TOP SHELF PRODUCTIONS CARTOONIST: Jeffrey Brown ISBN: 1-891830-71-6; soft cover; paperback original 220 pp. B&W, $12
Jeffrey Brown’s comix are in a world of their own, and Brown is mastering his own little sub-genre of unashamed and caustic relationship drama. That is evident in his recent release, AEIOU (also known as An Easy Intimacy), in which Brown recounts his relationship with a former girlfriend named Sophie.
Brown is a good writer. His stories are engaging, and his dialogue runs the gamut between witty and sarcastic and surreal and deadpan. For AEIOU, he doesn’t maintain a solid narrative; rather, his fictional telling of this affair is a walkthrough highlighting a different moment every two pages. Sometimes, reading this is like watching a fender bender every two pages. The leads are so pathetic, both as a couple and as individuals, that they generate a confusing mixture of pity and disgust in me.
Brown’s bare bones comix art style is something like what a child learning to draw would draw, but it doesn’t always serve this story very well. Sometimes, it’s appropriate for a particular moment in the narrative; other times, the moment requires a kind of subtly that the drawings can’t give it. I’m normally crazy for Jeffrey Brown, but AEIOU is a mixed bag that I recommend for diehard fans.
Ball Peen Hammer
A dark, depressing, grim and grimy, post-apocalyptic, and intelligent graphic novel by novelist, playwright, screen writer, film maker and Pulitzer Prize Finalist, Adam Rapp.
Beasts of Burden #1
It stars puppies, supernatural investigative puppies. It's as bad as it sounds.
Transformers – All Hail Megatron # 15
This issue, Prowl shares his inner turmoil and plans to have the Autobots defeat their opponents the Decepticons by planting the seed of order in the midst of the Autobots
Athena #1
The Ancient Greek Goddess of Wisdom, War, The Arts, Industry, Justice, and Skill is reborn in the modern world.
