Treasury of Mini Comics Vol. 1 by Michael Dowers

Treasury of Mini Comics Vol. 1 Reviews

• 
  Dave Schaafsma

  I am really glad this collection exists. Minicomics are a quarter of an 8 1/2 x 11 page or less and this book follows that format. I have been reading these meticulously composed collaborative superhero texts in the past weeks and I like that stuff (Sleeper, Brubaker and Phillips; Watchmen) this ad hoc, diy approach to art in that context feels refreshing. Outsider art. Ditto, xerox and staple art that anyone can do. Sorta anti-Marvel, anti-corporate. Alt-comics. Democratic, and disrespectful, rude, off the charts, sometimes anarchistic and thus… often very insightful and/or funny. Hats off to editor and archivist Michael Dowers who creates this 848 first volume (of two, at least) collection that looks at the first ones in the sixties and proceeds ahead.. but this is a difficult job, as he admits, because these are often folks that are underground, not connected to publishers…. and in the early, pre-internet days, not easy to find except selling 7 cent copies at local comic book stores. I liked discovering the wide range of stuff here, in terms of content and form and purpose. And I liked seeing people whose work I have come to know who did mini-comics early on, or still do: Peral Watson, Davif Heatley, Leela Corman, David Woodring, John Porcellino, many others. Dowers has photos of many of the artists, and does interviews, which is really interesting stuff. Of course the idea of the collection, that it exists, is sometimes better than the individual comics themselves, unfortunately. The point about being able to say anything you want and draw anything you want is not a guarantee of quality, of course, so some of this hit and miss, but I read and enjoyed almost all of it. Glad to have this record of this aspect of comics history.
• 
  Robert

  My review of this fine book is online at tcj.com:
  http://bit.ly/1aVosHY
  
• 
  P.

  It's hard to judge a wide-ranging volume like this, especially because I'm not well versed in the minicomics scene. But I'll just jot down my thoughts as a comics appreciator: I really enjoyed a good percentage of these, and I skipped a lot of the interviews (because, as I stated before, I'm not really into minicomics and I feel that the interviews are more suited to people who are and are into learning more about the people behind them/the history of them). It's really interesting to see the subjects and styles of the selected comics change over the years, from the first Justin Green comix to the in-color diary comics of today, along with what are just small series of original, easily reproducible art pieces (portraits of cowboys having intestinal issues, for example). The minicomics I like the most manage to give the essence of a story and present it with strong but not maudlin emotion - Leela Corman's work, for example. Or they hit the right note of short whimsy (Wurst Comics!!). Brevity is definitely tough to do, and I'm glad so many people are trying their hand at it. I'm not a minicomics convert now (for one thing, I have no space in which to store them), but I'm glad fantagraphics is doing some compiling and curating so I can peek into that world with their help.
  
  
  [Aside: I can see why David Heatley's comics were chosen for inclusion- he has a strong personal voice, good observational skill, able to make his own dreams seem interesting, and produces fascinating color diary comics - but is he aware how judgy he comes off regarding women's weight ("Rachelle still looks cute. Even though she had a baby, she's still thin." p.803 "Then we went to meet up with Jenalee Vaughn, who was in town playing Bartok at Carnegie Hall!!! Shew as a little chubbier than when I'd seen her 5 years ago, but still very pretty cute." p. 796) I guess that's one of the valuable things about diary comics that hew closely to real diaries, though - they show all of a person. And that's why I like to read them]
• 
  Michael

  hopefully volume 2 is better.