From: don@tse.uucp (Don Marks)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.comics.misc
Subject: Beguiled Bothered Bewildered Reviews (12/16)
Date: 16 Dec 92 16:27:52 GMT
Reply-To: don@tse.UUCP (Don Marks)
Organization: Toronto Stock Exchange


   B E G U I L E D   B O T H E R E D   B E W I L D E R E D   R E V I E W S

More ramblings on stuff that has shown up at the comix store recently ...

Reviewed here :
     Sin # 1-3                      Taboo # 7
     The Minotaur's Tale            Skin Deep
     Skidmarks # 1-3                Peepshow #1-3
     ... and miscellaneous comments

Sin # 1-3   by Jason Stephens   (Tragedy Strikes)

In an age where superhero parodies become even more over the top and in
your face to try to outdistance the comics they are making fun of, 
Sin's understated, matter of fact stupidity is a breath of fresh air.  
It's a comic for the demented child within.

The Minotaur's Tale   by Al Davison   (Gollancz/Dark Horse)

Banshee is a disfigured man living on the streets.  Hospitalized after
a beating, he is given the diary of the Minotaur which tells a
different version of the classic myth.  The diary mirrors the unfolding
of Banshee's current life : a story of society's outcasts, the 
physically or ideologically different, and how they draw strength from 
each other in order to find a sense of self worth.  Its a touching 
story, one that easily could have fallen into the TV movie-of-the-week 
sap-trap but succeeds because of the myth/reality contrasts and a script 
that knows when to let the pictures rather than the words convey the 
feelings.  The result is a reserved and powerful story that doesn't 
burn out from its own energy.

Skidmarks #1-3   by Ed Hillyer   (Tundra)

This is charming Brit slice-of-life stuff about a young man and the
bike of his dreams.  It sounds simple, but opportunity, honor,
friendship, love, lies, and schemes have a way of complicating things.
Hillyer really injects a good sense of FUN into the story, sacrificing
a bit of reality for satire (check out the nightclubbing scene in
issue 2 or the rapping choir boys in issue 3) and sight gags, but
still hits home on the human points.

Taboo # 7   (SpiderBaby/Tundra)

More of the same from Taboo, but what wonderful sameness it is. In
_From Hell_ (by Alan Moore and Eddie Campbell), Inspector Abberline
joins the fray as the first Ripper murder becomes a public spectacle.
Jeff Nicholson's _Through The Habitrails_ continues his dark look
at working for a living with some more attempts at escape.  In 
particular, "Be Creative" should give shivers to anyone who lives for 
the weekend.  _Lost Girls_ (by Alan Moore and Melinda Gebbie)
actually picks up this issue with the first installments that I have
really liked, 2 chapters that show different sides of the same 
events.  _Sweeney Todd_ (by Neil Gaiman and Michael Zulli) begins
this issue with a prologue of Neil doing field research for the
project and bringing it to life.  And Steve Bissette's 24-hour comic
"A Life In Black & White" is a hilariously sick look at a tortured
life.

Skin Deep   by Charles Burns   (RAW/Penguin)

This is a collection of previously published Burns stuff, including
some of his Big Baby strips, now in a format where they flow 
seamlessly as full stories.  "Dog Days" is the story of Dog Boy, a
man with a canine heart and some habits to match.  Its good for
a chuckle, but the real meat of the book is "Burn Again" a tale
of religous con men, burned images of Christ, and a huge one-eyed 
being that may be God.  Burns' clean yet disquieting art is used to
good effect here, heightening the horror of the story.  And for 
dessert we have "Marriage Made In Hell", a wonderfully twisted 
parody of romance stories.

Peeshow # 1-3   by Joe Matt   (Drawn & Quarterly)

Joe's work has grown by leaps and bounds since his days of cramming 
loads of tiny panels onto one page.  Bigger panels have let his 
cartooning  breathe and develop, and the longer format of a comic book 
has let Joe turn his personal experiences into real stories instead 
of anecdotes or short rants.  And what's more ... it's funny.
Joe has just used just the right amount of exaggeration to put
forth an entertaining book that seems faithful to the original events
and makes his points.

Miscellania :

Tantalizing Stories #1 (Tundra) has half an issue of Jim Woodring's
delightfully odd Frank.  And there's even a punchline ... Madman
Adventures #1 (Mike Allred, Tundra) continues the silliness of the
mini-series ...  Tales From The Outer Boroughs # 5 (Douglas Michael,
Fanatagraphics) concludes the "Das Wolfkin" story.  The false
German speech is fun and all, but the ending is rather weak.  Best,
though, are the 2 pages of Bungus's strips (they're America's 
favourite anal-obsessive family, don't you know).  Toilet humour
has never been so banal ...  I'd like to second the recommendation
of the line of comix from Tragedy Strikes Press.  They haven't
produced a dud yet: a gamut of emotions underlies Carol Swain's 
bleak art in _Way Out Strips_ (#1,2);  _Cheese Heads_ (#1-5) flows 
along in its weirdness smoothly and cinematically;  _Reactor Girl_ 
(#1-5) is a fine anthology encouraging people from outside the comix 
medium to get involved;  and there's the above reviewed _Sin_ too.

So, what have you been reading?

===============================================================================
Don Marks                                    "I comb my hair, I shine my shoes
don@tse.UUCP                       But it's all a stupid joke I confess to you" 
tse!don@geac.com                                            --- House of Freaks
Newsgroups: rec.arts.comics.misc