Review: Monty Comix #4 by Kayla Escobedo

What a great comic! Monty Comix #4 is another modern Underground Comix treat published by Dexter Cockburn's The Comix Company, and my introduction to Kayla Escobedo's work.

Kayla uses anthropomorphic characters ('Chiz' and 'Lil Whalegirl' being her stars) to tell stories that feel like they're based on real life, but with a slightly off-kilter, tweaked and surreal take.

The artwork is beautiful - full colour inks and fine-art style painting throughout, which works wonderfully in telling the stories.

There's a few single page comics, my fav of these is a true story about an investigation into a strange, foul odour coming from whalegirl's house.


The feature story however, is 'The Sleep-Over' starring lil' Whalegirl and her two friends.

The story starts at school and one of Whalegirl's friends is having a sleep over and invites her and another friend along.

Whalegirl's friend lives in a housing project with her mother.

After providing a dinner of pigs in blankets and salty chips, the mother goes to bed early, leaving the girls alone. They watch TV and talk about girls things.

Things suddenly change however, when Whalegirl's friend wants to show her pals the 'awesome channel' which she's discovered on cable.

The next few pages are conveyed brilliantly; with bizarre, exaggerated, grotesque images (which I found very funny), shown alongside the shock,embarrassment and uncomfortable expressions of the three friends who watch in silence as the images get more bizarre and explicit as they go (the image on the right is the first of these pages).

After this eye-opening sequence, the girls then go to bed, wide awake, and heads still reeling from what they have seen (apart from their friend who introduced them to this very adult world, who is shown sleeping calmly like a log).

The end of this story which takes place the next day, while still slightly comedic in tone, for me was somewhat tragic and revealing too. Despite the surreal sequences, Kayla creates an authentic and very matter of fact, yet sympathetic story.

It's this subtle and original story that really made Monty Comix #4 shine for me, and I really hope Escobedo keeps producing work of this quality.

You can get a copies of Monty Comix, and other great Undergrounds from: http://thecomixcompany.ecrater.com

Review: Cheap Laffs #1,2 & 3 by Nate Higley & Tavi Lux Veraldi (& Friends)

Some comics are done purely for fun and the artist's own amusement and that can give it an immediate, infectious appeal. Cheap Laffs started out as a comix jam between Nate Higley and Tavi Lux Veraldi, and they've kept the spirit of this playful spontaneity going throughout the 3 issues. Coming out of Ann Arbor, MI, with a production ethic somewhere between Underground Mini-Comix and punk zines, Cheap Laffs is great value and good gross-out fun .

The two sparring partners are a good double-act, occassionally appearing in the strips (and on the covers), depicting themselves in self-deprecating ways and highlighting their own twisted humour.

The comics have lots of influences running through them; everything from slapstick cartoon violence, horror film spoofs, surreal comedy, Japanese monster movies, to everyday lowlives behavingly badly.

Some of the comics remind me slightly of early Johnny Ryan or Evan Dorkin, or something out of a John Waters movie.

For a few examples, the comics include:

-A psychological horror spoof involving a crazed sadist and some terrorised chickens.

-Anthropomorphised artist tools fall prey to the x-acto knife

-A cavalcade of deviants introduce a first timer to 'Sex Pops'; an ice-lolly ad for the discerning perv.

-A middle-aged man doing something I never wanted to see with a Hello Kitty accessory

-A group of kid's getting a stomach-churning 'treat' they never bargained for on Halloween night.

My favourite strips however, feature a pair of trailer park metalhead ne'er-do-wells referred to only as 'Dude' & Brah'. These two keepers of the mullet make Beavis & Butthead look like Siskel & Ebert. Always on the look out for 'pelt' (or any makedo substitute), their strips follow their mis-adventures which include a mission to get tampons for mom, and getting dolled up in makeup and attempting to woo a Christian Metal chick, which spans a two-parter in issues 2 & 3 and has a very funny and rather nasty finale.

Higley & Veraldi also enlist the help of their friends/ guest artists Noelle Barby, Matt Hansen & Janet Nelson, for a few fun collaborations that work well. And issue #3 has a really nice illustration/ pin-up of one of the dude/brah characters by Nick Melody.

Also of note, issue #3 comes with a very cool attached flexi-disc record with 5 Ann Arbor punk & hardcore bands covering the same track “Make Babies Or Die Trying”. An accompanying comic by Steve Peterson & Josh-Redd Sanchez explains the origins of this song, and how it became a local comedic anthem with a cult following, and a tradition at local gigs.

At only $3 dollars for a record and a 20 page comic, this makes Cheap Laffs #3 a steal. And issues 1 & 2 are only a buck each (or trade) if they haven't sold out already.

To get your hands on a copy, email nicfitcomics@gmail.com before they run out.

Review: Eyeball Comix #2 UK Underground Mayhem!

This is a lovely produced 52 page comic; with high quality printing throughout.

The first thing that hooks you is that amazing cover by the artist Gunsho....It really is eye popping; quite apt for an anthology called Eyeball Comix.

As with the first issue (see my previous review of issue #1), the driving force in terms of art and ideas are messrs Paul Arserott & Rob Amos (now going under the pseudonym 'Robscenity').

In true Underground anthology tradition, there's a real mix of humour, sex, and violence; real life horror, fake ads, pirate sluts, heavy metal demons, funny grotesquery, alien invasions...Even Bruce Campbell makes an appearance!

So without further ado, let's get stuck into the strips!

 First up is Paul Arserott's brilliant 'Creepy Crawl'. This genuinely creepy story tells a real-life tale of Susie Atkins AKA Sadie Mae Glutz; member of 'The Manson Family' and killer of Gary Hinman.

The strip focusses on the testimony of Virginia Graham; the woman who shared a dormitory with Atkins in a L.A. Detention Centre before Atkins' trial.

Whilst incarcerated there, Atkins decided to boast and confide to Graham about her involvement in the Charles Manson Family murders and her violent fantasies which she had planned, and wished to act out on other celebrities.

Arserott brilliantly renders these disturbing fantasies which clearly illustrate how deranged and damaged this Manson family member was, and the kind of power Manson had over his followers.

'Robscenity' continues his piracy theme from issue #1, and delivers another beautifully drawn and pervy underground comic entitled 'Pirate Sluts'.

This darkly comic tale is simple enough: A motley crew of male pirates spot a group of comely seafaring women encroaching on the border of their territory.

Deciding they will teach the wenches a lesson and rape and pillage while they're at it, the pirates set sail and invade the woman's camp with no idea that the lasses are battle-hardened pirates themselves and more than equipped to deal with their male counterparts.

What really makes this strip is Rob's tongue-in-cheek humour, the way he draws his foul perverts and busty pirates, and his clearly genuine love of portraying feisty, dominant women overpowering, humiliating and maiming those who would do the same. You can tell he gets off on it.

This is female empowerment exploitation style, akin to an X-Rated Russ Meyer flick (if he'd ever done a pirate film). Where in the end, the women make sure they get what THEY want (as the last page, which I haven't shown, clearly demonstrates).

This issue also welcomes the debut of Kyle Platts, who has a really interesting and grotesque drawing style and a great warped sense of humour.

He has 3 different strips in the anthology, my favourite being 'Shotgun' pictured to your right.

Aidan Cook provides 2 Thrash Metal influenced satanic horror/ darkly comic strips, one briefly featuring cult B-Movie favourite Bruce Campbell as a Genie. Whilst certainly different, I wasn't really knocked over by either story, which to me, seemed to want to focus on coolness and appeal mostly to niche metal fans, rather than focussing on telling a more interesting story. I did really like Cook's one page poster portraying a living-dead graveyard metal-head though.

Mr Arserott reappears for the final strip 'Blowflies from Outer Space', a very entertaining, darkly comic B-moviesque tale about brain-eating blowflies who stowaway on a moonlanding vehicle and invade earth.

Arserott's more cartoon-like approach to this mayhem has visual shades of Johnny Ryan and Mike Diana to it and is gleefully apocalyptic.

Artist Burgerlips' 'Guffball 3000' is a nicely drawn and coloured fake advertisment too.

Whilst there's more 'meat' to it than issue 1, I still feel the comic suffers from a few other filler strips/pages that felt unnecessary. Eyeball #1 started off great, and issue #2 improves upon it, so hopefully, in the future it will become a stronger anthology throughout every page... Despite those niggles, it remains one of the seldom few original and quality UK Underground Comix out there. Check it out!  http://eyeballcomix.blogspot.com/

Review: Frightfeast by Mark K Allen

When this comic arrived in the post for me to review, I hovered over the envelope and froze, sensing a putrifying evil presence within....Dare I open this unholy Pandora's box (or rather, pandora's envelope)?

Of course I bloody did! ...First thing to assault my eyes was the psychedelic carnage that is the front cover; a warning to the faint of heart of just some of the twisted madness that lies within..."SLEAZE, GORE...NOTHIN' MORE!...SIGHTS SO HORRIBLE, YOU'LL HAVE FRIGHTMARES!".

I tentatively opened the book and was immediately greeted with maggot-ridden dementia; the narrating character is introduced; huddled by the bins of an alley, injecting substances into his rotten, pustule ridden flesh, recounting his past of the teacher who threw flaming shit at his face, and his cannibal parents who he blames for his own ghoulish behaviour...

He confides that his drug-addled psychotic mind is so twisted, that his body has rejected it, and a second brain has grown in his arse for the sole purpose of kicking himself in the head.... The story then morphs into another nightmare scenario; is this a drug hallucination of the narrator's fevered mind, or is he awakening from a nightmare into an even darker reality?...

The comic has now gone into the world of 70's exploitation horrors and 80's video nasties - the familiar terrain of the gorehound. A nazi scientist is conducting inhuman experiments on a tropical island somewhere; creating bloodthirsty zombies and hideous mutants to serve his twisted will. He sends his thug subordinates to look for fresh 'samples' as he has almost exhausted his supply of playthings

On another part of the island, a group of not very bright film makers and actors have arrived to make a movie, not realising the danger they are walking into...

Well, you don't have to be a rocket scientist (or a nazi one) to figure out what's on the cards....But who will survive the carnage, and what will happen when the scientist's creations develop a will of their own, and mutate in ways their creator could have never imagined?

Frightfeast is like going on a coach tour of gleeful sickness with a bunch of intoxicated cenobites; You'll either be in heaven or in hell, depending on your tastes.

For those of you who prefer complex, multi-layered stories, character development, high brow subtleties, and the serious, atmospheric build up approach to horror, then this probably won't be for you.

For those however who prefer to wade right in, enjoying all things splatter and the wantonly graphic, whose minds have been warped from many a late night orgy of shlocky, violent celluloid gorefest; then this will DEFINATELY be your cup of (bloody) tea.

Me, I like both (depending on my mood) and to my mind, the comic can be enjoyed on the level of visual experience and pitch-black humour alone. At moments it's disturbing and the next knowingly OTT and absurd; giving a knowing wink to the genre fans it is made for. It's almost like Allen's possessed, desensitised mind is not really concerned with a traditional plot, but rather exorcising itself onto the page, spewing up every gruesome influence that has crept it's way in there, mutating, and adding to a collage of warped and savage creativity which certainly has a morbid fascination to it.

Mark has an edgy and interesting art style; pages are often montages which have a natural fluidity and dynamism to them, and great use of contrast and motion.

There are references to the more obscure Italian and Grindhouse horrors, to classics like The Thing, Cannibal Holocaust, I Drink Your Blood, Evil Dead and Hellraiser II, with the humour of early Peter Jackson (Bad Taste/ Braindead) in places. Plus there's a nice little 'reality check' and twist at the end.

If you think you can stomach Frighfeast, then email Mark at Fetidsmile@googlemail.com. Sweet dreams!

What? You say you don't read Underground Comix anymore? WELL 'FHA Q!!!' (FHA Q #1-3 by John Orlando)

So, I was hoping to review issues #1 & 2, of John Orlando's 'FHA Q'; (a quality looking contemporary U.S Underground Comix), but it looks like the copies he sent over from the states got lost somewhere in transit.

Well, I hope SOMEONE, somewhere is having a bloody good read of them anyway!

Having seen numerous panels and teaser strips online for the book, I can honestly say that FHA-Q looks to not only keep the tradition of the U.S Underground comic alive and well, but it also reflects the tone of great satirical comics like MAD and Humbug, bringing them up to date for today's hectic and crazy world.

The warped tone of themes and characters includes all kinds of sympathetic freaks, misanthropes, weirdos, eccentric geniuses, curvaceous women, swipes at corporate greed (vs the everyman), the recession, life on the street, and scenarios that mix the modern world with slightly surreal goings on.

John has also promoted the comic by showing lots of the fake advertisments and reader testimonies that lampoon the consumerist society in which we live.

No one seems safe from being caught in the crosshairs and trapped inside the panels by Orlando's pen:

From what I've seen so far, anyone and everyone from art critics, pretentious intellectuals, the self obsessed and greedy, to those who angrily attack things they don't understand, to judgemental misanthropes and the terminally humourless.

At the time of writing this, issue #3 has just come back from the press and is available to buy along with the other two issues.

You can buy any of the three issues individually, or as part of a triple issue deal from JGM comics online:

http://jgmcomics.ecrater.com/p/15266892/fha-q-3

Be warned however, as Orlando states in his own disclaimers; reading it can bring about all kinds of weird side effects, maladjustments, or warp your mind for good!...

Animation: "The External World" by David OReilly

What can I say? This is one of the best animations I've seen. I'd seen Oreilly's previous animation 'Please Say Something' which was also very good, but this, to me, is outstanding. I've watched it 3 times and it just confirms it's brilliance on each view (to me anyway). The voice artists include Julian Barratt & Adam Buxton (if anyone's interested).

Review: Kiahan (A Tale Of Migration) by Carrie MacKinnon

Kiahan is a harrowing and informative tale about a 14 year old boy, who the comic is named after and based on.

Carrie met him in a detention camp in Calais; a place of squalid conditions, lacking in basic human rights. The comic is based on Kiahan and his brother's story along with other real testimonies and experiences of other migrant 'refugees and asylum seekers' who Carrie met.

Kiahan was born in Afghanistan, but when his father was killed by the Taliban, he and his brother fled the country and the comic chronicles their journey and attempt to make their way to the UK for asylum.

The comic highlights the exploitative people-smuggling trade, where Kiahan and his brother spend all their money to be packed into a truck with others and smuggled into countries that don’t want them, and the dangers of deportation, beatings or death that they face on the way.

When they reach Calais, Kiahan and his brother Amir try to claim asylum, but are separated when the authorities don't believe Amir is 17, and he is segregated with the adults into a different part of the camp.

It is here that the story is interrupted by a two page segment that uses quotes from those living in the terrible conditions in the camps, interspersed around Carrie's evocative and slightly surreal art which was inspired by the quote; "it was like dipping your toe in an enormous pool of lost people":

When Kiahan and Amir finally are allowed into the UK to live with a foster family; we then also see the prejudice they are subjected to in British society. The comic also conveys Kiahan's wish to not be pitied by others; he and his brother want to learn english, fit in, work and be a useful members of society. Without giving too much away, the story ends on an ambigous note.

Interspaced between the comic pages are text pieces that range from reports on the Calais shantytowns where Kiahan lived, to more general pieces of information on refugees, detention centres, and the 'No Borders' group; to whom Carrie is affiliated.

I found this to be a very moving and passionate work; both informative and personal. Carrie's use of subtle water-colour like shading adds a subtlety and mood to the art.

There are website addresses and contact information for a lot of different support groups involved with refugees in the book too, should you be inspired to get involved.

The comic is only £1 (+postage which is only 50p in the UK!). All the proceeds of the zine go to the 'No Borders' campaign.

You can get it via here

 Also here is a link to those who want to learn more about the issues and lend support: http://calaismigrantsolidarity.wordpress.com/