Welcome to Sunday Comics' special Indie Compilation Triple Play, a three-Sunday event where I'll highlight a lovely trio of comic-bit sandwiches. I've noticed this sort of thing slowly popping up, maybe developing into a delightful trend--little volumes of mostly unknown comickers putting short works together in an effort to simply get their work out there. Today we'll take a look at Fat Chunk, a project of sorts dedicated to exactly this.
The Comic: Fat Chunk Vol. 1: Robot
By: Put together by British awesomeface Jamie Smart, but there's over 80 artists who put stuff into this first volume alone.
By: Put together by British awesomeface Jamie Smart, but there's over 80 artists who put stuff into this first volume alone.
Type: Compilation/Very thick magazine.
Content Rating: Though individual entries vary greatly in content, overall it's an R, mainly for language and violence.
Plot: Fat Chunk is pretty much a brilliant idea. Several people who love comics, from all backgrounds (but mostly unknowns) send in short works based around a central theme--for this volume, the theme was robots. The entries vary wildly in both visual style and writing, and the result is pretty spiffy--simple one-page pinups or scenes to three-or-four-page poignant little vignettes and everything in between. There are stories that are sad, that are silly, that make you think, that are just mindless fun, etc. etc. etc. As a particular highlight, it was neat to see an entry there by Gabriel Bautista, better known on the internet as Galvo. (Galvo helps run a similar online comics project called EnterVOID, a site I've considered joining on-and-off-again several times, and actually features twice in the three compilations I'll eventually cover.) Smart, of course, opens with a work of his own, featuring his recurring character Angry Little Robot, in which he beats up some children. (Angry Little Robot was previously a character in a short series of comic strips done by Smart.) I also appreciated the entries that played with the meaning of "robot" a little more--there was for example a fun entry at the end by a man named Dan Gaynor about a little boy with a mechanical head.
Personal thoughts: If you're looking for a good blend of comicky variety in a fun-size package, either because you want to check out some fresh material or just have a short attention span, Fat Chunk is cheap, awesome, and recommended. Think of it as a sampler platter of foods that are vaguely familiar to you but just different enough as to be an adventure.
The second volume, themed around Zombies, is slated to hit shelves at the end of this month.
The second volume, themed around Zombies, is slated to hit shelves at the end of this month.
Holden Out.
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