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Fantagraphics latest foray in anthology publishing, the Chris Polkki-edited, BLOOD ORANGE, gets better with each issue, not because every individual contribution gets better, but because at least two artists per issue turn in an exceptionally conceived, executed, and/or entertaining tale. The artists that make up Blood Orange’s roster are small press, alt-comics, and art comics cartoonists. Their work is way off the beaten path of Direct Market comics, but their experimentation with the comics form to tell stories is as engaging as the most romantic Frank Miller romantic adventure.
One of the two exceptional tales this issue is cartoonist Tobias Tak and writer Patty Deeders’ fabulous “Gardenia or : A Fluff’s Flight.” What begins as sort of a late 19th/early 20th century fairy tale (like The Wizard of Oz) becomes a comic book homage to 1940’s Film-Noir cinema, complete with a Robert Mitchum-like lead. The second is Brian Ralph’s sweetly funny “Reggie-12 ‘Ultimate Origins,’” which is true comic book cartoon humor. An adorable and sassy tale of dumb robots and the dumb scientists that make them, it made me want more. No fan of small press anthologies should go without Blood Orange. B+
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