Reviews
The Comics Brain Rot: The Li'l Depressed Boy #4
A relatively new series from Image Comics, The Li'l Depressed Boy was launched in late February this year. Starting as a simply drawn, unassuming web-comic, it immediately found an obsessive cult audience and instant popularity. The creators had no choice but to approach the editors at Image for a quick transition to print form. Issue number four released this week continues the lovelorn tale of the rag doll LDB (as he's know in the comic), his life, friendships and budding romance.
The Ingenious Hidalgo Don Quixote Of La Mancha
Wikipedia is terrible at everything and is generally completely inaccurate (thanks to terrific ‘wiki-vandals’, such as myself) and that means it is perfect for my purposes.
“Published in two volumes a decade apart, Don Quixote is the most influential work of literature to emerge from the Spanish Golden Age and perhaps the entire Spanish literary canon. As a founding work of modern Western literature, it regularly appears at or near the top of lists of the greatest works of fiction ever published and is the best-selling non-religious, non-political work of fiction of all time.”
The above is the kind of talk that made me read this book.
I HATE FOOD (it gets in your eyes!!)
Written and illustrated by Michael Sandford, the black and white comic strip zine, 'I Hate Food (it gets in your eyes!!)' is the brief and often hilarious tale of an unnamed bearded manic protagonist who decides one day after forking himself in the eye to wage an all out war on food. Not only does it detail his epic adventure and the disastrous results, it also examines the consequences of a world without food and objects that look remarkably like nipples.
The main character kind of reminds me a lot of Duderocket user Pisswank aka Adam (even though i've never met him), no offence mate! The way he behaves and carries on is how I imagine Adam is after a big night on the turps in the Cross (including the fly spray).
The humour is spot on and the illustrations are actually really fantastic for a DIY publication so full credit must go to Mr Sandford. I recommend this to any comic geek or anyone looking for a quick laugh. I imagine it would be available for purchase via the Sticky Institute.
I Hate Food (it gets in your eyes!!) is an AUSTRALIAN zine and it costs $3.
The Comics Brain Rot: Action Comics #900
Some of you may of noticed many of my columns are somewhat Marvel Universe-centric. This is simply because Marvel has pretty much always been the sole focus of my attention growing up and a lot of the DC Universe fails to appeal to me except of course the occasional Vertigo title and the two ever-present, ubiquitous mainstays Batman and Superman. Even then I'd be choosing the Bat over Supes in most cases. Nevertheless, I absolutely love Superman for the simple fact that he was among, if not the first, Superhero.
The Existential Baker
This mini-zine by Elizabeth Tan is a quirky and tragic tale of unrequited love and existentialism. It tells a brief but all-encompassing story accompanied by minimalistic illustrations that help set the tone for it's accessible intellectual humour.
My only real complaint is that it was all over too fast. I wanted to keep reading about Vladamir the existential baker and the discontent musings he offers in response to vaguely inane questions about bread products and other baked goods. You'll read it in the space of about a two minutes but it will leave a sad smile on your face.
Stubby Buddy Volume 3
For beer connoisseurs and plain beer drinkers alike, Stubby Buddy is an essential guide to mostly non-mainstream, imported beers on the market. It gives me an unimaginably unquenchable thirst reading it and an immense shopping list for the next trip to the bottle-o.
Released before last years Federal election, the zine also provides an election drinking guide (e.g Greens- Cascade Green, Liberal- VB), an update on the controversial issue of pubs and clubs closing times, the fading live music venue scene in Melbourne, other news and views and many, many beer reviews. Their is even the opportunity to win FREE BEER in competitions!
I must find out where this zine is distributed or at least contact the creators and ask for a job. It would be my dream occupation to get plastered on imported and local gourmet beers mostly for free and then in a drunken haze somehow manage to type a review.
Stubby Buddy is an AUSTRALIAN zine and is available via the Sticky Institute
Tuesday Book Review (with pat): Flashman
The first book of the Flashman series is simply called Flashman, but it isn't the first Flashman book that I've read.
You can read a wonderful review of Flashman At The Charge written by a very talented young man (the writer of the review, not George MacDonald Fraser who wrote the book itself) by following this link:
To be honest, I probably enjoyed that other Flashman book a bit more than this one.
The Lost Boys - The Tribe
This is most definately the worst fucking sequal in human history, it is a fucking abortion of a movie. The whole movie starts off with some washed up surfer dickhead and his sister moving to a place infested with Vampires. The sister ends up falling in with this fucking wanker Vampire, who is ironically Kiefer Sutherland's half brother. He gives her some Vampire blood and she goes beserk, then Corey Feldman comes to the rescue.
The Comics Brain Rot: Butcher Baker, The Righteous Maker #2
Booze, Bastardry, Boobs and Bush! Butcher Baker, The Righteous Maker has it all. Debuting in mid-March, the comic has already achieved much success and fanfare in the industry so much that it's extremely difficult to find an issue on the shelf of your local comic book store. Both issues have been immediate sellouts and gone back for third and forth printings.
Vivian Girls "Share The Joy"
Members of the Vivian Girls have seemingly been crazy busy with various side projects, solo efforts and collaborations, so it was a little surprising when they announced a new full length was about to drop. Not like waking up on Christmas morning and being all like “Holy shit, Castle Greyskull!!” surprising, but like just kinda “Oh sweet, that too…” surprising. That full length is Share The Joy and it marks the bands third full length album.
The album starts off on a strange note with the song The Other Girls. A repetitive, awkward song that goes for over six minutes, with three of those six being guitar noodling and harmonic droning. It’s a strange beginning to an album. Some may say daring, others may say awful, I say...strange. It’s not really a bad, in fact I have come to think it’s a pretty cool song. It’s just strange that they chose it to lead. Strange!
After that the album really picks up with a whole swag of instantly great tunes. The first up is the single I Heard You Say, which is an incredibly strong song featuring a killer guitar line that enters your brain through your ears like an alien parasite. The tracks Dance (If You Wanna) and Take It As It Comes are both fine examples of the bands ability to write the perfect pop song. There are others too, but those two are my favourites. There’s a psychedelic vibe on the record that is somewhat of a thread that kinda holds everything together, a vibe which feels most prominent on Trying To Pretend. The album ends with Light In Your Eyes, another song that clocks in at over six minutes. It features some heavy use of the organ that propels it along, ending the record on a completely epic, joyous note.
lol @ myspace.com/myfuturelies
