Mallard 4, Two Stories and I Like Birds from Mallard Press.

Mallard issue 4 (July 2008).
The fourth issue of Mallard Small Press's flagship anthology. Including contributions from Tom England, Christopher Bernard Leahy, Joe Baddeley, Matt Fletcher and many more.
40 pages, B&W with colour cover: £2.00 (+50p P&P)  

On sale here.

When I start thinking about my inevitable "best of 2008" list the first thing that comes to mind is how many good anthologies I've seen.  Not just good single volume anthologies but good ongoing anthology series.  This is the second Mallard book that Tom England and his pals have sent my way.  Like the last issue I reviewed it is very much the quintessential minicomic/zine in size, shape appearance and content.  A neat blend of comic stories, gag comics, strip comics and short literature.  I think this issue is a bit sharper than the last.  No great breakthrough but just a little better in every way.  It has a nicely designed back cover by Jenny Peacock.  Joe Baddeley again provides some really great little stick figure strips  and gags that do a nice job pacing the book and making it feel more like a magazine than just a collection of stuff.  Matt Fletcher has a good looking two page day-in-the-life-recap thing made up of drawn snapshots.  Each pane is a transition from the last but it has a flow to it and the drawings have a warmth that makes it engaging.  I think the best work in the book is that of Tom England.  He has several short slice of life comics that would feel very accessible to fans of John Porcellino.  

Two Stories by Tom England and Christopher Bernard Leahy.

Published by Mallard Small Press.

21 pages.  B&W.  

Two Stories looks and feels a lot like Mallard except that it is made up of just two longer stories instead of several shorter works.  The first is a is a comic by Tom England called "A Memory of an Evening".  It is a study both in how the memory works and how our perception of events changes as we age.  It is also a neat exercise in making a comic about how one makes comics and it does this without being a boring Scott McCloud essay.  I appreciate that.  The comic moves around over several years and shows more range and storytelling chops than I have seen in any of England's other stuff.  

The second story is a prose short story by Christopher Bernard Leahy called "The Gap".  Leahy does a great job of establishing the character in just the first few paragraphs.  More importantly, it is a pretty interesting character.  The story is very short.  More of a moment than a story.  But because Leahy does such a great job of setting up the character's emotional condition there is a lot of weight to the slim events.  

The two stories compliment each other quite well.  Both are studies in memory and together make a balanced book.  I'd like to see England and Leahy go at this again.

I Like Birds by Tom England

Published by Mallard Small Press.

12 pages.  B&W.

England's I Like Birds is a very traditional minocimic in it's size, look and minimal subject matter.  The title sums the thing up pretty well.  There are several little riffs on birds.  Some pantomime, some conversation and lots of birds.  The look of it and even the lettering make me think of James Kochalka's kid friendly works like Peanutbutter and Jeremy.  In short, it is a charming little minicomic about birds.

Your best pal ever,

Shannon Smith

Tom England and others MALLARD #3

Mallard #3 by Tom England, Christopher Leahy, Joe Baddeley, Fuong Nguyen, Dan Dyer and Claire Symonds.
www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=6712440425
32 pages. Black and white cover and interior.

Mallard is a comic/zine mailed over by Tom England from the U.K. It sells for one pound which, in rapidly falling dollars, could be like $75 for all I know. This book got me to thinking about my own zinester days and how much tings have changed. "Back in the day" you would make a zine, print it up, give them out at rock shows or sell them at rekerd stores and that would be it. Their life lasted a few weeks and then you forgot about them. Now with the whole introwebnet nerdtology available today these things can find an audience all around the world. The niche market is the mainstream market now and a little zine can find an audience and maybe, just maybe make a few pounds/dollars.

This book is well edited as far as anthology/zines go. The contents, pages, art etc. are all laid out very nicely. The prose bits are broken up by some funny gag comics by Joe Braddely. I assume that Tom England is the editor and he made some nice choices as to the running order of the comics and stories. The book starts off with part three of a prose piece by Christopher Bernard Leahy. I like the idea of serializing prose in a zine like this. The story itself is written well enough. The first page or so is bogged down with a lot of scenery description but once the dialog gets going Leahy shows some potential. It's hard to judge a work based on an eight page excerpt but I get the feeling it's the type of thing I probably would not make it through unless a college course grade depended on it. But, that probably says more about my tastes and attention span than Leahy's talents.

The prose if followed by a comics section. Fuong Mai Nguyen's pieces are slight but interesting. Dany Dyer has a couple of pages of college humor bases strips. The first page seems to be hastily drawn but the second is more polished and is about equal in quality to the average webcomic. Joe Baddely's comics are gag strips with talking stick figures. They are pretty funny and set a nice tone for the rest of the book. I give credit to both Baddely and the editor for doing a great job of pacing the book with a quick laugh on nearly every page.

The strongest comics of the book are by Tom England. (Sampled above.) The writing is strong. Part philosophy, part fictional diary, part humor. Somewhere between Harvey Pekar and Chris Ware. The drawing is very simple yet comprehensive. He does a great job juxtaposing the tone of the the dialog with the emotion of the drawing. I would really like to see more of England's comics.

The final piece of the book is a fun little story by Claire Symonds called The Philosophical Hog. In the story a council of forest animals is called together to decide how to deal with the disturbing noises coming from the tummy of a hog. The hog in question has decided to fast in order to empty his stomach so that he may eat the entirety of the world. It is cute, clever and slightly morbid. A fun read.

All in all I say this Mallard anthology/comic/zine thing delivers. Some pieces are stronger than others but it's a nicely edited book that more than satisfies the entertainment to cover price ratio. (Whatever that may be in US dollars.)

Your best pal ever,

Shannon Smith