your typical mini-comic.

A Bad Time for a Polar Bear by Sarah Morean Sarah Morean sent in a few minis to the SIZE MATTERS offices. One of them, A Bad Time for a Polar Bear is undeniably cute and sad. Over 16 pages, Sarah’s polar bear stumbles upon times when it’s clearly bad to be a polar bear. For instance, you’re a polar bear and someone recognizes you are wearing a toupee - bad time for a polar bear. Or sitting on a couch at a party, martini in hand, and all the humans are clustered in a cozy, talkative group. You’re being ignored, and it’s another bad time for a polar bear.

On each page a single panel shows the reader a new situation for our polar bear friend. The art is simply drawn and dominated by the polar bear. Sarah keeps backgrounds to a minimum, relying on basic props for her gag. Every page delivers. This is a perfectly drawn and executed gag panel mini-comic. Yet it ends with a little punch in the gut. The last page of a polar bear trapped on a melting ice cap shows you where Sarah’s heart is in this comic.

A Bad Time for a Polar Bear is only a $1. Go to Sarah’s website store and buy a handful for all of your friends. Tune in tomorrow for another Sarah Morean mini-comic, Human.