Popular mythology would have you believe that on the morning of September 12th, 2001, America woke up, pulled its boots up, and got to work. Everyone singing from the same songsheet, unified in our purpose and mission, determined to rebuild from the horrific terrorist attacks of the day before and to once again stand tall, stand proud, and stand for everything that’s right, good, honorable, and just. There’s just one little problem : popular mythology is a load of bullshit.

The day after 9/11 wasn’t the greatest time to be an American, it was the scariest time to be an American — not because of what had happened, but because of what was yet to come. If there’s one thing you don’t want a nuclear-armed superpower to experience, it’s a tidal wave of ugly self-righteous nationalism, and that was precisely what America’s “leaders” proceeded to gin up amongst the populace…

In between the veritable onslaught of unique and inventive autobio/memoir stuff that cartoonist Thomas Lampion has released over the past year or two, he’s also managed to take a side trip — down a grimy street and into a haunted house, at that — in the pages of his self-published ‘zine Haxan Lane, two issues of which have seen the light of day so far. Although “light of day” is a decidedly poor choice of words on my part —

Why, you ask? Well, this is a humor comic to be sure, but it’s one that goes bump in the night, and has very much a feel of a modern take on the Brothers Grimm to it, complete with “be careful what you wish for” and “if something seems too good to be true, it probably is” moralizing — but please don’t take that to mean it’s not a…

Some comics just grab you from the word “go,” and one look at British cartoonist Matt Canning’s Honeymoon In The Afterlife is all it takes for you to know that this is one of them : self-published in newspaper broadsheet format, it’s a sizable thing to behold, no doubt about that, but equally it’s an impressive one, clean and simple black and white linework accentuated by decidedly contemporary shading techniques when and where necessary, with a kind of dusty rose hue deployed as an occasional “spot” color, it’s a triumph as far as production values go. But who are we kidding? While all that is certain to capture your interest, it takes considerably more to retain it.

Which rather sounds like a segue into me cataloging a list of shortcomings, but I promise you it’s not : in fact, if anything, Canning’s ability to keep you glued to the exploits…

Forgive me in advance for broaching the subject, but — is there anything you’re going to miss about the pandemic when it’s over? Go on, act as incensed at the question as you wish, but I’ll bet you it’s something you’ve asked yourself at least once, even if you felt guilty that it even so much as entered your mind. Come on, be honest here : less traffic, quiet neighborhood streets at night, no waiting for tables at restaurants, being able to work from home — all of these things are, well, kinda nice. Not to say that they’re worth hundreds of thousands dead, millions more infected, and probably very nearly the same number of people out of work either temporarily or permanently — just saying, these are things that are not bad, in and of themselves, even if we arrived at them via the most fucked-up means possible…

Look, we all know dating is hell, but what’s dating like in hell? And who better to let us know than Hyena Hell?

As it turns out, things aren’t easy for a single demon on the prowl, so for our frustrated protagonist in No Romance In Hell, published at the tail end of 2019 (I know, I know — I’m a little late to the party) by Silver Sprocket Bicycle Club, the only place to go is up — as in to Earth. But is that really a step in the right direction? And do you really need me to answer that question? Shake your head “no” to both and we’ll move along —

If you’re familiar with the work of Ms. Hell, you know what to expect here in a general sense : audacious humor, lots of attitude, a decidedly punk sensibility, feminist themes, and no fucks given…

Maybe it’s not fair to review Post-Apocalypto as a comic alone, since this latest effort from Jack Black and Kyle Gass in their Tenacious D roles is actually a multi-media event of sorts, encompassing a six-episode animated You Tube series, an audiobook, a musical album. and the hardback graphic novel published by Fantagraphics that’s under our metaphorical microscope here, but hey — I don’t want to be at this all night, and since comics is what we do here, we’re gonna keep it to that. Which pleases me to no end.

Even still, before any fans of Black, Gass, or their ostensible “band” jump down my throat, understand this : it’s not that I actively disliked this in and of itself so much as I have no patience for “edgelord” crap in a more general sense. There’s certainly a place in this world for such things, and there’s a strong…

You can’t keep a good cartoonist down, and Alex Nall is considerably more than that, so when we all went into “lockdown mode” he continued releasing his ongoing Kids With Guns series online, with the most flexible payment terms I believe anyone’s every offered : if you read it and liked it, he just asked you to pay whatever you could afford for it. Now that we’re pretending the pandemic is over, though, the siren call of self-publishing has once again called out to him, and actual, physical copies of issues three and four are finally available — and it’s now incumbent upon me to tell you why you should buy them.

I’ve already reviewed the first two installments of this quiet, human-scale epic, but for those unfamiliar with the particulars, the most basic distillation I can offer is that what we’ve ostensibly got here is the story of an…

Featuring a large ensemble cast of characters who rotate in and out and back again (including former president William Howard Taft), a deadpan sense of humor, and a series of set-ups that are clearly well planned but in no way feel belabored, it’s easy to be impressed by Miles MacDiarmid’s densely-packed Exit for its scope, audacity, and ingenuity, no question — but you’ll have to pardon me if all that, at least in this critic’s view, don’t mean shit if the art’s no good. And the art may just be the most striking feature of this comic.

I’ve come to expect no less from the Freak Comics publishing collective, who released this in late 2019, but even by the this outfit’s high standards, this is a really good-looking ‘zine. Starting with a cover that knocks you out with the sheer intricacy of its cross-hatched detail (I mean, it practically looks…

Flipping to the other metaphorical side of the equally metaphorical coin we again metaphorically tossed into the air with our last review here, we land (last metaphor, I promise) on Brian Canini’s Two More Stories (published, as ever, under his own Drunkent Cat Comics imprint) — and if Three Stories represented everything that’s wrong with his career-spanning “throw some ideas at the wall and see which of ’em sticks” approach to cartooning, this superb mini represents everything that’s right with just following your muse wherever it leads you, come hell or high water. It’s an inherently high-risk/high-reward way of making comics, and this one falls squarely into the “reward” column.

Canini’s titular two stories function as both mirror images to, and thematic extensions of, one another, with the first, “Empty Rivers,” telling the tale of a “prodigal son” type who returns home for his mother’s funeral and is then forced…

Here at Four Color Apocalypse HQ (it sounds more impressive than it is, trust me — and it doesn’t even sound impressive), we’re always happy to get the latest from Columbus-based cartoonist Brian Canini. He’s one of the more versatile talents around these days, and someone who’s not afraid to try his hand on a little bit of everything, from gag strips to autobio to long-form crime stories to funny animals to science fiction — and everything in between. Lately, he’s been delving into the venerable single-creator anthology format with a series of minis, and while the results have been a mixed bag, there’s no harm in that — anthologies almost always are, and I’d rather see a cartoonist push themselves out of their comfort zones a bit and not be afraid to fail rather than going the safe and easy “give the fans what they want” route. Canini has…