Substantial Reviews of Substantial Comics
Ratings: Bad, OK, Good, Magic. Content: Action, Fun, SF, Fantasy, All Ages, Gay, Smut.
Pedro and Me - Judd Winick (the friendship between "Real World" stars Winick and Pedro Zamora) Young Hoods In Love - Ho Che Anderson (a voyeur's-eye-view of people's unusual lives) Strips #1 - Chuck Austen (a fun but thoughtful story of love and sex in college) Another Day - Mario E. Miranda (an ordinary young man discovers he can do extraordinary things) Finger Filth - Bob Fingerman (a mixed selection of erotica by a talented alternative cartoonist) A Touch of Silver - Jim Valentino (a disarmingly realistic story of a boy escaping abuse through his comics) Cell - Derek Kirk (a very good, but unfinished mystery) Soulwind - C.Scott Morse (a tale of fantasy and adventure in another world) Keyhole, Billy Dogma - Josh Neufield, Dean Haspiel (off-beat, clever anthology; off-the-wall action hero) An Accidental Death - Ed Brubaker, Eric Shanower (two teenage boys deal with a deadly secret) Modern Grimm - Andrew Dabb (anthology of thoughtful illustrated stories) DreamWalker - Jenni Gregory (a young woman learns to visit people's dreams) Dancin' Nekkid with the Angels - Howard Cruse (underground comix by a veteran gay cartoonist) A History of Violence - John Wagner, Vince Locke (an ordinary guy is confronted by a secret past?) Birdland - Gilbert Hernandez (surreal, sexy stuff by the Love & Rockets creator) The Spectre - John Ostrander, Tom Mandrake (the wrath of God joined with a dead cop) Our Cancer Year - Pekar, Brabner, Stack (a year in the life, and the struggle for life) StrangeHaven #1-5 - Gary Spencer Millidge (Twin Peaks with a rural Southwest England charm) Oktane - Gerard Jones, Gene Ha (a 10-foot oil-guzzling post-apocalyptic enigma) Chiaroscuro - McGreal, Rawson, Truog (speculative biography of da Vinci and his ward Salai) Buddha on the Road #1 - Colin Upton (a Canadian ex-punk, ex-soldier returns home) Nine Panel Grid #1-5 - James Pyman (slice-of-life/experimental English indie) Glitch #1 - Timothy Piotrowski (slice-of-life from a mainstream-alternative gay perspective) The Worst Thing I've Ever Done! - Ted Rall & 24 confessors (true stories of wrong-doing) End Of The Century Club - Ilya (London punks getting by in 1999) Steven's Comics #3 - David Kelly (the bittersweet life of a gay kid) Oh... - various artists (comics by women, about women who love women) Gon #1 - Masashi Tanaka (a dwarf dinosaur's adventures in the modern world) The Tale of One Bad Rat - Bryan Talbot (a homeless girl, her rat, and Beatrix Potter) Prez - Joe Simon / Ed Brubaker ("the first teen president", in 1973 and 1995) Seven Miles A Second - Wojnarowicz, Romberger (autobiography of former child prostitute with AIDS) The Jam #1-11 - Bernie Mireault (a guy who wears a suit and fights crime... but isn't a superhero) Age of Reptiles: The Hunt #1,2 - Ricardo Delgado (wordless miniseries from Dark Horse) V for Vendetta - Alan Moore, David Lloyd (a masked anarchist takes on fascist Britain) The Copybook Tales vol.1 - J.Torres, Tim Levins (growing up, pursuing dreams, and friendship) The Narrative Corpse - various artists (surrealist collaboration of alternative comics creators) Stuck Rubber Baby - Howard Cruse (a gay white man coming of age in the racist South of the 60's) Solstice #1 - Steven Seagle, Justin Norman (a man and his obsessive father's search for the Fountain of Youth)
Dedicated to the memories of Andy Bristol, cerebral hemorrhage survivor.
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© Todd VerBeek, Radio Zero^TM