A few days ago, my loving husband Garbanzo posted a story about comic books that ended with me buying more than he did during the last trip to the comic shop.  He was very happy that I had done that – but I wanted to show you why I was happy with my finds.

First, I present King of the Monkeys by Erik Nebel.

I judged the book by its cover and had to thumb thru it.  I mean, are the monkeys dying? Having an orgy? I had to look inside to learn more.  It is a very cleaver little book of about 4 or 5 different series of comics.  And, this picture is the final pane out of the segment called The French Cancan.  Yep – it’s an orgy.

Cavities is by Erin Griffin.  I picked this one up because it was clearly hand assembled, and I wanted to see what was inside given the care she had taken in the outside.  And, I wanted to find out how you can write a comic about cavities.  After thumbing through it,  I was more amused with was the fact that it has a centerfold.  Of a sock monkey….complete with a list of turn ons.  I had to read the rest after that, and bought it.

Brilliantly Ham-Fisted by Tom Neely was the first one I picked up.  I wanted to see what comic strip poems looked like.  I won’t try to describe it because I can’t.  I just knew Garbanzo had to read it.  Here is his website.

Owl was my favorite.   Check out his website here.  Owl is cynical, deep, and fucking brilliant.  According to the story on the back of this book, this book was originally self-published and seized by US Customs and the Portland OR Police.  Hmmm…may have to read more about this one.

Push the Button is another book by Erik Nebel.  The book starts out with a job interview where the final question is “Whose side are you on? Cowboys or Indians?”  The guy chooses cowboys.  Afterwards, he is talking to his friend who say “you didn’t say cowboys did you?” then launches into a tirade.  The guy eventually gets called back.

The last book I had to buy was this one.  I figured if nothing else it would speak to Garbanzo.  Liz Prince, the creator, actually says on the first page that she’s embarrassed to even be showing these old comics she drew in high school and art school.  I liked the fact she could laugh at herself.  And, it was worth a laugh.