Inky Stories #1

My second review from Arisia! My wife was on a minicomics panel and she got this mini from the creator, who was a fellow panelist.

Title: Inky Stories
Issue: #1
Date: Fall 2011
Publisher: Rotten Kid Press
Writer: Dave Marshall
Artist: Dave Marshall

Dave Marshall's comic short stories are published online at inkystories.com, and this half-sized b/w minicomic collects a sampling of them in print format.

The minicomic opens with an amusing EC Comics style introduction, assuring the reader that the purpose of these stories is to show that crime does not pay.

The main story in the first issue is "Bottle of Red", the artist's tribute to The Godfather, presenting a scene from the classic film with the perspective shifted to innocent bystanders. There's a ton of attention to detail in the scene, which also includes some clever references to the comic book industry in the 1940s.

From there, the book moves on to four quick backup stories including a bit of absurdity from the point of view of a snowflake, a tribute/parody piece based on the classic Marvel Comics monster Fin Fang Foom, a tiny glimpse of a moment in a relationship played out on a rooftop, and a childhood memoir of the artist getting into mischief on a field trip.

All of the stories are brief, but all are full of quirks, clever bits of detail, and unexpected twists.

Rating: 7.5/10