Alternative Comics 4

by Allison Cole (illustrator), Theo Ellsworth (Illustrations), Noah Van Sciver (Illustrations)

Alternative Comics' flagship anthology returns as a twice-yearly comic with more pages-showcasing the best indie, web and zine artists of today's underground. Cover art by Mike Bertino (Trigger). Comics by Theo Ellsworth (The Understanding Monster) & Craig Thompson (Blankets, Habibi), Sam Alden (Eighth Grade), James Kochalka (SuperF*ckers), Sam Henderson (Magic Whistle), Noah Van Sciver (The Hypo), Grant Snider (Incidental Comics), Alex Schubert (Blobby Boys), Andy Ristaino (Adventure Time), and Allison Cole (Never Ending Summer). Inkstuds interview with and comics by David Lasky.

48 pages, Kindle Edition

First published June 25, 2013

Reviews

[Drew Canole · Rating 2 out of 5]

I haven't seen any of the other issues of this series. Published in 2013. Not really worth seeking out imo.

Contains a bunch of creators. Some notables:

James Kochalk
Noah Van Sciver
Craig Thompson (1 pager drawn with Theo Ellsworth)

[Tucker Stone · Rating 3 out of 5]

It’s a common enough observation that reactions towards anthology comics tend to lean too heavily on one’s negative feelings towards the anthology’s worst installments; in fact, it’s become such a common complaint that it’s come to cause me more irritation to read someone braying about it than it does to just embrace the behavior being complained about. (In case you’re keeping score, I decided I was a huge fan of “comics aren’t just for kids anymore” articles as well as headlines that use the words “Bam” or “Pow” right around the time rent-chasing mongoloids started to use the word “curated” while describing their miserable attempts to shoehorn zombies into an American Splendor rip-off–if that’s the progressive art form that the Times is supposed to be reporting on, I’ll stick to conversations about Tim Truman’s Hawkworld that heavily feature synonym-deprived words like “awesome.”) In other words, I would have ignored the fact that this anthology had a mediocre comic from James Kochalka, but this fucking comic actually has two mediocre James Kochalka comics, and when one is already too much, two is going to feel like a personal attack.

That being said? Noah Van Sciver quite nearly makes up for it. There’s some solid work from others here as well, but it’s Van Sciver’s two-page “It Can Only Get Better” that stands out the most. Featuring a death-dealing satirical cartoonist with a taste for whores, the Lord, and sweet, sweet Dixie, it’s a quick historical glance at a day in the life of an asshole–we see him at work, with a lady, dealing with his adoring fans, and we hear his dreams. It’s over far too quickly. One can only hope that there’s more to come from our Whig-hating protagonist, preferably stories set before syphilis robs him of his vigor.