One Such Partner is a story by Stoya and Dean Haspiel that was in #281, the Sex Issue. It fit the theme and I liked it mostly, but a little thing annoyed me about it. My review is here.
I found out that a guy says it's based on a true story about him. I have no reason to not believe it. He's known as Rev. Mitcz and the story is in two parts, https://revmitcz.com/story/stoya-part-1/ and https://revmitcz.com/story/stoya-part-2/. They're pretty fun reads.
Now before you start clicking on things, get to a safe place since they're pretty NSFW. I admit that's part of the fun, in a prurient way, but they descibe life in a world I'll never be, in a place that I mostly avoid. Kinda like HM, sometimes I like to pretend, but it ain't me. Seems to be him though, and her, and more power to them. Rev. Mitcz appears to be a comedian with an attitude I would have called punk in the 80s, and his writing evokes actual feelings in the midst of the mayhem. Similarly Stoya writes and speaks, as well as performs and acts, with what seems awareness and purpose. In fact they collaborate, https://zerospaces.com/. I can find things to admire in both of them.
While the stories themselves have much to find interesting, the bigger picture for me is finding stories about a story in Heavy Metal, and how it informs and even improves my view of the one in HM. That was fun.
Saturday, July 21, 2018
Monday, July 16, 2018
Blues Ratz #1
Blues Ratz #1 is a story about three brothers in a punk rock band, who live with their mom. It's by Attila Kiss and Greg Woronchak, and published by Scattered Comics. The band, the Punk Bratz, is struggling, as their drummer has "lost his rhythm", and the story gets complicated fast. The mom has recruited their Canadian cousin to manage the band, and bringing him up to speed is used to tell some backstory. She explains that her two older sons have the same name since their father was so drunk he forgot he used the second's name on the first. The oldest son, the rhythm-less drummer, has the "Hungarian Blues", an obsession that consumes the mind until it's satisfied. Their father had the "blues" too, his obsession was to see the Hungary soccer team beat England. And when it happened, he was killed for celebrating by his banned hooligan neighbor. And then it gets complicated....
Now, like I said, I'm not a big comics fan, and this isn't something I would normally review. But Attila Kiss, known to me as Intone Flux from the old HM forums, asked me to, and he sent me something else I'll get to later that I liked a bit more, so I agreed. While I found this work uneven, with some parts not very interesting to me, there were some things that I did like.
The characters are anthromorphic rats, and there's a reference to cats in their world, but otherwise it doesn't seem to have much relevance in the story. The art is nicely appropriate for a comic, and there are some flashback parts where the images are grayer and softer focus, which is effective but can be kind of murky and hinder the storytelling. The story itself has several interesting aspects, like past experiences defining characters' present actions, and some funky names, and it has an energetic pace that can be at once engaging and dizzying. The setting of a London punk band living with their mom, and the subtitle "Never mind the puberty, here's mid life crisis" is both a bit clever and sadly ironic. The gang tries several ways to cure "the blues" which don't work as intended, and require getting bailed out of jail more than once. This story ends with a surprise offer of help from someone in their past, and it's to be continued in #s 2 and 3.
So it was fun to read this, and nice of Attila Kiss to think of me and send it. I'm sure there are plenty of people who would enjoy it, and that may include some who come by here. So here's where to get it:
Now, like I said, I'm not a big comics fan, and this isn't something I would normally review. But Attila Kiss, known to me as Intone Flux from the old HM forums, asked me to, and he sent me something else I'll get to later that I liked a bit more, so I agreed. While I found this work uneven, with some parts not very interesting to me, there were some things that I did like.
The characters are anthromorphic rats, and there's a reference to cats in their world, but otherwise it doesn't seem to have much relevance in the story. The art is nicely appropriate for a comic, and there are some flashback parts where the images are grayer and softer focus, which is effective but can be kind of murky and hinder the storytelling. The story itself has several interesting aspects, like past experiences defining characters' present actions, and some funky names, and it has an energetic pace that can be at once engaging and dizzying. The setting of a London punk band living with their mom, and the subtitle "Never mind the puberty, here's mid life crisis" is both a bit clever and sadly ironic. The gang tries several ways to cure "the blues" which don't work as intended, and require getting bailed out of jail more than once. This story ends with a surprise offer of help from someone in their past, and it's to be continued in #s 2 and 3.
So it was fun to read this, and nice of Attila Kiss to think of me and send it. I'm sure there are plenty of people who would enjoy it, and that may include some who come by here. So here's where to get it:
Here is the publishers link to Blues Ratz:
Issue #1 available at:
DriveThruComics: http://www.
IndyPlanet: http://www.
Blues Ratz #2 Trailer:
Issue #2 available (for now only) at:
Saturday, July 14, 2018
Attila Kiss
Back in the late 00's when the Heavy Metal magazine web site had a forum, there was a participant who went by Intone Flux, who was active and prone to frequent comments and long posts on HM, and other topics that could be somewhat related (some were impressively long and supplemented with images and research), and who also started the idea of rating issues and their stories on a 1-10 scale. I joined in with some regularity, and some others also added to the mix. When they shut down the forums in 2011 (They suffered from inadequate moderation and multiple spam attacks, and pulled the plug instead of trying to save it.) I was so saddened and annoyed I started this little blog.
I liked IF's forum comments for the insights that were displayed, and despite the use of language that made me think English was not learned first, the fearless enthusiasm for the topics, related to HM or not. I enjoyed participating in a public opinion forum, and IF's reviews were a chance to join a conversation. Being a part of something like that, and missing it when it was gone, is why I do this now, so in some part I owe it to Intone Flux.
Since then, Intone Flux has commented here a few times, and contacted me about some other things, including work on actual comics. Indeed, he's outed himself as Attila Kiss, a contributor to a handful of published comic works. He's even asked me to review some of them, and I have once, it was in You Are Not Alone in January 2014. At the time, I hesitated to include a review of YANA, since it wasn't really HM related at all, but because it was such an important topic of resisting and surviving abuse, I agreed, and the post got a good deal of traffic for being on my puny and insignificant blog. I declined another time ("It's All in the Moon" in Grayhaven Comics "The Gathering"), but, undaunted, he's contacted me again, and this time I agreed to review a couple stories, since I quite liked one, and since I'm impressed enough with his determination and success of actually being published, to show him the respect of an honest review of the work.
So shortly I will put up reviews of The Heart, and Blues Ratz #1, from Scattered Comics, for your interpreting pleasure, and thank IF for thinking of me from those early days of the new millenium, so long ago. Until then, Attila Kiss exists elsewhere in cyberspace and beyond:
Attila Kiss Fbk
Attila Kiss Twtr
Scattered Comics Profile
I liked IF's forum comments for the insights that were displayed, and despite the use of language that made me think English was not learned first, the fearless enthusiasm for the topics, related to HM or not. I enjoyed participating in a public opinion forum, and IF's reviews were a chance to join a conversation. Being a part of something like that, and missing it when it was gone, is why I do this now, so in some part I owe it to Intone Flux.
Since then, Intone Flux has commented here a few times, and contacted me about some other things, including work on actual comics. Indeed, he's outed himself as Attila Kiss, a contributor to a handful of published comic works. He's even asked me to review some of them, and I have once, it was in You Are Not Alone in January 2014. At the time, I hesitated to include a review of YANA, since it wasn't really HM related at all, but because it was such an important topic of resisting and surviving abuse, I agreed, and the post got a good deal of traffic for being on my puny and insignificant blog. I declined another time ("It's All in the Moon" in Grayhaven Comics "The Gathering"), but, undaunted, he's contacted me again, and this time I agreed to review a couple stories, since I quite liked one, and since I'm impressed enough with his determination and success of actually being published, to show him the respect of an honest review of the work.
So shortly I will put up reviews of The Heart, and Blues Ratz #1, from Scattered Comics, for your interpreting pleasure, and thank IF for thinking of me from those early days of the new millenium, so long ago. Until then, Attila Kiss exists elsewhere in cyberspace and beyond:
Attila Kiss Fbk
Attila Kiss Twtr
Scattered Comics Profile
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