All PostsSPX 2005, edited by Brian Ralph. Comic Book Legal Defense Fund, 2005. 188p., b+w, $12.95.
Just got this in the mail, the annual collection to come out from the Small Press Expo and as a benefit for the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund… Marc Sobel covered this at CBG earlier in the week, and I mostly agree with him. A disappointing volume. A lot of boring stories or bad art. My highlights:
Matt Rota draws some great images, which he puts to use in a dreamlike story that goes nowhere.
Dave Lapp’s story about some young thugs is depressing as hell, but well done.
Sara Varon comes through again with what one expects from Varon, a charming little story that makes you smile, done in her simple linework.
Nick Bertozzi’s piece about arctic explorer Ernest Shackleton is the highlight of the book. Bertozzi seems to be finding a place for himself with non-fiction or perhaps historical fiction comics (I’m eagerly awaiting his Salon, which sadly isn’t due out for more than a year, and his Houdini biography with James Sturm).
There’s a large amount of Fort Thunderesque work (Brian Chippendale, Ben Jones, etc) that I just cannot get any enjoyment from or artistic interest in.
If Matt Rota’s work is so boring what is he doing in SVA?
I actually said the story “goes nowhere.” Which is different than boring (the images I enjoyed, just not the narrative). It also bears no relation on whether one is in or accepted to graduate school. Plenty of people go to grad school, that does not make their art inherently interesting (or even good at all). Or if their visuals are interesting, it doesn’t mean that their narratives are also.
In this case, I like Rota’s visuals (as I noted).