Square Dance #6

Here's one of Colin Tedford's minicomics, taken from the backlog.

Title: Square Dance
Issue: #6
Date: 2013
Publisher: Colin Tedford
Writer: Colin Tedford
Artist: Colin Tedford

Anthology of comics by Colin Tedford. Opens with the adventures of Headache and Nausea, a couple of notorious party crasher types.There are a couple of political/environmental pieces, some wordless strips, a couple of silly Halloween comics (including the complete Midnight Snack, which also appears as a minicomic that I reviewed here.).





There is a nice surreal quality to the wordless "Summer in Headville", and the "Noodle Wrestling Mayhem" comic is loaded with awesome puns.

But by far the centerpiece of this issue is "The Story of Jake Tuesday", which features local traditions, Morris dance, and a story of a man who was literally rescued from death.

Good collection, especially the "Jake Tuesday" story, which has a ton of heart. Awesome detail work on the artwork as well.

Rating: 7.5/10

Midnight Snack

Title: Midnight Snack
Date: 2012
Publisher: Trees And Hills
Writer: Colin Tedford
Artist: Colin Tedford

When a kid brings home an unusual Halloween treat from the "creepy house up the street", it's up to Mom to fight a midnight battle against an evil snack food.

Clever and funny. This micro-minicomic is a great example of telling a good story in a minimum of space and page count.

Rating: 8/10

Trees And Hills Anthology #10: Woods

Another comic I picked up at the Spring Zine Thing last Sunday in Somerville. I am currently going through a bunch of comics from recent shows (Spring Zine Thing, South Attleboro Collectibles Show, and Anime Boston). More show finds ahead too, and I'll be at four more shows in the coming weeks (Boston Comic Con, South Coast Comic And Toy Show, Rochester NH Free Comic Book Day Festival, and Maine Comic Arts Festival).

Title: Trees And Hills Anthology #10: Woods
Date: 2012
Publisher: Trees And Hills
Writer: Colin Tedford, Marlene O'Connor, Rio Aubrey Taylor, Bill Tulp, Sarah Margaret Frye, Elizabeth Neronski, Colleen Frakes, Matt Levin, Liam Gyori, Madsahara, Carl Mefferd, Glynnis Fawkes, Jay Goldspinner, Marek Bennett, Mike Lynch, Daniel Barlow, Randall Drew, Anne Thalheimer
Artist: Colin Tedford, Marlene O'Connor, Rio Aubrey Taylor, Bill Tulp, Sarah Margaret Frye, Elizabeth Neronski, Colleen Frakes, Matt Levin, Liam Gyori, Madsahara, Carl Mefferd, Glynnis Fawkes, Jay Goldspinner, Marek Bennett, Mike Lynch, Daniel Barlow, Randall Drew, Anne Thalheimer
Editor: Colin Tedford, Daniel Barlow
Cover: Colin Tedford

Hefty 68-page digest-sized minicomic that features seventeen stories around the theme of "woods".

This is a nice mix of autobiographical and environmentalist stories, almost all of them set in Trees & Hills' home territory of western New England. Everything here is good. Some standouts include Marlene O'Connor's story of about a young man's escape into the woods from an abusive home and his meeting with the Native American spirit Nukumi, Bill Tulp's history of the Green Man, and Marek Bennett's account of a hike gone wrong and told in an incredible linear series of tiny drawings.

Nice variety of art styles and lots of good stories and images.

Rating: 8/10

Pro Tips For Tabling At Comics Conventions

Reviewing the first of today's haul from Free Comic Book Day.

Title: Pro Tips For Tabling At Comics Conventions
Date: 2011
Publisher: Trees And Hills
Writer: Colin Tedford
Artist: Colin Tedford

Short comic strips describing the "do's" (but illustrating the "don'ts" of selling your comics at a convention). There was some very funny material here, most of it dealing with situations familiar to nearly every comic book creator.

The individual jokes in this eight-page quarter-sized minicomic freebie range from one panel to eight. The longest ("Close the deal") is the one I found most amusing, but they were all pretty funny.

Rating: 7.5/10