Narcolepsy Dreams #4
See? My recent trips down memory lane don't always show a comics artist who has vanished from the face of the (comics) earth. Jaime has a functioning website and a couple of new minis that seem to be available. He was somebody I always just missed back in the day, as this is his only mini that I managed to get. I remember his stuff was sold out and was supposed to be reprinted, then I got distracted (as I often was back in my college days, not that I'm much better now), and didn't think of it again until I found that recentish issue listed below. This is a long-winded way for me to say that while I'm not sure of the quality of the new stuff, I'd have to read both books he has listed and hate them both for me to even kind of say that he's no longer fantastic, and I have some serious doubts about that being the case. This issue was put out in 1994 and has a selection of short pieces and one hefty story. The shorties include a rent party while riding the rails, a historical piece about a Hispanic bandit from back in the 1800's (why he fought, who he fought, how he ended up), a story about a stupid thing he said to a bully back in middle school (and the obvious result), and a recurring dream he had about working at Taco Bell (in a full mariachi outfit), a horrific customer and the resulting bloodbath. There's also the main piece, called Sleepwalk, dealing with a man stuck in a lousy job, living in a lousy apartment, and how an ordinary day turns ugly when a crazy person jumps off their roof after he tries to get him down. One thing I'm struck by looking at this now is how professional the art looks. He'd been at this for awhile when this issue came out, and this mini is miles above most of the stuff but out back in that era. Once again, here's an excellent choice for a hefty reprint of someones old work, if anybody out there with a pile of money and a publishing company is listening. It's listed at $1, but good luck finding it…
Numb Skull #3
I hate doing this. I'm putting this comic up because it's the most recent thing I've seen from him, but I mostly don't like it. This is a shame because I loved Narcolepsy Dreams and hadn't really seen anything bad from him, and I don't want the only impression on this website of Jaime to be negative. If anybody out there knows of any of his more recent work, or a place online to get his older stuff so I can review it too, please e-mail me. As for this comic, there wasn't too much for me to get excited about. The two strips with the man sitting in front of his television, complaining, were OK up until the silly punchlines. There was a long text story about a man and his wife sticking up to some people who were assholes during a movie that read quite a bit like therapy… but it was macho, silly stuff. I liked a couple of the shorter pieces, like the one where me mused about things that make him wonder about the coming century (this is from 1999 and I guess it's entirely possible that he's just not doing comics any more), but overall there isn't much here. Like I said, I've loved everything I've seen from him up until this, so don't take this negative review as anything more than me not liking most of one issue. If you ever see any old issues of Narcolepsy Dreams, pick them up and you won't be sorry. Send him an e-mail and see what he has available…
No comments:
Post a Comment