{"id":2490,"date":"2010-11-16T11:13:39","date_gmt":"2010-11-16T15:13:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.benzilla.com\/?p=2490"},"modified":"2010-11-16T11:13:39","modified_gmt":"2010-11-16T15:13:39","slug":"summer-of-minis-2010-part-iii","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.benzilla.com\/?p=2490","title":{"rendered":"Summer of Minis 2010 – Part III"},"content":{"rendered":"

(Continuing my look at the minis I\u2019ve been reading from this summer\u2019s comics events. Earlier installment(s): Part I<\/a>, Part II<\/a>)<\/p>\n

Why Did I Put this Town on My Face?<\/strong> – Matt Wiegle<\/span><\/p>\n

Wiegle for Tarzan<\/strong> – Matt Wiegle<\/span><\/p>\n

Seven More Days of not Getting Eaten<\/strong> – Matt Wiegle<\/span><\/p>\n

I’m not sure why it’s taken me until now to become aware of Matt Wiegle’s work, but I picked up one of these minis at SPX and later when I was showing my “loot” to a friend, he recommended a few other minis by Matt that I wound up buying later. First up is Why Did I Put this Town on My Face?<\/strong> It’s a collection of the cartoonist’s short pieces that have appeared in various anthologies from 2002-2008. My favorite story here is the last one, The Omega Dome<\/em>, which begins with a hilarious War of the Worlds<\/em> gag: aliens have invaded Earth and so, hoping that the aliens are susceptible to simple Earth pathogens, a family tries to ward them off with a raw chicken, a kitchen sponge and a toilet brush.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>\"\"<\/a>Wiegle for Tarzan<\/em> is my favorite of the three. The premise is simple and hilarious: the city of New York has an elected office of “a Tarzan” who’s in charge of dealing with jungle-related threats to the city. Wiegle for Tarzan<\/em> is a political attack ad in mini-comics form, advocating for Wiegle’s election over the incumbent Tarzan office-holder. Nicely done, all the way down to details like attributing the publication to the “Matt Wiegle for Tarzan PAC” and a @WeigleForTarzan Twitter account.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>\"\"<\/a>Seven More Days of not Getting Eaten<\/em> has a similarly-straightforward premise: it documents seven ruses a clever fish uses to get out of being eaten after being caught.\u00a0 It’s funny stuff. Of the three, it’s the nicest-looking book, with a silk-screened wrap-around cover.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The only one of these I could find for sale online is Seven More Days. Get it here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Adrift<\/strong> – JP Coovert <\/span><\/p>\n

There Must be More: The Search for Bigfoot’s Box<\/strong> – JP Coovert<\/span><\/p>\n

I’ve been following JP’s work for a long time. I can’t remember for sure, but I think maybe I encountered his comics when I first visited the Center for Cartoon Studies during their first year of classes. At any rate, the first thing I got from him was an issue of his diary-ish comic, Simple Routines<\/em>. I recall liking the issue, but finding it very close to King Cat<\/em> both in style and intent. Since then though, JP’s really come into his own and has been turning out some really nice minis on a pretty regular basis.<\/p>\n

Adrift<\/em> is one of the nicest looking minis I picked up this year. I love the cover’s simple monochromatic color scheme, the book’s rounded corners, and the interior’s rich blue ink. Narrative-wise, it’s a simple (largely) pantomime story of a stranded boater who befriends a whale. I couldn’t quite figure out why some characters speak with regular speech balloons and others have pictogram speech balloons a la Owly<\/em>, but it’s a fun great-looking book for sure.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

There Must be More: The Search for Bigfoot’s Box<\/em> is a striking-looking book in part because of its size (8.5 x 11) but also because of its interior clear line-ish art (that’s even presented in four tiers a la TinTin<\/em>). This is apparently the first of a series and just sets up the basics of the story: a human, a bird, and a mountain troll all set out to locate “Bigfoot’s box” which contains infinite wisdom, power over nature, unbelievable treasure, or… nothing at all.\u00a0 The story’s just getting going by the end of this issue, but I’ll definitely pick up the next one.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Both books can be purchased here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

<\/a>The Fry Cook Chronicles: Fast Food Feud<\/strong> – Brad McGinty<\/span><\/p>\n

Brad McGinty’s been on a fantasy\/parody tip lately. At last year’s Heroes Con he debuted his hilarious Thundarr the Barbarian<\/em>-ish animated series, Mandar of Suburbia<\/em> and at this year’s show he had the new mini, Fast Food Feud<\/em>. In it, a stalwart fry cook\/elf-like guy journeys deep within the frozen realm… of a walk-in freezer to retrieve an (onion) ring of great power, in order to defeat an enormous viking guy.\u00a0 Brad’s great brushwork and amazing sense of gesture and expression are put to good use here as the story rapidly descends into a really gross but really funny knock-down viking vs. fry cook fight scene.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I couldn’t find this for sale anywhere online, so you may just have to track Brad down if you want one.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(Continuing my look at the minis I\u2019ve been reading from this summer\u2019s comics events. Earlier installment(s): Part I, Part II) Why Did I Put this Town on My Face? – Matt Wiegle Wiegle for Tarzan – Matt Wiegle Seven More Days of not Getting Eaten – Matt Wiegle I’m not sure why it’s taken me … <\/p>\n

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