Newbies Eclectica

Posted: Wednesday, September 24, 2003
By: Darren Schroeder

Cover of Newbies Eclectica Creator(s): Jordan Raphael (ed)
Publishers: The Graphic Cartel
From: Canada
Price: $1.50 in a local second hand shop.

Dating from 1996, this anthology collects a variety of very entertaining and thought provoking stories. A few of the highlights are..

Thrill Killers by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa
A dramatisation in comic form of the 1924 case of two Chicago University students who kidnap and kill a young boy. The artwork is well done, with nice use of bold lines and cross-hatching. It has a growing sense of creepiness that is fascinating.

Mark Davis provides several stories which all end with an explosion. His artwork is quite simplistic but it gets the ideas across.

The Jester by Harry Wheeler
The king keeps killing all his jesters and it appears that his guards have their eyes on a mildly amusing guy who might find himself with the job. The story is hard to follow, mainly because the artwork isn't very detailed, so establishing the locations is quite hard.

The Under Dog by Sophia Southam
Can't really understand what this is on about, but the mixed media artwork sure is pretty.

Starfish 2 by Travis Webber
Wow. Now this is one seriously weird story. There's a guy carrying a talking starfish across a desert in search of water. Their friend the sea snail has been left behind, and a guy with a black shiny round head soon confronts him. He sets his crabs on the snail. The detailed line work is makes for very realistic sea creatures.

Patchy in places, this anthology has a couple of top-notch stories than make me want to track down other issues. Anyone know where I could get some?

In a Word: Variety.



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