review by Anne: Another Whit Taylor two-fer!

Grab Bag (2011) 5 x 6, 20 pages, B&W
$2 US, $? Can/Mex, $? world, contact to trade
Whit Taylor
WhitLTaylor@gmail.com
http://whimsicalnobodycomics.blogspot.com

Watermelon…and other things that make me uncomfortable as a black person (2011)
8 x 10, 44 pages, B&W with full color cover
$4 US, $ Can/Mex, $? world, contact to trade
(same info as above)

I was at this year’s Small Press Expo in Bethesda recently and discovered that Whit Taylor was tabling in the same group of tables that I was! How awesome and unexpected! She’s got new work (all of which I think is available through her website) and it’s worth reading. GRAB BAG is this fun mix of random pieces – a trip to the Jerry Springer show, Bad Inventions (they’re really funny), some riffing on Britney Spears (yeah, you know you love it), and some interesting business ideas. WATERMELON has that same sense of fun to it, even as Whit herself says in the introduction that “this comic is my attempt to deal with these issues” – the things that make her uncomfortable. I don’t want to give too much away, but it’s a really well-done personal comic about some very important issues. You get Whit’s perspective, and she’s clear that she’s just speaking for herself, but it’s very well done and tackles some heavy stuff in a way that’s both heartbreaking in places (be sure to read her story about Africa) and at the same time very funny in places. Highly recommended.

It’s a Whit Taylor two-fer!

Field Guide to Official State Haircuts #1 (2010) 9.5 x 7.25, 14 pages, color cover
$4 US, $5 Can/Mex, $5 world, yes to trades!
Whit Taylor
WhitLTaylor@gmail.com
http://whimsicalnobodycomics.blogspot.com

Attic #1 (2010) 5 x 7.5, 20 pages, B&W
$3 US, $4 Can/Mex, $4 world, yes to trades!
(same info as above)

FIELD GUIDE is billed as the definitive guide to “official” state haircuts (and can be used as a coloring book; the shapes of the states as well as the state flower are represented), and it’s pretty funny. Maryland! Your state haircut is the BUZZCUT! It’s okay; we up here in Massachusetts got some prim lookin’ thing called the “Ivy League” while Delaware got the “Devilock” (note: not once in the seven years I spent living in Delaware did I see that haircut.)There’s also a Bonus Section for the US Territories (poor Guam is all I’ve got to say about that.) I can’t wait to see what Issue #2 is going to be about. ATTIC is a collection of online slice-of-life comics from Summer 2010; humongous hickey coverage, Facebook, commercials, ebay, and what happens to old soda are just a few of the topics that appear. Fun read for sure.