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Comic and
Zine reviews
Mark Pawson
Pick of the bunch this time around is the long awaited new issue of Detroit's
Motorbooty modestly subtitled 'The Better Magazine'.
Imagine a cross between Weirdo Comic and Grand Royal magazine with articles
like a 'What to do when good guys join bad bands' advice column
and the something to offend everyone '100 Worst Albums of the 20th
Century Chart'. The Beastie Boys were, shall we say, very heavily
influenced by Motorbooty when assembling their own magazine ... Highlight
of Motorbooty #9 - the Graphic Violence Issue is editor Mark Dancey's
comic strip about the Insane Clown Posse (a band). These fellow Detroit
residents revealed themselves to be even stupider than their name implies
when they took exception to a mildly satirical Dancey comic strip about
them that appeared in SPIN magazine, and instigated a hate campaign against
him, and the publisher, thus generously providing Dancey with material
for a much more critical follow-up comic. Both are reproduced here, and
you'll learn much more than anyone, anywhere needs or wants to know
about the Insane Clown Posse ...
Other Dancey highlights this issue are a merciless set of 'Unoriginal
Gangsta Trading Cards' - efficiently demolishing every White Rapper
you've ever heard of and a few more besides. The story of the 'Louvin
Brothers' - genuine mandolin-smashing hellraisers, in the 'Illustrated
History of Pants' centrespread is an inspired mix of ridiculous trousers
and social history, which deserves to be printed as a full-size poster.
Almost-believable is the piece on the punkrock gig re-enactment scene,
organised along the lines of Civil War re-enactment Societies, authenticly
complete with police confiscating compact discs and mobile phones! - now
all 5,000 people who claim to have attended seminal gigs that took place
in 200-capacity rock'n'roll toilets can be there!
Somehow Motorbooty and its hometown of Detroit have escaped the grip of
Spice Girl Fever, which on the evidence of Spice Capades seems
to have affected the rest of America! In this totally unauthorised 48-pager,
a plethora of comic artists and zinesters explore their hideous fascinations
with the all-conquering Fab Four (or Five) and provide their own reinterpretations
of the Girl Power message. The rather obvious monster/sci-fi stories are
as unnecessary as Spice World - the Movie. With such strong material
to start with, the best comics are the true-life ones, grown men desperately
trailing round branches of Toys'R'Us trying in vain to find
a Scary Spice to complete their sets of Spice Girls Dolls, and New York
Punk scene vet Peter Bagge taking his daughter and a car-load of screaming
prepubescant spice-a-likes to a Spice Girls stadium concert, and thoroughly
enjoying every minute of it!
For a glimpse of Comics' History check out a few EC Comics
titles. The complete reprint series of seminal 1950's EC (Entertaining
Comics) Comics have been coming out steadily over the last few years,
and are still as fresh and exciting as they must have been when they were
originally published. I would have loved to have my mind warped by these
when I was a kid! Full of time-machines, spaceships and gooey slime-oozing
tentacled alien invaders, Weird Science seems to contain the plot-line
of every Sci-Fi film ever made. The magnificently grisly EC horror titles,
Tales From the Crypt and The Vault of Horror were cited
as inducing moral panic, leading directly to the introduction of an over
censorious Comics Code in the USA. Undaunted, EC sprang back with a whole
library of 'New Direction' titles; Aces High, Valor, Piracy
and Tales designed to carry an Impact. Particularly worth looking out
for currently are Psychoanalysis and M.D. (Medical Drama) - two
totally inspired original series which, surprisingly, only survived for
a few months. Nowadays the EC formula of obligatory surprise twists and
shock endings feels dated and gets predictable after a couple of issues,
but I'm sure I would have been a total EC fan if I'd ever seen
these comics as a kid. Maybe I should buy extra copies to hand out to
schoolkids.
Pwease Wuv Me - More 'Art' of Mitch O'Connell,
is the second collection of Mitch O'Connell's hyper-kitsch Paintings,
Illustrations, Comics and Tattoo designs. M O'C is quite obviously
an Image Junkie in the advanced stages of addiction with an insatiable
appetite for images of Betty Page, Tiki God Statues, Big-eyed Waif Kid
paintings, Cheesecake Pin-ups, 60s and 70s Baby Boomer toys, Mad Magazine,
Wacky Packages bubblegum cards, Hippie memorabilia, Beatnik Poodles and
just about every other manifestation of kitschy, cheesy pop culture forgotten
by the rest of society. Taking this over-sugared array of source material
M O'C lusciously redraws it into a multi-layered fruit-cocktail,
trifle-like designs crammed full of bright rich goodies, and best served
up in small portions, its all just so darn pretty to look at! Self published,
I can't help thinking that this exhausting to look at visual feast
could just as well have been published by Dover Books as one of their
clipart collections.
In James Kochalka's Quit Your Job, Magic Boy, his goofy elf-slacker
alter-ego character trips up in the snow and misses his bus to work. Whilst
fretting that he'll be in trouble for missing work he finds a magic
ring in the snow. His head reeling with thoughts of what he can use the
ring for, Magic Boy enjoys a day of unexpected freedom from work and fun
in the snow, never actually getting round to using the ring's powers.
This whimsical story is drawn in Kochalka's loose relaxed style,
using large panels mostly taken up with giant snowflakes. Everything's
back to normal by teatime, Magic Boy realises he's happy enough without
needing a magic ring, and returns home to find an answerphone message
from his boss telling him to take the day off work anyway!
Also currently available from the prolific J Kochalka are Monica's
Story (yes that Monica) and various issues of James Kochalka Superstar
Comics.
Japanize is a good old fashioned A5 photocopied comic, put out
by Toko whilst she's been living in the UK, containing her impressions
in a distinctive kiddie-manga style of such quaint British activities
as chanting along whilst watching the Jerry Springer show, taking worthless
pieces of junk along to the Antiques Roadshow and eating bread and (baked)
beans! 'The Hayashi Corporation' is a loopy meandering tale
of a multi-tentacled dutch-husband supplying business and there's
some traditional manga-style sex and violence thrown in as well, plus
a cookery page. Japanize issues 1-4 seemed to come out at weekly intervals,
but Toko's visa has run out and she'll have to return to Japan,
so passport-sized Japanize #4 may be the last.
Dishwasher ... one guy ... fifty states ... lots of dishes ... plenty
of time ...
Dishwasher Pete's chosen job allows him the freedom to roam around
the USA in the knowledge that wherever he fancies staying for a couple
of weeks he can easily find a job. In Dishwasher issues 14 & 15 Pete's
long term quest to wash dishes in each of the 50 American States takes
him to Louisiana and New York City together with a detour working on an
Oilrig. We also get his account of 'appearing' on the Late Show
with David Letterman, 'appearing' because media-shy Pete wasn't
in the slightest bit interested in being on television so he obligingly
let a friend go along instead, as a Warhol-style stand-in! Dishwasher
also has plenty of dishwasher related press clippings, cartoons, book
extracts and movie reviews, with a particular focus on dishwashing in
literature and Labour Activism among Dishwashers, past and present.
Can't find a decent cravat anywhere these days? Want to catch up
on all the latest styles in cable-knit sleeveless pullovers and keep abreast
of what's what in the world of nose hair trimmers? Then my dear fellow
you need to equip yourself with a copy of The Chap, a sophisticated
pamphlet designed to fit perfectly in your smoking-jacket pocket. With
forthright advice on hairstyles, golfing attire and modern etiquette tips,
The Chap is an essential requisite for today's Gentleman of Leisure
feeling slightly out of place in a world full of blue-jean trousers and
garishly-coloured plimsols.
Contacts
Motorbooty , £4.50 Available from Tower Records /Disinfotainment
www.motorbooty.com
Spice Capades, Fantagraphics, £3.75 Available from Comic shops
www.fantagraphics.com
EC Comics, various titles Available from Comic shops
www.gemstonepub.com
Pwease Wuv Me , £12.95 Available from Disinfotainment
www.mitchoconnell.com
Quit Your Job , $6.95 Alternative Press
www.indyworld.com/altpress
Japanize , £1.50 Probably available from GOSH comics, Gt Russell
St, London, WC1 or c/o 37 Stephendale Rd, Fulham, London SW6 2LT
Dishwasher Available from Disinfotainment or $2.50 inc p/p from
P.O. Box 8213
Portland
OR 97207
U.S.A.
The Chap , £2.00 inc p/p
p.o. Box 21135, London N16 0WW
Disinfotainment mailorder catalogue available from;
P.O.Box 664, London, E3 4QR
website www.mpawson.demon.co.uk
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