Nothing says Christmas like Monster Fan Club (true in fact, if not in spirit)! It was originally slated for a Halloween release, but, of course, as we all know, sometimes things don't go as planned in the comic book world. But hey, what does it matter, really? Here we have an Giant Size (8 1/2" x 12") full color comic book printed on high grade flat white stock with heavy cardstock cover (by Shaky Kane, natch'). The feature attraction is a creepy creation of Shaky Kane and Jason T. Miles, "Blood on Blood," but there's more! A couple short pieces by the elusive Noel Freibert, an exclusive Monster Fan Club edition of Video Tonfa by Tim Goodyear, a Jesse McManus five-pager, a Chris Cilla one-pager, a glossy pullout centerfold poster (of a high concept cartoon Godzilla! by Daria Tessler, no less) and inside front cover by Ken Landgraf. And, we saved the best (for Copacetic customers anyway) for last: the issue opens up with a made-in-Pittsburgh three-pager by "The Diabetic Dracula", aka Copacetic customer, Joshua Rievel! (thus the honorary "made-in-Pittsburgh" appelation for this item).
TWO COPIES
Crease is an ambitious and challenging 56 page, 8 1/2" x 11" comics anthology edited by Austin English. All of the comics are adaptations of written works penned in Europe from the late-19th through mid-20th century. There is a strong focus on the intersectionality of sex lives with the wider world of class and gender, and economic and political orders. These adaptations, for the most part, plunge in medias res* as readers are immediately brought face to face with lives lived on the edge.
Importantly, none of these works are simply visual transcriptions of texts. Each of the artists here brings their own talents to bear on the material and each piece is something more akin to a collaboration – with, of course, the adapting artist having free reign to proceed according to their own creative impulses. Settings range from the historically appropriate 1930s Europe of Pris Genet's adaptation of George Bataille's Blue of Noon, to Ian Sundahl's substituting a contemporary American milieu for that of the original Victorian England of My Secret Life. And then there are the more complexly layered adaptations of Alfred Jarry stories by Chris Cilla and of Jean Genet's Thief's Journal by John Hankiewicz, with each of these cartoonists bringing their unique visions to bear, transforming the original material and bringing it more fully into the comics dimension.
–––––––––––––
*E.A. Bethea's adaptation of selections from Harriet Sohmers Zwerling's journals of her life in 1950s Paris is the exception in its provision of context and additional biographical details for a fuller portrait.
–––––––––––––
front cover by Caroline Sury | back cover by Marlene Frontera | table of contents illustration by Lillian Ansell
It is printed in black & white with full color covers, entirely on newsprint and features entirely new material.
We've posted a few selections on the Copacetic Tumblr, HERE.
Chris Cilla fans are in for a real treat. Feast of Grease lives up to its title. This 112 page collection is a patchwork quilt of comics, in full CillaColor™ interspersed with black & white pen & ink (also occasionally inkwash), all printed on flat white, magazine-size (8 1/2" x 11") paper. It's non-stop comics mayhem!
Here's what some of his peers have to say about it:
"This eyefull from the Cillaverse hits hard, like a bulbous nose to the puil. A macaroni salad of psychedelic diary comics, dystopian satire, and demented nightmares that is sure to make you ask, 'who spiked the mayonnaise?!?' Feast Up!" – Leif Goldberg
"Tired of the soul-crushing drudgery of a hollow and mundane existence? Have I got a cure for you! Chris Cajero Cilla's Feast of Grease will make you laugh and cry at the same time at the sheer absurdity of reality. Devilishly drawn pages put a smile on your face and a fire in your heart, This hilarious tome is jam-packed with crooked cops, horny corn cobs, high as heck hippies, general miscreants and more! Not for squares, be the freak you wanna be an pick up what Chris is puttin' down." – Corinne Halbert
"Chris and I both venture into the 'lightbulb-nose school of cartooning' that Mario Hernandez once advised me to avoid. I don't know exactly what Freud would have said about it, but those ruddy caveman clubs look great sticking out of a character's face. If there's still such a thing as underground comics, surely Cilla is one of the best caratoonists making them."– J. Bradley Johnson
"It's a given that Cilla is always doing something interesting with his work. Pay attention!" – Marc Bell
