Reviews from Delaine Derry Green: Hero Land, Falling Can be Deadly, Scrappy J, Invincible Summer,

Delaine here - making my first-ever appearance as a reviewer for XD. Thank you, Davida, for inviting me to play! I’ll try to briefly introduce myself now… I became enamored with zines back in 1993. That’s when I started contributing to other people’s zines. It didn’t take long before I KNEW I had to do my own zine! So I put out ‘My Small Diary’, a collection of my autobio comics, quickly followed by ‘Not My Small Diary’ (other people’s autobio comics – get it?) and I continue to this day. My next NMSD is going to have a ‘Brushes with Celebrity’ theme (fun!). I have been saving every zine I’ve received over the years and the piles are large, let me tell you. I will now try to share my ziney opinions with you. Enjoy!
delangel3@hotmail.com; www.mysmallwebpage.com; yes, I’m on Facebook

HERO LAND
by Esther Pearl Watson
32 pages, $5
5 1/2 x 6 1/2
Funchicken.com
The focus of this mini rests squarely on the biggest names in superhero land, but it’s done with a twist. Superman, Wonderwoman, Captain America and others find themselves in hilarious situations in single or 2-3 page strips. For example, a spider bites Batman causing his middle finger to become stuck in an unfortunate position. He wonders aloud… “Oh! I hope I don’t offend anyone.” Superman and Wonderwoman have the type of arguments typical of normal couples. Captain America mourns his youth while pulling at his worn-out costume’s crotch. Each super-snippet is illustrated in Esther’s signature funky style that you’ve come to love with her Unlovable comics. The cover is a fabulous red and blue screenprinting job that’ll make you want to show it off on the coffee table. I don’t love superheroes but I love this mini comic!

FALLING CAN BE DEADLY
Ten Foot Rule, Shawn Granton
$2
TFR Industries, PO Box 14185, Portland, OR 97293-0185
Shawn presents his life in a mini comic with polished artwork, detailed stories, moments others might forget and even a fold-out center section focusing on his introspective new year’s resolutions for ‘08. Did he follow his own advice now that it’s a year later? I hope to find out with more comics detailing grand bicycle adventures, self evaluation, brushes with other comic artists and glorious nature! I truly admire Shawn’s body of work.

SCRAPPY J – A STORY ABOUT FIGHTING
Cassie J. Sneider
PO Box 4156, Austin, TX 78765
Cassie recently made a long drive from Austin to Birmingham for our fair city’s first real zine show. Hearing her read from her zines was truly magic. This girl is hilarious and presents her life in the most interesting way possible. Her zines have pages of hand-written stories, funny scribbled drawings and best of all – moxie! This issue takes a look at Cassie’s view of fighting - from a high-schooler wary of her ‘permanent record’ to a present day bar brawl - all told in a chatty/witty style. Cassie also read from another issue of her zine dealing with an odd job she picked up writing first-hand (ha!) reviews of sex toys.

INVINCIBLE SUMMER
Volume II: Issues 9-14, $12
Nicole J. Georges; www.microcosmpublishing.com
Microcosm Publishing, 222 S. Rogers St., Bloomington, IN 47404
Nicole does it again… diary comics filled with the love of animals, band antics, dating, everyday occurrences, minor traumas and some of my favorite drawings ever. It’s not all straight diary comics… Nicole throws in “Advice for Fat Girls who Thrift Shop’, an ‘Ask Nicole’ sassy advice column, a recipe for pumpkin cheesecake, a description of ‘The Points Game’ and more fun than you can shake a stick at. By the end of this pretty pink-covered book you will be bowing down to the gal with the finest beehive hairdo around.

Invincible Summer --an anthology--by Nicole J. Georges (review by Anne)

(because today's the day with the extra hour, i am making up for lost time)

Invincible Summer --an anthology
Nicole J. Georges
many illustrated pages--fancy book bound
ISBN:0-97269967-6-8 Microcosm #76053)
Microcosm Publishing
222 S. Rogers St Bloomington IN. 47404
www.microcosmpublishing.com
jessie [at] microcosmpublishing[dot] com
(cost? not sure. email for details)

Reprinted in October 2007, this collection covers the first 8 issues of Nicole's zine, started in 2000 when she first moved to Portland. This second edition (the first was printed in 2004) includes more material--more drawings of dogs, material that wasn't published before, other new bits. Not having the first edition to compare with the later one, all I can say on that is that the book is pretty substantial and there are an awful lot of very cute dog drawings.

You could actually apply that phrase--an awful lot of very cute--to the entire book. There's a collection of the drawings from her 2006 calendar, which totally made me want to do my own (in addition to the crazy-busy let-me-stump-it-again monster millinery thing). In fact, the whole thing was kind of inspiring; like that feeling you get when you read a really, really good zine and it somehow lights a fire under your butt, this book made me want to bust out my pens and draw. I've been working on a long book project (nothing to do with the slowness that is booty #22) that's taking a long time to do and reading through this one made me really excited to get back to it.

It's sort of like sifting through old letters; by the end I felt as if I'd caught up on five or so years of an old friend's life. There's an easy familiarity to her work and it's an enchanting kind of read. Highly recommended.