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| The thin rings mean Oily had years of drought. |
In case you're coming to this new, Oily Comics is a mini-comics publisher that works heavily on subscriptions and is run by Chuck Forsman, whose own series, The End of the Fucking World, has been serialized through Oily.
I enjoy getting the change to be exposed to comics I might not otherwise find, given that my desire to spend gas an hotel money traveling is lower this year. Subscriptions to mini-comics is a great way for me to find new things.
Here are a few words on each comic that I received from Oily in February.
The End of the Fucking World Part 16 by Chuck Forsman. This coda really requires a reader to know what has happened, and since I only came in at part 15, that's hard for me to do. I am intrigued by what I did see of this, and am happy to hear the whole thing will be coming to Fantagraphics. Forsman's art style is minimalist, he does a great job showing character emotions, especially with very few words.
Lou 11 by Melissa Mendes is once again the only comic from a female creator. I'm not sure if that's typical or just happened twice in a row. Like Forsman's comic, we're in the middle of a long-form story, but as with part 10, Mendes does a good job of making this a fairly self-contained story. This time, we meet two teens (I'm assuming) who are running a pizza place and hiding a secret from the police. The art felt a bit rushed this time, with rougher edges and less-defined characters.
Outside 1 by Marc Geddes and Warren Craghead is extremely experimental, with words sliding so far into the art that you can barely read them. Craghead mixes definitive images with abstract lines, and this actually works pretty well for what it is, though I wish they'd have made the words just a bit clearer to read.
Real Rap #2 by Benjamin Urkowitz is our humorous entry. Two friends and rappers get into short adventures together and separately. One of them likes to drop the f-bomb like candy and the other is an underground favorite. This was a strange one, going everywhere from a swinging couple to commentary on gangsta rappers. There's a lot packed into the small comic which will either amuse or offend you.
Word & Voice 4 by Aaron Cockle is yet another continuation. A family leaves the city, which appears to be damaged, then meets up with survivors, while others read/speak in a strange language. There's no attempt here to help out a reader who comes in blind, and I'm afraid I wasn't able to enjoy this one at all. Cockle does well at telling something is happening without words, but because I missed the first three parts, I have no idea what it is.
Overall, I have to admit to being a bit disappointed in this batch of comics. Two required being a part of the series from the beginning, one had some artistic issues, and another's experimental style made reading it difficult. Tomorrow, we'll finishing catching up by examining the March bundle.
