Today on the site, Rob Kirby returns with a review of Jenny Zervakis' The Complete Strange Growths: 1991-1997.
To read Jenny Zervakis' The Complete Strange Growths: 1991-1997, the first book published by John Porcellino’s Spit and a Half comics distribution outfit, is to take a welcome step back to the Golden Age of Zines. Long before the advent of such things as social media, GIFs, hashtags, and ebooks, cartoonists and zine-makers like Zervakis created, communicated, and collaborated with kindred spirits through the magic of print media via regular old postal mail. The Complete Strange Growths is a great addition to the small list of archival books devoted to preserving classic titles of this crucial era, including Porcellino's own King-Cat Classix (D+Q, 2007), The Complete Deep Girl by Ariel Bordeaux (Paper Rocket Minicomics, 2013), and Fantastic Plotte by Julie Doucet (L’Oie de Cravan, 2013).
Strange Growths has been credited as a groundbreaking comics zine for its quietude, and focus on the quotidian—or, as Tom Hart’s back cover blurb aptly states, “on thought and mood.” It’s easy to see why John P. has acknowledged Zervakis as a major influence on his work, and fitting that he has published this collection. Zervakis’ comics record her experiences, memories and contemplations of the moment with an aesthetic that is personable yet detached, intelligent but fun-loving, and observant of small details while never losing focus on their larger significance, and never sinking into preciousness or sentimentality.
Meanwhile, elsewhere:
—News. Professed Alan Moore fan Damon Lindelof is reportedly in talks to adapt Watchmen into a television series for HBO, which seems like a strange thing for anyone who respects Moore to do.
Key parts of Ted Rall's defamation lawsuit against the Los Angeles Times have been thrown out by the judge in the case.
The nationally syndicated cartoonist, whose work once appeared regularly in The Times, filed suit last year alleging that the newspaper defamed him by calling into question the veracity of his work.
Acting on a motion by The Times, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Joseph R. Kalin dismissed Rall’s claims of defamation and intentional infliction of emotional distress against three current Times journalists and former Publisher Austin Beutner.
Alternative Comics publisher Marc Arsenault and his family are raising funds to help with various costs stemming from a burst appendix.
Being self-employed, they've also had to hire help to run their bookstore, Wow Cool Alternative Comics, while Marc is in the hospital and will need continued help while he recuperates at home and undergoes physical therapy.
