Kronikle Comics #6
Jenny Gonzalez
Reviewed by Darren Hick

Kronikle Comics has, unfortunately, precious few redeeming qualities.

After a short, but nonetheless painful "prologue" pornographically lampooning Children of the Corn (complete with Isaac, Malachi, and "He Who Beats Off In The Rows"), Gonzalez launches into the story of Renoir, Addison & Magdeline, a group of Smurf-like nymphs employed in the adult entertainment (read: "stripper") industry. Dissatisfied by the music selection of the club's "mysterious new DJ" (the result of which is, apparently, causing suicidal tendencies in the dancers), the heroes go in quest of the DJ booth in hopes of alleviating the threat of mass suicide, much to the dismay of "The Evil Mayor Ghouliani," a swastika-adorned animated corpse set on purging the city of filth. That pretty much sums it up. Imagine Mike Diana being hired to draw the next incarnation of Scooby Doo comics, and you won't be far off.

Gonzalez's characters do, eventually... somehow, get down to discussing issues of ethics and feminism, and she finally starts to get into a stride once she gets on her soapbox, but by this point in the story, it's far too little, far too late.

Suffice it to say that, aside from the potentially interesting ethical discussion that never fully materializes, nothing I could say could possibly describe how utterly terrible this comic is. Gonzalez's art is, frankly, dreadful. She's got some sort of talent, I sense, and you see a glimmer of it now and again (much of her drafting style is, in fact, in the tradition of Tex Avery's Warner Bros. animation) , but her execution is made without apparent forethought, attention to composition, or understanding of sequential pacing. Her panels are confusing enough on their own, but when Gonzalez adapts a non-grid-based layout, the story becomes virtually incomprehensible.

There are, however, two saving graces for Kronikle Comics: the letters column, and the reviews that appear on the back cover. One letter from a mother who apparently caught her son reading KC starts off: "The Devil always takes something SWEET like comic strips and he turns them into EVIL which parents MUST keep their children from seeing." Ha! And it gets better. That letter alone would probably be worth the $1.00 price tag to most of you. The "Rat Reviews," meanwhile, cover a variety of comics, 'zines, and albums that I now want to get ahold of.

Much of the problem inherent to Gonzalez's art, it seems likely to me, is simply the result of a lack of practice. With continued effort, Gonzalez could very well become a competent cartoonist. Perhaps some day she will look back at Kronikle Comics and cringe. Perhaps not. Only time will tell.

Kronikle Comics #6 carries a price of $1.00, and can be obtained from Jenny Gonzalez, 86 S. 6th St. Apt. #1, Brooklyn, NY, 11211. Alternatively, you could drop her a line at LilRenoir@aol.com.