Indie Comic Reviews #1

In addition to buying as many independent comics as I could afford/get my hands on, I had the pleasure of meeting a lot of very talented comic book artists at MCM Expo on Saturday; some of whom I even had the chance to chat to at length.

Howard Hardiman was one of them. While we did talk about everything from pterodactyls to Sign Like a Pirate Day (a man with many strings to his bow; let me tell you), the name of Howard's website, Cute but Sad actually best sums up his work.

The simply titled badger tells "the sad tale of a lonely badger living in a flat in South London, watched quietly by Howard" and does so in beautiful black and white drawings.

Entirely wordless panels (in a style reminiscent of Shaun Tan, who I can never rave about quite enough) play out the story of badger's everyday life, but, while wonderfully drawn, it is far from cutesy.

Badger doesn't play in the park with his woodland friends, nor does he smoke a pipe and do the Times crossword... this is a comic book about the stark reality of just how easy it is to be lonely, even in a city full of people.

Howard's other work covers a range of social and personal issues, and it's so exciting to see someone exploring these in such an interesting format. I am looking forward to seeing more of his work, especially the pterodactyl he promised ;)

badger and Howard's other comics are available here and you can catch up with him over at his Tumblr.

I didn't have the opportunity to talk to the The Zombies Ate My Chilean guys at all, as their stall was (justifiably) busy. The guys (one of whom I'm pretty sure was Alex Macieira; who does the pencil, inks and story - the other signature I can't quite decipher sadly) did very kindly sign it for me though, and I also scored an "I [anatomically correct heart picture] zombies" badge which I was very pleased with.

I needed no convincing to buy The Zombies Ate My Chilean but it was definitely worthwhile. A group of friends wake up in London after a rough night out and are puzzled to find that instead of one or two missing moments, none of them have any idea what happened the night before. Things get more confusing as they realise that two of the guys aren't answering their phones. Then comes a phonecall; "They keep walking past my window.."

It's very much a guy romp, but an enjoyable one with a very promising start. The artwork is really brilliant and I can't wait to get my hands on some more. It does seem that these guys have been a bit slack on getting an online presence established; their Myspace promises the eventual existence of an official website and does say that the comics are on sale at Orbital.. I'll give Orbital a try and, if not, see if I can get in touch with the guys and find out whether they do any kind of overseas shipping at all. YOU ALL NEED THIS COMIC.

Despite a fairly strong cover, Geek-Girl didn't impress me all that much at the stall; but I had to give it a fair chance, given its name.

It feels almost sinful to say so; but I found this too girly. Or at least, too self-consciously so. It reads a bit more like a male fantasy... It starts out with two guys discussing an invention that one has come up with in a bid to win the affection of a girl he likes; glasses with a 'superpower chip' built into them.

Girls at the next table overhear them and for reasons unknown blatantly obvious their ploy to get the glasses involves making out with each other to somehow make the guys do their bidding... *cue extreme eyeroll*

After a tasteless sex joke, we learn that instead of uber awesome, the glasses make Ruby uber clutzy. A shocking revelation; made even more horrifying when *gasp* several of her friends' outfits are stained when she spills drinks on them.

I'm not gonna lie folks; this is compelling stuff.

I know I've been harsh, so in the name of fairness here is the website if you'd like to know more or give it a try. I wanted to like it; really I did.

More reviews comings soon; don't forget to check out some of these amazing artists!