You ever get the feeling you're the only person reading a certain comic book title? Sure, there are a few letters printed in the back of the book, but they could be fakes. After all, it's a black-and-white title from a self-publisher, and you hardly ever see reviews of the book anywhere. As a matter of fact, you hardly ever see the book, since it comes out so infrequently. And it must be a labor of love, 'cuz the profit margin has to be slim to nonexistent. Well, here are four books that fit the above description. They are worth a look, but I must admit to a selfish agenda. Maybe if y'all subscribe, these books will continue to be published, and I'll be able to enjoy them for years to come. Oh, and you will too, of course.
 

THE VON FANGE BROTHERS #1-2 (Mikey-Sized Comics)

 Superman was the world's first superhero, and consequently, he got dibs on all the really cool powers: flight, strength, invulnerability, speed, x-ray vision. That leaves the pickings pretty scarce for the Von Fange Brothers. Michael can eat large quantities of food without gaining weight and project his weight gain and indigestion onto others. David can become relaxed under even the most stressful of conditions and project anxiety into others. Billy can stay awake indefinitely, giving him the ability to cause others to fall asleep. In other words, the boys are nauseating, irritating, and boring.

 And yet, this comic is joyful, charming and fun.

 The Von Fange brothers are not your run of the mill superheroes; they're more your run of the mill brothers. They bicker constantly, and each is constantly looking to make jokes at the expense of the other two brothers. Alliances constantly shift amongst the brothers, changing whenever two brothers see an opportunity to gang up and humiliate the third. But to the outside world, the brothers always present a unified front . . . which isn't too hard, since most everyone else in the world thinks they're all weird.

 While all the characters are grounded in reality, this is not another one of those books which professes to deal with the ramifications of having super powers in the "real" world. And while the book is full of loopy adventures, irreverence, silliness and comedy, it is not a parody. Instead, this is a delightful study of three brothers taking their youthful games to a bizarre extreme. Yes, they do have super powers -- dubious ones -- but only a fringe element believes the boys. Even their own mother, who contributes their origin story in the first issue, thinks they're just pretending. (Making for one of the oddest origin stories of all time, by the way.) Yes, they'd like to fight crime, but a good robbery in progress is hard to find, so they spend more time lounging around the living room or beach while gabbing.

 Writer/artist Bill Wiist has based the characters on himself and his own brothers, Michael and David. Indeed, he credits his brothers for contributing to the stories and laughs. His artwork reflects his grounding in the everyday world. Wiist draws some of the most natural looking poses I've seen in comics. Whether they are lounging or gesturing, the characters look real. The dialogue is just as natural and realistic despite the wacky subjects the brothers discuss. Only the occasional misspelling (my pet peeve) is unnatural.

 The first issue, subtitled "Green Hair & Red S's" deals with the brothers deciding to band together as heroes and fight crime. Imagine their surprise when they actually manage to find one. The second issue, "The Uncommons," finds the brothers at a convention of other folks claiming to have super powers. The brothers are invited rather forcefully to join first a super group then a covert government agency. The brothers use the shenanigans as a cool chance to meet the President of the United States. Wouldn't you?

 By day the Von Fange brothers are enterprising, Republican restauranteurs. By night . . . well, they're brothers. You won't find them dressing in superhero costumes -- they're too macho for tights and too scared of being embarrassed -- but you will find them trying to do right and have fun. If you pick up this book, you can do right and have fun too.

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Grade: B+

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VARIATIONS ON THE THEME #1-4 (Scarlet Rose Productions)

 If you've read more than one of my columns, you know that I love to have a theme every month. Little wonder then that a comic series which does the exact same thing would catch my eye. It becomes even more eye-catching when the series uses the same interesting storytelling technique made popular by the comic STRAY BULLETS (Grade: A+) and the movie PULP FICTION: seemingly unconnected episodes woven into a large cohesive mosaic.

 As the title suggests, each issue of VARIATIONS ON THE THEME has one to three unconnected episodes revolving around a central theme. "Confessions" (#1) lets us sit in on sessions with the world's most popular confessors: a bartender, a priest, and a lover. We hear of adultery and betrayal. "Manipulation" (#2) touches mostly on blackmail. First a student tries to wrangle a better grade out of her French teacher. Next, a corporate president makes several preemptive strikes to prevent an ambitious underling's hostile takeover and a mutiny of the board of directors. "Family" (#3) is the only book length story. A woman facing cancer visits her son and his family to come to terms with a difficult incident from her past. "Revenge" (#4) begins to piece the mosaic together as the fate of the ambitious underling from the second issue is revealed and one of the confessions from the first issue is retold from a different perspective.

 It's easy to jump into this book anytime since it is so episodic. The vignettes and stories primarily serve the theme of the issue and don't require knowledge of events in previous issues. The mosaic created by the series is simply icing on the cake to reward long time readers and future rereadings.

This moody, thoughtful book is the work of Canadian writer/artist Francisco Manuel Rosa. Rosa's writing is much stronger than his drawing. The artwork is only serviceable, as it is a bit blocky and awkward at times. Fortunately, his layouts are well done and dynamic, keeping the eye moving in stories which are mostly two people sitting and talking. The writing is damn good and is the main reason to purchase this book. (Again, though, those pesky misspellings appear on occasion.) Rosa has a good ear for dialogue and many insights into the human condition and the situations arising therefrom. As you may imagine, such writing involves sexual situations and language unfit for younger readers. Besides, it takes a mature reader to appreciate what Rosa is doing here.

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Grade: B+

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NINE PANEL GRID #1-6 (James Pyman)
WU WEI #1-5 (Animus)

 Similar in format but galaxies apart in everything else, WU WEI and NINE PANEL GRID are good examples of creators trying to have the best of all worlds. Each book features an ongoing storyline, but at least half of every issue consists of several independent short stories in which the creator can explore other topics of interest. Where WU WEI focuses on the surreal, disturbing and strange, NINE PANEL GRID brings us the mundane in excruciating detail.

 The opposing approaches of the creators are illustrated by an explanation the cryptic titles. NINE PANEL GRID comes from the artistic gimmick of having every page contain nine equally sized panels: three in the top row, three in the middle row, three in the bottom row. This is similar to the layout used in Alan Moore and Dave Gibbon's WATCHMEN (Grade: A+). It's a format conducive to jamming a tremendous amount of story detail onto every page. The nine panel grid starts on the cover and is even laid over the infrequent one- or two-page spreads inside. WU WEI, on the other hand, comes from the Taoist term wu-wei, meaning "effortless action" (Benjamin Hoff, THE TE OF PIGLET page 157). It is taking the least "meddlesome, combative, or egotistical" approach to life and its interaction. Wu-wei evolves from an "inner sensitivity to the natural rhythm of things" ( Hoff, THE TAO OF POOH page 68). No gimmicks here -- just a state of mind.

 WU WEI's ongoing storyline is "Testament," the story of a mysterious homeless man named Mike (formerly Miguel) and the even more mysterious men searching for him. Mike wanders the streets of the city occasionally exhibiting savage fighting proficiency and possibly extraordinary strength. With only one ten-page chapter in each issue, "Testament" suffers from its slow pace. After five chapters, we still know little about the characters' backgrounds or motivations. The little provided is extremely tantalizing though.

 NINE PANEL GRID's ongoing storyline is "Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J.," the story of an Englishman and his American girlfriend taking an overnight vacation in Asbury Park, New Jersey. (The title is taken from a Bruce Springsteen album.) Every chapter is ten to twenty pages and chock-full of character interaction. Since most of that interaction is superficial or meaningless, the motivations and backgrounds are just as lacking here despite the higher word- and panel-count. True to the road trip genre, the point of this story is to offer up little nuggets of wisdom and insight from the naturalistic speech and actions of the nameless folks drifting past our protagonists. Typical of most road trips, many witty or funny exchanges occur or are overheard. It almost makes the whole story worthwhile.

 The short stories in NINE PANEL GRID simply serve to further reflect the creator's obsession with the mundane. Often wordless, the stories are slice of life bits following a character or viewed through the character's eyes. The back cover of each issue takes this technique to the extreme, focusing on flies swarming around a lamp, fish swimming in a tank, a man picking bottles off a shelf, or birds taking flight. The exception is the story "School's Out" in issue #3, which shows the befriending and betrayal of a young boy by another, troubled lad. Apart from that story, the overall thesis of NINE PANEL GRID seems to be that humanity is in the details of the externalities.

The short stories in WU WEI tend to claw their way into the soul of man. From a son discovering a hidden facet of his father's past to a man dealing with the sounds of domestic violence surrounding him in his apartment building, these stories are poignant and touching. One particularly disturbing story involves the images of skeletons going through the steps of lovemaking. Another involves a homeless man going missing one cold winter. The book also includes some one-page gags of black humor and a text page devoted to raising political awareness of domestic and international issues.

 Oscar Stern, writer/artist of WU WEI, vacillates between very fine, detailed linework and a blotchy, heavily-inked style depending on the tone of the particular story. Both styles are highly effective. Meanwhile, in NINE PANEL GRID, writer/artist James Pyman's linework is cruder and more simplified, possibly because of the restrictive size of his panels. Pyman's greatest strengths are his ear for dialogue and eye for realism.

 In the end, WU WEI's spiritual approach is the more fulfilling one. Good art and strong stories help too. While NINE PANEL GRID has some nice touches and flashes of humor, its focus on the mundane brings it a little too close to the realm of the boring a little too often.

 For a look at WU WEI on-line, surf on over to http://www.thesubweb.com . If my words can't quite convince you of WU WEI's worth here, a look at the artwork there should cinch it.
 
 

_____	NINE PANEL GRID	_____	Grade: C+
_____	WU WEI	_____	Grade: B+

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WHY I HATE SATURN (DC Comics/Piranha Press)

 It's not self-published, but DC offers a pretty obscure black and white graphic novel every month on its backlist called WHY I HATE SATURN.

 Anne Merkel is your stereotypical New York City writer/alcoholic. She's cynical, smug, hip, and insecure all at the same time. She has a wry, acerbic wit that's best displayed when she's sitting around talking about love and relationships with her guy pal, Ricky. The only thing she hates worse than her lousy love life is her crazy sister, Laura, who claims to be from Saturn.

 I hate Laura too. Y'see, whenever Laura shows up, the book goes downhill. She turns what could be a nice, meandering comic piece (think FRIENDS) into an absurd mystery adventure story.

 The book does manage to survive her presence however. The back cover and two filler pages at the end are worth the price of admission. And, thankfully, there's many, many pages of Anne and Ricky whining and snickering about life, love and Laura.

 Writer/artist Kyle Baker has a bold, confident cartooning style that other artists should aspire to achieve. Disavowing traditional word balloons, Baker positions his witty dialogue in text blocks below the pictures, where it flows quickly and easily . His most recent work appeared in INSTANT PIANO from Dark Horse Comics. His small contributions to that anthology were amongst the funniest. Only Evan Dorkin (MILK & CHEESE, PIRATE CORP$, HECTIC PLANET), who also contributed to INSTANT PIANO, is as consistently hilarious in that cynical, smug, hip and insecure way.

_____

Grade: B

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