[Previous entry: "Joss Whedon's "Astonishing X-Men #1""] [Main Index] [Next entry: "MAC AFRO"]

05/01/2004 Archived Entry: "Stupid Comics #2"

Stupid Comics
by Jim Mahfood; $2.95
Published by Image Comics

Why is this called Stupid Comics? It's not stupid at all. In fact, it's one of the smartest comics I've read recently. (Is that the joke? Maybe I'm just slow.) I got to read issue #2, which (like #1) is a collection of strips that appeared in Java magazine and Tastes Like Chicken newspaper – the latter being a very cool looking zine/magazine/webzine that has way lots of articles about bands I've never heard of, way lots of cool interviews, and short news parodies, like the Onion. Anyway, I really like Jim Mahfood's comics, which are equal parts anger at the stupidity of the world (Bush, Republicans, celebrities) and celebration of the good things that we can still share (friends, music, love, art). I mean, I like bleak as much as the next gal – hey, I have ALL the issues of Optic Nerve – but it's great to see simple appreciation of "the sweetest things", as in the last strip in this book: calling your mom, reading comics, eating a yummy breakfast, stuff like that. Mahfood's drawing style is kind of a cross between Bill Watterson and Jaime Hernandez, if that makes any sense at all, filled with lots of black and pointy edges on hair and clothes. I really enjoyed his rants on comic book stores in LA (and I thought they were bad up here in No Cal) and comic conventions, and on things that are Fucking Played Out. Like I said, good healthy anger without the bitterness! Hooray! Mahfood does a bunch of other cool comics, too, so hop on over to his website and check em out.

Ontology on the go!

Contact us