Action Girl
is edited by Sarah Dyer and features female-friendly comics by
sometimes-steady contributors and sometimes new people. The comics aren't
always great, but there's usually at least one awesome one and it's a good
way to find new cartoonists. I love it when Sarah has time to do something
for it, 'cause her drawings are very cute. It used to have these great
paper dolls, but I haven't seen those for a while. *Slave Labor
Graphics*
Artbabe is by
Jessica Abel, and there've only been two issues of it so far. Each one is
one story, drawn in a mostly graceful (but sometimes a bit stiff) way.
When you sit down to read it, it seems to go very fast - zip! It's over.
But in general, very promising. I like that spunky girl on the left.
*Fantagraphics*Dirty Plotte is Julie Doucet's and is drawn in a very cluttered way that I sometimes love and sometimes makes me crazy. This is often autobiographical and sometimes has weird dreams and fantasies (masturbating with an elephant's trunk?) I like it okay, and will sometimes buy it if I see it, but it's not one I keep up with. She also has a book, and the French title translates to "Lift Your Leg, My Fish is Dead" *Drawn & Quarterly*
Dork
is by Evan Dorkin and sometimes it's awesome and sometimes it's lame. I
don't like his other comic, Milk & Cheese, at all. When this is good,
though, it's brilliant! Scathing critiques of Gen X'ers, etc. and tiny
little four-panel gags. The last issue was fairly crappy, though. A
realistic mockery of comic geeks, but so realistic I was bored to death
and irritated to boot. Alas. Witness the devil hand puppet. *Slave Labor
Graphics*Ghost World is of course by Dan Clowes, Mr. Eightball himself. Eightball is okay by me, but doesn't strike me as the world's most awesome thing, and Ghost World is my favorite part of it. It is nice to have them collected in one book. At this point, it seems like all my favorite comics are "girl" comics, but if girl comics are the ones with coherent stories about people and the ones with attractive drawings, then I guess it's true; I have no problem with that. Ghost World is funny and sad. *Fantagraphics*
Meat Cake I
have liked forever. It is by Dame Darcy and is a bit twisted. Her
characters include Hindrance & Perfidia, two heads on the same body, Wax
Wolf, a wolf with a penchant for pinchin', Effluvia the mermaid, and
Strega Pez who speaks by shooting Pez tablets with words on them out of
her neck. The stories are often about things gone wrong in the Victorian
era, and are sometimes about selfish shellfish. The comics begin to be
fairly similar after eight issues, but they tend to be clever and amusing
so I keep buying them. *Fantagraphics*Optic Nerve by Adrian Tomine, is rad because he bothers to have well-thought-out stories going on. Surely you already know about this. The art is extremely good looking, and hip in a good way. I was a bit disappointed with issue #5 'cause I thought the main character was a big
jerk, but oh well.
Certain of his comics make my teeth hurt. Well, "Pink Frosting" does, at
least. *Drawn & Quarterly*Potential is another of my recent finds. Ariel Schrag does it. There was a good interview with her in the "comics issue" of Ben is Dead. Ariel's extremely autobiographical comic reminds me a lot of the sex farce that was my high school group of friends. I never did like a girl and her sister, though - luckily. The comic is very easy to relate to and is infused with a merry sense of humor. Snap it up! *Slave Labor Graphics*
Slave Labor Graphics: 979 Bascom Ave | San Jose CA 95128 USA
Drawn & Quarterly: PO Box 48056 | Montreal, Quebec | CANADA H2V 4S8
Fantagraphics Books: 7563 Lake City Way NE | Seattle WA 98115 USA