2017 Comic Challenge 300 A Touch of Silver #01

TITLE-A Touch of Silver #01
PUBLISHER-Image

After hearing about this series for years,plus reading what I think is all of Jim Valentino's Normalman series last year,I have been wanting to try out A Touch of Silver. Going into the comic all I knew was it was semi autobiographical,and that Gary Groth of  The Comics Journal hated it.

Ok I see why Groth hated it. This is Valentino trying his best to pull on every fanboy's heartstrings. Imagine if you took Blankets,another comic I hate,and add the art style of early issues of Hate.You would get A Touch of Silver. It is every "Man it sucked growing up as a comic geek. Everyone hated me" story you have heard or lived through at once.

So sorry Mr Valentino,I have at least enjoyed every other thing of yours I have read. But A Touch of Silver is pure crap.

A Touch of Silver gets a pass. Pass it to a trash can and light it on fire so no one else should have to suffer through this god awful comic.

2016 Comic Challenge 086 Self-Indulgent Comics #38

TITLE-Self-Indulgent Comics #38
PUBLISHER-Colin Upton Comics

Last year,or maybe the year before, I got a package in the mail. It was full of mini comics from the Canadian artist/writer/painter Colin Upton. And to make a great package even better every issue was signed and had a quick doodle on it.

This issue has Colin walking around Vancouver Canada. And he runs into a group of guys on a scavenger hunt. They need a sketch of themselves by a major landmark. And they lucked out cause Colin just so happens to be a damn good artist. He does the best with the meager art supplies the guys have,standard paper and some crappy markers. After they leave Colin starts to let his mind wander and wonder if they won the hunt and who they worked for. Then on the last page we find out they do and get a small scan of the sketch.

I have read a decent amount of mini comix over the years. But the art in the various ones of Mr Upton's I have read is just soo damn good. The shading is perfect.The linework is perfect. I suspect that Colin is a fan of Robert Crumb. The next to last page feels like a loving tribute to various piece of Crumb artwork.

If you have an interest in Colin's work here's his website.www.colinupton.com

He has lots of his comix for sale and the price is great. One small warning,Colin lives in Canada so if you live outside Canada the postage will be a bit higher than you would suspect,but not that much higher than US postage. And it takes a bit longer for sometime to get to you. But it is at most 3 or 4 more days.  To me Colin's comix are worth the extra postage and wait.

Self-Indulgent Comics #38 gets a BUY!