Ugh, I forgot to do these the last couple of weeks. I mentioned Eating Steve, which y'all should read, but I forgot some others. Sorry. I've been busy rearranging my brainstuff with repeated head trauma and spilling tomato bisque soup on my dress. You know how it is.

We'll start with the most recent and work our way back, 'kay?



Jellyfist by J. Vasquez and J. Goldberg
48-page color thingy, $8.95

Yes, after the shock of crappy printing, the razing of forests, and a long-ass wait, it's finally in stores. The price is higher than it was originally, as the necessary materials to make it look uncrappy cost a pretty penny, let me tell you. I'd like to say that I've seen it, but despite my pleas, the printer has deigned not to send us preview copies. I can only hope all is well with this printing--the sample pages and proofs looked fine.

Jellyfist features a series of strange short stories with commentary by the creators about the creative process that reveals their inevitable slide into insanity. Wieners. Pigs. Blobby stuff. You'll love it.




Igor: Fixed by Frankensteins by Chris Reilly and Chris Grine
72-page graphic novel, $5.95

What can one say but "Salieri"? Actually, no, that has nothing to do with this book. Here's this book: a hunchback, cringe-inducing scenes with broken glass, vomit, rats, old war movies set in the trenches. It's a truly rousing and at times baffling adventure that is somehow charming. Igor is drawn by Eisner nominee Chris Grine and has an introduction by Batton Lash.




Wonderland #5 by Tommy Kovac and Sonny Liew
24-page full-color comic, $3.95

Wonderland remains delightful as the prim-and-proper (except for the occasional sailor-worthy spate of swearing) Mary Ann meets some extraordinarily cute animals who have started an Alice cult. They want to give the royals what's what, they do, and they think Mary Ann is just the girl to help them!

The preface to Gutter Geek's review of Igor: Fixed by Frankenstein by Christopher P. Reilly and Chris Grine (you have to go to the main page to see this part of the review) describes some of the faction-like nature the different genres in comics have taken on:

I was bored, bored, bored in the comic store the other day. All the big ticket monthlies were playing out their last Events and gearing up for their next. The Serious Indies were showing off their seriousness, while the distant offspring of the underground comix were showing off their Wackiness. And zombies were everywhere (what is with all the damned zombies? And this from a man who openly aspires to one day be a zombie). Well, I didn’t want another Event, and I wasn’t in the mood for meditations on childhood traumas, so I settled for some zombies and some zaniness. ... But happily, it proved a reminder of how, just when everything is starting to seem so cookie-cutter and predictable, comics will always find a way to surprise you.

 Igor: Fixed by Frankensteins is available now at comic stores, book stores and at www.slgcomic.com.

People have been talking to artists who create comics for SLG. You don't have time to trawl all over the Internet to find this stuff, so I'm bringing it to you in one concise post. Convenience and service!

• Jen Contino at Pulse interviews J. Marc Schmidt, creator of the graphic novel Eating Steve, which SLG will be releasing in October.


• Jen also interviews Chris Reilly and Chris Grine about the graphic novel Igor: Fixed by Frankensteins. This one will also be out in October. October is a pretty packed month.


• Brian Heater has started interviewing Evan Dorkin at The Daily Crosshatch, and it seems that he is not going to stop.