ABYSMALATION: Collected Short Works

by Josh Bayer

Abysmalation is a book by a Josh Bayer, (author of Ignatz-nominated Theth, Tomorrow Forever, creator of the comics anthology Suspect Device, editor and writer for All Time Comics) collecting an array of fast and loose comics and obscure short pieces. The work here ranges from personal to experimental, some completed in ink, some scrawled in pencil on the backs of his gas bill. You may find you are only able to make your 2022 complete with the addition of Abysmalation to your comics library!

Genres: Comics

148 pages, Paperback

First published September 17, 2022

About the author

Josh Bayer is a comic book artist and drawing teacher.

Reviews

[Regis Philbert · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic collection of fugitive pieces by this punk cartoonist includes the very funny "Bloggers" series of strips, some autobiographical shorts and playful explorations of comics history, and the epic centrepiece "I'm Drawing Garfield." It's a showcase for Bayer's expressive, gestural, beautifully "messy" cartooning; an intense style with a radical personal approach to everything from page design, to figure drawing, to lettering. Recommended!

[Rick Ray · Rating 4 out of 5]

Josh Bayer's aggresively loose style may not work for everyone, but I like the idea that there's a cartoonist out there who just scribbles out quality stories within the matter of minutes. Mind you, I'm sure Bayer lets these stories marinate a bit longer than I imagine, but his expressive style he employs just seems so liberating. Much of this collection is one page strips that are mostly played for gags, but the best ones were the "I'm Drawing Garfield" segments. Probably not the best starting point for Bayer's works - perhaps a longer form story like his "Theth" comics might give a potential read a better insight into what kind of cartoonist he is.

[David Macpherson]

The art can be rushed. The writing is very spur of the moment. This is a great feeling of the act of creating. Some of the art is ugly and hard to comprehend, but I feel like there is so much of the creator's hand about this. I don't know if I would want to read a lot of these sketchbook comics, but I really enjoyed this. There was one series in here where he draws Garfield every day, and that is insane. I liked it. You can feel the pressure of the self imposed deadline and some times a really wonderful unexpected moment comes up,