Review: Big Funny

Big Funny Web site, 16″ x 23″, 48 pages, $5 US

(a co-production of Altered Esthetics, The International Cartoonist Conspiracy and Big Time Attic)

It doesn’t happen all at once. First, there is the longest silence, as if nothing has changed, followed by a cry inspired by nostalgia until, finally, we all wake up to a world without printed newspapers. Maybe there will always be some newspapers but it won’t be the same. However, through nostalgia, we can find ways to move forward. And so a comic strip anthology printed on an old timey oversized newspaper is welcome as something to enjoy and learn from.

The biggest thing about Big Funny is that it is a celebration of the comic strip art form and, by extension, of how it all came about it in the first place. We owe a lot to the comic strip pioneers. They set up the ground rules and, in a lot of ways, we cartoonists still follow them. And, in a broader sense, we all are influenced to some extent by the way the original cartoonists went about telling a story or joke.

The first comic strip in the collection is “Hey Kids, Comics!” by Terry Beatty. Here we find the very first star of the comic strips, The Yellow Kid, now quite elderly. In a quick and snappy fashion, as only comics can do, we’re given a brief history of comics. This is nicely followed up by “Little Emo in Slumbaland,” by Jesse Gillespie, which is one of the best you’ll find here. A landmark in comics is tweaked for a new generation. The title alone is clever but Gillespie delivers with a beautiful tribute to Winsor McCay. And no one can deny that Kevin Cannon provides an excellent tribute to the adventure strip with “Army Men.”

The goal of Big Funny, as it called for talent, was to seek out assorted views from various backgrounds, inside and outside the comics community. In that all-inclusive spirit, there are plenty of comic strips here that don’t look like comic strips. There’s the comic strip oil painting by painter Bjorn Rolvaag. There’s “Vis, Croatia: The Ride,” by printmaker Jenny Schmid. Some of my favorites that stretch comics quite nicely are “The Teenage Ghost Hunting Society,” by B. Sabo, “Pumpkinship” by Maxeem, and “Dear Friends,” by Britt Hammerberg.

With forty-five different views of what you can do with a comic strip, Big Funny is like your own personal tour of a comics festival. For my part, I contributed “Inkwellspring,” an offbeat take on today’s family comic strips. On the other end of the spectrum is “Living in Filth,” by Hawk Krall, a hilarious look at aging rebels whose routine these days includes a trip to Pottery Barn. If you like political satire, you’ll like the sharp wit of “Banana Republic,” by Kirk Anderson. All in all, a nice selection of comics anyway you look at it.

Last but not least, is “Ticket to Crickety Creek,” by the late William R. Ede. His son, Craig Ede, provides an essay in loving memory of his father. We find Will Ede to have been, like most cartoonists, very passionate and determined. We will never know what might have been had some editor, down the line, said, “yes,” instead of, “no.” William Ede kept his day job as a postman for 30 years. He may have complained from time to time but he remained persistent. He loved to draw trains and alligators and that’s what he did. Whether he should have succeeded then or whether his art should succeed now is not the question. He did what he had to do. If you look at the comic strip in Big Funny, you’ll see why.

No wonder artists count so much on posterity. It can be only after death, even if only on newsprint, that some art just begins to live.

Here is a list of the contributing artists to Big Funny. There will be an art show by the same name on August 7th at Altered Esthetics where the anthology will premiere and some of the artists will show their original work. This will also be the premiere of a bonus set of comics at the show, Little Funny:

“Hey Kids, Comics!” by Terry Beatty

“Little Emo in Slumbaland” by Jesse Gillespie

“Little Miss Mechanical’s Bedtime Amusement” by Diana Nock

“There is a Heppy Plonet” by Mike Sgier

“Captain Kleinbottle” by Jason Sandberg

“Hey Rube!” by Daniel J. Olson

“Army Men” by Kevin Cannon

“Classics Majors…in Love!” by Ursula Murray Husted

“Tommy Chicago and Jimmy” by Brian Bastian and Danno Klonowski

“Oil Painting” by Bjorn Rolvaag

“Banana Republic” by Kirk Anderson

“Citizen Participation in Hell” by Ken Avidor

“The Teenage Ghost Hunting Society” by B. Sabo

“Vis,Croatia: The Ride” by Jenny Schmid

“Residue Comics: Krack-Up” by Roger Lootine

“Middle Management” by Andy Singer

“Mark Droppings” by BIll Prendergast

“Dewey Dawner” by Madeline Queripel

“Post Modern” by David Sandberg

“Flying Boy!” by Lewis Tuck

“Authoritative Expert J. Wiggins” by Bud Burgy

“Squirrels and Pigeons” by Caanan Grall

“Eye of the Beholder” by Adam Wirtzfeld

“Uncle $achs” by Donn Ha

“The Madcap Shenanigans of Randolph & Sir Chirptrude, Esq.” by Lonny Unitus

“Gee, Whizzard!” by Kevin McCarthy

“Nate the Nonconformist” by Stephanie Mannheim

“Rampage!” by Erik Nelson

“Inkwellspring” by Henry Chamberlain

“Laffit Forward!” by Blake Himsl Hunter

“The Further Adventures of Vegan Ninja Cats (Who Ride Bikes)” by Mike Toft

“Living in Filth” by Hawk Krall

“Rocket Steven” by Earl Luckes

“Talewinds: Little Jimmy” by Steve Mason

“L’il Buddha and the Hungry Ghost Realm” by Ryan Dow

“Dear Friends” by Britt Hammerberg

“A Breast Abreast” by Lupi

“Uptown Girl” by Bob Lipski

“Underground Funnies” by D.C. McNamara

“Adventure!” by David Steinlicht

“Bongo the Monkey” by Steven Stwalley

“Pumpkinship” by Maxeem

“Look” by David Paleo

“Pickle-Head” by Paul Fricke

“Ticket to Crickety Creek” by William Ede

This entry was posted on Sunday, July 19th, 2009 at 6:06 pm and is filed under News & Views, Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.