Too Negative #2
Who doesn't love mayhem in a comic? If the answer is you, maybe you shouldn't bother with this one, although you'd be missing out. For the rest of us, this is a welcome and extremely intelligent kick in the pants. It's mostly about a girl called Devil Dahlia. This isn't just a collection of wacky adventures though, or I probably wouldn't have liked it this much. There's a story about Dahlia trying to convince her friend Killbaby that he's gay, one about her new roommate, one about Bert from Sesame Street riding a bus with Bin Laden, a relative epic about stabbing herself and ESP, a day in the life of Killbaby, a piece about exorcisms and some doodles on the back cover. Good stuff all around. This is only #2, but it sure looks like she's been doing comics for a while, if the art here is any indication. It's only $1, check out her website or just send her an e-mail.
Too Negative #3
Hey, here's a perfect test to see if my new scanner makes any difference. #2 was scanned with the old scanner, #3 was scanned with the new one. See any difference? Here's another good one from Jenny. I love how she adds all kinds of tiny things all over the margins of the page. It makes you examine everything, which always leads to a more complete experience, although that does look stupid now that I've typed it. Oh well. This one has Bin Laden too, and Dahlia attacking him with a model of the World Trade Center. Oh, and Eminem was involved. Add the page I sampled and some birds attacking a giant hot dog and you have another pretty good comic, although this one seemed shorter for some reason. Maybe the one long story? Whatever the case, it's still only a buck, so what do you care? Contact info is up there, you know what to do…
Too Negative #7 Now Available! $1
Everybody here remembers the breast (singular) that destroyed America, right? Janet Jackson had a boob pop out at the Superbowl a few years ago for a second or two, and the entire country went crazy for a few weeks. Now that that national nightmare is over and the world will never again have to see a breast, Jenny was able to make a wonderful comic about how tits can, in fact, cause serious injury. While that's the definite highlight of this issue, there are plenty of other goodies in here to enjoy. There's the awkward concept of talking to children about a teabagging strip in the paper, taking a market research survey about a giant dancing tongue, biting the heads off of barbie dolls, babies as the most precious thing in the universe, proving heterosexuality by strenuous gay sex, hippies living off their parents, and an attention-starved lamp. So, once again, you have a mini that is packed to the proverbial gills with comics and even assorted goodies in the margins, all for a measly buck.
Too Negative #8 Now Available! $1
More fun from Jenny, even if this one seemed sloppier than the other ones. Or maybe I'm just projecting because she says in the intro that she's rushing through it to get it out for a con, so who knows? In here she deals with side effects from antidepressants, being called an indy snob, the most ladylike part of her body, letters to the editor, bums, coke and a used and abused easter basket. The highlight of the book though (as with #7) has to be the biggest piece, in which "Won't somebody please think of the children?" comes to a logical conclusion, as the government takes over and decides to take Springer off the air, thereby depriving a housewife of her most crucial programming of the day. Naturally, Jenny is called in to fight an amputee midget in a homemade version of Springer, and all is rightish with the world. One minor complaint: this is probably an issue more with the copy machine she uses than her drawing, but occasionally the text pieces were so faint that they were barely legible, which becomes an issue when the ensuing piece was a reaction to that text piece. So, um, fix all copy machines before using them! Somehow. $1
Too Negative #9 Now Available! $1
Ah, what's more fun than making fun of backwoods hicks? Not a whole lot. The bulk of this issue is taken up with the story of Aaron Amoeba, who decides to climb a mountain in an effort to get out of his rut and actually have something interesting to talk about in his autobio comics. Aaron meets a horny hick housewife, and hilarity ensues. Also in this issue is Dahlia trying to break all seven deadly sins over a 24 hour period, and if you think there's nothing funny to be found in that, you obviously haven't been paying attention to this series. And if that's the case, why not? $1 an issue too much for you, you cheap bastards? Ahem. Anyway, the last shortie in here is about a couple who both need to use their imagination to get ready for sex, with their fantasy images being much more similar than either of them realize. No troubles with the copy machine or anything here, and as such there's not a thing for me to complain about. $1
Too Negative #12
Ah, love. It's all over this comic. Well, that or lust, or reasons for or against love/lust. The bulk of the comic deals with Killbaby trying to have sex with somebody, first Akie (a fallen angel with mysterious genitalia) then Aaron Amoeba, as Aaron has the ability to change between male and female. The trouble is that Aaron is a chubby chaser, which leads Killbaby to some rushed, inadvisable lifestyle choices to fill that role. Then there's one of the better titles you'll see for a story: You're Ugly and You'll Die Alone. It's only a couple of pages but it's packed with absolutely useless advice for how to get and then keep a boyfriend. Hint: if they're not stalking you, they don't like you. This still leaves the short pieces, which I can't into much without ruining them, but they deal with a Mormon vampire (willing to bite but not have sex until marriage), a Pac-Man diet plan, $1.25 per baby and the benefits of cutting your heart out. As someone who hates happy endings I always look forward to this series. I can always count on some hilarious despair and disastrously bad advice being followed. $1
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