MOME Spring 2009 (MOME, #14) by Gary Groth

MOME Spring 2009 (MOME, #14) Reviews

• 
  Andrew

  Highs: Lilli Carre's lovely graphic novella "The Carnival," which I'd read previously. Good shorter comics by Laura Park and Olivier Schrauwen
  
  Lows: Gross racist caricatures in Emile Bravo's "Wild West Winging It" and Gilbert Shelton's "Last Gig in Shnagrlig"
• 
  StrictlySequential

  Why is she in the doorway like that on the cover?
  ->Because Lilli Carré draws noses so awkward-ugly that a panel with only a partial was needed to protect the interests of everyone else involved!
  
  I enjoyed her Woodman and Lagoon books but this story wasn't good enough to brace me to her gross faces that made me cringe all throughout distracting me from the parallel thinking needed to plomb its layered depth. I wanted to pull them off and stick them to a wall somewhere so I could grindstone mine.
  
  "Absolutely yeah right"'s bothered me too like a guy garden-of-eden-nude-visualizing his interest unflatteringly (negative against what he could plainly see) and an eight hour drive to nowhere. By the _th hour a target or return materializes to even the most aloof of us goofs. Her flights to fantasy need to keep some form of ground- else leave me in the clouds.
  
  Witness with wonder the BRILLIANT cowboy bonanzarama by Émile Bravo which shows that it takes a foreigner (from our BD superior) to properly see, and have the co-hones to brutally illustrate, just how well the 50+ of U.S. was bamboozled by the politicians who pulled the strings for the first decade of the century. Give or take a bunch.
  
  Pathetically, if a domestic was responsible it would be viewed as "unuhmurikin" and levy too much risk against their career for no award beyond our back-pattery.
  ___
  Reassuring me that caring about economics instead of politics has been the smart choice since cable television began the massive polarization of politics which eventually neutered the voter above and sometimes even within their state level. Getting strung out over who I want to win what isn't my idea of effective.
  ->Once I get my means and/or angle I'm tackling the inbred and schooled Fascist Capitalism that we're forced to adhere to else lose the Capital we have to "the next guy". It's a religion here and you know it.___
  
  ANYWAY:
  Dash Shaw's colorful filmishness fancy seemed to echo "look what I know" more than tell a story.
  BUT:
  Jon Vermilyea's Kool-Aid Man gag had me in stitches!
  
  
  ___
  Counter-Nitpickery: "The 50+ of U.S. was" = a (singular) group because "was" rolls nicely so spice your cajoles more wisely!
• 
  Bob Comparda

  This issue has some pretty good ones in it. Starting to get more in color! Favorites include Olivier Schrauwen, Jon Vermilyea, Josh Simmons & Laura Park.
  
  Derek Van Gieson - A Lark on Your Dreamsill ⭐⭐
  Laura Park - Office 32F ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
  Olivier Schrauwen - The Dungeon ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
  Gilbert Shelton & Pic - Last Gig in Shnagrlig, Chapter 2 ⭐⭐
  Derek Van Gieson - As We All Lay Dying ⭐⭐⭐
  Dash Shaw - Scenes from the Abyss ⭐⭐⭐⭐
  Derek Van Gieson - Another Kind of Give and Take ⭐⭐⭐
  Ray Fenwick - The Truth Bear ⭐⭐⭐
  Derek Van Gieson - Transfixation & the Winds of the North ⭐
  Ben Jones, Frank Santoro & Jon Vermilyea - Chocolate Gun Cold Heat Test ⭐⭐⭐⭐
  Sara Edward-Corbett - The Tortoise and the Hare ⭐⭐
  Conor O'Keefe - Mermaid Sighting ⭐⭐
  Émile Bravo - Wild West Winging It ⭐
  Lilli Carré - The Carnival ⭐⭐⭐⭐
  Derek Van Gieson - It Wasn't Lilandra from the X-Men ⭐⭐⭐⭐
  Jon Vermilyea - Kool-Aid Comic ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
  Hernán Migoya & Juaco Vizuete - Julito, the Singer Señorito in "The New Servant" ⭐
  Derek Van Gieson - Words in My Shoe from My Mouth Before ⭐
  Derek Van Gieson - My Force is Your Force ⭐
  Josh Simmons - The Funny Pages ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
• 
  Jesús

  The gratingly awful racist caricatures in Shelton & Pic’s “Last Gig in Shnargrlig” and Émile Bravo’s “Wild West Winging It” are totally unforgivable. It’s hard to believe that this issue of MOME was edited by industry notables Eric Reynolds and Gary Groth.
  
  I can only hope that looking back now, ten years later, those folks cringe at the two comics’ obvious racism. And that’s totally okay because I would much rather they cringe in retrospect than dig their heels in deeper.
  
  I’m glad to know that Lilli Carré’s “The Carnival” has been published elsewhere (in her excellent collection, Heads or Tails) since hers is the only piece in this issue worth anyone’s time. Do yourself a favor and pick up her solo collection instead and skip this issue.
• 
  Troy

  A nearly perfect MOME. This literary comic book anthology is consistently great and this volume is no exception.
  
  MOME's emphasis has tended to be on a combination of experimental storytelling AND visuals, but the shorter stories in this volume lean towards quick dream-like experiments, which I found unsatisfying.
  
  The stand outs are Lilli Carre, Gilbert Shelton, Olivier Schrauwen, Dash Shaw, and Laura Park. Dash Shaw, who is one of the best (and experimental) comic creators around right now, but who is also one of the laziest cartoonists/draftsmen, tries out a new style that is simply stunning, and which (as usual) fits perfectly with his story. Derek Van Gieson, whose art is beautiful, is finally learning how hold interest with words and story. Schrauwen excites me more than almost any other young cartoonist; he's a protean talent and I have high hopes for his future work. Carre is a gifted storyteller, and Shelton is back to his crazed self. Emile Bravo and the Ben Jones/Frank Santoro/Jon Vermilyea team both give slightly disappointing entries. Bravo's parody of Bush, Chaney, Hillary Clinton and Obama isn't as funny or as poignant as prior Bravo comics, and while Santoro/Vermilyea's art is breathtaking, the "story" is too quick to hold interest (the art does all the work). Jones' story really needed to be longer, or not part of their prior "Cold Heat" storyline.
  
  
  Laura Park
  
  
  Olivier Schrauwen
  
  
  Dash Shaw
  
  
• 
  Robert

  A real solid issue. The long Lille Carre story, "The Carnival," is the obvious standout piece here, a strange, magical tale of longing, escape, and dreaming. I thought it was just wonderful; coupled with her haunting recent short graphic novel The Lagoon (also from Fantagraphics), she appears to have developed into a major cartooning talent. Her comics are subtle, ambiguous, eerie & lyrical. I find myself going back to her work again very soon after the first reading - always a good sign. The other highlights here are another intriguing bit of whimsy from Laura Park; a fragmented Dash Shaw narrative with a very interesting visual schema and color palette; another funny Kool-aid Man comic with a dark, creepy twist from Jon Vermilyea; a page of short twisted humor strips from Josh Simmons; and a series of single pages from Derek van Gieson, who pairs his elegant, painterly visuals with pitch-black prose, often with a slightly-warped sexual edge. In all, MOME continues its mission as a good argument for Comics as Art (newsflash: They Are).
• 
  Morbus Iff

  I never met an anthology I really liked.