Noteworthy Crap

Suttree by Cormac McCrathy, 1979. Rating: 9.25 out of 10.

Critics have compared it to Cannery Row and Huckleberry Fin. Which is valid.

Suttree is set in the slums lining Tennessee’s main river during the 1950’s. Prevailing themes are of loneliness and endurance against unforeseeable negativity, much like Cannery Row. But it is darker and far more graphic than the predecessors. The main character buries his only son and then nearly dies of BLEEDING ASS typhoid.  

And yet it is light hearted and hilarious. The most memorable side-character is Horragate, the “country mouse” turned “city rat”. He’s 18 and takes his first shower ever in jail after being caught fucking a farmer’s watermelons. When the city offers to pay one dollar for each dead bat found during a rabies scare, Horragate tries to cash-in using a sling shot, poisoned meat, and a raft devised out of two automobile hoods.

At times the style is way over done, to a point that could drive away any determined reader. Thankfully this all too ambitious language is balanced by perfectly down to earth prose that leaves behind barely decipherable passages describing light and shapes.

At nearly 500 pages, Suttree is an ultimate example of Anti-Climax.

The novel avoids setting the stage by stringing together numerous medium-length stories. Together they have a fleeting linear course based on lose connections among significant holes in narration; while keeping each tale a formidable strength of it’s own, the theme of courage against all odds prevails. McCarthy sculpts a fine mini-climax at least every 50 pages, and he keeps you laughing in between all of them. 

I wholeheartedly disagree with the popular notion  that this is the saddest of McCarthey’s novels. While it certainly isn’t cheery, the only thing keeping this from being so depressing is the fact that Suttree’s past is never fully explained; because there is no detailed events given for the reader to connect the dots, all one has to go on is that Suttree is living meagerly in the slums rather than with his wife or family.

The story is intended to be episode #1 of Bill Clodsby's brand new show. The strip's intro features Bill educating us on his doings since cancelation of the classic 80's sitcom which brought him a level of fame that's enabled his slew of lucrative product endorsements. Such profitable conduct is why Clodsby's new character is named  "Holiday-Inn Mucous" (because the networks wouldn't allow Bill's original suggestion, "Holiday-Inn Jello-Pudding"). 

       Following this cursory set up, Bill is seen being interviewed for an organ-transplant delivery job. His first assignment is to transport a dying patient's new heart, but Clodsby fouls up immediately by reciting for his boss a  45-minute story which is cut "short" by a phone call declaring that the patient has died.

      Somehow Bill is given a second chance that he of course fails at due to his inevitable slow pace and proneness to story telling. Except this time it is a liver which he complacently decides fry up for dinner. 

Junebug Bong Compass. C-16. 2011. Madlantis Records.  Both sides throw their own brand of rowdy and the two balance out superbly between T&R's intricate  percussion+electronics , v.s. Bert's organic crop of slow pounding bass buzz. 

Listen @ bert.bandcamp.com. 

You said we we're seeing an Earth concert. This is more like some skanky rave.

2006, Sparkplug Comics

Matter Summer Special is by far the most visually dynamic comic I own. Measuring at 3 by 4 inches, the borders of each page serve as a panel and drawn within each is what other artists would naturally separate into multiple shots.

Having more than one scene overlapping each other gives Matter Summer Special a real sense of movement. Somehow the artist manages to keep both the speech and the sequence of events from clouding up the individual pages. 

On top of this unique visual style of story telling, the plot is hilarious, although difficult to summarize. I'll do my best.

Two pot loving buddies, Bruce and Mate(?), are in mid-joint when they start to talk about the police infiltrating the 1960's hippy movement.  

Rating 8 out of 10 Hanawalt's humor is low brow, and although she's clearly developed her own idea of whats "funny", its pretty unintelligent and strives to be shocking without much reason other than for the sake of being shocking.  However, she conveys her sub-par ideas rather uniquely. More on humor and narrative below.

Lisa displays two distinctly different styles of not only illustration but also narration. Art-wise, half the pages are utterly dazzling, precisely drawn and heavily detailed when it comes to hair/fur and patterns on clothing or hardwood floors, and also atmospheric backgrounds. Despite how much I hate seeing animal heads on human bodies (in fact, when I think of annoying art, this is one the first cliche's that come to mind), Lisa's touch is seriously impressive, even if her humor and imagination is limited. 

Because these are strictly based on  black and white line work, it can be difficult to read but is jaw dropping for the most part. 

I assume that her other style is water color, maybe colored pencil, or perhaps gouche?

Aviatrix is comprised of about 5 mini-stories revolving around two central characters. 

The less complicated of these two appears to be your  average token middle-aged, balding, slightly out of shape white guy. 

The other character is an action-packed, super hero aviator woman. 

In the final story she saves the guy from a......giant dripping demon monster thing? 

But before that, the fat white guy has a slew of hilarious little tales. 

First, he gets diarrhea while on a date at this girl's apartment. The twist here is that the woman is about 4 inches tall and she nearly dies from the fumes pouring out of her bathroom. 

His next story is a 4 page saga appropriately titled "Its okay, I'm wearing a tie!", in which the only dialogue is the man shouting the title over and over while doing insane things. 

First, he's speeding through traffic, and when pulled over by a cop he fights him and manages to kick the gun from the cop's hand, all while yelling "Its okay! I'm wearing a tie!"

In the finale he crashes into the river and is eaten by a shark. 

An amazing debut from Eric Haven. Published by "buenaventura press" in 2009. 

Great illustration, varied panel sizes but still very well written and easy to read, fabulous two-page spreads. 

Rating 10 out of 10. 

This comic is crazy right from the get-go; On the cover we see a muscular, angry black man gripping a broken noose and he's surrounded by hooded KKK members.

And his name is Lincoln Washington!

In the store I saw this cover, skimmed through the pages really quick and was sold. 

When I got home and read it, my expectations were surpassed. 

The story is elegant and simple but with some very gory fight scenes; 

shortly after abolition, enslaved muscle-man Lincoln Washington escapes and brutally kills his former master. 

From there, a busty white women appears at his door step, complaining about her abusive husband, wanting the black man to make sweet love to her. Lincoln sends her away. Out of resentment for being turned down by an ex-slave, the woman smashes her own face with a rock and tells the towns people that she's been raped. 

Even a hoard of pissed off, pick-axe swinging red necks aren't enough to take down Lincoln Washington: Free Man. 

The illustration is fabulous, the panels are all equal in size which makes it easy on the eye, it reads smoothly, has just the right amount of gore and humor, great twists and turns to the story. 

This appears to be issue number one and I can't find a release date anywhere, so I'm really looking forward to researching further works by this Benjamin Marra.

Rating 9 out of 10. This one is really weird. The main character, Slater, begins with no arms, that tiny bald head, long legs, and the torso of a "beagle" (obviously shaped liked Snoopy).