Rosenberg & Khmelevska, Arrival Mind (2020)

Louis B. Rosenberg, art by Anastasia Khmelevska, Arrival Mind. Outland Publishing, 2020. Pp. 35. ISBN 978-1-7356685-0. $9.95.

Reviewed by Cait Coker

As a child in the 1980s, I had a heavily illustrated book called How Things Work that explained the physical mechanics of everyday items as well as some architecture. One such spread included an extensive underground shelter through which a family would safely (it claimed) survive for several years following a nuclear blast. The cognitive dissonance of those playful drawings and their morbid reality which I experienced then recently returned upon reading Arrival Mind, a tract-in-verse on the dangers inherent in artificial intelligence. Designed as a storybook for adults, the volume’s format risks, however, undercutting the very message it wants to send.

Sutter, Hobo Fires (2014)

Robert Earl Sutter III, Hobo Fires. Self-published, 2014. Pp 336. ISBN 978-0-692-20603-4. $30.00.

Reviewed by Nino Cipri

The universe began when a flood burst thru a dam. Matter flowed forth. It was darkness. As the flood matter it also coalesced & became the stars & planets & galaxies. You can still see the flow today in the way that galaxies are strung together across the universe. Or in the flowers on a tangled vine.

In 2137, hobos have evolved, just like the rest of the world. The characters in Robert Earl Sutter III’s graphic novel Hobo Fires have hacked a system that is made to entrap them into a life of drudgery and unquestioned consumption. The main character, Poenee, hitches rides on robotic freight trains with a smartphone-like technology that seems almost as good as a sonic screwdriver. Railroad bulls and many police officers have been replaced by androids. Surveillance technology has been fully incorporated into society. She meets a number of people on the road, most importantly Raukkus, a fellow hobo who becomes her companion.

Lockwood, Life In Our Galaxy (2012)

Christopher R Lockwood, Life In Our Galaxy. Lulu, 2012. Pp. 68. $9.01.

Reviewed by Paul Wilks

Life In Our Galaxy, written by Christopher R Lockwood and self-published via Lulu.com, is a contemplative and graphical new text that leaves you pondering its contents some time after you have put it down. While it struck me that it attempts to achieve a great number of things—education, activism and the exploration of ethics on both sides of the arguments around abortion—within its simply drawn pages, it nonetheless left me wondering how well these aims were then met.

Alexandre/Loepp, Nuncio and the Gypsy Girl (2012)

Kristen Kuhn Alexandre & Thomas Loepp, Nuncio and the Gypsy Girl in the Gilded Age. Runnymede Press, 2012. Pp. 80. ISBN 978-0977668724. $14.00.

Reviewed by Jessica Nelson

Nuncio and the Gypsy Girl in the Gilded Age is a romantic graphic novel that takes place in the early twentieth century. Populated by all manner of innovators of the era, the story centers around a Gypsy girl named Neci Stans and her love, composer Ezra Muster. Ezra is taken with Neci and her people, but is torn by her young age and his desire to succeed. When Ezra meets Marlene, a beautiful woman with connections that can help him, the two soon become engaged, completing the classic love triangle. But in this tangle of hearts, something more sinister lurks; something that could destroy them all.

Thomas Loepp’s beautiful illustrations bring the story to life. In the beginning, the very basic, scratchy artwork can make telling people apart a little difficult, but as the story moves along, it’s easy enough to sort out who’s who. This is far from a drawback; the artwork brings a simple elegance and tone that adds so much to the romantic feeling of the book, I can’t imagine it being illustrated any other way.

Struckhoff, Deathlings & Black Label Comics Anthology (2010)

Ian Struckhoff et al, The Deathlings: Anne’s Story no. 1.Black Label Comics, 2010. Pp. 28. ISBN 1396402418. $5.99.

Ian Struckhoff et al, Black Label Comics (anthology) no.1. Black Label Comics, 2010. Pp. 44. ISBN 1396402433. $8.00.

Reviewed by Kate Onyett

I hold up my hand: I am not a big comic buff. I cannot reel off data regarding writers, artists and movers and shakers in the industry (my one fact is that Mark ‘Luke Skywalker’ Hamill is active in the comics trade and has been for some years); but I like reading them, and it is clear to deduce from readerly reaction when a comic works and when it does not. First I did some digging. Just who is Ian Struckhoff? He arrived suddenly into my world view through these comics, and is not a name I recognise. The anthology comic proudly tells us on the inside of the front cover that Black label Comics are “independently published”. Privately published work has long had a reputation for producing somewhat dire writing that should never see the light of day: the suspicion is that if any writer can get it published, it is more a work of ego than of art.

Pincent, Magic Mirror (2010)

Ed Pincent, Magic Mirror. Eibonvale Press, 2010. Pp. 354. ISBN 9780956214799. £12.99.

Reviewed by Jaym Gates

Magic Mirror is a giant compendium of 44 of Ed Pincent’s graphic works from over the years (1982-present), personally selected by the artist and including out-of-print material. The pieces range from one page in length, to the 90+ page story ‘Saga of the Scroll’. The illustrations are entirely black and white. Pincent has been heavily involved in the small-press British comics scene, at one point buying the magazine and distributor Fast Fiction. His work has also been published in Australian magazines such as Escape Magazine, Knockabout Comix and Fox Comics.