Comic, Colin Upton, #223-440 East 5th Ave, Vancouver, BC, V5T 1N5, [email protected], $0.75
There are umpteen “Colin Upton Comics” out there, it seems. Dude doesn’t stop. It’s impressive that most of the author’s experiences seem to be constantly emerging from the tip of his drawing pencil. While documenting minutiae (buying discount bagels, riding the bus, poking in the toilet for a stool sample), the comics become charming pieces of minutiae themselves. In this installment, the author illustrates a harrowing day spent shoeless in the city, limping along wet sidewalks in disintegrating socks after blisters force him to remove a pair of too-stiff boots. The style is readable and well rendered and I can’t help but smile at the eternally dour look on the Upton-character’s face. “All I know is whatever small joy I feel in life is punished with 10 times the pain,” he muses, his Achilles tendons bleeding as he squishes home in the rain. The author charges just 75 cents for his wonderfully drawn comic installments. Yes, you’d actually get change back from a dollar. Now that’s some humble ziney goodness. If you send for one, you might as well send for a bunch. (Danielle Patrick)