Stuff that I got at the Charlotte Con

I’ve just recently gotten to the bottom of the enormous stack of mini-comics that I got at the Charlotte Heroes-Con. I’ve still got a few regular comics left to read from that show—although I bought very few non-hand made comics there. Anyway, here’s a few notable items among the stuff I got:

• It’s the Attic Bugs: I Shouldn’t Have Eaten the Fish, It’s the Attic Bugs: Everyday is a New Disaster, Stop Drop and Roll,Quitter and Duflachies – by J. Chris Campbell – All great stuff as usual from Chris. Turns out I already had the story in Stop Drop and Roll in the FLUKE anthology, but I’m glad to have it in minicomics format, especially since there’s a great gag in the story that really works best if you have to flip a page to see the “punchline” panel, rather than having it visible on a multi-panel page as in the other version I’ve got of this story. J. Chris Campbell, along with James Turner, are the only two cartoonist I can think of who really use vector computer graphics well in the comics medium. Check Chris’ stuff out.
• Anxiety, Sleep Problems & Depression #1 and #2 – by Josh Latta – I think I may have seen one of this guy’s strips in an anthology somewhere, but these books are my first real exposure to his work. The books star a 20-something-ish rabbit who works at Wal-Mart and follow his largely mundane day-to-day affairs. While thinly veiled autobiography is usually a recipe for mini-comics disaster, such is not the case with these books which are beautifully drawn in a kinda-60s-underground style with lots o’ zip-a-tone, and are laugh out loud hilarious. They can be ordered at http://cutegirldemographics.com
• Either The Hunger: Part One or Less than a Monkey #0 (it’s hard to tell from the cover what the title of this book is) – by Tim Darden – When I first glanced at the interior of this book I was aghast at what seemed to be sloppy unfinished artwork, but once I examined it closer I realized that this look is deliberate; the artist has combined inked drawings, pencil drawings, collage, zip-a-tone, Photoshop effects and whatever else he wanted to throw in to this book…and once you get used to the inconsistancy among the panels, the scratched out bits of dialog and the like, it’s acutally a pretty neat aesthetic effect. I couldn’t make hide or hare out of the story, but it’s interesting nonetheless
• Misfortune Cookie by Justin Gammon – Please stop reading now, and order this amazing, beautifully drawn mini-comic (about a city populated by forks which is attacked by flying fortune cookies) right now!! Order it at http://www.wideawakepress.com/
• Are you still reading?! I told you to order that book above!