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Hey kidz,
I'm busily crunching away at finishing up the new QRD (including interviews with mwvm, Origami Arktika, Wire, Colin Newman, Aarktica, Plumerai, & Jessica Bailiff), I'll let you guys know when it's up.
Simultaneously I am working on a themed QRD for Valentine's Day that will interview couples in bands together. If you are in touch with any bands I should interview, then please let me know.
Below are some recent reviews of my comics.
hrt
Brian John Mitchell
LOST KISSES #5
The important narrative going on in Lost Kisses is not necessarily relegated to the pages of this mini comic. Rather, it exists in the ongoing story of writer / artist Brian John Mitchell’s life and the tragedy of his existence (though he does attempt to tell readers that his tragic portrayal is unintentional).
I’m not saying Mitchell’s life is ACTUALLY tragic. It’s just that the storytelling structure and tone used in Lost Kisses #5 drips with melancholy.
I know that sounds confusing. But read more than one issue of Lost Kisses and you’ll see what I’m talking about. Mitchell’s self-deprecating form of communication is more than just “Dear Diary” sequential storytelling – it’s his trademark, his brand.
The persuasive power of this mini comic is not spent trying to convince readers to suspend disbelief or partake in a drama of fantasy. Instead Mitchell expends all his energy trying to sell himself as a hapless loser. That’s the real narrative we partake in by becoming absorbed in this issue’s story – we become an observer of Mitchell’s personal struggles.
If I have any critique of his work, it’s that he is occasionally redundant. The beauty of comics is that the combination of words and pictures tell the story together. Sometimes Mitchell obstructs this beauty by having his images, word balloons, and typed text all say the same thing on the same page.
With that said, this issue is all-around better than Lost Kisses #4. While this installment begins on shaky ground, it eventually finds its footing. The words and pictures slowly achieve a confluence of meaning. By the end of Lost Kisses #5, the visuals and text tell the story by working together instead of repeating each other.
I’m left with only one question: is the tragedy of the author’s life in this story fact or fiction? Either way, I applaud Brian John Mitchell’s efforts to tell his story through this confessional mini comic. If he’s fishing for fans by using the pretense of his “life story,” then I’ve been caught hook, line, and sinker.
~ Nick Marino, Nasty Musings
The important narrative going on in Lost Kisses is not necessarily relegated to the pages of this mini comic. Rather, it exists in the ongoing story of writer / artist Brian John Mitchell’s life and the tragedy of his existence (though he does attempt to tell readers that his tragic portrayal is unintentional).
I’m not saying Mitchell’s life is ACTUALLY tragic. It’s just that the storytelling structure and tone used in Lost Kisses #5 drips with melancholy.
I know that sounds confusing. But read more than one issue of Lost Kisses and you’ll see what I’m talking about. Mitchell’s self-deprecating form of communication is more than just “Dear Diary” sequential storytelling – it’s his trademark, his brand.
The persuasive power of this mini comic is not spent trying to convince readers to suspend disbelief or partake in a drama of fantasy. Instead Mitchell expends all his energy trying to sell himself as a hapless loser. That’s the real narrative we partake in by becoming absorbed in this issue’s story – we become an observer of Mitchell’s personal struggles.
If I have any critique of his work, it’s that he is occasionally redundant. The beauty of comics is that the combination of words and pictures tell the story together. Sometimes Mitchell obstructs this beauty by having his images, word balloons, and typed text all say the same thing on the same page.
With that said, this issue is all-around better than Lost Kisses #4. While this installment begins on shaky ground, it eventually finds its footing. The words and pictures slowly achieve a confluence of meaning. By the end of Lost Kisses #5, the visuals and text tell the story by working together instead of repeating each other.
I’m left with only one question: is the tragedy of the author’s life in this story fact or fiction? Either way, I applaud Brian John Mitchell’s efforts to tell his story through this confessional mini comic. If he’s fishing for fans by using the pretense of his “life story,” then I’ve been caught hook, line, and sinker.
~ Nick Marino, Nasty Musings
XO #3, First Time with talk about Lost Kisses #5 Am I Freaking Cerebus?
Two miniaturized comics that you can place in your top shirt pocket. How does Melissa draw so well in XO #3, with hardly any room to draw? XO#3 is a very dramatic story on how a young man catches his girlfriend in bed with another man and how a heated crime of passion turned to accidental murder!
With Lost Kisses, Brian uses stick figures to tell a sad, but comical story.
For more information, email them at: silberspy@... Check out their website at: www.silbermedia.com/lostkisses or www.silbermedia.com/xo
My comments on these comics: "Miniaturized comics with a gigantic entertainment wallop!" ~ Paul Dale Roberts, www.jazmaonline.com
Two miniaturized comics that you can place in your top shirt pocket. How does Melissa draw so well in XO #3, with hardly any room to draw? XO#3 is a very dramatic story on how a young man catches his girlfriend in bed with another man and how a heated crime of passion turned to accidental murder!
With Lost Kisses, Brian uses stick figures to tell a sad, but comical story.
For more information, email them at: silberspy@... Check out their website at: www.silbermedia.com/lostkisses or www.silbermedia.com/xo
My comments on these comics: "Miniaturized comics with a gigantic entertainment wallop!" ~ Paul Dale Roberts, www.jazmaonline.com
ZOMBIE KISSES ( www.silbermedia.com/zombiekisses )
3 3/4 inchx 2 1/4 inch minizines.
No, that's not a misprint - these little devils aren't just small enough to fit in your pocket. One can easily disappear without a trace into the palm of an average adult reader's hand!
It seems that Brian John Mitchell, like many a horror film fan, was fascinated by George Romero's Zombie Trilogy (beginning so famously with Night of the Living Dead). He felt compelled to make his own zombie fiction - set in those films' milieu but featuring characters of his own creation.
The results so far are these three minis - the episodic, serialized story of two brothers confronting gruesome death & perhaps equally gruesome survival amid the ruins of our familiar world.
The brothers have joined a paramilitary militia type outfitas the story opens. They're fighting a losing battle against both zombies & lawless human marauders. Some of the latter capture, the nuse chained & mutilated zombies as a grotesque sort of attack dog - an idea Mitchell puts to effectively warped uses for his story telling purposes. The surviving militia soon pulls out, leaving the brothers & a handful of civilians they've rescued to hold their fortified building.
The brother narrating the first two installments (if he's ever named, I don't recall it) is left maimed & briefly suicidal when they rescue a girl from a pack of hungry zombies. Then the marauders & their "zombie dogs" attack. By the end of the second issue, their strongfold has fallen & the first brother is dying.
Barry, the older (or so I gather from the spare description) brother, takes up the narrative with issue #3. He saves what he can from the carnage, gets survivors to relative safety & buries his brother with the rest of their already slaughtered family. Then as #3 ends, Barry gathers up his weapons & heads back to their formal stronghold to take revenge on the marauder band.
As grim & desparate tales of survival go, this one has some intriguing elements. It's written in first person & told in present tense, adding a degree of cinematic immediacy to the storyline. Unfortunately, there are several occasions where Mitchell merely tells the reader about the aftermath of an important development, rather than showing the event - this saps drama from the piece. There are also a couple puzzling lapses in continuity - the girl they save in #1 simply drops from the narrative for a while. She reappears, we find out her story & she plays a part in the later plot, but the way she & other minor characters are handled creates an unduly choppy feeling. Granted, the brothers are the main characters & they're more concerned with each other than the others - but it still felt wrong.
Overall, Zombie Kisses is moderately interesting media-inspired horror/adventure. If you're into Romero's brand of inexplicable Living Dead carnage, give it a look.
~ Jim Lee, Scavenger's Newsletter
3 3/4 inchx 2 1/4 inch minizines.
No, that's not a misprint - these little devils aren't just small enough to fit in your pocket. One can easily disappear without a trace into the palm of an average adult reader's hand!
It seems that Brian John Mitchell, like many a horror film fan, was fascinated by George Romero's Zombie Trilogy (beginning so famously with Night of the Living Dead). He felt compelled to make his own zombie fiction - set in those films' milieu but featuring characters of his own creation.
The results so far are these three minis - the episodic, serialized story of two brothers confronting gruesome death & perhaps equally gruesome survival amid the ruins of our familiar world.
The brothers have joined a paramilitary militia type outfitas the story opens. They're fighting a losing battle against both zombies & lawless human marauders. Some of the latter capture, the nuse chained & mutilated zombies as a grotesque sort of attack dog - an idea Mitchell puts to effectively warped uses for his story telling purposes. The surviving militia soon pulls out, leaving the brothers & a handful of civilians they've rescued to hold their fortified building.
The brother narrating the first two installments (if he's ever named, I don't recall it) is left maimed & briefly suicidal when they rescue a girl from a pack of hungry zombies. Then the marauders & their "zombie dogs" attack. By the end of the second issue, their strongfold has fallen & the first brother is dying.
Barry, the older (or so I gather from the spare description) brother, takes up the narrative with issue #3. He saves what he can from the carnage, gets survivors to relative safety & buries his brother with the rest of their already slaughtered family. Then as #3 ends, Barry gathers up his weapons & heads back to their formal stronghold to take revenge on the marauder band.
As grim & desparate tales of survival go, this one has some intriguing elements. It's written in first person & told in present tense, adding a degree of cinematic immediacy to the storyline. Unfortunately, there are several occasions where Mitchell merely tells the reader about the aftermath of an important development, rather than showing the event - this saps drama from the piece. There are also a couple puzzling lapses in continuity - the girl they save in #1 simply drops from the narrative for a while. She reappears, we find out her story & she plays a part in the later plot, but the way she & other minor characters are handled creates an unduly choppy feeling. Granted, the brothers are the main characters & they're more concerned with each other than the others - but it still felt wrong.
Overall, Zombie Kisses is moderately interesting media-inspired horror/adventure. If you're into Romero's brand of inexplicable Living Dead carnage, give it a look.
~ Jim Lee, Scavenger's Newsletter
Start the year off right. Easy ways to stay in shape in the new year.
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