Compare and Contrast: Leeds Thought Bubble vs New York’s Big Apple Con via Evan Dorkin

Having just come back from Saturday’s Leeds Thought Bubble one day convention and having had a fantastic time, it’s interesting to compare the best con I’ve been to with the experiences of a one Mr Evan Dorkin at this year’s Big Apple Con.

Frankly it’s just wonderful; a full on rant against almost everything and everybody there. It’s cathartic and hideous in equal measure just reading it from this distance. I could pull quotes out to my hearts content but here’s three. Go and read the thing if you want more:

I started making notes of what guests were doing to pass the time: reading comics, eating, tapping their pens, arranging and re-arranging books, staring at the ceiling, praying for death. Lines that did form were small, guests were forced into long conversations with blowhards with opinions on how everything in comics should ahve been handled, along with reflections and opinions on the economy, the election, and sports. Not much on personal hygiene, interpersonal relationships, or the evils of massive backpacks.

I almost always leave a show feeling good about comics, wanting to make comics as soon as I get some sleep and recover. This time around, I wanted to go get a job in a deli.

Bonus feature! People I didn’t like …….. Myself for being there and forcing my child to endure some stuff Dante cut out of his book for being too “uncomfy”.

Evan’s rant in full is here.
Link via Heidi – and a belated happy brithday to her.

Milk & Cheese – new comics – Yeah!

It seems that Dark Horse Comics have a MySpace page. And instead of filling it with make believe friends and lists of all the rubbish they like in music, TV and movies they’ve taken the great step of filling it with quality web only comics.

There are all sorts of creators on there; Peter Bagge, Mike Mignola, Ian Edginton, John Arcudi, Gabriel Ba and most importantly to me: Evan Dorkin. I love Evan Dorkin. I worry about his mental health, but I love reading about it. But the most wonderful Evan Dorkin comic is also the simplest Evan Dorkin comic. A milk carton and a slab of cheese hit things. Repeatedly. Comedy ensues. Blood flows.
This is Milk and Cheese. They are very funny. You must agree. This time they’re off to a furrie convention in “The Fursuit of Happiness”:

That should be enough to get the entire gag over to you. Milk and Cheese is just simple funny. There’s Milk. There’s Cheese. A carton of hate and a wedge of spite. Dairy products gone bad. They both hate you and would dearly love to set about you with all manner of sharp objects. Now, what could be funnier than that?

The Dark Horse MySpace page with Milk and Cheese is here. Evan Dorkin and Sarah Dyer blog and have a website at the House of Fun. All images belong to Evan Dorkin. Hands off or the dairy produce will be coming for a visit.

(via Blog @ Newsarama)

PROPAGANDA reviews: Biff Bam Pow by Evan Dorkin & Sarah Dyer

Biff Bam Pow #1

by Evan Dorkin and Sarah Dyer

A while back I reviewed Evan Dorkin’s Circling The Drain, Volume 2 of Dork (see here), a tale of doom and gloom, misery and depression where the reader watches the author have his own little nervous breakdown right there on the page. Biff Bam Pow, published by Slave Labor Graphics, is nearly as far as it’s possible to get from Dork. This is the silly, happy, madcap part of Dorkin, working in partnership with Sarah Dyer. Together they’re a fun, happy couple. Apart, Dorkin’s personal demons have a tendency to take over. Unfortunately, based on Biff Bam Pow, I think I prefer Dorkin solo. But then again, I prefer Sarah Dyer solo as well – her Action Girl strips are very fondly remembered around these parts.

I’ve enjoyed all of Evan’s work, from his earliest Pirate Corp$, through Milk & Cheese and onto Dork. But somewhere along the way, Dorkin and Dyer, obviously sick of not having money to make the rent month on month, decided to concentrate on other things, TV and illustration work – the sort of things that keeps a roof over your head.

Somewhere in the middle of all this Dorkin and Dyer started developing a reputation as talented creators of fun, all-ages stuff. And this is exactly what Biff Bam Pow is. A nice, fun, funny book with four strips, all typical Dorkin and Dyer, packed with great little touches and barrelling along with style and aplomb. It’s really good. But it’s not great. And I wanted great. The four strips; a female boxer cum vigilante’s big fight, a quick nutsy monkey tale, a cute Kid Blastoff battling an evil genius tale and a quick and silly superhero and sidekick tale are all good, entertaining distractions.

Biff Bam Pow passes a pleasant few moments, it entertains, the art is typically Dorkinesque, a vibrant and inventive, nicely drawn thing. But it does no more and no less than that.

Originally posted at the FPI blog here.