Get Busy, Mini-Comic Makers

You know what this is, right?

From James Sime:

Submissions for the fifth-annual Isotope Award for Excellence in Mini-Comics will be accepted until March 15th at midnight. "In 2007 one mini-comic creator's career will be forever changed," said Sime, "So fire up your xerox machines and get ready to submit your minis for the fifth annual Isotope Award!"

Details here.

Class of 2006: Real Quotes from Real Students by Various Artists
God help us...

Sean McGurr, of Jury Rigged Comics, collected some quotes from high school student essays. To accompany the quotes, McGurr enlisted his pals from PANEL/Ferret Press to provide artistically rendered headshots of the students. To top it off, McGurr places snarky quotes at the top of each page.

The finished product looks like this.
And this.
Honestly, I had a difficult time choosing which pages to show here. The student that rambled on about the type of woman Teddy Roosevelt was proved kind of hard to resist.

The student quotes are awkwardly funny, but when you combine them with the headlines and the headshots, each page is solid. The contributors in this volume are Andy Bennett, Steve Black, Tony Goins, Matt Kish, Tim McClurg, Sean McGurr, and Tom Williams.

Class of 2006: Real Quotes from Real Students is the third volume in a series. Sean has more books planned in the series, so if you are an artist that is interested in contributing a headshot for a future volume, you can get the info at Jury Rigged Comics.

Class of 2006 is $1.50 and available at the Jury Rigged website. Look for a review of PANEL: Travel on Monday.

I also wanted to share a couple of links with SIZE MATTERS readers.
Neither are specifically mini-comics, but BrainNo Blog and Canicola have some cool art stuff. Check them both out.

Math Issue 14 by David Wien I reviewed issues 12 and 13 of Math in July of 2005. Those issues were a visual feast masquerading as a comic. Not much has changed this time out except for the physical size of Wien's playground. Math number 14's 20 oversized pages are playful, even lyrical, picture making. You'll find a story in these pages, but the images are the thing.

These could be the best waves ever drawn in a comic.
Don't believe me? Check out the way the waves crash onto the rocks on this page.

On the next page, the boat steers its way into a narrow channel; the wild sea becomes a calming ribbon of a stream.

Math has two centerfold images. The true centerfold is a stunner. Trees, grass, and bushes vibrate and bristle, and as you look closer at the foreground, a large, dark cat steps quietly.

Math is engaging art. Each page holds one image, and each image holds a world of possibility. The colorful cover is handprinted, and this $6 edition is limited to 820 copies. Talk to the good folks at Chicago Comics or Quimby's to get your copy.

Two Mini-Comics from David King

Despite the obvious artistic similarity between VICE-PRESIDENT, Shipping and Distribution Office Machines Company and Reliable Comics: Autumn 2006, David King manages to give each mini a very different vibe.

VICE PRESIDENT plods along at a depressing pace that draws on a combination of Jimmy Corrigan, Jordan Crane’s Last Lonely Saturday, and Ivan Brunetti ‘s swollen-headed characters. King gives the story a claustrophobic tempo where the reader is almost locked in with the character’s pathetic life. This is good comics at a very basic level. It’s drawn with a sure brushstroke and the result is immensely entertaining. The simple and tasteful cover is an attention getter as well.

In Reliable Comics: Autumn 2006, King stretches the characters and the canvas. This volume is split into three pieces, beginning with the larger than life, “The Class Liar.” “Class Liar” is a somewhat tedious collection of floating quotes emanating from shifting head shots of a grade school bully. I say somewhat tedious, because it feels kind of one note until the penultimate page, where the kid boils over from one line lies and boasts to just one word exclamations: “Crawdads!” “Yellowjackets!” This little trick perfectly captures the absurdity and excitement of a kid spouting off to his friends on the playground.

“Burger Stand Blues,” a short retro crime story about saving the local burger joint, and “Welby,” an ode to being in love with seven girls simultaneously, close out Reliable Comics. “Burger Stand Blues” is best captured by this geek meets dame page.
“Welby” is marked by the odd juxtaposition of describing each of his loves while using a picture of a plant.
David King has a website and a blog. Reliable Comics is $3 and VICE PRESIDENT is $2.

My Life in Records

A quick look at Grant Thomas’ My Life in Records would have been timelier two weeks ago. If I was paying attention perhaps I would have noted the subtitle, “Christmas Mini-Comic.” But alas, I’m always a small stack of mini-comics behind…

My Life in Records is a slick 22-page mini featuring a nostalgic cover that hints at a simpler time. Note the masks fastened with rubber bands, the record in young Grant’s hands, and of course, the one piece footie pajamas. This installment of My Life in Records details Thomas’ obsession with Christmas, and a Christmas record in particular. As he tells his story, Thomas fills in little details that resonated with my own childhood: the fascination with the family hi-fi and the one record that he was allowed to play with as a 3-year old. My own record was a Rolling Stones Goats Head Soup, and man those interior cover images made for some tense moments after the lights went out.

While Thomas and his brother look forward to Christmas, Thomas begins playing the Christmas record in July. His mother is outside gardening and hears the music, “Am I hearing what I think I’m hearing.” So Christmas comes early in his house, and Thomas plots the highlights of the weeks leading up to Christmas. His brother is convinced that he will get the “Castle o’ Grayskull” as his gift; in one panel Thomas clutches a Darth Vader figure.

Then somewhat abruptly the story shifts to the next year and the arrival of his sister. The details of his mother leaving for the hospital and the wait for her return are well done. Thomas captures the story from a kid’s eye view, but doesn’t resort to cheap devices or an overly maudlin tone. It feels real.

These strips were originally published as a webcomic, and in many ways they still have that feel. The pages are shiny and slick. The backgrounds are sparse, but spot colors are used to break up the panels in a non-organic way. Pages 8-10 look drawn with a mouse, while other pages appear more hand drawn.

Give Thomas’ work a look at his website.

It looks like you can purchase My Life in Records at his online store for $6. Check out his other work while you're there.

RISD Wunderground Pictures
For the New Year, here are more pictures from the Wunderground exhibit. This set is from Gil Roth via Tom at Comics Reporter.

On a similar note, my Ninja book should be arriving today or tomorrow. Unless we don’t get mail today…

Sleepwalker Issue 1 by Molly Lawless

Molly Lawless’s first issue of Sleepwalker contains three stories and a couple pin-up pages.

“Great Moments in Baseball” documents a not so great baseball moment. Strangely winning their last ever home game in 1971, the Washington Senators were forced to forfeit the game after being besieged by trash and debris from the stands. Here, Lawless crams the panels full of shading and detail. It gives the ballpark a claustrophobic feel that the players probably felt as the game sputtered out of control.

In “The Turning of the Worm,” loser Jeff worms his way into a famous writer’s life. The writer, Martin, is a mess, and Jeff pays Martin’s bills and answers his mail. Jeff convinces his friends that he assumes a much greater role in creating Martin’s books. After three years the relationship between writer and assistant grows antagonistic. Jeff takes pleasure in tormenting Martin, and it looks like just a matter of time before Martin reacts. In the story, you don’t feel for either Martin or Jeff, but when part one ends you are curious about what happens next. “The Turning of the Worm” is written by Carlton King and drawn by Lawless.

By using shading and crosshatching, Lawless adds unusual texture and depth. Her panels are rich with detail, but you never get the feeling she’s trying to hide her line. In “Turning of the Worm” especially, the extra shading gives Martin and Jeff’s world a kind of skeevy sheen.

Lawless also has a short piece about witnessing a crime and doing nothing. The art is sketchier and unpolished, giving it a breezier feel than the two other stories. One of the pin-up pages shows a barefoot Britney Spears carrying baby Sean Preston. Sean Preston is holding a bag of chips and a blank word balloon floats above his head. I filled my word balloon with, “These Cheetos ain’t ‘flaming hot,’ dammit!” I must mention that Lawless sent this mini in long ago, when a Britney and baby reference was still funny. Now it’s just sad…

Sleepwalker is a 16 page mini. You can get your hands on one by emailing Molly Lawless at mollylawless@yahoo.com. Also, she has a blog devoted to Sleepwalker. Check it out for more art samples and information.

The Asthma Chronicles

Also, for your viewing pleasure, a Like Story by Sommer Browning.

“Like Story” is from Browning’s blog, Asthma Chronicles. Go dig through the archives for funny stuff. Funny if you’re mean like me…

Your Puffy Ships Are Sinking by Terry Corrigan and Garrett Van Winkle

In Your Puffy Ships Are Sinking, Terry Corrigan and Garrett Van Winkle take turns drawing panels. An unnamed flying creature accosts a sleeping man, toys with him without waking him, and then leaves the man transformed. The two meet again a couple of pages later, exchange shouted words, and suddenly the flying creature, seeing someone else falling from the sky, departs.

I’ve just described most of Puffy Ships, but the three central figures stumble across more adventure. At the bottom of each page, an upside down comic traipses across the page. I read the whole thing as two distinct comics. I’m not sure that it’s correct, but this is what I did: after reading the main story, I flipped the book upside down and, starting from the last page, read the substory backwards. The substory captures the movement and rhythm of one of those flipbooks that you flip the pages quickly to emulate movement.


In Your Puffy Ships, it’s hard to discern Corrigan and Van Winkle as distinct artists. They both have a spare line that gives the work a feathery, airy quality. The pages feel light and some of the panels feel like they could float away. This is not a style that everyone loves, but I think it holds a certain charm.

No webpage that I could find to order the comic, but you can email Corrigan at puffyships@gmail.com or Garrett at how.to.draw@gmail.com

Garrett has a webpage.

Can't Believe I'm Linking to Newsarama

But, this is cool. I loves me some Mr. Big from Matt and Carol Dembicki.

He's been talking about a big trade, so I guess this is it. If you haven't read Mr. Big yet, you should order this.