Review: Chance in Hell

Review: Chance in Hell
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Chance in Hell Gilbert Hernandez Fantagraphics Books Street: 08.01 Gilbert Hernandez is a crafty son of a bitch. He weaves a story that is as poignant as it is troubling and tense. Chance in Hell tells the story of Empress, an orphan who is raised in what can only be described as a post-apocalyptic no-man’s

Review: Things Just Get Away From You

Review: Things Just Get Away From You
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Things Just Get Away From You Walt Holcombe Fantagraphics Books Street: 06.15 In Things Just Get Away From You, Holcombe expresses his exotic stories in a simple and direct manner filling each panel with a visual style that is fluid and exaggerated. Like a dream, it equally draws from his time as an animator as

Review: Percy Gloom

Review: Percy Gloom
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Percy Gloom Cathy Malkasian Fantagraphics Books Street: 06.21 Percy Gloom was written by Cathy Malkasian whose previous work as an animator includes the shows Rugrats and The Wild Thornberrys Movie. Her leap from animation to the graphic novel form (especially from those quirky kids’ shows) is not a far cry from her previous work. Percy

Review: MOME

Review: MOME
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MOME Various Artists Fantagraphics Books Street: 05.22 MOME follows in the fine footsteps of other anthologies and quarterlies of this century (ex. McSweeney’s) by showcasing first-rate up-and-coming artists, writers, etc. The comics represented here range from self-conscious absurd dream narratives to the surreal pop panel to an extended meditation on depression and comic book creators.

Review: House

Review: House
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House Josh Simmons Fantagraphics Books Street: 03.07 House eerily recalls Mark Z. Danielewski’s House of Leaves, not so much in its complex storytelling but in its scary incompleteness. House leaves more questions open then it answers. The story is about a mansion three kids find in the woods that they decide to go exploring in.

Review: Buddy Does Jersey

Review: Buddy Does Jersey
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Buddy Does Jersey Peter Bagge Fantagraphics Books Street: 05.15 There is a certain target audience and age for a graphic novel like this; I am thinking mostly of your average music snob, male, age 18-35. The premise and formula is pretty simple––an obnoxious hipster with a neurotic girlfriend, living in Seattle move back to New

Review: Beasts!

Review: Beasts!
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Beasts! Various Fantagraphics Books Street: 01.31 This beautifully bound and illustrated book fills its pages with the prompt that each artist capture a creature from mythological or folkloric storytelling; the cultural entities—”still thriving or extinct”—that fill our closets and deep recesses of our minds. The product is outstanding in its anecdotal accounts of beast history,

Review: BLAB! VOL. 15 – MONTE BEAUCHAMP

Review: BLAB! VOL. 15 – MONTE BEAUCHAMP
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BLAB! VOL. 15 MONTE BEAUCHAMP Fantagraphics Books Street: 11.24.04 It might seem fairly easy to put together a provocative compilation of graphic and comic art. Yet, like a good mix CD, editions such as these must be well-paced, possess some semblance of continuity and narrative cohesion and offer only the finest quality material. With a