[Home]SmallPressOneLineReviews/ExpoMay2012

ec2-34-203-221-104.compute-1.amazonaws.com | ToothyWiki | SmallPressOneLineReviews | RecentChanges | Login | Webcomic

The best of eat, sleep, sniff volume 1
Rasoul Hudda
http://www.eatsleepsniff.com/

A collection of comics drawn between 2011 and 2012 which feature the antics of the author's cat, Tali. Anyone who has ever owned a cat will find it funny because it's all true. Anyone who hasn't will probably also find it funny. The art is simple but very effective (you really don't need many lines to depict a cat's attitudes ;).

So, you're a cartoonist? Learning Curve
Andrew Dobson
http://www.syacartoonist.com

Two stories featuring young comic artists and their misconceptions about themselves and their art. 'Tenko' thinks he's the bees' knees at art, but he's dumbfounded when a substitute teacher disagrees. Cleo likes drawing her friends' stories, but their expectations aren't always what she wanted for her characters. The stories are well-told and I think will resonate with a lot of people.

Fruit Machine: Spin 3 - Spin 5
Mimi
http://fruitmachine.smackjeeves.com

Fruit Machine carries on in fine style, with the same lovely flowing ink lines and more of Jason and Sheri - and, pleasingly, more of Ian and Lauren as well, who'd been rather more suppporting and less developed characters in the last book. Actually, of all the characters it's Sheridan who really steals the limelight in this one (despite Jason's efforts) and it's good to find out more about him as well as getting to see the other side of Jason's cheerfully arrogant front. As ever, more plz.

18 this summer
Tammy Taylor, wiith flat rendering by Sammy Borras
http://www.dreamtripper.net

I've really liked Tammy's work before, and this comic didn't let me down. There are three short stories set in the same city and featuring different characters who know or interact with each other. The art is beautiful and the stories are simple but heartfelt and sweet in a summery way, matching the name.

Shadoko 3: The fast and the faceless
Deakin Brook
http://www.inanimateobjectives.com

I've read the previous two Shadoko comics, which are all wordless stories about a girl ninja. The art style is simple but effective and Shadoko is an amusing main character, insisting on wearing her pink sash at all times over her dark ninja gear - and when her master gives her a dark sash to wear on a mission, she puts it on over a pink suit instead. The story features a group of fighters stealing artwork, but it's the way the story is told that makes me keep picking these up.

Summer Cat
Written by Rosemary Baker, illustrated by Fez Baker
http://www.windflowerstudio.com/

Summer cat loves to dance - and this comic features her playing and relaxing in an utterly summery catty way, with semi-abstract coloured patterns decorating cat and background, and complementing the text. I really liked this comic, my only slight complaint is that the most ornate text was sometimes a bit hard to read.

Break: Chapter 1
Fez Baker
http://www.windflowerstudio.com/

Break is set in a future dystopia, where the gap between rich and poor has widened to the brink of anarchy and the government has imposed harsh controls on everything. This chapter features Suzy-Lee, a little rich girl who finds herself in the wrong side of town. The art is absolutely gorgeous and the story is promising, but although there is clearly lots about to happen, unfortunately you don't get very much in this chapter - just enough to make me want more ;)

Distant Thunder 4
Foxy
http://www.critter.net/~voop/ani-welcome.html

Distant Thunder 4 (subtitled "Soul Survivor! The druid we're looking for?!" Shades of Slayers FTW!) features Taja, the failed thief, Kansi, the cowardly warrior, Nyhet, an elven illusionist and Hope, a novice cleric, the fabled heroes of legend who in this issue get to deal with the haunting of a hot spring. If you liked the previous Distant Thunders this is more of the same: amusing commentary on common tropes, silly jokes and puns, and no fanservice (despite the hot spring).

Widdershins: Sleight of hand
Kate Ashwin
www.widdershinscomic.com

I bought this on the strength of the first sentence and a half of the blurb: "For failed wizard Sidney Malik, it's been a rather trying day. Threatened with eviction, expelled from University, arrested, and accidentally crowned the King of Thieves..." The comic utterly lives up to that promise. It's funny, well-written and drawn in a clear expressive style in full colour. I loved Sidney, who is slightly naive, charmingly distractable and way too honest for a thief (however unintentional) and his interactions with Harriet (the bounty hunter who arrests him) are great fun. This is a complete story, but I'd really like more.

Cafe Suada: Cup 2
Jade Sarsen
http://www.cafesuada.smackjeeves.com

Cafe Suada is quite hard to describe. Most basically, it's about a feud between Geraldine, the main character and manager of the Piyo Piyo Teahouse and Ewan, manager of the Dark Moon coffee shop. It's a comic, but there's about three levels of narrative going on: the actual story, Geraldine's subvocalised comments and the narrator's commentary (often about Geraldine, but also introducing other characters). Far from being overbearing or too narrative, though, the extra text fits in very well to the story, keeping the tone light and the comic easy to read. This is important because the pages could be quite confusing; characters pop out of panels as much as staying within them, and some panels or speech bubbles are denoted by tea ring stains, and some text doesn't even try to fit within bubble or border. However, the whole works together beautifully to create a funny, light-hearted comic with lovely expressive art. Also, you can play spot the small press cameos in the various crowd scenes ;)

Cherry: Stepping back. Chapter 2: Heroes
Alice Nuttall (writing) and Emily Brady (art)
http://www.footloosecomic.com

More Cherry, hoorah! There's a feud starting between Steve and Sparkle (the chief magical girl), who has unfortunately found Steve's emails to his dad (where he's pretending he's in the army). Halfway through rehearsing for the school play (Twelfth Night) Kirsch the pink cat turns up and starts upbraiding Steve for his choices which led to him attending the school, which provides a bit more explanation and backstory. The chapter ends by returning to the feud, when Sparkle threatens Steve with revealing the truth to his dad. There's some interesting character development going on, and the art is consistently good. Still wanting more :)

What is it Katy?
En Gingerboom
http://www.nattherat.co.uk/
http://whatisitkaty.smackjeeves.com/

What is it Katy? is a webcomic which ran from June 2011 to January 2012. Katy is a little girl sitting alone on a train, and the audience were invited to ask her questions in order to be able to advise her what to do at the end of the comic. I was part of that audience and it was a really interesting experience. Reading the book won't be quite the same if you weren't there to start with, because you don't get to try and think of the questions yourself, but it's still an absorbing story. Then at the end there's a fully coloured epilogue and a description of En's intentions in the creating and planning of the webcomic. I recommend reading the story, reading the epilogue and discussion, and then going back again for another read - it's very interesting how full knowledge colours what you perceive from what Katy says. Art-wise, apart from the gorgeously painted epilogue, the comic is deliberately sketchy, which leaves your imagination plenty of room to do its work - which is important for this story. What is it Katy? was an enormously fun experiment to take part in and it's produced a very interesting book to read.

Gart 1-3
Anaseed Man/Anaseed? Comix
http://www.gartcomic.co.uk
http://www.anaseed.net

Gart is a goblimp - a half goblin, half imp. Living in the goblin kingdom, he gets picked on for his half-caste status but that doesn't bother him because he's got 'mad skillz' - as he himself says. Stylistic and fast-paced, this was a fun and hectic read.

The Doll Maker
Sarah Jones
http://www.girlintherain.net

This is the sad and haunting tale of a lonely doll maker and a girl who comes to him with a strange request. The lineart is delicate and the greyscale watercolour used for shade and tone fits the mood of the comic perfectly.

Madame Butterscotch: chapter 3
Lisa Cummins
http://madambutterscotch.smackjeeves.com

Following on from the last episode, Madam Butterscotch goes to visit her old friend Crumble, who is wonderfully cockney and as paranoid as Butterscotch herself, so that, like the last chapter, this one is largely a fight coupled with sometimes amusing, sometimes revealing conversation. It's lovely to see Lisa's art getting better and better in every issue :)

Candy bag and Now and Then
Sally Jane Thompson
http://www.sallyjanethompson.co.uk

I'm putting these together because Candy Bag is teeny, but apart from being made by the same person they're not otherwise linked. Candy Bag is a small comic in which Tammy plants a candy and learns from what ensues. Now and Then is a 'normal' sized comic (not sure there is such a thing... it's A5 and a reasonable length) which is basically a musing on the permanence and impermanence of life and the things it leaves behind, written from the point of view of an American visiting Derbyshire and appreciating the small things which speak of the history of the area and the people who lived there in the years gone by. I am aware of the age and history of the UK, but I often don't think about how it must feel from the point of view of someone from America, which doesn't have that sort of legacy. I think Sally uses a brushpen - her pages are a lovely mix of hatching, bold brush strokes and delicate lines.

Moo & Keo 2: fun, family and friends
Matt Dyson
http://www.mookeo.com

This features two storylines, Market Garden and Beside the Sea. It's nice to see Moo and Keo demonstrating their own brand of humour alongside an ongoing story, and their cute daftness is still the same. I particularly liked the ending to Beside the Sea, which had not only the tension of Izzy's dad meeting Keo, but also the problem of mouse interactions with tourists. Also, lion cub!

Weapons-grade Puntonium
Luke Surl
http://www.lukesurl.com

The title pretty much sums this one up. Not only does it have a bucketload of cartoons featuring puns, memes and silly cult in-jokes, it's also got extra twitter jokes and Luke's put the mouseover text to the side of each comic (I didn't spot that to start with, and had to go back to read them all). Utterly groanworthy in the best way.

Red Panda makes a friend
Mel Muir
http://mosieart.net

A small, sweet, simple, wordless comic about a red panda making a friend, as the title suggests. The pages look like the shapes making up the animals and trees were cut out and pasted together - which may actually be the case, I don't know.

Curia Regis (Prologue and Chapter 1)
Robin Hoelzemann
http://www.whatido.co.uk

This comic has some of the most striking black and white artwork I've ever seen, bold and delicate at the same time, and the black shines from the pages. The prologue consists of a Duke facing a revolution - although there is no serious action; it's contemplative and slightly unnerving. Chapter 1 starts off with a duel, and that's pretty much all there is so far. The writing promises intrigue and interest so I think I'll be looking out for more next Expo ^^

Vampire Free Style 6
Jenika Ioffreda
http://www.neptunefactory.com

I've been following this comic for a while, and the story has now got to the point where almost everything is revealed except for how things are going to pan out. I'm not about to reveal spoilers, but I'm really enjoying it. The overall plot features a witch boy, Padroncino, who is desperately searching for his lost girlfriend Elea. In the search he meets an unusual little black cat who he names Micia. Micia is more than she appears, and as well as capturing Padroncino's affections she intrigues a man named Edward, who is also more than he seems. The story of Padroncino, Elea, Micia and Edward is rooted in a 300 year old history, and the story and revelations are well paced. I'm really looking forward to the next one :) (Also, you have to love Micia's two tomcat buddies, they're fantastic).

Hanako and Rose
@ya

I'm not sure this counts as small press, since it's an A4 sheet and was being given away as a promo, but whatever. It features a girl named Hanako from Japan, explaining her life at a British company with her friend and colleague Rose. It's really funny - I wish there was more than just one promo sheet.

The summer of Blake Sinclair
Sarah Burgess (IndieManga?)
http://knightylighty.co.uk

After Blake jilted his lover of the previous night (it happened in chapter one), this chapter starts with a group of mutual friends discussing the terrible things Blake did to Daisy. Sarah captures the slightly furtive, desperately nosy and yet self-righteous air of such gossippers perfectly. She hand letters her comics in such a way that the text echoes the emotion of the image and feeds back into it. I don't think I've ever seen that sort of wounded pride, emotional self-justification and selfish anger come out so clearly on a page. Especially when the page has barely any panels, no typed pages and such loosely sketchy lines. But she makes it work so well! And when Blake turns up in the middle of Daisy's sniffling account of the previous night you can tell exactly what's going to happen. From the previous comic, Blake came across as a bit of a git - just as Daisy describes him in the start of this one. But as the story progresses, although I still think he hurt her and probably doesn't care very much that he did, his motives and feelings are explained and become easier to understand. It's a good bit of character development after the summery start of the first chapter ^^

The Thief's Affair 1
Ushio
http://ushiocomics.co.uk

I think this is my favourite so far of Ushio's many comics. It's the first chapter of an ongoing story, featuring a young thief and an interfering chimney-sweep who has somewhat interesting taste in friends. The story's well-paced and fun to read, and I'm looking forward to more :)

My Lovely Omnivore vol 1
Ushio
http://ushiocomics.co.uk

Whereas this has to be the weirdest comic I've come across which still maintains a coherent story. I actually can't tell you much about what happens since it would all be spoilers, but - wha? o.O;; It's a short, perfect bound book, which is a good thing since the first chapter wouldn't exactly give the reader much of a flavour of the story. Indeed, it's only really just started by the end of the book. Ushio's simple lineart does really well at capturing the expressions of the characters (usually a mix of disbelief, shock and facepalm) and although the right turns in the story kept me a bit off-balance, I do want to find out what's going to happen next.

Chloe Noonan: Monster Hunter #3
Marc Ellerby'
http://chloenoonan.com

Chloe Noonan is a monster hunter. She has no powers. What she does have is an arsenal of attitude and no patience for timewasters, whether they be human or big scaly teeth-filled horrors from the nether deeps. This issue includes three short stories, my favourite of which is the last one, featuring the Mewmins (not a typo, but I will never look at Moomintroll in quite the same way again!). If you've never read these comics, do yourself a favour and pick them up, they're fantastic fun to read.

Kessholme volume 1
Katie Hockley (Lomsofd Manga)
http://www.lomsofd.co.uk

This was a bit of a surprise - in that I've never heard of Lomsofd but they have been publishing UK manga since 2009. Kudos to Katie for doing it left to right, unlike the rest of them - one reason I bought her comic ;) (printing a comic originally made in English right to left grates on my nerves. English is read left to right. Making an English comic right to left sets text direction against panel direction, and forces the reader to flick back and forth, constantly adjusting their direction and wrecking the flow of the comic. The only good reason for doing it is when the comic is a translation from a language which reads right to left).
Aaaanyway. Kessholme's main character is a girl named Katsura, one of the few in her generation born with 'Crystal Eyes', and the gift of controlling her own gravity stream (which is a neat super power). This means she is expected to fight for her nation - and first, to fight an earth spirit to gain its respect and servitude. That's pretty much all that's covered in the first chapter, although there's a fair bit of characterisation and background going on which I haven't gone into, so it doesn't feel short.
The cover and back cover art of Kessholme is really very nice, and it's a shame that the interior art doesn't generally live up to the cover art (it looks like it's the same artist). The text could do with a proofreader and a different font (preferably one designed for comics) - there are several places where the end of a bit of text is just missing, and there are some typoes too. The leading of the text (the spaces between lines) is all over the place, making it look really odd, and the font size is also very variable, and doesn't seem to relate to volume of speech. It's particularly eye-catching when the text squishes right up against the borders of the bubble, and yet a slight adjustment of font size and/or leading would have made it fit perfectly. It's a shame, because the time and effort put into the art and story deserve better, and a little bit of care over the text would have made a huge difference to the overall feel and readability of the comic.

Jambo 2-4
George Beedham
http://notregret.com/jambo

The Mighty Jambo is a superhero with the power to manipulate jam. He is accompanied by his flatmate, the Astonishing Cheezar, and chapter 2 starts with the continuation of the fight from chapter 1 which is narrated by Cheezar, and which leads on in good superhero fashion to the promise of a much bigger and more important battle. Cheezar and Jambo have a fantastic line of banter which they manage to keep going throughout fights, and the comic is replete with cult references - I'm sure I didn't manage to spot them all :) Despite the banter and the silly names (Monkus T Pastry, Quichara, etc) there's actually a darker undertone to it all which shows up at the end of #4, just when you're not expecting it.

JCult
Edited by Sephryn Grey
http://nonrepro.com

This is the very last offering from the Non-Repro Gang, and it's a big, beautiful anthology. It also costs £14, which is quite dear - but it is pretty, and it is limited edition. It starts with several of the comics entered into the 2011 Manga Jiman competition, the theme of which was "New Beginnings", and by their nature these are short, fun and sometimes thought-provoking. Then there's a Manga Studio tutorial followed by a genius little 4-koma comic which genuinely had me in stitches. Sometimes it's the small things which really make a comic shine :) Then there are some gorgeous colour illustrations, by artists such as Tammy Taylor, Anna Fitzpatrick and Lisa Cummins, among others. A tutorial on traditional techniques (Letraset markers, to be precise) is followed by a tutorial on doll face make-up and character creation, and then we get more comics. The first of this batch, Shadow Stalkers by Scott Mason (good to see him still making comics :D ) had me thinking he's been watching Madoka. First Element is a striking colour comic with gorgeous vibrant colours by Sephryn, Ai Tegami is a sweet if somewhat predictable love story from Daniel Bowes, and Tengirl, by Anaseed Man, is about a demon hunter with a twist which I've seen before but it always works, especially with his funky style. Sammy Borras' funny one page story comes second-to-last, and Monkipi's story 'Death and the Drunk' made a nice ending to the collection - not what I was expecting, but fun to read. It's a good collection and an excellent note to go out on - definitely a bang and not a whimper ^^

ec2-34-203-221-104.compute-1.amazonaws.com | ToothyWiki | SmallPressOneLineReviews | RecentChanges | Login | Webcomic
Edit this page | View other revisions | Recently used referrers
Last edited March 15, 2013 2:44 pm (viewing revision 11, which is the newest) (diff)
Search: