Maybe you should go to the SC Comicon this weekend.

Hey you.  How's it going?  You busy this weekend?  Maybe you should go to the SC Comicon in Greenville, South Carolina.  A lot of my favorite people are going to be there.  Also, there will be comics there. You like comics right?  I've never been to this show but I hear it's really great.  Every year I say to myself, stop being such an a-hole and go to SC Comicon.  And then I fail. I won't be there this year because I'm going to take my kids to see adults in minimal clothing sweat on each other.  Professionally!  But, I will be there in spirit and also on paper as a new gag comic I drew will be in Comic Stars #6 debuting at the table of our most beloved The Dollar Bin.  The comic should be rad.  It has a cover by Patrick Dean.  Ya'll know Patrick Dean right?  He's kinda the best.  

So yeah, go to Greenville and buy comics.  Tell Neal Adams that I said that Superman miniseries he did last year was bonkers.  You like it.  You love it.  You want more of it.

Your best pal ever,

Shannon Smith

p.s. I write comics.  Do you make comics?  Maybe you should hire me to write comics. 
p.p.s Say you want a leader but you can't seem to make up your mind. I think you'd better close it and let me guide you to my twitter feed.
p.p.p.s. Let's pretend we went to high school together on facebook.
p.p.p.p.s. Google + is another place you can read the same thing I posted here.
p.p.p.p.p.s. I'll tumblr for ya.
p.p.p.p.p.p.s.  Yeah, I do Instagram too.  I guess it's a law or something.

11 comics I liked in 2011: Parts 6 through 11

(Image stolen from Gabby Schulz.)

Hi friends.  Real talk time.  As you may have noticed, it is now the year 2013.  In the way back time of late 2011 and early 2012 I decided to post a series of eleven comics I liked from 2011.  I failed.  Now, I know you did not come here to read my excuses so I'll just be brief and say that 2012 was an awful year for me.  Some major life disrupting things happened which easily could have made me walk away from file under other and comics in general.  But, so far, I have stuck it out and clung to comics by my pinkie nails.  But I just could never get my 2011 series of posts together.  Largely because those awful things that happened have physically put me in a different location from where many of those 2011 comics are.  Not way far or anything.  I could go dig them up.  But my available time to reflect on those books just never matched up with my physical proximity to them.  Excuses, excuses.  

All that said, in the way back time of late 2011 and early 2012 I did pick out 11 comics that I liked and wanted to talk about.  But at this point, in the year 2013, I admit defeat and give up on my idea of long focused individual posts and now give you a list.  And I kinda hate lists.  But here we are.

These comics are presented in no particular order.  I don't really think the idea of "best" has a lot of place in art.  It's not a sport.  We don't have points or a playoff system.  It's all relative to the individual's tastes.  And also relative to the fact that comics are very expensive and there are certainly a lot of works out there that won't be on this list just because I never got to read them.

First off, let's start with  links to the five comics I did manage to talk about:

Josh Latta's Rashy Rabbit Droppin' Anchor

Ben Towle's Oyster War

Brad McGinty's Wysteria

Life With Archie

The All-New Batman: The Brave and the Bold

And now, comics 6 through 11: 

Old Timey Hockey Tales

By Robert Ullman and Jeffrey Brown.

On sale for $6 here. 

I picked this up from Ullman at SPX in 2011 and I've kept it close at hand since then and re-read it several times.  First of all it is a WAP book and therefore looks great and is perfectly produced.  Great design.  Quality cover and paper stock.  Quality colors on the cover and end papers.  Exactly what I want and enjoy in a minicomic.  I've read minicomics long enough that I am no longer impressed by crazy screen print, crazy cut, silk screen wacky covers.  I like them to be tight and solid.  I like them to be exactly like this.  

I also like for my minicomics to have guys like Rob Ullman and Jeffrey Brown in them.  Two very different creators.  Very different in the way they draw and tell stories but it works well together creating nice tone shifts that break up the book in a positive way.  I'm only a casual hockey fan but each story works as its own thing and had me hungry for more.

The webcomics of Rich Tommaso.  Sam Hill, Dry Country, Vikings End and more. 

Back in 2009 ish Rich Tommaso started what he called a "one-man publishing house".  Basically, he started posting a lot of comics online and they were/are great.  In 2010 (I think) he started what would become the 2012 Sam Hill book.  That comic continued into 2011 which was when I actually read most of it.  In 2011 he also started Dry Country. (And a bunch of other things if I remember correctly.  Vikings End etc.)  The point is, Rich was really killing it with the webcomics in 2011.  More than I could keep up with and all of it exceptional.  Unfortunately, the nature of webcomics today is that they move around and get collected in different ways.  Well, unfortunate only in that it makes it harder for me to find old links.  Rich's website has changed from Web of Comics to Recoil.  Dry Country is currently over at Study Group.  Sam Hill can be purchased as a real hold it in your hands paper book over at Fantagraphics.

Animal Man by Jeff Lemire, Travel Foreman and several other people.

I talked about the 1st issue 2011's New 52 Animal Man at length here.  I liked it well enough but Travel Foreman really blew me away in the following issues.  Easily some of the most exciting art I saw in 2011.  But sadly, Foreman did not keep up the pace and fill in artists came in during 2012.  The art remained strong but was inconsistent and lacked that magic of those first few Foreman issues.  Now the comic is mired in a crossover.  But for a few months, it was really something.

Not My Small Diary #16 edited by Delaine Green and featuring dozens of indie comics and zine wonders. 

Not My Small Diary is an ongoing themed diary anthology.  This sixteenth volume is made up of two thick minicomics filled with transportation themed stories.  Comics and stuff by Donna Barr, Robyn Jordan, Dave Kiersh, John Porcellino, Liz Prince, Noah Van Sciver, Julia Wertz and many more.  I like diary comics but I think I like them best in Not My Small Diary.  All those little bits from all those different voices.  Seeing the world through so many different eyes, pens and brushes all in one place.  More than worth the cover price.

Paying For It by Chester Brown.

Chester Brown is one of my favorite cartoonists and his previous full length book, Louis Riel, is my favorite book so I had a lot of anticipation built up for Paying For It.  A lot of people did.  There was a lot of controversy about Paying For Its subject matter and how Chester Brown handled it (and how he had a clear and heavy handed agenda) but it never bothered me.  To me, the book is a comedy about a man who has Blake Edwards movie awkwardness every time he tries to interact with living humans.  It's a drawn anthropology journal about having sex presented by a cartoon version of a man that does not seem like he'd be all that good at shaking hands.  (He rides a bicycle to go find prostitutes!  That is funny people.)  I thought it was riveting, fascinating and all those other words critics use for "I liked it lots". I particularly liked Brown's interactions with Seth, Joe Matt and Sook-Yin Lee.  At the 2011 SPX I had the pleasure of meeting Chester Brown and he was one of the nicest people I've ever met.  And totally capable of shaking hands.

Sick.  A webcomic by Gabby Schulz.

No other comic in 2011 was affective to me as Gabby Schulz's Sick.  The thing is brutal.  Almost every panel is a body blow and some of them rattled my jaw.  The story is about the horrors being sick without insurance in the good ol' US of A.  I actually have health insurance but my family has experienced a lot of illness over the past 5 or so years and I've spent way too many awful nights in hospitals.  Even with insurance, it is terrible.  Sick captures all of the worst thoughts and fears of sitting in  the hospital or lying in bed thinking that death would be better than what the next few minutes will hold.  And as brutal as the comic is, it is also enjoyable.  I know that sounds odd.  But Schulz is a very funny cartoonist.  He is attacking these horrors with scorn and cynicism but there is a layer of humor on most of it.  He is pointing out the absurdity of it.  Routine matter of fact things we have to go through in the US just to receive  purchase a moment of human decency and assistance.  You have to laugh at it or you'll probably just end it all.
I would tell you to check it out for yourself but Sick is not currently online. (It kinda is but not officially.)  The comic was successful enough that Schulz ended up with bandwidth issues and had to take it down.  But the good news is, at least as I understand it from reading one of his blog comments, that he is working on a print version.  Whenever that happens, it will be essential reading.

Well, that's 2011 for ya.  Sorry it took so long.  I'll try to get to 2012 sometime before we all die.

Your best pal ever,

Shannon Smith

p.s.  Say you want a leader but you can't seem to make up your mind.  I think you'd better close it and let me guide you to my twitter feed.

p.p.s. Let's pretend we went to high school together on facebook

p.p.p.s. Google + is another place you can read the same thing I posted here.

p.p.p.p.s. I'll tumblr for ya.

11 comics I liked in 2011: Part 5: The All-New Batman: The Brave and the Bold

(Image stolen from DC database.) 

EDITORS NOTE: I'm over "best of" lists.  I came to the realization that I personally only read them to see if the list agrees with my opinions and if it does not then I instantly forget about it.  I assume that I'm not the only one that sees them this way.  So instead of a meaningless list I am posting a series of eleven individual reviews of comics I liked in 2011.  These comics will be reviewed in no particular order.  It was not my intention to wait until late in the year 2012 to post about these 11 comics but, events occurred.  Thank you for your patience.  Thanks for reading.

The All-New Batman:The Brave and the Bold

Published by DC comics.

Featuring work by Sholly Fisch, Rick Burchett, Dan Davis, Gabe Eltaeb and others.

The Batman: The Brave and the Bold TV show is one of my favorite things of all things of all time.  Love it.  My kids and I watched it religiously and played the video game on both the Wii and the DS.   And the comic book spin off was not half bad either.  Some of my favorite comics from 2011 (and 2012) came out of that series.  At times Sholly Fisch's stories and scripts are better than the TV show.  For one thing, Batman married Wonder Woman! (Sort of.)  Issue 4 (pictured above) of the series was full of Silver Age wackiness with an all-star cast that even included Sugar and Spike!  Rich Burchett's art was pretty close the the TV show model but he gets to cut loose and have some fun with some crazy lay outs.  Gabe Eltaeb's colors were perfect.  Like, the TV show, this was a comic where anything could happen and it did.  No rules and no "Dark Knight" or "Spirit of Vengeance" crap.  Bright bold heroes and psychedelic crazy mad villains.  Fun!  

(Image stolen form DC database.)

Another stand out issue of the series was number 13 where every Robin ever had to team up to save Batman.  (Including Stephanie Brown!)  My daughter loved this comic.  Kids love to see all those costumes in one book.  I loved it to.  Sholly Fisch is great at this kind of thing with a big cast.  Every character has their own moments and their own voice.  Top notch stuff.

(Image stolen from DC database.)

The series was canceled and the final issue came out in 2012.  (Which, was totally not in the year 2011 but we'll talk about it anyway.)  It too was a winner.  Bat-Mite falls in love with Batgirl and tries to impress her by beating the crap out of Batman for 20 or so pages.  I'm telling you people, Shakespeare never thought of a story as good as that.

It really broke my hear to see the TV show and this comic come to an end.  Broke my kid's heart too.  And speaking of breaking my kid's heart, Tiny Titans was also canceled in 2012.  This made my kid furious.  And yeah, Tiny Titans was replaced with another kid friendly book but it is no comparison.  Not even close.  Tiny Titans was great but now its gone.  2011 will stand out as a golden year when DC Comics made good comics for kids.  2012, not so much.

Your best pal ever,

Shannon Smith

p.s.  Say you want a leader but you can't seem to make up your mind.  I think you'd better close it and let me guide you to my twitter feed.

p.p.s. Let's pretend we went to high school together on facebook

p.p.p.s. Google + is another place you can read the same thing I posted here.

p.p.p.p.s. I'll tumblr for ya.

11 comics I liked in 2011: Part 4: Life With Archie

EDITORS NOTE: I'm over "best of" lists.  I came to the realization that I personally only read them to see if the list agrees with my opinions and if it does not then I instantly forget about it.  I assume that I'm not the only one that sees them this way.  So instead of a meaningless list I am posting a series of eleven individual reviews of comics I liked in 2011.  These comics will be reviewed in no particular order.  It was not my intention to wait until late in the year 2012 to post about these 11 comics but, events occurred.  Thank you for your patience.  Thanks for reading.

Life With Archie magazine published by Archie Comics.

Featuring work by Paul Kupperberg, Dan Parent, Norm Breyfogle, Fernando Ruiz, Pat Kennedy and others.

Available for subscription here. 

My daughter has been reading Archie comics for about five years.  She started with the digest books we found at grocery and drug stores.  When the Life With Archie magazine started in 2010 we both wanted to check it out but it was really hard to find.  The first issue we found was number 4 and we found it at a CVS drug store about 45 minutes from where we live.  Not the most practical way to keep up with Archie Andrews' married life.  So, I got her a subscription and it has been money well spent.  My daughter starts bugging me about "when is the next issue out" a few days after we get the latest.  Dollar for dollar I think it is the best ongoing (semi) monthly mainstream book out there.  (Especially with Shonen Jump gone from the grocery store magazine stand.)  

Just look at that beautiful Norm Breyfogle Christmas cover.  Probably my favorite cover of 2011 and it looks so nice on that slick shiny magazine paper.  And I love the magazine format.  Each issue has two comics in it and the comics are really solid.  Solid writing, art, colors etc.  The stories are fascinating.  So far it has been the Married Life story in which Archie travels to two different futures.  One comic gives you a future married to Betty and the other a future married to Veronica.  The kids are out of high school, married and dealing with grown-up stuff. 

And it is insane.

This stuff is often Twin Peaks crazy.  If Michael J. Fox and Doc kidnapped Archie Andrews and used the time DeLorean to drop him in the black lodge this comic is what you would get.  

It is a wacky gimmick but the great thing about it is that it allows them to tell a lot of different kinds of stories.  Most notably, it allows them to tell the story of the marriage of Kevin Keller.  

Issue 16 of Life With Archie might be considered a January 2012 comic but we got our copy in the mail in December 2011 so I'll talk about it here.  It has the (sort of) controversial Kevin Keller story of a gay interracial marriage.  In an Archie comic.  Maybe it is a gimmick but I think it will go down as the most important comic of 2011.  

Keller is a veteran and the comics deal with both war drama and the issues that vets deal with after coming home.   And that whole gay marriage thing.  It's dealing with some things that are very much a part of what it is to be alive right now and these are issues kids are seeing whether we want them to or not.  

As a parent I really appreciate how Life With Archie deals with these issues in a matter of fact way.  It's not a preachy thing on the ethics of the "war on terror" or issues with marriage equality.  It's just, here is this guy that went to high school with the Riverdale kids then he went and served our country in a war and now he's back and here is what he is dealing with.  It's the kind of thing a lot of people are dealing with but we don't see much of it in those "grown-up" "not just for kids anymore" comics that Marvel and DC put out.   And of course it still has insane trans dimensional romance. Where Archie beats Marvel and DC (who both followed Archie with their own gay stories in 2012) is that when they do these things it comes from a fun lighthearted place.  When Marvel and DC do them it comes from a dark, gross and cynical place.  Twelve year old Merry Marvel Marching Society Shannon Smith would never believe this but right now I prefer the comics coming out of Riverdale.  (Just don't tell my daughter.  She thinks the subscription was for her.)

Your best pal ever,

Shannon Smith

p.s.  Say you want a leader but you can't seem to make up your mind.  I think you'd better close it and let me guide you to my twitter feed.

p.p.s. Let's pretend we went to high school together on facebook

p.p.p.s. Google + is another place you can read the same thing I posted here.

p.p.p.p.s. I'll tumblr for ya.

11 comics I liked in 2011: Part 3 : Brad McGinty's "Wysteria"

EDITORS NOTE: I'm over "best of" lists.  I came to the realization that I personally only read them to see if the list agrees with my opinions and if it does not then I instantly forget about it.  I assume that I'm not the only one that sees them this way.  So instead of a meaningless list I am posting a series of eleven individual reviews of comics I liked in 2011.  These comics will be reviewed in no particular order.  It was not my intention to wait until late in the year 2012 to post about these 11 comics but, events occurred.  Thank you for your patience.  Thanks for reading.

Wysteria by Brad McGinty
Hand crafted hardcover graphic novel.  Currently SOLD OUT but you could probably go to McGinty's site and nag him about a second printing.  

Part of the reason for this series of "11 comics I liked in 2011" was to write reviews of some of the great stuff from 2011 that I did not have time to talk about.  Wysteria, however is a book I did talk about.  I reviewed it in its original minicomic form here and I talked about how much I loved the hand bound hardback version here last year.  But I can't honestly talk about my favorite stuff from 2011 without mentioning it.  The book has been in a bookcase in my kitchen since I got it and I pull it out and look at it all the time.  It is a wonderful collection of amazing story art that I can stare at again and again.
But don't take my word for it.  You can currently read it online for free.
Another great thing Brad did in 2011 was the American Christmas Devil Kaiju Xmas Card.  I got some cards myself and sent them to family.  They were a big hit. But it also gave us the funniest blog post I read in 2011.
Thanks for that Brad. 

Your best pal ever,

Shannon Smith

p.s.  Say you want a leader but you can't seem to make up your mind.  I think you'd better close it and let me guide you to my twitter feed.
p.p.s. Let's pretend we went to high school together on facebook
p.p.p.s. Google + is another place you can read the same thing I posted here.
p.p.p.p.s. I'll tumblr for ya.

11 comics I liked in 2011: Part 2 : Ben Towle's "Oyster War"

EDITORS NOTE: I'm over "best of" lists.  I came to the realization that I personally only read them to see if the list agrees with my opinions and if it does not then I instantly forget about it.  I assume that I'm not the only one that sees them this way.  So instead of a meaningless list I am posting a series of eleven individual reviews of comics I liked in 2011.  These comics will be reviewed in no particular order.  It was not my intention to wait until late in the year 2012 to post about these 11 comics but, events occurred.  Thank you for your patience.  Thanks for reading.

Oyster War by Ben Towle
Webcomic available for free right now on teh intronet

Oyster War may be the most complete ongoing webcomic I read in 2011.  (And in the present tense days of 2012 as well.)  Excellent drawing, cartooning, storytelling, layouts, writing, dialog, character design, colors, letters etc. etc.  All the things a great comic needs are there.  The comic is a mix of historical fiction, folklore and cartoon comedy adventure.  And not just any kind of adventure, nautical adventure!  Popeye meets Patrick O'Brian.

Towle draws so well he could have just drawn a different boat picture on each page and I would have been happy but the characters are also very interesting.

Love this guy!

And the rest of the cast is great as well.  The first few scenes where the Captain recruits his team are perfect.  This is the most playful work I've seen by Towle so far.  Both in the characters and the plot.  Every panel is crammed packed with fun. Just look at all the back ground details.  Cool looking boats and houses.  Cool looking back ground characters.  Every panel is thoroughly thought out and fully realized but none of it feels calculated.  It feels like a solid tangible living cartoon world you could visit.  You can really get lost in this thing.

A big part of the fun in following Ben Towle's Oyster War is just following Ben Towle.  Ben just can not stop him self from being a teacher so he is always sharing great behind the scenes process stuff.  If you follow Ben on twitter and/or G+ as you follow Oyster War you can see sketches and sneak peaks in pretty-close-to real time as he is making the comic.  I personally think Oyster War will eventually be a print classic so it is super neat to get to see it being built from the ground up.  You should probably go do that.  

Your best pal ever,

Shannon Smith

p.s.  Say you want a leader but you can't seem to make up your mind.  I think you'd better close it and let me guide you to my twitter feed.
p.p.s. Let's pretend we went to high school together on facebook
p.p.p.s. Google + is another place you can read the same thing I posted here.
p.p.p.p.s. I'll tumblr for ya.

11 comics I liked in 2011: Part 1: Josh Latta's "Rashy Rabbit Droppin' Anchor"

EDITORS NOTE: I'm over "best of" lists.  I came to the realization that I personally only read them to see if the list agrees with my opinions and if it does not then I instantly forget about it.  I assume that I'm not the only one that sees them this way.  So instead of a meaningless list I am posting a series of eleven individual reviews of comics I liked in 2011.  These comics will be reviewed in no particular order.  It was not my intention to wait until half way through the year 2012 to post about these 11 comics but, events occurred.  Thanks for reading.

Rashy Rabbit Droppin' Anchor by Josh Latta.

7x8" black and white minicomic with full color card stock cover.  32 pages.

Published by Wide Awake Press.

$4.00.  On sale here.

I was probably one of the first people to read this comic.  My pal Josh Latta gave me a copy way back in April 2011 before Fluke.  I started this review shortly thereafter but then things got crazy at work/life/Earth/Narnia/the astral plane etc. Now here we are over a year latter and I'm finally finishing this review.

For the past several years Rashy Rabbit has made my "best of" list.  There are very few ongoing indie comics series today and fewer still of the quality of Rashy Rabbit.  What is even more impressive to me is that Latta pushes himself farther and farther with each issue.  What began as auto-bio comics disguised as funny animals has transformed into an ambitious adult comedy adventure comic.  (Which may possibly still be auto-bio disguised as funny animals?)  And this, the seventh issue in the series, is the most ambitious yet.

The story begins with Rashy screwing up a vacation with his girl Honey Bunny by getting thrown into some some sort of pre-industrial era airport prison for trying to take a bottle of conditioner on an airplane.  Who knew airports had their own Mask of Zorro styled prisons?  Josh Latta that's who.  So Honey Bunny dumps Rashy (again) and our hero turns to booze and the guidance of his pal Jimmy.  (You remember crazy off-the-grid Jimmy from previous issues right?)  Jimmy suggests that Rashy go on a sea adventure and become a man.  And honestly, it's probably the most mature decision Rashy has made in all seven of these comics. 

This of course is all just an excuse for Latta to draw a hilarious seafaring adventure comic.  And that's fine by me.  Rashy goes on a sea quest with a Cap'n Patoootie and crazy hijinks ensue.  There is some solid writing going on here.  Rashy and Honey Bunny each have their own dramas and it all comes together in a Popeye meets Little Mermaid mash up.  Almost every panel features a good physical gag and funny dialog.  Latta, gets to draw boats, bunnies, boobies and all the stuff you need for a solid comic book. 

 When I think of this series as a whole I still have a soft spot for issues three and four.  In those two issues Latta had perfected the drama, comedy and slice of life blend he was working in at the time.  I could really relate to those issues.  But with issue five (Redskin Rashy) Latta totally abandoned that world of emo indie alt comics and dived head first into the kind of adventure stories you would be more likely to find in an Uncle Scrooge comic.  But he brought along all of Rashy's baggage so it retains all the adult humor and subversive Easter eggs of the earlier issues.  (Translation: sex and drugs.) 

It is a very rich comic.  It really does everything I want a comic book to do and I read them over and over.  These Rashy Rabbit comics have never seen my bookshelf or the dark side of a long box.  I always have them lying around ready for a quick flip through if I need a laugh.  And that is what comics should be.  Well, maybe not all comics.  Sometimes I need a brutal Howard Chaykin comic or I need to get lost in Paul Pope's mad inks and sometimes maybe I just need to see Captain America punch Wolverine in the face.  But if the world could just give me stoned out rabbit comics for adults and have them available at the nearest gas station check-out line at least once a month, well, I might not have to drink so much. 

My recent intronetings have uncovered that Josh has a new full color Rashy Rabbit collection coming out (and/or possibly available right now).  And this Droppin' Anchor story is in that book.  Josh says the color makes these comics so much better that I will want to burn these minicomics I love so much.  So yeah, you should try to buy that.  Josh has also been posting color Rashy pages online as what the youngs like to call a webcomic.  You should check that out as well.  And I do believe that Josh will be on Indie Island this month at Heroes Con as well as McGintyfest.  Whatever the Don Heck that is.  You should probably get in on all of that.  I'll even let you buy me a drink. 

(Mr. Latta with the new full color Rashy Rabbit collection.  Stolen from the facebook.)

Your best pal ever,

Shannon Smith

p.s.  Say you want a leader but you can't seem to make up your mind.  I think you'd better close it and let me guide you to my twitter feed.
p.p.s. Let's pretend we went to high school together on facebook
p.p.p.s. Google + is another place you can read the same thing I posted here.
p.p.p.p.s. I'll tumblr for ya.