MOME Summer 2005

MOME #1

by Eric Reynolds (Editor)

- A new quarterly anthology of the best new talent in the sequential arts
- In color, part-color, and black-and-white
- The regular roster of artists gives the series a concrete identity
- Quarterly schedule allows readers to look forward to favorite artists on a regular basis
- Created for a general audience of literature fans, with a focus on contemporary fiction and narrative

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Anthologies, Fiction, Short Stories, Graphic Novels Comics, Comix

120 pages, Paperback

First published August 24, 2004

About the author

Eric Reynolds is a Seattle-based cartoonist, critic and comics editor who is the Vice-President and Associate Publisher for Fantagraphics Books. His work has appeared in The Stranger, The Comics Journal, The New York Times, The New York Press and other publications. He has edited or co-edited The Complete Crumb Comics, Angry Youth Comics, Dirty Stories and MOME and has inked some of Peter Bagge's comics.

Reviews

[Sooraya Evans · Rating 2 out of 5]

Contains some of the laziest work I've ever seen in an anthology.
For instance, 'The Beast' had irrelevant scenery photos just for the sake of filling up the backdrop. Might as well left it blank.
I personally loved the artstyle of 'Life With Mr Dangerous'. But just the art.
Like what many other fellow reviewers have said, 'Jewel of The Sea' was the only one that really stood out.

[Bob Fish]

Feeling nostalgic so I bought a bunch of Mome's and they are amazing! Chock-full of big misters & sisters in comics / graphic novels. Fantagraphics does it once again!

I show my bunch of Mome's :
https://youtu.be/s-4-QBJC1to

[Garrett · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm new to graphic novels/comics, and I have a soft spot for promotional publications whose main objectives are to increase artist visibility. In other words, I didn't expect much more than to hopefully find some gems scattered among less talented but earnest work, which would then lead me to some new authors.

It didn't happen.

The quality here is "aspirational" - aspiring to be professional. While most of the stories are well drawn, several are poorly paced. Based on the quality of the storytelling, I had assumed this was an anthology of student work. But it's not. When this was published in 2005, these were previously published professionals.

Most of the stories are self-immersive navel-gazing. Slice-of-life can be interesting, but only when it mirrors something in humanity. These stories, to be frank, are boring. Talking about your ennui is boring. Talking about your pedestrian love life is boring. I don't understand why some of these artists think their day-to-day lives are so interesting: if you have a boring life, illustrating it doesn't make it interesting. But, to be fair, this was 2005, when people were still live-blogging about going to the gym on Facebook.

This was a goodwill buy. They'll get it back.

[Jesús · Rating 4 out of 5]

I know of no other anthology series that begins so strongly. This first collection of MOME is filled with short comics by incredibly talented cartoonists producing fantastic work. Not only is there not a bad one in the bunch; each comic is a complete knockout. It *begins* with a Gabrielle Bell comic, and only grows from there!

[Drew Canole · Rating 2 out of 5]

A collection of stories, most of them I didn't enjoy. I really liked the final story based on a Japanese folk-tale adapted by Andrice Arp (I'm hunting for more of her work).

Most of the stories are those typical 'i have nothing to write about, so how about a slice-of-life autobiography?'. It comes off as lazy to me. Jonathan Bennet's story was nice, but I had already read it somewhere else, probably another book of short stories.

[Rick Ray · Rating 1 out of 5]

MOME, Summer 2005

Though known as a seminal comics anthology series, the Fantagraphics curated MOME would start rocky with a series of fairly uninspired short comic strips. Despite the robust talent in this volume, few of these pieces seem indicative of the quality of the individual cartoonists. Perhaps the only pieces I found engaging were Sophie Crumb's - everything else was quite boring unfortunately.

Contents:
"I Feel Nothing" by Gabrielle Bell
"Passing Before Life's Very Eyes" by Kurt Wolfgang
"It's 3 a.m.", "It's Okay", "I Can't Wait" and "The Toys of my Childhood" by Martin Cendreda
"Part Time" by Jeffrey Brown
"Life with Mr. Dangerous, Part 1" by Paul Hornschemeier (+ interview with Gary Groth)
"The Beast" by Anders Nilsen
"Down With the Venures" by Jonathan Bennett
"Eddy Bear", "Tanya" and "God Bless America" by Sophie Crumb
"221 Sycamore Ave., Part 1" by John Pham
"Overpeck" by David Heatley
"The Jewels of the Sea" by Andrice Arp

[Al McCarty · Rating 3 out of 5]

Twenty years later (!), I’m rereading this before donating it to the library (if it doesn’t fall apart first).
Gabrielle Bell’s style has never grabbed me and this story feels pointless.
Quite the opposite for Kurt Wolfgang. I like his art and the story.
Jeffrey Brown wastes ten pages on the subject of procrastination. Boring.
Martin Cendrada contributed fine art gag cartoons. The kind I’d still like to do.
I’ve never really appreciated Paul Hornschemeir, though I feel that I should. Art falls flat with me. I should like him more. I’ll try…
Anders Nilsen pisses me off. Draw a face, dude!
Jonathan Bennett, him I like.
Sophie Crumb’s talent and obsession’s didn’t fall far from the tree.
David Heatly’s awful art and stupid stories really get on my nerves. How’d he get in? To anything?
John Pham is good, but this way too derivative of Chris Ware.
And Andice Arp I like.

[Kirk · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mostly autobiographical or semi-autobiographical stories with a bit of fiction peppered in for good measure.

Artistic styles vary quite a bit, but it still has a coherent feel to it, except the last story which is an eastern fairy tale and seems out of place.

Some high watermarks in here (first story is nice) but some low points too (part time) and Overpeck was just fucking weird (in a good way). A lot of the other entries are almost non-stories. Like one about a guy wanting to rummage through trash to find records 🤷🏻‍♀️

Overall I feel like it broadened my horizons about what comics can be, so that was good.

[Rick Jones · Rating 2 out of 5]

As a collection of graphic stories, I found MOME lacking. Many of the stories were weak, the graphics not strong, and the philosophy uninteresting. Even when the subject was a hard one, I found a lack of clarity that let me dissatisfied. However a couple stories rose to the very top, and deserve to be seen: Jewel of the Sea especially, was gorgeous.

[Maggie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I guess I'm not the biggest fan of this type of thing. Almost all of the work collected here is bleak and depressing, and hardly any of it tells a whole story. The art work is all good, but that isn't enough to keep me interested.

[J.Istsfor Manity · Rating 3 out of 5]

Reading this series out of order. First read volume 10, and then found the rest via Hoopla and my public library. Some great oblique takes on life here, and some very good graphics too, especially Gabrielle Bell’s “I Feel Nothing,” Paul Hornschemeier’s “Life with Mr. Dangerous Pt. 1,” and Jonathan Bennett’s “Dance with The Ventures.” / Ebook, 01/13/21.

[Jim · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a series of short comics/graphic pieces. Through Mome, I have encountered many wonderful comic artists, that has propelled me to exploring more of their work. Some of the people I've found in Mome include Gabrielle Bell, Vanessa Davis and Lewis Trondheim to name a few off the top of my head.

I started reading this series through the library, but now I'm purchasing them so I can have them in my collection.

The stories tend to be more avant-garde and are definitely independent and exploratory. It's these qualities which drew me to Mome and keeps me coming back.

[Tom · Rating 3 out of 5]

Like all the Mome's: would vastly improve without the inclusion of Robert Crumb's daughter in every bloody edition. Sucking the life out of what would otherwise be a great anthology. I stopped buying these after the second edition and started checking them out of the library.

Eventually the other stuff will be compiled elsewhere. It's a matter of time.

[Layla · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an excellent compilation. It was recommeded to me by Sophie Crumb, daughter of Robert and Aline Kominski-Crumb. Sophie is also a comic book artist. Her work appears in nearly every issue of MOME. She was nice enough to correspond with me via myspace.

[Bria · Rating 4 out of 5]

I see that sad was in that year.

[Courtney · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this series. This is the second time I've read it and now that I'm older I understand some of the themes better. Much more enjoyable the second time around.

[Erik Laiho · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved the two Sophie Crumb comics and especially The Jewels of The Sea by Andrice Arp.