BERSERKOTRON at SPLANK!

Peter Duncan has written on my comic Berserkotron over at the Splank! comics blog.

Have a read here.

"Berserkotron is a collection of strips which David put together for the APA, "Shiot Crock".  For the uninitiated an APA or, most usually, Amateur Press Alliance, is a publication put together by a group of people who, on a regular basis, produce and, usually, print their own magazines or 'zines'.  The zines are send to a 'Central Mailer' or CM, who collates the zines and distributes anything from 20-50 copies of the combined contribution to each of the members of the APA.

APAs or apa's, as they are often known, come in many styles and cover a huge range of subjects.  They have a long history in fantasy fiction.  The horror writer, H P Lovecraft, was a member of the United Amateur Press Association, from 1914 and comic fandom really started with CAPA-APA which featured Comic writers Roy Thomas, Mark Evanier and Wendy Pini among its membership.  Other comics based APAs have included APA Five whose members have included Frank Miller and Concrete creator Paul Chadwick.

At the moment I'm aware of at least one comic and one music APA that are active and healthy on this side of the Atlantic.  I'm sure there are more. 

Shiot Crock was a little different from most APAs.   It referred to itself as an Amateur Press Anthology and had a rotating EC or (Editor /Collator) rather than a Central Mailer.  It combined mini-comics from up to 40 creators an issue and was distributed only to contributors.  Whereas the lifeblood of most APAs were the comments sections where each member would discuss the previous issue, Shiot Crock members used the Comics Journal Forum to discuss their zines.

Berserkotron collects all of David's contributions for Shiot Crock plus a few more strips which finish off the story.   Like his previous comics, David's work in this comic is obviously a labour of love.

The story, which is half workplace soap and half killer-robot adventure, made me laugh and kept me entertained throughout.

His art is functional and adequate, but not what would be regarded as being of professional standard.  And, really, it’s not intended to be.  I’m growing into an appreciation for what this and titles like it are all about.   This is the punk rock of modern comics.  Ok, maybe you can't draw well enough to get work for Marvel or DC or 2000AD.  What the hell, you've got something to say, 'just do it'.

David has a story to tell, and its one I enjoyed and could really appreciate the work he'd put into it.   I hope a few of you will take a look at his blog and see what he is doing, you never know, you might fancy giving some of his comics a try."

ZERO SUM BUBBLEGUM and DUMP at SPLANK!

Peter Duncan has written on my comics Zero Sum Bubblegum and Dump over at Splank!

Have a read here.

"David Robertson of Fred Egg comics has been kind enough to send me copies of a couple of his most recent collections of strips, ""Zero Sum Bubblegum" and "Dump 3".   David's specialises in slice of life stories and a kind of 'mundane fantasy' that includes things like Princess Leia musing on her relationships with men or a story where a time machine is built for the puspose of stealing a specific model of early coffee maker.

Many of the strips depict what are little more than incidents, thoughts or ideas put down on paper rather than complete stories but many of these are poignant or moving.   Some, I'll be honest, left me scratching my head wondering what exactly he had been getting at, but all were, at the very least, interesting.  About half of each collection showcases David's own art, with the rest consisting of collaborations with other artists.

David's art style is functional, naive.  He isn't going to be working for Marvel or DC or any of the other big publishers.  This is what I think of as 'zine art'.  What used to, way back in the eighties, be referred to as mini-comics or more recently as comix.  Comics for everyone, a sort of punk-rock "who cares how good you are, just do it" style.

Some of the collaborations are more polished artwise but David's work is effective.  Most notably in a three page strip called "Silently Falling" where a whole backstory can be inferred from a very few words and some simple images.

David understands story-telling and communication, but he makes the reader work.  Nothing is laid out on a platter for you.  He presents you with incidents and the story or idea is contained within.  I will admit to not quite knowing what I was looking at when I first looked at the books.   I was prepared for something that was pretentious or just plain dull.  In the end I found myself enjoying them and certainly understanding why he'd done them.

These comics are not for fans of superhero books.   They are not about alien invasions or supernatural evils.  They are about late library books, or swear words on a scrabble board.  Nobody is going to want to take individual panels and turn them into posters and a lot of people will just look at them and decide they are not for them.  I get that, if David hadn't sent them to me I would ever have read them.   But I'm glad I did and I really enjoyed them.  I'm not sure I'm qualified to pass judgement or review them, but I think I know a few readers of Splank! who would appreciate them and guys, I'm willing to learn.

In addition to the Fred Egg web-site there is a also a blog well worth checking out for David's writings about comics.  The most recent post (as I write) is a Bash Street Kids inspired strip - well worth looking out for."