Boosterism: Phase 7 In Trade Paperback.
I actually started reading Alec Longstreth's Phase 7 minicomic with the first installment of "Basewood," a 5-part fantasy epic that is still ongoing, even as the creator puts out "future" installments of Phase 7 as he works on issues 7, 8, and 9 it. I was instantly struck not just by his simple art, but for the plain, almost Steinbeck-like tone of his work. It's rare that fantasy comics do anything but provide the same Dungeons & Dragons clichés, and Longstreth's approach instantly set him apart.
At most recent MoCCA festival, I picked up issues #6, #10 and #11 (see previous bit about his putting out later issues) of Phase 7, and was glad to see that his autobiographical and non-fantasy material is, if anything, stronger than the work that drew me to him. That's why I was really glad to see a collection of the first four issues at Forbidden Planet during my last visit to New York City.
The first two issues show the creator moving forward in leaps and bounds, taking autobiographical and real-life stories and retelling them with aplomb. The rough, too-primitive art from the very first story is soon replaced with a cartoony take that Longstreth refines very quickly into a standardized style that works very well. As the creator notes, however, it's amusing that so many praised the third issue collected here, where the art is reduced to simple stick figures that retell the story of Longstreth's cross-country journey. This would be the high point of the first trade if it weren't for the last story, a full-length, thinly-fictionalized story about an artist's obsession with grafitti. This is exactly the sort of thing that I read minicomics for - a personal take on something that goes beyond simple likes and dislikes without sounding like a university lecture.
You can actually read the four issues collected Longstreth's web site, but I encourage everyone to buy the book to support his work.
