The Poopsheet Foundation is back.

Do you like minicomics?  Do you make minicomics?  Well the Poopsheet Foundation is back up and you need to go over there and sign up.  Yeah, members from the old version will have to create a new account but it only takes a minute and you probably forgot your old password anyway. The new version of the site is kind of a facebook message board hybrid thing.  You can make friends and all that junk but if you don't want to fool with any of that it's cool.  You can still just click the links to read the reviews and take advantage of the other resources that Poopsheet offers.  The store is still there. The archives are still there.  All the stuff from the old Poopsheet is there in some form or another but now it has more community features.  Check it out.  You can even "friend me" or whatever.  Let's be pals.

Your best pal ever,

Shannon Smith

Mazed and Confused by Brad McGinty

Mazed and Confused by Brad McGinty

Black and white minicomic. 28 pages.  Card stock cover. 

Possibly on sale here for an unknown amount. (Maybe you should send him an email and let him know you want one.)

All you need to know about the story in this comic is that the hero goes off to kill a child-eating-minotaur but the hero and minotaur decide to put together a rock band instead. Oh, and they fight Zeus. 

Brad McGinty is a crazy person.  Now, that might be challenging for Brad but it's great for you and I dear reader.  We get to read his crazy comics.  On the Brad McGinty crazy scale this book is about a 9 out of 10.  Not the craziest thing I've seen him do but close.  This book is pretty high on the absurd-o-meter.  The minotaur flies on a machine made out of babies.  So yeah. Babies.  It sounds disturbing but Brad pulls it off as only he can.  Brad is one of the only guys I can think of that can hold together this kind of anything goes story madness.  In lesser hands it would just be too much.  But Brad's unrestrained bull in a china shop cartooning style takes you along on at such a break neck speed that you don't have time to stop and think about how mad it is.  In lesser hands a lot of this kind of humor would seem hateful and obscene. Here it is just joyful madness. 

And I'll be honest. I think I've read just about every panel of comics Brad has drawn. This in no way his most ambitious work.  I've seen him draw better, ink better and write better.  By his standards, this is probably a rush job.  But still, his cartooning chops are so good it does not matter.  He could dash one of these off over a cup of coffee and it still be one of the best comics you will read all year.

Brad's craft is as strong as any one's but that is not the point of his comics.  It's not craft for craft's sake.  It's comics for comics sake. Simply put, Brad McGinty is really really good at making comics. The storytelling, the pacing, the character design, the backgrounds, the drawing, the inking, the dialog, the format, the lettering... all that junk just seems to fall into place naturally for him. Cartooning is a language but he does not just speak it, he sings it, rocks it and yodels it.  So, if you have any money, please give some of it to Brad McGinty and ask him to keep making comics for me.  Oh, I meant us,  Keep making comics for us.  That's right.

Your best pal ever,

Shannon Smith

If I were going to SPX...

Hey hey!  It's that time of year again where I suffer from near suicidal levels of depression because I don't have the time or money to go to SPX.  That's right!  The Small Press Expo in Bethesda Maryland is just days away so go ahead and wipe the tears from your eyes and think about how much fun you are going to have there without me.  That is if you are going.  I assume a large portion of the people that read this blog already know all about SPX and are probably planning on going.  If not then the only consolation I can offer is that the Dollar General has Walt Disney comics for just one dollar.  It's true!

So, what were we talking about?  Oh yeah, SPX.  If I were going to SPX the first thing I would do is give you a Ric Flair karate chop across the chest then put you in a Dusty Rhodes sleeper hold.  After you drop to the floor in a coma, I would then take all your money and go give it to the following people in exchange for their wonderful comic books and comic book related products.  In other words, here comes the list:

Adhouse:  Holy smokes.  Adhouse may or may not have copies of Paul Pope's new THB.  I demand you buy me a copy!  Here is Adhouse's blog post about all the wonderful things they will bring to the show.

Liz Baille:  I have not read her new book but I reviewed My Brain Hurts 2 a while back.  I liked it plenty.

Jonahthan Baylis: Mr. Baylis will have some new So... Buttons stuff at the show.  He's a good writer with great taste in collaborators.  The cover of that horror edition of So... Buttons looks pretty great.

Kate Beaton:  Kate Beaton's Hark a Vagrant comics are knee slappin' ha ha funny and she can draw like crazy. 

Jeffrey Brown: ...will probably have put out a new book by the time I finish typing this.

J Chris Campbell: J Chris has made so many great minicomics over the years that he has enough books to be his own publishing house. Oh wait, he is his own publishing house! And he make comics for other publishers too. And he makes Neatobot Blockheads! What more do you want from the guy? Just go give him your money already.

JP Coovert:  JP and One Percent Press make lots of swell books.  You should check those out.

Dustin Harbin:  One of my favorite paper comics of the year is "The Dharbin's" big newspaper comic.  You should go get one of those. I'm also a daily reader of his online diary comics which have been collected into a book.  You should buy me a copy of that.  Oh, get one for yourself while you're there.  Go crazy.  You deserve it.

Ian Harker:  Ian Harker is a crazy person but lately he's been making these colorful wackadoo art comics.  I'd like to check them out but that's just me.

Jaime Hernandez:  Jaime Hernandez is going to be there.  He's Jaime Freaking Hernandez!

Cheese Hassleberger: Mr. Hassleberger sho nuff can draw and I assume that if he is there he will have some House of Twelve books.  Certainly worth checking out.

Pat Lewis:  I've been meaning to knock out a review of Pat's Cragmore minicomics for a while now but I've been so super busy.  Let me give you the short version right now.  They are great and you should buy them.

Alec Longstreth:  Please buy me one copy each of everything Mr. Longstreth has to sell.  Thanks. 

Microcosm Publishing:  Microcosm make some great looking books so I would definitely pay them a visit.  I recommend anything they have by Ken Dahl or Nate Beaty.

Jim Rugg:   Yeah, if you could buy me one copy of everything Jim Rugg has that would be great also.

Sally Bloodbath:  Sally's comics keep getting better and better every second.  I'd go ahead and buy them if I were you.

Top Shelf:  Do I really need to tell you to check out Top Shelf's booth?  Really?  Seriously? 

Robert Ullman:  I also have a review in the works for Rob's Atom Bomb Bikini hard cover.  The short version is that it is fantastical.  Really beautiful stuff.  I'm a big fan.  I'm excited to see that Rob will have a couple of new minicomics at the show.  

Drew Weing: I want Drew Weing's new book Set to Sea about as much as I've wanted a book since the Crumb Genesis book came out.  You should buy that and any minicomics Drew has.  Trust me on this.  Seriously.  What I've seen of Set to Sea is Chester Brown good.  I don't give bigger compliments than that.  I've not seen the physical book yet but I hear Fantagraphics did a great job.

Joey Weiser:  Joey will have his great looking Cavemen in Space book as well as new Mermin minis. 

Julia Wertz:  I just finished reading Julia's new book Drinking at the Movies.  Again, a review is in the works but the short version is that it is very very funny.  But, you should already know that since I listed Fart Party in my 2009 best of list. 

Honorable mentions:  I offered up on my facebook page and twitter account that if folks had any stuff they wanted me to hype on fuo for SPX to let me know.  The following people were smart enough to do so:

J M Shiveley informs me that Grimalkin Press will have new stuff.  A new issue of the HIVE anthology.  Noah Novella by Noah Van Sciver and a new mini by Dave Oshell.

Oletheros tells me that book three of the Oceanus Procellarum- The Taste of Flesh will be new at SPX.

I already mentioned Joey Wiser but he also told me that Michele Chidester, Kevin Burkhalter, David Yoder, Adam Aylard and the minis of David Mack would be there with Joey and Drew Weing.

If you have something you want/need me to hype in this thread then, um, let me know. 

Have a great show everyone.  Safe travels.

Your best pal ever,

Shannon Smith