Soft Currents by Jurijs Tatarkins (Mini Kus! #145)

At a macro level, the first thing I noticed about Soft Currents was how it visually builds from rudimentary black and white (almost stick-like figures), to a crescendo of rich fully colored sequences with intense depth of color, and then recedes again to more sparse minimalism, visually mimicking the kind of thematic life cycle, or soft current I suppose, that the narrative features. In that regard, the work of Tatarkins is very well balanced. I enjoyed the examination of the danger of nostalgia. By returning to a place and expecting it to exist the way it used to be, we are usually trying to hold onto something, a time or place, that either no longer exists, or was actually never that way to begin with. It’s a powerful message. In an inconclusive denouement, the book also poses the question of whether or not our very presence and expectation of what was ruins a thing, or if our feelings can evolve and we can appreciate something for what it is now.

Good Luck, Ramona! by Dorottya Poor (Mini Kus! #144)

Good Luck, Ramona! features beautiful colors that range from aquamarine pastels, to solitary pops of red, to a black and white spread that functions as a story-within-a-story, a conceit that I always love in any medium. Essentially, a house painter encounters a witch and barters for a tarot reading.  What follows is an examination of the intentions we bring into a situation. To what degree does that intentionality manifest outcomes, and are we considering the points of view of others in these interpersonal dynamics? Dorottya Poor’s page layouts are exceptional. They basically ditch the requirement of proper structural grids for “panels” and rely on free-floating collaged images that still maintain order. They’re arranged in a way that the reader can follow a linear narrative, discern main characters or actions in the foreground, while parsing background supporting elements seamlessly. Thematically, there’s a strong note about how entrenched in our own routines or POV we can become that basic communication seems unimaginable. Visually, this is one of the strongest and most inventive books I’ve read this year.

Trouble in Communication by Jyrki Nissinen (Mini Kus! #143)

I loved the bold scale of the lettering in this book, which is slightly plump and demands the reader’s attention. Sure, comics can give you the origin story of a Gotham City vigilante with clattering pearls in a crime-ridden alley, but they can also give you the origin story of Mattiduck! Once established, we follow along with adventures surrounding dating mishaps, plotting against enemies, and contend with the question of how much our lives are pre-ordained vs. how much we can actually affect outcomes considering the small choices we make daily and the perceptions of others. One element that Nissinen uses deftly is varying the figure scale of the characters, zooming in and out with different angles; not doing so is sometimes a pitfall that cartoonists can make. I was also impressed by the epilogue sequence, not something you see commonly in indie art comics, which is a clever way to depict where the main characters are now after having been the proverbial “two ships passing in the night.”

Kickstarter Campaign is Live! [Disrupted Tales]

Disrupted Tales is a 104-page anthology featuring horror stories that put unexpected twists on the familiar genre. Disrupted Tales is for fans of slashers, body horror, classic monsters, ghostly apparitions, and stories infused with historical fiction. This anthology features 12 all-new tales from 12 different creative teams from all over the comics globe, with a chilling cover by Gerald Von Stoddard. The campaign is live; CLICK HERE to back it! 

Signing @ Odyssey Mini-Con [Now or Never Comics]

I'll be appearing at Odyssey Mini-Con, slinging copies of my new crime book Westside, along with Studio 12-7 publisher Art Ebuen and several local creators, hosted by Now or Never Comics in sunny San Diego!

Signings @ San Diego Comic Con [SDCC]

Panel @ San Diego Comic Con [SDCC]

Kickstater Campaign is Live! [Westside]

From the creative minds behind California, Inc., a powerhouse indie team returns with a gripping new crime saga. Writer Justin Giampaoli (Rome West, Starship Down), illustrator Dave Law (The Space Odditorium, Wolf Punks), and Studio 12-7 publisher and variant cover artist Arthur N. Ebuen (Systemic, Disrupted Tales) invite you into the world of Westside.

This 52-page neo-noir crime drama plunges readers into a volatile crossroads where race relations, car culture, and crime collide. Drawing from deeply personal, autobiographical roots, Westside: Volume 1 is both a hard-hitting crime story and a haunting elegy to Justin’s hometown in California’s Central Valley. Bringing the world to life is veteran indie artist Dave Law, whose bold black and white storytelling is layered with dramatic ink washes, and creates a stark, atmospheric landscape where every conversation hides a secret and every choice has consequences.

If you’re a fan of the slow-burn tension of HBO’s The Wire or the gritty crime comics of Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips, Westside: Volume 1 will feel right at home on your shelf. Think True Detective, but set in the sun-bleached streets of California’s Central Valley.

The Kickstarter Campaign is live and has already earned the coveted "PROJECT WE LOVE" badge from Kickstarter! CLICK HERE to back it! https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/arthurebuen/westside-volume-1

SARCO by Tom L-Kherif (Mini Kus! #142)

SARCO opens with a disturbing suicide(?) jumper interrupting an otherwise innocuous daily routine. The protagonist silently navigates an empty (deliberate?) subterranean subway system, to an industrial warehouse (hidden in plain sight?) in an occupied part of a futuristic(?) city. There, an elderly man is silently signed up for entry in a high-tech coffin-like device (SARCO-phagus?) for a seemingly nefarious purpose. The protagonist then returns toward home from their mysterious task. SARCO is a difficult work to draw more conclusions or answers from with any certainty without additional content or context; it prompts more questions than it resolves and, by the end, it can feel like an introduction or first chapter in what has the potential to be a larger tale. There’s no dialogue and scant few clues in the art to pore over and induce meaning or plot from. Whether by natural uncorrelated causes or a network of conspiratorial agents, figures are being removed from society by “accidents,” systemic processes, or even partially, at times, it seems. Yet, I can safely say that I was deeply intrigued by the mystery of what’s occurring, I want to learn more, to understand why, and continue to be engaged by this utterly captivating world-build that deserves a follow-up.

Confessions of a Nose-Picking Lover by Ruoki (Mini Kus! #141)

Sure, Confessions of a Nose-Picking Lover is exactly what it purports to be, ostensibly about a person who delights in unabashedly digging for gold, with sickly yellows and reds in the art that almost revel in the booger-sugared (sometimes) bloody consistency. But, what the heck is really going on here? The actual message is that any (consenting) indulgence in life can be good, no matter how taboo it may be perceived to be by outsiders. Ruoki states that nose-picking elicits a “Zen-life flow state” rather than the “wild frenzy” of, say, an orgasm, because it’s a return to some primal satisfaction. When you’re into something so passionately, you should share your love of that thing with the world, do it in public, teach others how to do it, and build a community of like-minded individuals. Perhaps it’s no coincidence that as I write this review, I’m preparing to depart for WonderCon in Anaheim, California to table and promote a new project, and the thought occurred to me that nose-picking is fundamentally no different than making comics. Once shunned by society as a “low brow” art form or pastime, but capable of enjoying mainstream success with an influx of thousands to a plethora of annual conventions. The booger museum full of different specimens that the writer/artist imagines is little different than a Comic-Con, with diehards and civilians alike gawking at all the wares and indulging in their interests among their extended tribe. Ruoki bounces visually between more traditional panel to panel storytelling with vibrant colors, and some lovely rough-hewn black and white images with thicker bold lines, almost mirroring the more socially acceptable hobbies being in the colorful spotlight, with outliers on the fringe still peeking out from the shadows. The final page punctuates the book’s core message; we all have our own kink, be it sexual, bodily functions, the type of media we consume, or different hobbies and passions. In our own way, we are all “soothing the kitten inside our nostril.”