ICYMI -- Small Press Comics Criticism and Whatnot for 10/13/18 to 10/19/18

Highlighting some great small press comics criticism being published, as well as other random things that have caught my eye over the past week.

COMICS CRITICISM

* Alex Hoffman reviews INCISION by HTMLflowers, writing "These diaries are horrifying and heart-breaking. But more importantly, they are necessary. They are a bright voice from a place we would rather stay dark."

* Robin Enrico on Coco Picard's THE CHRONICLES OF FORTUNE which "slowly but steadily build towards its climax and quiet denouement shows just how much clarity of vision Picard has a storyteller. She is an artist who fully grasps that sometimes it takes magical realism to fully express the magic and loss of real life."

* John Seven reviews ONE DIRTY TREE by Noah Van Sciver, which he describes as "Van Sciver working things out, and it’s gracious of him to share this level of introspection. Though he attempts to give the childhood stories some amount of joy, at least in regard to the moments he lived his own life, none of this can escape the saturating sadness of the book, and it’s all peppered with an understandable anger and frustration."

* Dominic Umile on ALL THE SAD SONGS by Summer Pierre, which "recounts ... the start of lasting friendships and lost loves over the years that shaped the person she’s become. But while everything here is connected to the records and songs that stopped her in her tracks, Pierre’s comic is increasingly concerned with discoveries that are larger than those made through mixtapes."

* Ryan Carey reviews August Lipp's LOTTA LIPP COMICS #1 which "is as inquisitive, as resonant, as smart as funny books get".

* Austin Lanari is back(?) writing about comics(?) penning this review(?) of THE PRINCE by Liam Cobb, calling it "the one with the guy shitting out hundreds of frog eggs before getting forked in his fucking EAR-FACE". Just read the review. You'll get it.

* Gregory Smith reviews SABRINA by Nick Drnaso, calling it "a thoughtful exploration of what many people in the United States are experiencing in 2018." 

WHATNOT

* Robin McConnell interviews KEREN KATZ

* Ken Eppstein of Nix Comics breaks down the numbers regarding sales at "events" in a piece called SHOP TALK: FIVE YEARS OF GROSS SALES and it's kind of depressing.

* New Seo Kim comic on Vice! It's called CLEAN ROOM.

* New Tara Booth comic on Vice! It's called CLOGGED DRAIN.

* New Gabrielle Bell comic on Spiralbound! It's called MANIFESTATION.

* Lauren Weinstein has a comic on Popula called THE NIGHT MEN.