Cowboy Ninja Viking #1-2

Written by A.J. Lieberman

Art by Riley Rossmo

The title of this series seems to indicate one of those oft-tiresome mashups that show up in nerd circles as they become infatuated with one "cool" character type after another, like "pirates vs. robots" or "vampires vs. werewolves". But while that aspect might have informed this comic, it's got something different going on, telling a story of globe-trotting action, espionage, and assassination. Or something like that; it's slightly hard to follow, as writer A.J. Lieberman jumps around to different locales, skips back and forth in time, and fills pages with lots of witty banter that distracts from the main plot, which takes one full issue to really get started with an introduction and then just sort of jumps past further explanations to a second issue where the real conflict is underway. That plot can be pretty interesting though, following a man named Duncan who suffered from multiple personality disorder and underwent training and conditioning by the government to turn his personalities into, well, you've already read the title. He's not exactly a competent killer easily making use of his personalities' skills though; he's crazy and unsure of anything, with the personas arguing amongst themselves and fighting for control. He would be happy to stay living in a mental hospital, but he gets dragged out and put to work by a rich, powerful man and his vaguely-defined organization, and it turns out that he's going to be fighting others like him who have undergone similar treatment. So maybe this is a genre mashup after all, but it's one that throws everything at the wall and doesn't stop; the first foe is a gladiator/pirate/deep sea diver, and it should be interesting to see what other silliness Lieberman comes up with in the future.

The art, by Proof's Riley Rossmo, is pretty nice, full of scratchy expression and neat scribbly effects, not to mention occasional well-rendered gore. He uses a nice two-color scheme, with the first issue bathing everything in a cool blue, but the second switching to a bright pink to emphasize the kick-started action, which ends up being well-choreographed and fun. It's kind of crazy and frenetic, and it fits the mood of the story really well. One especially effective touch is the word balloons which include the shape of a gun, a sword, or an axe to indicate which of Duncan's personalities is speaking; that's a neat idea.

Overall, it's kind of silly, but it takes itself just seriously enough to make the idea effective, and there's plenty of funny dialogue and crazy little tangents to keep things enjoyable and interesting. It should be fun to see where Lieberman and Rossmo are going with this thing.

-Matthew J. Brady

Tragic Relief

By Colleen Frakes

While it started out as a minicomic, this version of Colleen Frakes' Xeric-winning Tragic Relief is more of a graphic novel, squarebound and spanning about 70 pages. And while it's a quick read, it's very well done, affecting and full of really nice art. The story is a fable of sorts, following a hapless man who falls in love with a series of women/mystical creatures, only to have them all accidentally(?) killed by his mother. He finally ends up with a normal human woman, who seems to immediately take the old woman's place. That's the simple description, but watching Frakes play the story out through a series of beautiful, dialogue-free images is wonderful; she has a real flair for pantomime, and the way she plays the images across the page without any panel borders fits the story's atmosphere perfectly:

In the end, it seems to be symbolic of the way people can be dominated by their parents, and even when they manage to escape that influence, they seek out somebody who is exactly the same. It's a fairly simple idea, but a pleasure to see what Frakes does with it.

The book is available to purchase on Frakes' blog.

-Matthew J. Brady

Pinstriped Bloodbath: An Anthology of Gangland Violence by Chicago Cartoonists

By Bernie McGovern, Neil Brideau, Nate Beaty, Ricky Gonzales, Neil Fitzpatrick, Sam Sharpe, Jeff Zwirek, and Jeremy Tinder

It's interesting to see a small, self-published, pamphlet-format anthology like this one, especially one that's so well designed. The cover mimics a double-breasted suit jacket, with the back cover wrapping around the front like an actual coat, a strip of paper sporting an Ivan Brunetti illustration wrapped around to hold it together, and what appear to be hand-made blood splatters (it also comes in a splatter-free variant, for collectors). That's a great package, and if the contents inside don't quite live up to its promise, it's not for lack of trying. The creators involved mostly tell stories based in historical fact, although they use a variety of different styles to do so. Bernie McGovern's "Baby Face" depicts the last stand of Babyface Nelson, with a near-wordless bit of action and violence that uses some nice panel arrangement to convey information about the shootout. Neil Fitzpatrick uses a cutesy cartoon style to depict the death of Samuel "Nails" Morton, who was kicked in the head by a horse, prompting his fellow gangsters to take revenge on the animal. It's ends up being a jokey goof on a funny real-life story; cute. Jeff Zwirek's "The Chicago Typewriter" tells the history of the Thompson submachine gun in organized crime, using a highly deformed, cartoony style that gives the characters tiny bodies with huge heads and big eyes. It's interesting, but reliant on almost a quarter-page of endnotes to make sense of what's being depicted, with the action alternating between random gangland shootings, John Thompson alternately despairing of selling his huge stock of guns and declaring that they are only used for lawful purposes, and speculative expansions of historical events involving the gun. It ends up being interesting, but it possibly could have been put together a bit better.

Other stories take a bit more of a speculative look at gang violence. Rickey Gonzales' "Blood Red & Baby Blue" apparently sees the death of John Dillinger outside a movie theater, then backs up to look at the perspective of a couple other participants in the killing. Or is it Dillinger at all? The final page seems to indicate that the police might have shot the wrong man. It's kind of confusing, and the art is a bit awkward; this might be the least accomplished story in the comic. Neil Brideau's "Cracking" sees the first meeting of two famous gangsters, Charles Dean O'Banion andCharles "The Ox" Reiser, during a safecracking job. It's an interesting bit of character work, as O'Banion is shown to have a penchant for sadistic violence while Reiser is a professional old player. The art is a bit simplistically cartoony, but it works for the simple little tale. Nate Beaty's "Keepsake" is a quick, wordless bit of moody violence and its aftermath, as a gangster (Al Capone?) is gunned down in a barber shop and a woman stops to grab a souvenir. The art is well done, with inky, scratchy shadows and densely-patterned rainfall; it's one of the best looking parts of the book. Jeremy Tinder's two-page entry (which is apparently untitled) is a silly-looking bit of instruction in how to make bathtub gin, with a punchline befitting the violent nature of the rest of the book.

And then there's Sam Sharpe's "Change Your Name", which doesn't fit in with the rest of the stories at all. It's an apparently-autobiographical story in which he meets up with his mother, who seems a bit mentally unstable. She claims that he was abducted as a child by the Sharpe crime family, and she's offended that he still uses their name. Other than this reference to (imagined/delusional) crime, nothing here falls under the theme of Chicago gangsters, so why it's included is beyond me. It is a decent little story though, with some nice art that sees Sharpe depict the characters as anthropomorphic dogs.

Overall, it's a pretty nice package, and a good collection of comics from Chicago creators about their city. As with any anthology, it has its ups and downs, but for a minicomic-style pamphlet, it's a good deal. If the subject matter interests you, give it a look.

-Matthew J. Brady

The Act-I-Vate Primer

By Nick Bertozzi, Pedro Camargo, Mike Cavallaro, Molly Crabapple & John Leavitt, Mike Dawson, Jim Dougan & Hyeondo Park, Ulises Farinas, Michel Fiffe, Maurice Fontenot, Simon Fraser, Tim Hamilton, Dean Haspiel, Jennifer Hayden, Joe Infurnari, Roger Langridge, and Leland Purvis

When it comes to webcomics, Act-I-Vate.com has a lineup of creators and stories that can't be beat, but it can be a bit intimidating to look at the front page of the site and try to figure out where to start reading. Luckily, the forward-looking minds behind the site/artist collective/happening have a solution in this print volume that offers samples of several of the comics that can be found, but in a way that's self-contained, introductory, and encouraging of further exploration, rather than just excerpting what's already available. These stories are all exclusive to the print volume, but they all give enough of a taste of what can be found in the online tales that readers will want to rush to the site to see what other wonders are there to behold.

As with any anthology, it's a bit of a mixed bag, with some series and creators offering stories that might or might not interest certain people. But even if they aren't to everyone's taste, they all demonstrate a high quality of storytelling and great, often innovative use of the comics form. The lower end of the spectrum here is represented by Maurice Fontenot's Ghost Pimp story "All Men Are Whores", which, while being well-drawn in a cute, cartoony style and featuring some amusing sex jokes, is little more than a sitcom-style goof about the war between the sexes. Jennifer Hayden's "Rat-Chicken", from her series Underwire, is another one that seems a bit on the lesser side, but that's mostly due to the somewhat crude, simplistic artwork, which masks a rich bit of autobiography that seems to be similar to the work of Jeffrey Brown. The story sees an elderly stranger visit Hayden's family's house, where he used to visit friends when he was a kid. The visit sparks some memories in Hayden, and she and her family are fascinated by the man's stories, making for a short but engaging story, something that makes the idea of reading Hayden's similar online work quite appealing.

Other stories seem strikingly personal, such as Dean Haspiel's "Bring Me the Heart of Billy Dogma", which, as with his other stories featuring the character, like "Immortal" (which was serialized in the Image-published miniseries Brawl) and "Fear, My Dear" (which I reviewedhere, if you're interested), sees the character's relationship with his girlfriend Jane Legit shaking the foundations of their world. It's as good as always, with Haspiel baring his emotions and feelings about love and the way it can seem world-alteringly powerful. There's the usual idiosyncratic dialogue, bombastic Kirby-esque artwork, symbolic hearts, and graphic nudity and sex. It's great stuff, a small sample of what's in store for readers if they choose to read more online; hopefully they won't be scared off by the intensity.

Michel Fiffe's "Cactus", from his series Zegas, is another one that explores interesting and seemingly personal emotional themes, combining them with his signature experimental artwork. The story sees siblings Boston and Emily search for a new cactus after she steps on and destroys his, which is a precious memory of a previous relationship. They end up coming into possession of a weird pink plant, given to them by an old homeless man, and after showing it some love, it falls apart and releases a spirit which flies up into the cosmos to reunite with its lover, allowing Boston to finally feel a sense of closure. It's a beautiful little tale, really brought to life by Fiffe's art, which sees some excellent character work and description-defying effects in the ghostly sequences:

Fiffe is an amazing emerging talent, and this glimpse is enough to make any reader want to see what else he can do. The same is true of Jim Dougan and Hyeondo Park's Sam & Lilah, which sees a couple have a fight just before going to sleep, with their feelings about each other reflected in their dreams. The story isn't especially deep, but the gorgeous artwork is amazing and innovative, with images continuing across the gutters between panels and morphing into something else, and a telling divide between the two dreamers being crossed by physical emotions:

It's beautifully detailed, intricate work, with bright, engaging colors and some incredibly evocative imagery. Hopefully the stories in the series are a bit longer and more complex, but this taste is enough to not only make the reader rush online to see more, but to wonder why Park especially hasn't been snapped up by a somebody to illustrate a high-profile title yet.

Ulises Farinas' Motro is another series that seems somewhat personal, telling the tale of a chubby little boy in an apocalyptic, barbarian-populated wasteland who doesn't quite seem ready to live up to his father's expectations. They go on a sort of vision quest in which he is supposed to acquire a name that will define his future, but he's not ready to grow up and take that responsibility. It's an interesting little tale, with some really nice art that strands its rounded, almost cute characters in a windswept landscape and features some gorgeously moody shadowy coloring in the scenes that take place at night, along with some weird, spookily detailed visions. Whether or not the kid is meant to be Farinas himself remains to be seen, but it should be interesting to find out.

Some of the other stories seem a bit experimental, but more in terms of storytelling and ideas than in the use of comics techniques, with Nick Bertozzi's Persimmon Cup being especially noteworthy. It's a fascinating bit of sci-fi worldbuilding, with the title character being a sort of scribe in a society that seems plant-based, or at least uses some sort of alien biology that's barely comprehensible in human terms. In this story, she is tasked with discovering the truth about the destruction of a village, leading to a sad tale about the way lies and greed can ruin societies. It's a great showcase for Bertozzi's imagination, as well as his skill at depicting ideas that seem just beyond the realm of our ability to grasp them, like this being that appears to be higher-dimensional:

And then there's something like Leland Purvis' Vulcan & Vishnu, which is experimental in its simplicity rather than in bringing new complexities to the table. It's a story about a couple of guys who apparently wander the land having adventures, and other than an introductory caption, it's completely wordless, with the characters speaking in pictographic form:

It's not really a new or groundbreaking idea, but it works wonderfully here, especially in the way the stark, bold-lined images in the word balloons contrast with the beautiful watercolors of the landscapes and characters. Purvis tells the story perfectly using his easy-to-follow images, and even ends things with a great punchline; it's a really nice little short story, and one that makes him a talent to pay much closer attention to.

And then there are the stories that simply seem to be good yarns, chances for their characters to build interesting worlds, draw exciting images, and develop characters to bounce off each other. Simon Fraser's Lilly MacKenzie, represented here in a sort of origin story called "When Lilly Met Cosmo", looks to be a fun sci-fi story about the spacefaring title character and her little person sidekick, with them meeting for the first time here, as the story's title indicates. The events seem like they might make a bit more sense after reading the rest of the story, but it's more of an interesting tease than an impenetrable bit of inside information, and the real pleasure is seeing Fraser detail life aboard a space station, and the weird characters that live there. The art is really nicely-detailed too, and Lilly herself seems realistically beautiful; I especially like the way the whiteness of her shirt is left as just the blank color of the page itself showing through the artwork, almost giving her a radiant glow:

Not to sound like a broken record, but this is another series that should be great follow online, and this taste certainly pushes one in that direction.

The same can be said for Mike Cavallaro's Loviathan, which also appears to have an origin-style story here called "Veils". Cavallaro is a fine cartoonist, possibly most famous for Parade (With Fireworks) (which I reviewed here), his series about a story from his family's history in fascist Italy. Loviathan, however, is completely different, a fantasy story that takes place in undersea Atlantis, featuring heroes, villains, political intrigue, magic, monsters, and interdimensional travel of some sort, and it's pretty amazing to behold, full of crazy detail and gorgeous coloring, and plenty of hints of the wonders and excitements that take place in the online series. It seems like a chance for Cavallaro to unleash his talent, filling pages with as much awesomeness as he can muster. This is the kind of thing that must make the other creators strive to keep up.

The rest of the book is filled with excellence as well. Roger Langridge contributes what appears to be another origin-style story in his Mugwhump the Great entry, "The Boy who Came to Stay", which sees a ventriloquist dummy boy enter the life of the title juggler and immediately cause funny complications. Tim Hamilton's "The Tale of the Elephant Cowboy", from Tales of the Floating Elephant, is a nice little story of brotherhood, honor, despair, and luck about a struggling gimmick cowboy, with some wonderfully scratchy artwork. Joe Infurnari's ULTRA-Lad! story "Memoirs of the 'Kid Immortal'" seems like it might fill in some backstory for the series, but works very well on its own, telling the tale of a wrestler who gains power by making a mystic pact and becoming a sort of youth-powered superhero and featuring some great examples of Infurnari's smudgy, detailed, faux-aged artwork. Molly Crabapple and John Leavitt's "Slow News Day" serves as a good introduction to their Backstage strip, showing the operations of a gossip rag that covers the 1940s New York theater scene and displaying some nice character interplay between the leads. Mike Dawson's "Goodnight Max" is another origin tale with a twist, showing the first fight between the superpowered brothers of his Jack & Maxseries, and appropriating the imagery (if not the language) of the classic children's bookGoodnight Moon. And finally, Pedro Camargo's "Esqueleto" tells the backstory of what I assume is one of the characters in his series Glam, making for a nicely weird story of jealousy among circus acts and grievous payback for misdeeds, using some expressive black and white artwork to realize the grim tale.

Overall, the volume is an onslaught of artistic wonderment, something to get readers excited about the creators and what they're doing in their various comics, and a better advertisement for the site couldn't be had. Unless it was free, of course, but nobody should complain about paying for such a nice-looking volume filled with great examples of what comics can do. It may only be a sample of the available riches, but it's the kind of first taste that dealers must dream of, sure to transform those exposed to it into addicts for life. Even if you don't feel the need to hold these comics in your hands, don't miss out on them; they're some of the best the medium currently has to offer.

-Matthew J. Brady

Dean Haspiel and Act-I-Vate in Chicago, 11/13/09

On the night of Friday, November 13, 2009, the city of Chicago was graced with the presence of Dean Haspiel and Tim Hall, there to present a documentary about Act-I-Vate, the webcomics collective to which they both contribute, and also to do some readings of their stories and meet fans. It was an informative, enjoyable event; the documentary, called The Act-I-Vate Experience, is a short affair, less than half an hour, but it quickly and memorably details many of the creators involved with the site, and provides some tantalizing images and interesting commentary from the artists involved, making any viewer who was not previously familiar with the site want to rush online and read some of the works available. The site counts such talents asHaspiel, Michel Fiffe, Simon Fraser, Nick Bertozzi, Kevin Colden, Roger Langridge, Leland Purvis, Mike Cavallaro, Tim Hamilton, Joe Infurnari, Molly Crabapple, and Josh Neufeld among its contributors, and many of them were interviewed for the documentary, talking about the comics they're serializing online, the reasons for doing this, and their take on the philosophy of the site, and webcomics in general.

The excitement and passion for their work is palpable in every creator's case, and it's great to hear them hold forth on how excited they are to be taking part in the site. For many of the creators, it's a way to get their work out in the world, following their passion and making comics that publishers might not have been willing to take a chance on. For some, the current model of comics publishing requires them to seemingly disappear for up to a year to work on a graphic novel, so publishing more personal work in serialized increments gives them a way to stay in the public eye. Others use the platform as a chance to experiment with new ideas and more personal work. As the site has grown, it has shown many of the creators that the web is the future of serialization, the way that they can reach the biggest audience, with some, like Jeff Newelt, even going so far as to say that this might be the savior of print publishing.

Others, like Michel Fiffe, are excited to be a part of such an incredible gathering of talent. Seeing the excellent work that contributors post on the site really encourages him to bring his "A" game, but he's also thrilled by the way everyone involved is equal, with no bosses or editors deciding what is and isn't fit to publish.

Some of the artists share how they're using the online experience in new ways, whether it's in instant reader feedback through comments or, as in the case of Leland Purvis's Vulcan and Vishnu, designing comics that can work on a variety of platforms like cell phones, and even go beyond language barriers to reach international audiences.

One segment discusses The Act-I-Vate Primer, a print anthology recently published by IDW, which functions as a sort of introduction to the comics on the site. Haspiel describes it as the ultimate bridge between print and the web, hopefully encouraging readers to log onto the site and continue reading the series which are in the book. But it's all-new material, so even for longtime fans, it's not just a reprint of something they have already read.

Overall, it's a great watch, full of excitement about the possibilities of comics and enough glimpses of great art to make anyone interested in checking out the huge variety of work on the site, all available to read for free. The documentary should be available to watch online soon, so be sure to watch for it and give it a look.

After the film was over, Haspiel and another Act-I-Vate contributor did some readings of their stories, with the help of some volunteers from the audience. First was "Bring Me the Heart of Billy Dogma", Haspiel's contribution to the Primer, which was full of the usual bombastic emotion and graphic sex of his Billy Dogma series. He followed that up with "Sex Planet", another story which is available online (and whose title, as Haspiel gleefully related, was stolen from an R. Kelly song), and an entry from Street Code, his autobiographical series that he does for DC Comics' Zuda site. They all made for enjoyable little tales, although a dramatic reading of a comic is kind of a novelty; the best experience is almost always reading it on your own.

Haspiel was followed by Tim Hall, another contributor to the site, whose Uplift the Positivicals is more of a text column than comics, although one entry which he read, called "Frisbee with Andrey", is an example of his experiments with vizualizations of text, an attempt to push himself into new areas and be a part of the site's community. It was interesting, and it should be interesting to see what else Hall does as he plays with the interactions of words and pictures.

It was a good evening, and I would encourage anybody who has the chance to see Haspiel speak about webcomics do so; he's an affable, entertaining guy, and the passion he has for his work is obvious. Since he's busy making comics full-time, it looks like we'll be able to enjoy his art and writing for some time to come, and that's a great thing, only one of the wonders of this modern age of sequential art. May it last long.

-Matthew J. Brady

Goats: The Corndog Imperative

By Jonathan Rosenberg

There's kind of a formula for a lot of webcomics, especially those that traffic in nerd humor. There's usually a couple of guys who are slackers, but are smart and funny, and sometimes have hot women who inexplicably find them attractive. Maybe some anthropomorphic animals or robots, which are probably violent or evil to give them an "edge". Throw in a bunch of geeky humor about video games or computers, a bunch of swearing, and some ostensibly wacky adventures, and you've got yourself an automatic audience, or so it seems, since this sort of comic abounds online, to the point that it's almost a sort of insular ghetto. Jonathan Rosenberg'sGoats certainly seems to fit the mold, but while it features all of the elements mentioned (and probably initiated a lot of them, considering that it's been running since 1997), it's not content to sit on its laurels and run strip after strip of its characters sitting on a couch and cracking wise about whatever the latest internet fad is. No, Rosenberg has much grander ideas; he's interested in exploring the metaphysical nature of the universe and examining the heart of man through the ages. Or, it's possible that he went insane at some point and launched a lengthy, stream-of-consciousness narrative, throwing whatever bizarre ideas emerged from his fevered brain onto the page and trying to tie them all together with silly jokes and nerd humor. Either way, it makes for a pretty funny strip that's enjoyable for never knowing what's going to happen next.

Of course, starting with this book, the second print volume in the "Infinite Pendergast Cycle", might or might not be the ideal way to experience Rosenberg's vision, but it works pretty well, considering. There's an informative recap to start things off, along with a guide to all the relevant characters, and then you just jump into his crazy world, in which a couple of programmers are in the midst of a multiversal adventure involving the death of God, bugs in the programming code of existence, various demonic, religious, and alien factions vying for control of the laws of reality, and the impending apocalypse. There's a lot of wacky hijinks, but Rosenberg never lets things drag, moving at a steady clip from to wackier and sillier settings and shifting between several plotlines at once. There are also a lot of jokes about drunkenness and deviant sex, a farm-based dimension that has turned into a totalitarian religious cult, a fish/chicken duo trapped in a slug-inhabited backwater dimension, an End User License Agreement that forces one to sign one's soul away, reality-rewriting computers made out of cows and turtles, sentient vegetables, and a brief crossover with the strip Diesel Sweeties.

It's pretty weird, yet also quite enjoyable, probably because Rosenberg actually does seem to be trying to do some interesting stuff with sci-fi ideas (albeit fantastical ones with little basis in reality) in the midst of all the zany one-liners and wacky violence. The art works well enough, although it's kind of standard webcomic stuff, with lots of oval eyes and gaping mouths, although a lot of the non-human creatures and color effects look fairly nice (and it's orders of magnitude better than it was when the strip started). There are certainly worse, less imaginative strips out there. If you're on board for non-stop silliness that rarely goes where expected, this might be for you. Although really, it's only for Rosenberg and the demons haunting his mental landscape; everyone else is just along for the ride.

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In print, the first volume of this storyline, Infinite Typewriters, might be a better place to start reading than this, but you can also read the whole thing online. The Infinite Pendergast Cycle starts here, but Rosenberg recommends new readers start here. Or you could just choose arandom strip and start reading from there. Jumping in at this volume worked well enough for me, so all of those options are probably approximately equal.

-Matthew J. Brady

The Order of Dagonet #1

Written by Jeremy Whitley

Art by Jason Strutz

Hey, how crazy would it be if all those entertainers and celebrities that get knighted by the queen of England actually had to defend the crown? That's the premise of this series, and it seems like a fun idea, especially when you throw in the fact that England is being attacked by creatures from the land of faerie and Merlin is the one who gathers them together, apparently giving them magical abilities or some such. It's a fun idea, and while this first issue is mostly devoted to explaining the premise and rounding up the cast, who include stand-ins for Ozzy Osbourne and Neil Gaiman (with a dash of J.K. Rowling), along with a washed up old Shakespearean actor similar to a less-respectable Ian McKellen or Ben Kinglsey, it's interesting enough to warrant attention.

As for the actual execution, it's not perfect, but that's at least partly due to overambition; the issue is full of interesting layouts, like the first couple pages, which see panels appearing as radio waves emanating from a broadcasting antenna:

Unfortunately, the flow can be confusing at times, but it's usually understandable, at least. And the art style itself is idiosyncratic and unique, looking like it was done with crayons or colored pencils and full of little scribbles of color. Again, it's not perfect and can be a bit confusing, but it's interesting just for being different rather than emulating whatever's popular.

If this first issue is any judge, it should be a series to watch, especially once the plot really gets underway. The creators seem to have a real labor of love here, and hopefully they'll continue to improve and make it something really worth reading.

If you're interested, the issue can be purchased from the book's website.

-Matthew J. Brady