From: [j r d] at [frame.com] (James Drew)
Date: Tue, 23 May 95 12:09:07 PDT
Subject: REVIEW: Once-in-a-While Reviews, edition 95.4: A.P.E. IIa
Once-in-a-While Reviews, edition 95.4: A.P.E. IIa
=================================================
by Jim Drew
(Back "issues" are available...)
A.P.E. II, part I (convention)
Precision Auto #2 Vinylsaurus Press
Concave Up #0 self-produced
Fool's Paradise self-produced
Bread & Circuses #1 self-produced
Half Shit #2 self-produced
* On Ordering Mini-Comics: Prices usually don't include postage. A 12-page,
* half-size mini-comic should be mailable for a single stamp. Add an
* appropriate amount of postage to the money you send. Make checks out to
* the creator unless you know otherwise (if I do, I indicate it).
Here there be Spoylers about comics obtained at A.P.E. II...
***** ***** *****
Alternative Press Expo (A.P.E. II) May 19, 1995 / San Jose, CA
Part I (of II)
A.P.E. II, featuring everybody who's nobody in the comics industry,
plus special guest appearances by Dave, Colleen, Jeff, Larry, and Rick.
A.P.E. II, pretty well-advertised in the alternative comics press,
took place on Mother's Day in San Jose. This year, the Bay Area has been
plagued by more rainy weather than it has seen in years, and this weekend
was no exception: it was alternately partly cloudy, drizzly, and downright
rainy during the day. The weather and the holiday kept crowds somewhat thin,
although staff member David Glanzer (who also does PR work for San Diego;
APE was run under the auspices of San Diego this year) said that the crowds
were close enough to expected levels that the staff was satisfied.
The overall impression of this convention was how little it looked
like your typical comics convention. There were no twenty-foot displays or
banks of TV screens playing animated versions of superheroes. There were
no scantily-clad models parading around. (The Too Much Coffee Man costume
doesn't count, since he is anything *but* scantily-clad.) There were a
couple big table areas for Slave Labor, Fantagraphics, and MU Press, but that
was it for corporate (such as they are) booths. And the number of dealers
could be counted on one hand, and they were all up against one wall. As
advertised, this was a small *publishers* expo; it felt more like a big
Artists Alley (or San Diego's Small Press Area last year) than anything else.
Out front, a couple guys in gorilla (APE) suits were capering around
in APE II t-shirts, getting people interested in coming inside. In the lobby
were signs saying something to the effect of "If you're looking for cheap
Image comics, this is the wrong place." There was apparently some local
advertising done (alternative weeklies, radio spots, I don't know), because
several people came up to my table during the day who had *no* regular
exposure to comics. That alone marks the show as a success (and a damn good
reason to not turn it into a trade show, as one of the questions on the
participant questionnaire suggested doing for future years).
As I said above, everybody who is nobody in the industry was there.
Marcus Harwell from _Strange_Attractors_, Edd Vick from MU Press, Andy
Hartzell (_Bread_&_Circuses_), F. Andrew Taylor (_On_the_Bus_), Colin Upton
(_Big_Thing_), Roberta Gregory (_Naughty_Bits_), Sharon Cho (Star*Reach
Productions), Scott Faulkner (_Precision_Auto_), Dave Sim (_Cerebus_), Dan
Vado (_Extreme_Justice_), Scott Saavedra (_Dr._Radium_), Jeff Smith (_Bone_),
Colleen Doran (_A_Distant_Soil_), Dianne DiMassa (_Hothead_Paisan_), Rick
Veitch (_Rare_Bit_Fiends_), Larry Marder (_Tales_of_the_Beanworld_), Randy
Reynaldo (_Adventure_Strip_Digest_), Larry-Bob (_queer_zine_explosion_), Bill
Schanes (Diamond Distribution -- this was a small, favorable surprise to me),
and undoubtedly more that I'll remember later. This being Part I of the
report and review, I can get away with delaying tactics. B-)
Part II will contain news, complaints, and dish.
***** ***** *****
Precision Auto #2 Vinylsaurus Press 13 pp / $2.00
Scott Faulkner, Jeff Curtis
The first issue of _Precision_Auto_ was an accumulated anthology
featuring works by members of the Internet's "comix" mailing list. This
produced quite a variety of content, some good and some less than good.
Faulkner diverges from that mode a little bit with this (and presumably)
future issues: _Precision_Auto_ now features primarily work by himself, with
some material by others as backups; Jeff Curtis is another "comix" member,
so Faulkner may still plan to feature 'Net people when possible.
In Faulkner's story this issue, "Zen Arcade," we are introduced to
Twyla and Bernice, a pair of "Generation X"-age women. On the way to a club
called Finnegan's Wake, they meet one of Bernice's clinic patients. Then
they stop at a comics store, running into Adam (whom Twyla used to date). He
sort of hits on Bernice, which really burns Twyla up (but is it because he's
a jerk, as she says, or is there a little jealously present?).
Not much happens in the story, and it feels more slice of life than
anything else. I assume that it is the prelude to a longer piece, but the
events of this part don't seem to do much in the way of foreshadowing.
Faulkner's somewhat vertically elongated style does a pretty good job of
capturing attitudes and emotions, but the art seemed light and sparse; this
could be a printing defect (he mentioned something to me about the linework
being too light).
Curtis' two-page story "Nothing" is about the reaction to a
half-remembered melody, or perhaps just a few chords that evoke it. As with
his short work in _Precision_Auto_ #1, this is almost poetic, and the
pencil-toned artwork does an excellent job in supporting that feeling.
(Curtis' artwork here is also an improvement over what I recall from his work
in the first issue.) I look forward to more of Curtis' short pieces.
Add 55 cents postage.
* Vinylsaurus Press, 323 Broadway Ave. East #711, Seattle, WA 98102
[a--o--t] at [halcyon.com]
***** ***** *****
Concave Up #0 self-produced 10 pp / free
Writers: Suzanne Golz, Ranjit Bhatnagar, Babbit Lang McComish, Jesse Reklaw,
c. ella walker, Anonymous / Art: Jesse Reklaw / Cover: Ray Jewel
This is subtitled "an illustrated dream anthology." I suppose if
Rick Veitch could do it (_Rare_Bit_Fiends_), so can Jesse Reklaw. (Is that
a pseudonym for "Walker?" Is "c. ella walker" then a relative?)
This issue contains seven illustrated dreams: "The President is Lying
to Me!", "Wishing Well," "Dictator, Dictatoria," "Glass," "He Was You,"
"chromophobe," and "april 13 1993." As with many dreams, most of these are
just short, short pieces with peculiar imagery and no overt meaning; this
should not come as a surprise. The first piece, Suzanne Golz's "The
President is Lying to Me!" shows that particularly well: Reagan on a dollar
bill, the illogic of the President being honest because of the brand of gum
he chews, a motorcycle transforming into a rocking horse, and a final scene
with negligible connection to the initial scenario; Golz and Reklaw do a good
job of capturing the feel of a dream.
Of the other dreams, "Wishing Well" (uncredited, probably Reklaw) and
"chromophobe" (Reklaw) are far more abstract than the rest, which are mostly
narrative. Take out the images on these two and the text flows like poetry.
"Dictator, Dictatoria" (written by Bhatnagar) is a lengthy, almost text-heavy
dream involving a transvestite exiled Latin American dictator; this one most
closely approximates the sort of memorable dreams I have, with a large
backstory and significant coverage of time during the dream.
Reklaw's art is excellent, making good use of blacks and varying
shading techniques. I am reminded of some of Richard Case's work, or some
of the less caricatured Chris Bachalo work on _Shade_. I am impressed by
_Concave_Up_, more so than I have been by Veitch's similarly-themed work
(perhaps partly because Veitch's use of his creative peers sometimes feels
like name dropping).
This is a limited edition of only 50 copies, so it is probable that
Reklaw gave them all out at A.P.E. II. The credits page says that the items
in this issue were previously published, although it doesn't say where. It
also advertises an upcoming "full-size, feature-length" issue in late 1995.
* Jesse Reklaw, P.O. Box 8081, Santa Cruz, CA 95061
[r--kl--w] at [cats.ucsc.edu]
http://arts/ucsc.edu/Random/Reklaw/concup.html
***** ***** *****
Fool's Paradise self-produced 28 pp / $?.??
Andy Hartzell
This is an odd-sized (5.5" x 5.5") collection of cartoons Hartzell
did for the Las Vegas _New_Times_ under the banner "Fool's Paradise." As
his back cover says, this "proves that Las Vegas, behind all its make-up, is
just a city with a bad skin condition."
About half of the cartoons relate specifically to Las Vegas, while
the rest are more general, with several skewering the Religious Right (I
particularly liked the "video games" cartoon). Fortunately, Las Vegas
already has such a reputation for being a "den of sin," a gambler's heaven,
and most recently, a fun and wholesome place to take the entire family
(retch!) that only those cartoons which target specific people and events in
Las Vegas fail to work for non-Nevadans.
No pricing information is listed; figure $2.00.
* Andy Hartzell, 6130 W. Flamingo Road #312, Las Vegas, NV 89103
***** ***** *****
Bread & Circuses #1 self-produced 26 pp / $2.50
Andy Hartzell
Andy Hartzell is one of the recent winners of a Xeric grant, and this
is apparently the product of that, featuring four stories in Hartzell's
caricatured style. Hartzell's extreme style is well-suited to capturing the
feel of imperfect people: ruralites, truck stop denizens, mall rats, society
mavens,...
First is a single-page plea from Sally Struthers to send money to the
Comic Children's Fund to save poor starving cartoonist's like Hartzell.
Cute. Second is an autobiographic two-page story "Swimming with Belugas,"
featuring Hartzell's run-in with an urban legend: a pair of Beluga whales
that swim in Mono Lake.
The bulk of _Bread_&_Circuses_ is the 20-page (semi-)autobiographical
"Me and the Folk Hero: A Fact-Based Drama," relating Hartzell's brief stint
working for/with Brick Holmes, noted (famed?) paraplegic athlete. Pulled
away from his stint as a caricaturist at a craft fair in the middle of
nowhere, Hartzell is sucked into the hype and organization of Holmes, who is
going to do all sorts of important things, like getting Schwarzenegger to
officiate the Special Olympics, or wheeling a marathon with Clinton, or being
the subject of the TV movie, being played by Luke Perry. ("Yeah, right,"
you say, and you're not too far from accurate.) Holmes turns out to be the
sort of magnetic person who is self-effacing but believes his own hype while
people around him take advantage of Holmes and/or the people drawn to him.
It's a sad story in many ways, but kind of uplifting, too. Perhaps one of
the better comics stories this year.
The fourth piece in the book is the three-page "Tough Love," starring
Hartzell's "Walter Ego, All-American Sissy" character in a video game duel.
You know those "secret" button/joystick combinations used to do special moves
in Mortal Kombat and the like? Take this advice to heart: "Make love, not
war." This piece or a similar one should appear in _Gay_Comics_ #23, once
that finally appears.
Hartzell did not include an indicia or any copyright information in
the comic (a mistake, in my view). Assume that the price does not include
postage if you want to order it directly from him; add $1.00.
* Andy Hartzell, 6130 W. Flamingo Road #312, Las Vegas, NV 89103
***** ***** *****
Half Shit #2 self-produced 16 pp / $1.50
Dean Westerfield
This 8.5" x 11" publication starts off with the "No Shit Dept.,"
focussing on "The Assassination of Fred Hampton." Hampton was one of the
leaders of the Chicago chapter of the Black Panthers activist group in
1968-69. On December 4, 1969, during an early morning raid, members of the
FBI's Racial Matters squad killed Hampton and another Panther, and shot or
assaulted and arrested several others. A civil suit was finally settled in
1983, saying that a government conspiracy had been in action against the
Panthers. Westerfield adapts text from Ward Churchill and Jim Vander Wall's
book "Agents of Repression: The FBI's Secret Wars Against the Black Panther
Party and the American Indian Movement," providing accompanying pictures.
This doesn't quite qualify as comics, being blocks of text with an associated
picture, but it is effective nonetheless. While I would have liked to see
more true comics, this is nonetheless an important, informative piece, well
presented.
Following the lead piece, the issue is rounded out by three shorter
stories: "Things My Daddy Learned Me," "Return to School," and "Things My
Daddy Learned Me II, or Killing Time at the Shelter." The first and last are
pretty much nothing stories which could have been told in half the space, I
think. The second of the three, though, is a nice tale of a short-lived
at-school romance which didn't work out and in which the narrator carried the
torch longer than he should have; while it has a typical plot, this has a
couple of nice turns to the details which make it worth reading.
Westerfield's art is of the school that eschews minute detail in favor
of the power given by the contrast between large areas of black and white.
He does not abuse the power, though, so the artwork remains clear, if a
little primitive or simplistic.
You should probably add about $1.00 in postage for this book.
* Half Shit, P.O. Box 20291, Fountain Valley, CA 92728-0291
- ------------------------------
| "Why do we quote showtunes?" Ron said, and
Jim Drew | paused. "I'll tell you. I don't know. But
[j r d] at [frame.com] | it's tradition!"
"Two-Stepping Smurf" | At least two dozen nearby men and women
<neither innocent nor naive> | dressed in leather, levis, or rubber turned
B2h+ t e cd s k g+(p) rv q p | around and sang, full voice: "TRADITION!"
S8/5 g l+ y+ o+ a+ u++- j++ | I added another item to my mental list of
{opinions: mine != frame's} | Questions to Never Ask Again.
| - Marc Lynx, "Awl's Fare"