MATS!? drew Forty Nine spectacular panels in SICKO #1. Instead of using verbal dialogue in his panels MATS!? comes up with a tricky idea: graphical dialogue. The above panel is the first in the comic. The thought bubble has more comics in it; throughout the comic, the speech and thought bubbles are cleverly filled with more visual candy.
The topics of SICKO are a tad depressing: major drugs, poverty, whorein', wife beating, etc. But hey, it's true to the world we live in.
I read a positive review in JUXTAPOZ (Spring '96) about SICKO. This is what Juxtapoz wrote:
Truly sick tales of depravity. This comic is required reading for anyone with a dark sense of humor....SICKO is sure to make underground infamy.
MATS!? can be reached at:
(415) 647-4547 MATS!? PO Box 401089 SF,CA 94140 I put 3 one dollar bills in an envelope (with my address), and he sent me SICKO #1; the accompanying envelope had a cool drawing on it.
If you can find Blood Club, Teen Plague, Curse of the Moleman, or Mono Xeno you should get them. These comics feature Big Baby (pictured above--under the ghost of a fellow summer camper). Big Baby is drawn into freaky situations by Charles Burns.
Charles Burns has been putting out Black Hole more recently. A plague which only affects teenagers is the focus of the Black Hole series. Teenagers contract anomalies such as a secondary mouth in the neck! Black Hole is drawn with the same high quality pens as the Big Baby series. Once I finish a Burns comic, I look at all the tripped out art again, and again. These comics are ones you'll want to keep around and not pass on to friends.
Here is a third eye!
Charles Burns is published by:
Kitchen Sink Press 320 Riverside Drive Northhampton, MA 01060 For a catalog, call 1-800-365-7465. But of course--if you live in Portland--just go to Reading Frenzy.
Adrian Tomine's stories drag thoughts I've had out of my head; usually, his stories capture one or another angle of alienation. Check out the Rancid T in the right panel! Time for an aside: Rancid rocks! Everyone should have a CD or tape by RANCID. Adrian puts the Rancid shirt on the character,
because Adrian is a student at UC Berkeley. By the way, he is 22 years old. Adrian started out self-publishing his comics, but he didn't like dealing with business and money stuff. Drawn & Quarterly came to the rescue. D&Q is a small-time press worth supporting.
Back to the comics: Optic Nerve #2 is well drawn (all the comics I've reviewed are!). Four stories make up Optic (3 short, 1 long). The above panels are from SUMMER JOB: summer jobs are, by nature, depressing.
This month's Punk Planet [Po Box 1711 Hoboken, NJ 07030], has an interview with Adrian Tomine. That would be ISSUE #13. Punk Planet is a quality 'zine: fiction, interviews, comics, fanzine reviews, record reviews, articles from the punk point of view, etc.
I've strayed again; here is some info on Optic Nerve:
Drawn & Quarterly Publications 550 Jeanne Mance St. #16 Montreal, Quebec H2V 4K6 Canada
Taken from Eightball #11.
Daniel Clowes has more abstract content than Adrian. I like both, but sometimes, comics are needed to escape, not point out the every day shit you have to put up with. I won't write a lot about Daniel Clowes, since he is well known in the comics scene.
Ordering info:
Fantagraphics Books 7563 Lake City Way NE Seattle, WA 98115 toll-free: 1-800-627-1100
Visit the conferencing center (bullet-in-board)-- eyebot channel--comics topic at stim,to read about underground comics. All reviews are for your usage: I make no money from these companies, I just like these artists.
Last updated on 07/07/96