Review: Everybody Gets It Wrong, vol. 1

Everybody Gets It Wrong, vol. 1 is a collection of 24-hour comics by David Chelsea, arguably the master of 24-hours comics.  This collection includes six of his works, ranging in topics from religio-political satire (I realize I’m just trying to sound smart; live with it), the adventures of Bingo the Cat in Wonderland, an illustrated word game, and much much more.  The comics are quirky, silly, and just plain impressive!

First of all, I love that cover.  Just plain pretty.  But that is not the point of the comic; the point is to showcase David Chelsea’s amazing skill with 24-hours comics.

Now, 24-hour comics is pretty straight foreward: make a comic in 24-hours.  Seems simple right?  Well, there’s a little more to it than that.  You see, other than collecting all the supplies you’ll need together in one place, you can’t do anything until it starts: no characters, no pre-drawn cells, no plot concepts.  You have until 24-hours after you start, which means food, bathroom breaks and sleeping are all using up your precious time.  And you have to complete 24 pages of content all by yourself.  Most comics have two separate people do writing and art, but there’s no help allowed here.  It’s the NaNoWriMo, but for comics.

Most people do it to prove they can.  And as Nat Gertler points out in his introduction, most will fail the first couple of times.  Some will succeed and then go on to do it a few more times for the lessons they learn about time management techniques and, more importantly in the business of comic creation, time saving techniques.  David Chelsea has done fourteen 24 hours comics, six of which are in this volume, and suffice it to say, he’s past the point of gaining massive insights into technique.  Chelsea does it to see what comes out; to explore the freedom to go “Well that was interesting!” when he sees himself produce things that even he didn’t expect.

As far as my recommendation, I offer to you the beginning of the introduction by Gertler:

“Look, if you want a comics collection that’s like a perfect studio album, all recorded instrument by instrument and polished and remixed and refined by a team of top engineers, put this book down and grab the next one on the shelf… This is live Jazz.”

This is book for comic artists and people who want to be comic artists, and if that’s you: Get.  This.  Book (and participate in the next 24-hour comic day). It’s only $19.99, after all. If you are looking for a polished story like the comics you’re used to, go home reader, you’re drunk.

Matthew Bryant, aka Baker Street Holmes, is an editor at the Red Shirt Crew and tempted to try one of these himself.  He also realizes that he might have a slightly easier time than most, because his art would likely be stick figures.  Oh, well.  You can follow him on Twitter at @BStreetHolmes, or e-mail him at HMCrazySS@gmail.com.

Review: Snow Angel

Before we begin, you have to understand something. As the lead editor of this site, I get first priority on what comics I get to review. That’s why you see me reading so much of Mike Mignola’s stuff, for instance. That doesn’t mean others don’t read great comics as well (great time to be a comic fan; quite a few really impressive writers and artists out there at the moment); it just means that I usually get to avoid comics that are downright bad. Mixed feelings? It happens. Disappointing? Of course. But bad? I hadn’t come across that before. Today, I read Snow Angel, a one shot collecting David Chelsea’s story from Dark Horse Presents #’s 1-3, and it. Is. Bad.

Let’s start with the art, because there isn’t that much to say about it. It isn’t very good. Most backgrounds are replaced with bright colours since he didn’t seem to want to draw actual buildings or scenery, so there are no frames of reference as to where things are happening. The size of characters is inconsistent from panel to panel–Snow Angel in particular goes from being the size of a young girl to being large enough to spin the Earth’s axis (we’ll get there), becoming larger than Madagascar. The colouring of individuals is rather muddy and blurry, making them look quite ugly in ways I don’t always think was intentional. I’d say this was a failing on Chelsea’s part, but the short poem “The Kids Movie” included at the end of the one shot has much better art, clear and crisp and creating some really nice images. I legitimately enjoyed the art of “The Kids Movie”. I don’t know if Chelsea was simply rushed for time or actively made the decision to make Snow Angel look the way it does, but either way, it really doesn’t work, and knowing he’s capable of much better just makes it more disappointing that the main feature looks the way it does.

The set-up for the story actually has some potential. A little girl has the ability to actually turn into a Snow Angel whenever she makes an angel in the snow. Seems simple enough. She seems to possess a sense that lets her know when bad things are happening (though the worst crime that seems to occur in this town of Wherever-the-hell-we-are-ville is a single stolen bike, so at least there isn’t any real danger or tension to be found), and she does her best to stop the perpetrator. This could actually set the stage for a really cute comic, which is why it’s a shame that it’s executed so poorly.

Image taken from http://www.DarkHorse.com

The first major problem is that the characters are entirely unlikable. Snow Angel stops the bike thief by using her halo to knock him over while he’s still riding it. That fall easily could have killed him, and I’m sure there were about a thousand less dangerous ways of handling a ten year old boy when you have angel powers. Like asking him to give it back, for instance. But now, halo throwing it is. Later, when it turns out the family has to move to Tuscon, the possibility of not having a snowy winter is too much for the little girl to handle. So what does she do? Why, somehow move the entire Earth’s axis so that countries like India and Mexico are filled with snow, and Antarctica becomes a tropical beach. Not only does that not make sense (seriously, how in the world can a single angel grow to that size and do that), but it’s an incredibly selfish move that would kill pretty much every plant and animal in the world, not to mention destroy the livelihoods of the millions of people whose job relies on the seasonal structure of their area remaining constant. It’s not cute, and it’s not funny. Seeing Santa in a speedo is not an original joke, nor is it clever or anything other than a downright lazy grab for a single laugh. It didn’t get it.

The other characters aren’t much better. Her brother’s teasing is what provoked that whole episode (though I must ask how she copes in the nine months that aren’t snowy if this lack of snow is so devastating to her…and why her current home still has snow outside, but those are nitpicks even to me). Her mother yells at Snow Angel for using her powers despite there having been no real danger in the situation. 

Oh, and there’s a three page scene in which a penguin and a snowman discuss President William Henry Harrison, with the punchline being his death four weeks after his inauguration.

I can’t possibly make this up.

The other fatal flaw is that the characterization is incredibly inconsistent, and one can pretty easily figure out where the breaks were from one issue to the next based on that. The first issue was an attempt at being heartwarming and cute that failed for the reasons I’ve already discussed, but the second issue focuses entirely on that whole “changing the poles” thing, going for some cheap laughs at seeing snow covered cacti. Also, her mom is now okay with her using her powers for some reason. I can see getting away with that when the story comes out once a month, but when I only have to think back to three minutes ago, the change in tone is rather jarring. Oh, and the third issue with William Henry Harrison turns the whole thing into a really bad attempt at satire. None of the jokes flow together, and the things one could recognize as an attempted joke are executed poorly. The issues as a whole don’t make any coherent sense, and the tonal shift is obvious and startling. It’s just an unfunny comic with unlikable characters, simple as that.

As I mentioned before, there was a backup story: “The Kids Movie”, a poem that is meant to satire children’s movies in the current age. While the art is great, the writing itself is pretty mediocre. Some of the satire is quite overdone (movie trailers are long!), and the rest just didn’t land for me. As someone who watches a lot of animated films, I think it’s fair to say there are more great kids movies than ever nowadays, and there is way more variety than is presented here. That’s not to say everything in the story is irrelevant, but when I read it, I found myself questioning what he was referencing and why he considered that to be cliche more often than not. I’ll admit that this could just be one of those times where his humour doesn’t quite gel with mine, but either way, I can’t give it a recommendation.

Snow Angel is not worth the $3.50 cover price. It is not worth a $0.50 cover price. If someone offered it to you in the street for free, I would have to stop and think for a moment whether “The Kids Movie” is worth a minute of your time, or recommend that you use the comic for kindling the next time you need a fire in your house. In short, it’s not recommended. I haven’t read any of David Chelsea’s other works (though Amazon tells me they might be worthwhile), but this is not worth your money. 

Chase Wassenar, aka MaristPlayBoy, is the Lead Editor and Founder of the Red Shirt Crew. All he’s saying is that Dark Horse waiting until April to publish a winter comic about snow angels and placed it head to head with the premiere of Abe Sapien #1. He thinks you can see for yourself their faith behind this project. You can read his other articles at ToyTMA, follow him on Twitter at @RedShirtCrew, or email him at theredshirtcrew@gmail.com.