Digging into Digital: The Sentence is Nice--2000AD Gives Away Free Digital Samplers for Christmas

2000AD Online handed out a digital Christmas present to fans of good comics a few weeks early today, releasing two digital samplers for the low low price of absolutely free.

The two collections, marked US and UK respectively (but without any restrictions on the ability to download them), offer a sampling of the 2000AD/Rebellion Universe.

The US edition (available here) features Dredd reprints, with stories by John Wagner with art by Ian Gibson and Pete Doherty. There's also a Ten Seconders story, along with Zombo, and Button Man. I only scanned the issues presented, but they appear to all be one-shot stories designed to get the reader intrigued enough to look for more, which is exactly what a sampler should do.

In the UK edition (available here) takes a different tack, with a lead story featuring Defoe, by Pat Mills and Leigh Gallagher. That looks really cool, and I can't wait to sit down and read it in more detail. The rest of the sampler features Cradlegrave and Insurrection, the latter a tie-in to the Dredd universe written by the D part of the DnA team, Dan Abnett. It's a bit shorter than the US edition, but man, if you're complaining about the length of free, please come here so I can hit you over the head with something.

I'm still moving into reading comics from the 2000AD Universe, filling in a gap in my comics reading that I should have taken care of years ago. If you've never tried any of their offerings before, this is a great opportunity.

2D Cloud Announces 2014 Titles

One of the 5 books announced by 2D Cloud for 2014

Minneapolis-based publisher 2D Cloud announced today on their website plans to publish five full-length comics in 2014, teasing information about each of them and promising more details in January.

The five books are Detrimental Information by John & Luke, Rudy by Mark Connery, Dragon's Breath and other true stories by MariNaomi, and two other titles that were only teased by their cover images and nothing more. One of those, based on the lettering, is most likely Andy Burkholder, but that's just my speculation.

Information at this point is a bit maddeningly slight, but getting a new collection from MariNaomi is always a good thing, and having recently sampled some of 2D Cloud's comics (Whit reviewed Christopher Adams' Strong Eye Contact the other day, and I have one coming up soon), I'm excited to learn more about these books.

2D Cloud also has a contest going with Adams' work, for those interested.

You Should Go to Bmore Into Comics on Saturday, December 14th, 2013

Going to comic-cons and small comics and zine festivals is a lot of fun, as any comics fan knows. I go when I'm able to, and it's not financially prohibitive (after all, every dollar I spent on a motel is a dollar I can't spend directly with a creator).

They are often run by comics people for comics people, whether it's old pros or new creators, fans since the Silver Age or a kid just cutting her teeth on a book like Princeless.

But the thing is, you have to know these things exist. And for someone who's just casually into comics, that can be a real barrier.

Baltimore-area creator Monica Gallagher (of the excellent Gods and Undergrads, among many other projects) set out to tear down that wall with a series of mini-shows, called Bmore into Comics. The first was held a few months ago, and now the second is coming up this Saturday, December 14th. It will be at The Wind-Up Space from 12pm to 5pm, and features Gallagher, of course, along with other creators able to make the trip into the city.

I attended the last session, and while it was small, the fact that ordinary folks were looking at comics in a relaxed atmosphere where creators didn't have to hide their flasks (C'mon, I know some of you do it!). With this second show being in a more heavily trafficked area, it should really shine.

You can find a complete list of creators involved by going to the website (it's in a few places as of this writing), but highlights include the following folks:

Rafer Roberts is a good friend of mine and a great writer/artist who is only getting better with time. He writes psychological horror in the epic story Plastic Farm but can get silly at the drop of a hat with the B-movie inspired work he collaborates on with Sean Frost. His commissions are pretty sweet, too.

Monica Gallagher, the show's organizer, works on a variety of things, but Gods and Undergrads is my favorite, featuring a young woman who learns she has connections to the Greek Gods--whether she likes it or not. A former roller derby player, she also runs a webcomic about a derby girl, does prints, and other work, too. She's a great talent that's not to be missed.

Andrew Cohen plays with panels and puns in his various solo projects, when not getting historical, either on his own or with collaborator Matt Dembicki. He's likely to have Howzit Funnies (blues-inspired poems set to Cohen's unique visuals) and Dr. W (where the 4th wall is used and abused to amazing effect) on hand, both of which are highly recommended.

I plan to stop by the show, probably closer to the end when I can hang out with the gang if they're up for doing so, so you may run into me. Regardless, if you're in and around Baltimore on Saturday, stop by the show, have a beer, and buy a few comics!

Panel Patter's Indie Advent Calendar Day 11: Monica Gallagher

Hi there, folks! Trying something new this year. When I was a kid, I loved opening advent calendars, and not ones that were "saved" from year to year, either--that's cheating.

So in order to recreate my childhood (I am a comics fan after all), I'm going to post a new image related to Christmas each day from now till December 25th.

Generally speaking, these will be secular, unless I run into an amazing religious drawing.  Also, please be aware that we here at Panel Patter do not endorse a particular faith. This is just a way to have some fun before a date when people, Christian or not, get a few days off (hopefully) to be with their friends and family and get lots and lots of good gift cards. A link to all of the Indie Advent posts is here.

Roller Derby right into Day 11 with Monica Gallagher...

You can get these cool holiday cards from Monica's website, while checking out her other stuff, ranging from Greek Gods to autobiographical work. She'll also be at BMore into Comics 2 on Saturday.

Single Minded Returns! Edison Rex 12, Quantum and Woody 6, Shadowman 13, and TMNT Villians 8

I realized I had so much fun getting back to doing some single issue reviews on Panel Patter while doing Monkeybrain on the Brain that it was time to bring back Single Minded, where I talk about comics as they come out in single issue form, rather than the collections I usually do here on the blog.

I'm a little late getting to this for last week, but in the future I'm going to try to time this to hit on Wednesdays, so you know what to grab at the comics shop or on your favorite digital reading device.

Let's start off with my favorite Monkeybrain title (and that's saying something), Edison Rex

Edison Rex 12
Story by Chris Roberson and Dennis Culver
Words by Roberson, Art by Culver
Monkeybrain

Once upon a time, Teenpeace were the bane of Edison Rex and his cronies. Now they have to put aside their differences to stop a threat that might be more than it first seems in an issue that shows the first cracks in Rex's armor.

First off, how awesome is that cover, if you've been a comics fan as long as I have? It's another great homage piece by Culver in a series that understands how to juggle long continuity, even as the pair of them make it up as they go along. Culver continues to be absolutely amazing, whether it's showing Rex's unbridled enthusiasm and desire to be liked playing out all over his face or creating headshots for the Marvel Handbook style end material for each issue. He juggles a large cast well here (I think this is the biggest group of characters to show up yet), combining with Roberson's dialogue to give each character something to do and making them feel unique and needed.

There are a few points where the dialogue feels a bit forced, to go along with a team-up that's equally cliched, but I think it's intentional, given what we learn by the end of the issue. Roberson and Culver deal Rex a body blow here--without even knowing he's been hit yet, because everything happens exactly the way he wants it to. The next set of issues have lots of potential paths to take, and it will be interesting to see where Edison Rex heads as it moves into a new arc.

Quantum and Woody 6
Written by James Asmus
Illustrated by Ming Doyle and Jordie Bellaire
Valiant Entertainment

Eric gets a gig that's too good to be true, and the voice of reason is--Woody? Man, they're so screwed.

It's really hard to top Fred Van Lente's Archer and Armstrong for "Best Valiant Book" but James Asmus, paired with Ming Doyle, is coming awfully close. With visual gags flowing fast and furious thanks to Doyle's great skills at showing physical comedy and verbal jokes that make me laugh even as I cannot believe Asmus pushed the envelope this far, this is a comic I always look forward to reading.

As much as I enjoyed Tom Fowler, Doye is more than a match for him on this book. Whether it's Woody holding on to a moving car door (flapping in the wind like a perfectly proportioned and perspective human flag), Eric's masked face when he lands himself in a mine field (showing a range of emotion that makes me wish they'd give her a run on Spider-Man), or a goat with American flag make-up (don't ask), she's able to keep the pace frantic while drawing incredibly intricate panels that give the work a depth it might otherwise lack.

Her best work is in creating facial features that match Asmus' lines. Doyle isn't afraid to have her characters mug for the reader, making it look like they really are reacting to the unusual situations they find themselves in, such as when 69 asks her clone sister the best way to efficiently dispose of a body, keeping only "the most useful elements." Lines like that one or comments such as "You're like--crazy loud when you talk to yourself, chief" as Woody gets himself into trouble--just as he's trying to get Eric out of it--really make this book work in a way that a lesser artist could not.

The main plot is all about exploiting Eric for profit, which when you consider his race is both ballsy and a way to make commentary underneath the comedy, and allows Asmus to throw out text one liners such as "Black Op" and end with one of the best nose-thumbs at racists I've seen in a comic in ages that left me in stitches. Like Van Lente, Asmus gets that comedy alone is not enough--you have to have a story, too, and Quantum and Woody has it in spades, burying the reader in a ton of fun that's highly recommended.

Shadowman 13
Written by Peter Milligan
Illustrated by Roberto de la Torre and David Baron
Valiant Entertainment

Jack Boniface is coming unhinged as the force behind Shadowman exploits secrets he'd buried and not even the punkest Voodoo Queen you'll ever see can help him as this new arc takes the book down an even darker path.

This jumping-on point issue sets the new status quo for Boniface, turning him into something he doesn't want to be and making the story about ridding himself of the demon that plagues him. This could be a bit jarring to folks who enjoyed the lighthearted story by Jim Zub for Halloween and I do wonder a bit about why the significant tonal shift when you knew this arc was coming.

I'm not sure if turning on a dime is a good strategy, but fans of dark books will have a lot to like in Milligan's story and de la Torre's art. We very quickly see that Boniface is in a bad fix and will have to stoop to desperate measures to try and save himself--if he can. What I really liked was that while some writers might have drawn out this opening chapter, saving the action and spreading it out, Milligan isn't afraid to tell a complete story in one issue. It's extremely refreshing and works well, as we move from grave robbing from necrophiliacs to a character I desperately hope we see again. By the end, we know that Boniface is in it deep and not even traditional magics can save him.

De la Torre's art won't be for everyone, as it has a lot of rough edges, not unlike Alex Maleev. It also looks as though the color was applied directly to the pencils, though I can't swear to that. Unlike in a lot of cases, the team of de la Torre and David Baron make it work well. Baron understands that dark doesn't mean bleak and bland coloring. He uses a wide variety of shades from page to page, and even when we're in the darkest woods, there's a clarity that lets us fully appreciate the linework of de le Torre. Baron's not afraid of colors other than Brown, and the variety really enhances the comic.

The biggest highlight for me is the design of the witch, however. Looking a bit like 1980s Storm and with an attitude that matches John Constantine, she's a visual treat and not at all what anyone--including Boniface--would be expecting. Folks who enjoy their magic on the evil and corrupting side should check this one out, if they aren't already.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Villain Micro-Series #8: Shredder
Story by Dan Duncan and Paul Allor
Words by Allor, Art by Duncan and Ian Herring
IDW

Shredder is on top of the City, but his goals are far more wide-reaching, as this look into his afterlife reveals in a one-shot that's pretty trippy for a TMNT comic but plays well with the nature of fate.

Duncan and Allor start off with a tie-in to the current storyline, then Shredder takes off his mask and ventures into private territory where he learns that Pogo's saying can hold hidden truth. During one of his periods of rebirth, the main foe of the Turtles fights in the realm of the dead to prove himself. What he learns there drives the disgraced ninja when he's back in reality.

It's incredibly philosophical in nature and I think it's pretty awesome that IDW let them run with the idea, rather than making this a re-hashing of how badass the character is. Instead, we see that he's all-too-human and haunted by dreams, just like the rest of us--except we don't (well, *I* don't) go dressing in fetish gear and attack other people.

Duncan's art is suitably loose for a story like this one, with all the images feeling just a bit unreal. I love his depiction of the warning demon, and his action scenes show Shredder at his finest, such as when he's leaping across the heads of his friends and foes alike. He does a solid job of panel structure, especially in key scenes. Like de la Torre above, it's not going to be to everyone's taste, but it works for this story. In other circumstances, I don't know that it might.

These Micro-Series are an interesting way to extend the story without dragging out the main book's arcs and have overall been very solid. This one is no exception.

That's it for this week! Tune in soon for more Single Minded!

Like a Virus

Written by Ken Lowery
Illustrated by Robert Wilson IV and Jordan Boyd
Self-Published

A young woman named Felicity investigates a haunting in New Empire that's been overlooked but holds a close connection to her heart in this tragic ghost story that features real emotions and treats a sensitive subject with dignity and respect.

The thing that catches you about Like a Virus is how ordinary the world seems at the beginning, and only once you've got a chance to look around do you find out that there's a mystical element to the proceedings. It's not until page four that we learn why the woman we come to know as Felicity is interested in this section of New Empire, and another page after that to find that paranormal happenings are common enough that the city has ghost hunters (plural) and that even one as frequent as a recurring death scene is too small-fry for them to handle.

It's great, subtle world-building that combines well-timed scripting from Lowery with Wilson IV's visuals that show the kind of place Felicity and our soon-to-be-discovered ghost live in without being obvious about it. We see the subways and common folks on the cars and passers-by on the street and we know that this is a dense residential area filled with people you'd see in such a place.

Having established that, we move focus to Felicity and the ghost, a woman named Marie who committed suicide and has damned herself to repeating her sin over and over again, every week. Marie's guilt doesn't even need to be vocalized for the intelligent reader to pick up on it--just look at the scenes where she's lovingly polishing a cross and then almost recoiling at the touch.

Once our main characters meet, they engage in dialogue that shows how hard this situation is for both of them. Lowery has them dance around the point, coming at it slowly, reluctantly. Meanwhile, Wilson IV makes the choice of not focusing on Marie as she tells her story. Instead, most of the panels concentrade on Felicity's reactions, as she studies the scene of Marie's "sin." There are no dramatic close-ups or overwrought images showing the pain of a life lead differently from expectations. By playing against the traditional way you'd see this kind of story, Lowery and Wilson IV give it more impact and help to differentiate it from similar narratives.

By the time we reach the conclusion, we find out just why Felicity is so interested in helping Marie. As with the rest of the comic, this is given a soft touch but anyone who has made, considered, or known a person involved in a suicide attempt will see the power in just playing it straight. All we need are the facts--and Felicity's arm--laid bare to understand. The difference between life and death can be as simple as a person offering to help, as Marie and Felicity show. Now Felicity tries to do in death for Marie what wasn't done in life, and we're left guessing as to whether she succeeds.

Like a Virus is such a well-done comic in terms of its plot and pacing. Combined with Wilson IV's distinctive visuals, such as his large, square eyes and the coloring of Jason Boyd, it's an amazing combination. Boyd gives things an overall drab look, so when bright images occur, like the outside world from Marie's window or the cross, it pops against the rest. He makes Marie feel like she's not all there, but doesn't resort to trickery to show she's a ghost. He works with, not against, Wilson IV's designs that are exacting in their details.

I really enjoyed Like a Virus as both a comic story and a way to talk about the feelings of desperation that come from regretting decisions made in life. It's a personal story, as noted in the end materials, and those often make the best comics. This one is special, and is highly recommended.

God is Disappointed in You

Written by Mark Russell
Cartoons by Shannon Wheeler
Top Shelf Comics

In this illustrated parody, writer Mark Russell takes the entire Bible and condenses it to its pithiest elements while artist Shannon Wheeler provides New Yorker style cartoons when space allows in this book that has amazing production values but definitely overreached in its scope.

The Bible is a funny thing. No matter how religious you are as a Christian, it's highly unlikely (as Russell notes in the introduction) that you've read the entire thing. Sure, you've got the Gospels down by heart and go to Church every Sunday, but unless you're a minister, I'm betting you've probably never hit up Nahum or that Second Letter of John.

The fact is, we tend to stick to the good stuff, the things with lots of miracles, deaths, or cool quotes that even non-Christians can use to great effect.

Well, it turns out there's a reason for that. After starting off with a bang while covering Moses, Abraham, and the Founding Fathers of Judaism, it quickly becomes apparent that Russell is trying too hard to stretch to make the material funny. Given the repetition we find in the many prophets that come to tell the Jews how wrong-headed they are, it's no wonder that the jokes start to feel forced and repetitious. This was not due to reading the book in one sitting, either. I purposefully read this one a bit at a time, knowing that there was a chance that reading it as I would a graphic novel would lead to the jokes blending together.

Unfortunately, they did so anyway, and it's not for Russell's lack of working to vary the pace and style of the parody. Sometimes he does straight-up writing, following the narrative and showing just how cruel these stories are. In other cases, he makes them memos or journal entries or letters. The problem is that the gag should always be in the writing itself, not the format, and by the time we get to the end of the Old Testament, it feels like Russell is burnt out, as sick of these tales as the Jews must have been when they were told them.

We get a strong uptick for the Gospels themselves. In a really nice touch that was the highlight of the book for me, Russell actually styles his jokes and coverage for each book based on that book's theme. He skips duplicate passages and concentrates on what makes each Gospel unique, whether it's the miracles, the parables, or the history of Jesus.

It's really amazing work, and sitting apart from the overall novel would be something I'd tell you to grab without hesitation. But once we get into the many letters of Paul, we're back to the same problem as with the Prophets: There's just not enough variety in the narrative to make the parody work. Sure, Russell highlights Paul's arrogance and the other writers' attempts to mitigate that, not to mention the whole "Didn't you say Jesus was coming back soon?" thing. And those barbs fire home with great effect. But overall, it's more of the same, with the jokes missing far more often than they hit.

As though influenced by this ebb and flow of the comedy in God is Disappointed in You, Shannon Wheeler's illustrations similarly start off strong and then fall into things that, frankly, feel like stock images without any attempt to be original or clever. I realize that I do have a bias--I'm not a big fan of New Yorker-style cartoons--but even still, Wheeler is capable of far better work than we see here. (Look at how good Astounding Villain House was, for example.)

Wheeler's work with Moses is good, like when he arrives with a stack of new laws and announces to a table of tattooed, gay men dining with a sheep that he's got rules banning all of them. The subtle looks on the characters' faces and the incredibly large stack of papers that's falling all over is great comedic timing. Showing the Temple's "Grand Opening...Free Hot Dogs" is another clever touch. But when there's just men hanging out in a bar or lying against a wall that's so plain it doesn't even get sides, with a caption the only means of making it "funny," I feel like the artist is cheating. That's not providing an illustration--that's clip art.

The worst case of this is with Paul, however. Making no attempt whatever to link to the actual text, Wheeler draws a man in a prison with a beard over and over again, looking ever worse as he writes letters. That's not funny, clever, or even wry. It's phoning it in, and actually detracts more than it helps. It would have been better to leave those out, because they take away from the ones that work, like a line of reluctant naked men being told they don't have to be circumcised after all.

While I admire Russell and Wheeler's attempt here to try to turn the entire Bible into a parody, the weight of the project just buries the good parts under a ton of ho-hum artistic and not-all-that-humorous rubble. It's really hard to take on the entire Bible, whether you're serious or silly, and this work shows that in all its painfully non-funny pages. When God is Disappointed in You is on, it's really good. But there's just too much reaching for the easy joke that might amuse the right group of people. It's trying hard but just isn't up to the level of  the comedic chops of creators like Sam Henderson, Michael Kupperman, or John Hodgman.

Had this been an abridged Bible, containing only the best Books and the best sarcastic bits, it would have been a candidate for my favorites lists. As it stands, I just can't recommend it. The book's production values, which make it look exactly like my Great-Grandmother's pocket King James Bible, are amazing. Unfortunately, that's the best part of this flawed work whose flashes of promise make it a frustrating but ultimately unsatisfying read.

Panel Patter's Indie Advent Calendar Day 10: Evan "Doc" Shaner

Hi there, folks! Trying something new this year. When I was a kid, I loved opening advent calendars, and not ones that were "saved" from year to year, either--that's cheating.

So in order to recreate my childhood (I am a comics fan after all), I'm going to post a new image related to Christmas each day from now till December 25th.

Generally speaking, these will be secular, unless I run into an amazing religious drawing.  Also, please be aware that we here at Panel Patter do not endorse a particular faith. This is just a way to have some fun before a date when people, Christian or not, get a few days off (hopefully) to be with their friends and family and get lots and lots of good gift cards. A link to all of the Indie Advent posts is here.

Let's get mythological with Evan "Doc" Shaner (and words by Benito Cereno):

You can find more of Shaner's art at his website.

Strong Eye Contact

Written by Christopher Adams
Published by 2D Cloud

When I picked up Christopher Adams' Strong Eye Contact, I was immediately intrigued by the idea of creating a silent story about a stand-up comedian. At the same time however, I was worried based on my initial scan that it might be too abstract for me to review adequately, as I tend to gravitate towards more “literal” pieces. I’m glad that I didn’t shy away from it though, because it really challenged me to leave my comfort zone and explore a variety of uniquely interwoven themes.

We follow the protagonist, an unnamed immigrant and aspiring comedian, as he attempts to be, according to Adams, a “typical American”. Things do not go according to plan though. It’s not as much that he is unfamiliar with navigating things at the material level (indeed he is very drawn to material goods as I’ll explore later) or that he is unaccustomed to American folkways. It’s more so that given the stress of adjusting, his mind becomes cluttered, leading him to a series of mishaps, such as having accidents and car troubles. The word ‘burro’ appears on the soft-serve machine he operates as well on the sign of the pawn shop he visits, suggesting that this must be the name of the area he lives in. ‘Burro’ is Spanish for donkey, and I believe that it’s a great word choice as donkeys are often associated with foolishness, an idea that the protagonist has most likely internalized.

In the first half of the book, each page stands alone as a separate incident, but taken cumulatively, we see the wearing down of the protagonist. Each situation starts off hopeful and ends in some sort of disappointment. His perpetual “failings” are disheartening to both him and most likely the reader, but Adams smartly sets up each situation in a Buster Keaton-esque style, as he mentions, which is vital to lightening the mood of the story and providing some humor.

Segway troubles

This piece really explores the idea of what it means to achieve the “American Dream”. This concept, which has deep historical roots, suggests that the key to “success” is hard work. It’s an individualistic notion of “pulling yourself up by your bootstraps” even when the external world challenges you. And it reinforces the idea that if you are not able to thrive in this sort of culture, then you are a “failure”. The American Dream also ties into the idea that if you accumulate money and material things, you will be happy.  Indeed, while many economists agree that more money equals more satisfaction and have numbers to support it, others stand by the older Easterlin Paradox, which tenets that beyond a certain level of income that meets basic needs there is no correlation between personal income and happiness. Instead, it is RELATIVE income, aka. what is made in comparison to others, that affects happiness.

So what determines happiness then? The contrast between the protagonist spending a day at the arcade with his family versus him buying a waffle maker for his birthday and eating the waffle ALONE is telling. The former situation is the only time he seems genuinely happy, while each purchase, such as the waffle maker, leaves him unsatisfied.

Reading this, I started to think about the documentaries that I have seen on the Lost Boys of Sudan, including God Grew Tired of Us. The Lost Boys were a group of several thousand boys who were orphaned and/or displaced due to the Sudanese Civil War (1983-2005). Enduring unimaginable odds, they fled to refugee camps in Southern Sudan, Ethiopia, and Kenya. The US government and UN agreed to send a few groups of them to the US to resettle in different parts of the country. Yes, the two situations are very different, as No Eye Contact does not suggest that the protagonist endured any previous trauma before his emigration, but I thought of it because of how the documentaries shadowed the same exact process of adjusting to life in the US: striving to achieve the American Dream through material means despite facing tremendous isolation and difficulty making a living. Like some of the Lost Boys, we see the protagonist weather over time due to continued hardship, as reflected artistically in Adams’ transition from marker to rougher crayons and sparser images.

Adams' crayon work

The story according to Adams is a “kaleidoscope of crystalline memory fragments” that tell a larger narrative. Having a seamless narrative and identity is a human fallacy, so I’m glad to see Adams explore this. Most of our memory is episodic, yet we link it into the story of us to make better sense of our experiences and protect ourselves from the fact that our identity and sense of self are manufactured internally for survival. Comics inherently play with this idea in the use of panels, but Adams takes it further, deconstructing linear storytelling and blurring the line between wakefulness and dreaming.

The last section of the book, which is delineated by yet another shift in artwork, showcases a style not unlike an unstitched embroidery grid. I saw each image as a possible future. His environments alternate between natural, where he seems to thrive (e.g. riding a donkey victoriously through the desert and playing an acoustic guitar as opposed to his electric one from the States), and man-made, where he can’t function optimally (e.g. passed out on a basketball court or bleeding from a car accident).

In the first half of his book, Adams intersperses the protagonist’s episodes with abstract marker images of the local scenery which immediately resembled some Australian Aboriginal painting styles to me. At first I tried to decode them in a concrete way, like “Oh, this is Los Angeles” or “This is a cactus in front of a border fence”. Then, upon looking at them more, I started to see landscapes not unlike patchwork quilts or collections of biological processes (e.g. on one page, it looks like red blood cells flowing through capillaries). Despite the fragmented storytelling, there is indeed an integration of different universal elements of life.

"Little boxes on the hillside" or skin cells?

Riding into the...

After finishing the piece, I returned to the thing that originally sparked my interest, but in a different light. Why would he choose to be a stand-up comedian? Adams gives us little indication, as he does not flash back to reveal his motivations.  He does suggest that the protagonist struggles to make a living, as seen by an image of his empty bank account in the beginning. Besides the heartache that he continually experiences to integrate into the dominant culture, his quest to be a comedian, despite floundering finances or empty crowds humanizes him even more. He has a passion that gives him life despite the odds, and this is what matters.

A Life Falling Between the Cracks-- Cameron Stewart's Sin Titulo

Written and Illustrated by Cameron Stewart
Published by Dark Horse Comics

A picture is worth a thousand words but sometimes those words are difficult to find.  In Cameron Stewart's Sin Titulo, the main character Alex Mackay isn't totally connected with his own life.  After going to visit his grandfather at a nursing home for the first time in months, Alex is told that he's too late and that his grandfather passed away a month ago.  "We tried to notify you, Mr. Mackay, but your number was-- hang on a sec--," is all the explanation he's given as to why he's just learning this now as the home's receptionist is distracted by a phone call.  Given one of those office banker boxes with his grandfather's belongings, Alex sifts through what little the old man had at the end only to find a mystery-- a picture of his grandfather being hugged by a young woman.  "Visit from D."  is all that's written on the back.  Waiting to ask someone who works at the home questions about the picture, he hears grunting and cursing from one of the rooms.  An orderly walks out zipping up his pants, winks at Alex and proceeds down the hall, whistling.  Later, as he visits his grandfather's grave, he sees a car leaving the cemetery with the orderly driving and the woman known only as "D." in the passenger seat.  

That picture among his grandfather's belongings begins Alex's obsessive quest to find out who the woman is.  Stewart builds up Alex as a character who is never quite aware of his surroundings so that when he has to pay attention to what's happening around him, he's can't quite pull everything together; he can't see the connections between people and events.  It's tragic that he doesn't find out his grandfather is dead until a month later but that also reveals just how out of touch he is with life around him.  When he tries to pay attention, the world becomes this horrific place of back alleys, hidden rooms, dead cops and people who know a lot more of what's going on than Alex does.  Stewart fills Alex's backstory with these smaller vignettes of a boss who makes a pass at him and a French woman who he thought he loved as mounting evidence that Alex can't understand a thing both as simple and complex. As he is pulled deeper and deeper into the mystery of D., he loses sight of what's happening to him and keeps pushing farther and farther into it while pushing away anyone who may love him or who could help him.  

Originally creating this as a webcomic, Stewart follows a rigid comic strip-like structure with two tiered, eight panel pages.  Through the steady pace of his storytelling, Stewart constructs each page to move the story along.  Every page gives us something to contemplate as he and Alex are constantly digging to unearth new answers and questions.  The forward momentum involves the reader into the story.  The pieces of Alex’s life that we learn about maybe allow us to develop some sympathy for him but he never becomes much more than a protagonist to carry the plot forward.  Instead, it's his Hitchcockian obsession that pulls us into the story and the characters that develop around it that become far more interesting.  The "loves" of his life, the allies he meets along the way and the intern, the creepy villain at the end of this mystery, that keep us reading the book.  As Stewart forwards the plot, it's these characters that Alex encounter that provide incremental clues into both the mystery and Alex himself.

Trying to create a mind-bending adventure, Stewart's fantastic storytelling is slightly weakened by his inability to make us question Alex's reality enough.  When you look at the work he's done with Grant Morrison, such as the two Seaguy miniseries, Stewart's art makes you believe in the outrageous things he's actually drawing.  He works so well with Morrison because you don't question what you're looking at no matter how out there it may be.  The answer to who D. is and where she comes from is as imaginative and unreal as can be but it all looks the same as the rest of the book.  Trying to reveal a new level of perception, Stewart rarely goes abstract or expressionistic enough to make you question what you're actually seeing.  He twists the story back upon itself but the art never gives you any room or reason to question what you're seeing.  

At the same time, his artwork and story doesn’t distinguish between a real world and unreal world.  Everything that’s happening to Alex, every horror, revelation and person he encounters, is completely real and everything is happening to him.  It’s just maybe not happening to him on what we would call the same physical level of reality but everything is happening and it’s real.  Which actually may be a scarier prospect than the idea that Alex steps into a different world at one point in the story. As the clues come together and Alex meets D. and the people responsible for everything he experiences thanks to that one picture, Stewart creates this other place that Alex is transported to.  Taking Alex out of his environment and putting him into the new one, Stewart disorients both the character and the readers as we try to tell dreams from reality only to discover everything is real.

Sin Titulo could be a paranoid mind bending story, like a Hitchcock, Lynch or Cronenberg movie but it ends up feeling a bit more like the old British TV show, The Prisoner.   Stewart takes Alex on this journey through the doors of perception but he falls short of taking the readers through that door.  As Alex tries to find out who D. is and how she knows his grandfather, Stewart takes us down a mysterious rabbit hole of back alleys, hospitals and enigmatic paintings that are built upon people like Stewart's grandfather and Stewart himself.  The puzzling worlds that Stewart reveals in his comic reminds us just how easy it is to miss the details of life around us as we get sucked into our own, personal day-to-day events.

You can read Sin Titulo at www.sintitulocomic.com or a collection of the whole webseries is available from Dark Horse Comics.

Welcome to the Newest Panel Patter-er, Scott Cederlund

We have another new addition, as the Panel Patter team grows to be able to cover more comics.

Please welcome my friend a Newsarama colleague, Scott Cederlund, who will be providing reviews as time allows, covering the same kinds of comics and minis that you've come to expect from this site.

Scott has been blogging about comics for about as long as I have, at a variety of sites. I actually was reading Newsarama reviews because of Scott's opinions, back before I joined the team myself in April 2012. We bonded quickly and team leader David still isn't 100% sure we aren't the same person. (This is not going to do anything to change that, I'm sure.) Frequently, Scott and I will compete for reviewing the same comics there.

What I appreciate most about Scott's reviews are how thoughtful they are, as you'll soon see if you aren't familiar with his work. He'll break down a comic or trade, looking at its core elements (such as when he noted the intricate coloring homage to the 1970s in Hip Hop Family Tree) but you never feel like he's trying to show off his knowledge of comics. Scott's not out to prove his critical chops--he does it naturally and without the pretentiousness that sometimes mars the work of comics critics.

For those who don't know Scott, here's a brief bio:

A recovering English literature major, Scott has spent the past 10 years writing about comic. He's written for Popdose.com, Newsarama.com and SoundonSight.org, trying to figure out this game we call comic books.  Truthfully, he just doesn't know what to do with his time other than writing about comics.  It's a sickness.

His old blog is at www.wednesdayshaul.com but he currently blogs and tumbles (is that a verb yet?) at Ilostitatthecomicshop.tumblr.com.

Scott's a very busy man, but we're lucky enough to have him around on Panel Patter. Please give him a warm welcome and hopes for a long run here at the blog!

Panel Patter's Indie Advent Calendar Day 9: Shannon Smith

Hi there, folks! Trying something new this year. When I was a kid, I loved opening advent calendars, and not ones that were "saved" from year to year, either--that's cheating.

So in order to recreate my childhood (I am a comics fan after all), I'm going to post a new image related to Christmas each day from now till December 25th.

Generally speaking, these will be secular, unless I run into an amazing religious drawing.  Also, please be aware that we here at Panel Patter do not endorse a particular faith. This is just a way to have some fun before a date when people, Christian or not, get a few days off (hopefully) to be with their friends and family and get lots and lots of good gift cards. A link to all of the Indie Advent posts is here.

All aboard with Shannon Smith!

This is the first page of a short comic Smith did. You can read the rest here, at his website.

The Righteous Worshipful Order of Baast Book 1

Written and Illustrated by Sara Lindo
Self-Published

While working on some longer projects, Panel Patter favorite Sara Lindo put together this short mini-comic featuring work from her art show, turning cats she knows into royalty with clever card-themed pictures and text that forms a loose story when read together.

It was a bit disappointing not to have a full-fledged mini from Lindo this year, because I love her style and sense of story. However, given that I don't do a lot with prints, it was nice to have a way to collect the art together in this full-color, glossy mini that shows them off in a high-quality presentation.

Lindo begins with Ike (last seen working on Wall Street) as the King, fictionalizing his life story to make it fit with the royalty theme. Meanwhile, Rosie the Queen has references to Ike and her own owners.

The theme continues this way with Duncan (Sara and Steve's other cat) learning at the feet of Ike, complete with his position as the one-eyed Jack, because of his own disability. Chuck's wandering nature as an outdoor cat features on his card, and two other cats whose story implies they're farm cats.

Each illustration has symbols, like you see above, that make the card deck theme complete. Lindo shows her ability to include small details that take an illustration from being cute ("Hey look! A cat on a card!") to the next level, where craft and care are shown.

I know she's already busy enough, but it might be fun if she took this all the way and made an entire deck that folks could buy at shows, with each face card featuring a different cat and maybe one illustration per number for the numbers. Regardless, this was a fun snack while waiting for the main dish of another Lindo project.

You can find out more about Sara Lindo at her website, including a link to her store.

Panel Patter's Indie Advent Calendar Day 8: Sergio Aragones

Hi there, folks! Trying something new this year. When I was a kid, I loved opening advent calendars, and not ones that were "saved" from year to year, either--that's cheating.

So in order to recreate my childhood (I am a comics fan after all), I'm going to post a new image related to Christmas each day from now till December 25th.

Generally speaking, these will be secular, unless I run into an amazing religious drawing.  Also, please be aware that we here at Panel Patter do not endorse a particular faith. This is just a way to have some fun before a date when people, Christian or not, get a few days off (hopefully) to be with their friends and family and get lots and lots of good gift cards. A link to all of the Indie Advent posts is here.

Look! A Christmas card drawn for a video game company by Sergio Aragones!

I don't even think the company still exists (domain expired, at the very least) but I really had to share this.

Including Sergio is a bit of a stretch for "indie" but it's my list and I highly doubt many of you have seen this before, so I think it was worth cheating a bit!

3 Comics from the Smaller Comics Mini-Comics of the Month Club

I've been a subscriber for the past two years to the Smaller Comics Mini-Comics of the Month Club, which sends me mini-comics for about $3 apiece all the way from the other size of the world, primarily Australia.

It's a great way to see what kinds of comics are out there in places where I may never reach, let alone go to a comics show. I've promoted it every year, and I'm sure I'll do so again in 2014, subscribing myself as long as I my move doesn't leave me financially pinned.

So in terms of giving me something different to sample, it's been great. But are the comics themselves any good?

As with any subscription, whether it's Fantasy and Science Fiction or Wine of the Month, opinions will vary, and what's worked for me might not work for you. However, overall, I've been happy with what I've gotten, both in 2012 and 2013. Not all of them are keepers or re-reads, but that's okay.

For this post, I'm pulling out three examples that will give you a pretty good idea of what kinds of comics you might expect from the series, when it opens again in 2014. If these sound interesting to you, then save up and get ready for when Smaller makes an announcement. I've really liked being a part of the service, and I think most regular readers of Panel Patter would be, too.

These comics are in no particular order, by the way.

Pond Scum by Neil Sanders is a (nearly) wordless comic that features increasingly strange creatures struggle to stay alive while shedding skins and running about in and around a small body of water. While there is a narrative to the whole thing, the real fun is viewing Sanders' characters, who look like a demented cross between Jake from Adventure Time and Dr. Zoidberg and at one point include an animated skeleton that's mostly just a giant skull with tiny legs.

Drawn mostly in thin lines, with lots of white and black space used to give depth to the art, this one was a lot of fun to read and watch it build to a ridiculous climax. Looking at Sanders' Tumblr, it's clear he likes to play with shapes, and that's very much in the mix of this playful mini-comic.

A History of Pets by Rebecca Hayes was part of the original series of mini-comics, coming to me in May 2013. It is exactly what its title implies, being a chronicle of the little creatures that Rebecca has had as pets. Starting with a pet rat and moving on to a dog that didn't like costumes nearly as much as his namesake and continuing until we reach Rooster, a dog that might need to learn to love costumes.

Working quickly with little space, not unlike the Oily Comics from  Chuck Forsman and others, Hayes packs as much as she can into the small space, doing a great job of making her animals expressive and the situations funny, whether it's adding a rat to a party or showing just how much a cat dislikes Instagram. This one is cute and fun and a really good way to hook people on Hayes' other works, which you can find at her website.

Home to Japan by Mel Stringer is a sketch diary of her trip to Japan, and is packed to the gills with little doodles, notes about her observations, and items pasted in-between. It's a very scatter-shot approach, full of whatever interested Stringer, following a very loose chronological narrative. It features everything from candy to bikes to breasts, and a lot of comments about how hot it was when she visited. Stringer's pencils range from tiny mini-panels to full page splashes and collages, depending on what she wishes to convey. It's not your standard travelogue, but the volume of material she covers is extremely impressive and shows a love of her subject. (No image for this one, sorry--her website is in Japanese.)

These mini-comics have been great fun to read, and I look forward to more as we move into 2014. No matter what the country, the mini-comics genre is alive, well, and varied, as these samples show.

Panel Patter's Indie Advent Calendar Day 7: James Kochalka

Hi there, folks! Trying something new this year. When I was a kid, I loved opening advent calendars, and not ones that were "saved" from year to year, either--that's cheating.

So in order to recreate my childhood (I am a comics fan after all), I'm going to post a new image related to Christmas each day from now till December 25th.

Generally speaking, these will be secular, unless I run into an amazing religious drawing.  Also, please be aware that we here at Panel Patter do not endorse a particular faith. This is just a way to have some fun before a date when people, Christian or not, get a few days off (hopefully) to be with their friends and family and get lots and lots of good gift cards. A link to all of the Indie Advent posts is here.

If the fate of Christmas is in the hands of these James Kochalka creations, we're screwed!

You can find more about James Kochalka at his website.

Interview with 3 Artists from the Periscope Maiden Voyage Kickstarter

Long-time Panel Patter readers know that I'm a big fan of the creators that make up Periscope Studio, from writers like Jeff Parker and Paul Tobin to artists Colleen Coover, Erika Moen, Lucy Bellwood, and many more.

Usually working on projects for other publishers or self-published efforts, this time the studio has taken to Kickstarter to publish six art books from a half-dozen of their collective. Showcasing their variety of talents or giving them a chance to try something that may not work in the venues for where they are best known, these books provide a way for fans of art books or the creators themselves to own a fancier version of their stuff.

These six books feature art from Ron Randall (Trekker), Paul Guinan (Boilerplate), David Hahn (Erfworld), Natalie Nourigat (Home Is Where the Internet Is), Erika Moen (Oh Joy, Sex Toy), and Benjamin Dewey (The Tragedy Series). Each one is 32 pages long, sized 7.5" by 10" and will be in full color.

The reward tiers for the Kickstarter are extremely well put together. For only $5, backers can get digital version of all six art books, a nearly unheard of low price for a digital tier with that much content. (As of this writing, over 130 people have taken this option.) For $15, you can get one of the books (selected randomly) and for $50, all six art books can be yours in physical form. At $95, a special collection edition hardcover can be yours. There are other tiers as well.

I was able to pin down three of the very busy creators associated with the project, Erika Moen, Natalie Nourigat, and Ron Randall, to talk about their careers, working at Periscope Studio, and the Kickstarter.

Small samples from the artbooks

Panel Patter: For those unfamiliar with you, tell us a little bit about your prior work.

Erika Moen: I'm best known for creating autobiographical and educational comics about sex and sexuality. I've done this in my autobio series, DAR! (darcomic.com), and my current sex toy review/sex education comic Oh Joy, Sex Toy (OhJoySexToy.com)

Natalie Nourigat: I’m best known for Between Gears (Image Comics), but I have also worked on It Girl & The Atomics, and the comic adaptations of Husbands and The Thrilling Adventure Hour.  My new book with Jamie S. Rich comes out this month and it’s called A Boy & A Girl (Oni Press).

Ron Randall: Well, I started working back in the early 80's, mostly at DC. I worked on Swamp Thing, Warlord, Justice League International and lots of other stuff. I've drawn a Venom series for Marvel, Predator and Star Wars series for Dark Horse. And I've also I created the science fiction series TREKKER for Dark Horse and that's been my "signature project".

Panel Patter: How did you get involved with Periscope Studios?

Randall: I was one of the founding members. Some of the local cartoonists would get together occasionally over a cup of coffee for some "shop talk". Eventually the idea came up that maybe we should get a studio together. So, we went about collecting some of our fellow Portland cartoonists, found a space, and it just kind of took off.

Nourigat: I interned with the studio in 2008 and returned to the studio after graduating from college.

Moen: I started hanging there on my lunch breaks from work around 2007 and then became an actual member in 2009.

From Natalie Nourigat's Artbook

Panel Patter: Why do you prefer working as part of a studio rather than on your own?

Moen: It's an amazing resources, both in terms of collective knowledge (from business advice to artwork feedback) and the tools available (giant, oversize scanners and printers and cintiqs!). These people are my family and I look forward to seeing them every day.

Randall: Actually, I like the combination, so I have a home studio as well. Sometimes the isolation is good for creativity and productivity: fewer interruptions, easier to concentrate, especially if you are writing. But if you are lucky enough to be with the right group of people, the values of a studio are immeasurable. We learn from each other every day, we keep each other sane. We have tons of laughs together. You have solid pros all around you that can lend a hand if a deadline gets crazy, and you can return the favor next week. Also, for someone who's been in the business as long as I have, it's great to be surrounded by a lot of incredibly talented, creative younger artists who have a whole set of new tricks, ideas and skills that I can try to crib from. It helps to keep the work fresh.

Nourigat: It’s fun singing along to soundtracks in your pajamas for the first month, but after that you realize that you’d really rather spend your working hours around other people.

From Ron Randall's Artbook

Panel Patter: What's the funniest thing that ever happened in the studio that you can share?

Nourigat: The day Jeff Parker put on the Nekomimi stands out in my mind.

Randall: Oh, that's a tall order.  There are so many moments. We've had screaming howler monkey toys flying from one end of Periscope to the other. We've used a Sharpie marker to draw the Kool-aid Man ("Oh Yeah!") on a wall we were having removed when we expanded a couple years back.  But, okay, one of my fondest memories is from years ago. At the studio, every day there are periods when there's a lot of talking, bantering, etc.

Moen: I microwaved a bag of vegetables that had just turned and I totally fumigated not only the entire studio but also the hallway and even up to the elevators. They still talk about it to this day, even though it happened four years ago. GET OVER IT, PEOPLE.

Randall: And then there are times when it's absolutely quiet. Everyone is lost in their own creative process, maybe listening to headphones, maybe just concentrating on a task. During one of these quiet episodes-- I mean, it was just silent. A roomful of cartoonists all hunched over their tables, working away. And one of our former members suddenly raised his head and out of the blue just declares, "You know, I think J Lo's star is gonna rise again." Everyone stopped drawing, looked at each other for a second, and then we all just exploded. It was pretty classic.

Panel Patter: Who are your creative influences?

Randall: I could list a ton of folks here, but the two poles that I move between are Al Williamson (EC Comics, Flash Gordon)  and Joe Kubert (Tarzan, Sgt. Rock, Hawkman, ect). Al has immaculate craft, elegance, balance, restraint. Joe has passion, power, vitality. And both are consummate draftsmen.

Moen: Ellen Forney, Dylan Meconis, Lucy Knisley, Dan DeCarlo, Jeff Smith

Nourigat: Miyazaki.

From Erika Moen's Artbook

Panel Patter: Talk a little bit about your particular art book. What can potential backers expect?

Moen: People know me for drawing limited palette comics that tend to be of an adult nature and/or irreverent. My artbook is a total departure from that type of work; it's a collection of my iconographic mixed media paintings. I'm a huge fan of medieval saint portraits and have reinterpreted that artistic style into my own lighthearted take, featuring a diverse array of people with every day objects that I portray as "sacred", from artichokes to anal beads. They're lushly illustrated, incorporating watercolor and fancy patterned and metallic papers.

Nourigat: People have really liked the straight-to-pen sketches I’ve been making of people I see on the street over the last year, and I colored a lot of my favorites for my art book.  There are a couple of comics, some illustrations, and character designs, too.  I wanted to show my range and include something for everyone.

Randall: People will see a lot of different aspects to my art than is on display in the comics work I've done. In comics, I always try to put the "storyteller" first-- to sublimate any individual drawing to the needs of the story and have it work in the context of the other drawings around it. In the art book, the illustrations get to stand on their own. And they are all over the map-- hobbits, headless horsemen, mermaids, dragons, you name it. Sketches, pin ups, commission pieces, things in pencil, things in full color-- it's a pretty exhaustive collection of previously unseen stuff.

Panel Patter: What does an art book offer fans of your work that maybe your other creative projects have not?

Nourigat: Have you ever tried to describe an artist you like to a friend?  It can be tough.  Like, “I’ve got this one-off issue she did, but normally she draws in this other style…” With my art book, you can hand that to someone and they’ll see exactly what I do.  And you will have a piece of history, assuming my plans to go on and dominate the world of storytelling come true.

Moen: This is a look purely at my illustrative artwork, something I rarely do.

Panel Patter: Why do this project as a Kickstarter?

Randall: Printing books ain't cheap. On our own, we couldn't finance a project like this. And none of us are in the business of being a publisher. Kickstarter gives us the freedom to work together on a special, unique project and bring some of our best, most fun work into fans that could never otherwise get their hands on it.

Nourigat: Kickstarter allows us to be very accurate in our numbers when we order the book.  It’s such a gamble self-publishing, KS takes a lot of the risk out of it for us and allows us to make a quality product.

Panel Patter: How are Kickstarter and similar outlets changing the nature of making comics?

Randall: It opens up the potential for cartoonists to appeal directly to the fans-- to fund the projects that are closest to their hearts, that they feel the most passionate about, that are the most personal to them, without the concerns of broad commercial appeal that so often hamper and compromise a creator's best, unique vision. This is how we'll be seeing the very best that many cartoonists have to offer in the future.

Nourigat: Good ideas from little-known creators have more of a chance of coming to fruition.  The audience has a direct effect on what gets made.  Creators have an option for self-publishing that won’t break them financially, and allows them to know their demand before ordering the product.

Panel Patter: What's the next project from you that readers can look forward to seeing? 

Nourigat: A Boy & A Girl!!!!  I’m serious, buy this book.  I am so proud of it, and I think so many people will like it

Moen: I'm cranking away on my current series, Oh Joy, Sex Toy! (OhJoySexToy.com) That eats up all of my time and I absolutely love it.

Randall: I've been extremely luck to be able to return to my own personal favorite project lately, Trekker. And Dark Horse has partnered up with me to help with the return. In April, a brand new Trekker trade paperback is coming out, "The Train to Avalon Bay". I'm very excited to be back to telling Trekker stories after a long absence, and looking forward to getting the book into the hands of a lot of new readers!

Panel Patter: Thank you all so much for your time, and best of luck on the Kickstarter.

If you'd like to back the Periscope Studio Kickstarter, you can do so here.

It Will All Hurt #1

Written and Illustrated by Farel Dalrymple
Study Group

Part fantasy, part science fiction, and entirely created in gorgeous watercolors, It Will All Hurt #1 is a series of stories that feature intriguing characters whose links are as of yet a mystery in this first collection of the webcomic that appears on the Study Group page.

I know a lot of people who are big fans of Farel Dalrymple's art, and after getting a chance to spend time with his work in a printed form, it's easy to see why. Using  thin, sketchy linework that he sometimes allows to flow outside the panel borders, Dalrymple creates characters who range from looking frail and human to unreal projections that come from a deep well of dark fantasy.

He also draws a cat, who is one of the narrators of the tale, always a bonus in my book.

Once those lines are down, each panel is given the watercolor treatment, creating coloring that is muted because of the watery nature of the paint. Reds are a bit dulled, greens are drab, and when we do see a brighter shade, such as the orange of a fire, it pops, calling attention to itself. The watercolors also run outside the lines from time to time, showing that there is more to this story that just what is contained within the artificial borders of a comic book. I'm extremely impressed with how well Dalrymple is able to use multiple colors next to each other without them blending together--unless that's the intention.

The overall effect of the art is to keep the reader just a bit off-balance, showing exacting precision yet not feeling like it was over-processed or overworked. Even when the pictures are slightly obscured or blurred due to the lines or painting, it's clear that Dalrymple is doing it on purpose. When combined with the ever-shifting cast of characters, you get a story that's designed to leave the reader wondering what is going on, but in the best possible way. The questions arise not from unclear storytelling or art, but because there's a link to all that we've seen, if only we can figure it out.

Because the story is a mystery at this point, it's a bit harder to talk about the plot. We have a girl lost in a wasteland, an alien spaceman attacked, a young boy and an old man whose world seems to morph and shift, desperate fighters, a man with an eye in his hand, and of course, the cat. Each of them see some page time, as the story shifts from one point of view to the other, with brief narrative clues that aren't quite enough to put the pieces together yet.

Each of their stories is extremely interesting to me, and one of the things that I like best about this comic is that despite having so many balls in the air, it never feels like there's too much going on. I know they'll come together somehow, and seeing that process is part of what's going to make this comic so interesting to read.

If you want a straightforward narrative, It Will All Hurt isn't going to be for you. On the other hand, if you like longform storytelling with art that gives you a reason to linger over the pages, this should be right up your alley. Anyone who likes a comic that obscures as much as it reveals or fantastic elements ala Saga should definitely pick this one up, or read it online at Study Group.

Panel Patter's Indie Advent Calendar Day 6: Noah Van Sciver

Hi there, folks! Trying something new this year. When I was a kid, I loved opening advent calendars, and not ones that were "saved" from year to year, either--that's cheating.

So in order to recreate my childhood (I am a comics fan after all), I'm going to post a new image related to Christmas each day from now till December 25th.

Generally speaking, these will be secular, unless I run into an amazing religious drawing.  Also, please be aware that we here at Panel Patter do not endorse a particular faith. This is just a way to have some fun before a date when people, Christian or not, get a few days off (hopefully) to be with their friends and family and get lots and lots of good gift cards. A link to all of the Indie Advent posts is here.

On Day 6, it's a Very Van Sciver Christmas...

Noah is one of the best at turning tortured introspection into dry wit. He also designed the Panel Patter banner. Find out more about him here. 

Panel Patter's Indie Advent Calendar Day 5: Jon Morris

Hi there, folks! Trying something new this year. When I was a kid, I loved opening advent calendars, and not ones that were "saved" from year to year, either--that's cheating.

So in order to recreate my childhood (I am a comics fan after all), I'm going to post a new image related to Christmas each day from now till December 25th.

Generally speaking, these will be secular, unless I run into an amazing religious drawing.  Also, please be aware that we here at Panel Patter do not endorse a particular faith. This is just a way to have some fun before a date when people, Christian or not, get a few days off (hopefully) to be with their friends and family and get lots and lots of good gift cards. A link to all of the Indie Advent posts is here.

To celebrate the end of Hanukkah today, here's Jon Morris to remind us not all superheroes are gentiles....

This was one of a series of drawings that Morris did for Comics Alliance awhile back. He's got the original art to this and many other drawings at his store.

Happy Hanukkah, everyone!