$3.50
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This issue consists of 6 shorts with an artistic style that reminds me of the old Jason Asala series POE, last seen in the mid to late 90’s. The Life of Stuart Grady is the strong black and white opener that examines the cycle of life and death. Tornado is the second piece, and I swear I saw this somewhere before, maybe in a Boston Comics Roundtable anthology? In any case, it involves punk kids who are so hip that they can’t be bothered to evacuate to safety during a natural disaster. Good Old-Fashioned Bloody Murder is an oddly compelling blend of genres, about love amid a zombie apocalypse. Eternal Nosebleed is about the woeful protagonist with the titular affliction finding a vampire lover. It’s clever and original, and like the next piece, The Calm Before the Storm, it seems to have the commonality of oddball characters finding connections in chaotic and unpredictable worlds. Perhaps that thematic repetition is less about story content, and more about Kelley projecting his own worldview onto his art. It’s really fascinating that the link is so prevalent in all the works. It ends with Bad Prom Pictures 2006, the deadpan humor on full display, and continues that theme of abnormality present in otherwise mundane trappings. There isn’t one specific piece here that I find terribly exciting, yet they’re all executed with a consistent level of artistry and effort. It’s a smart package that functions as a one-man solo anthology. Grade A-.