This zine is, unfortunately, a mixed bag. I found few of the comics to be funny, while others with their gratuitous violence and expletives, seem to exist solely to justify the “Adults only 18+” drawn on the cover of the zine. People who enjoy dark and crude humour may enjoy the adventures of Ratbo or get a laugh out of a comic about a man with a penis for a nose, but I don’t.
I can understand how some people may enjoy the instructions for how to create an (what I imagine to be fairly ineffective) Eggplant Switchblade, but I found the concept too forced and ludicrous to be funny. In a few cases, the text isn’t even legible, which is a great shame because maybe then I’d get the jokes. I did, however, enjoy “The Adventures of Bernard the Egg,” a textless comic which features decent art and a simple story, despite its confusing panel order and direction. (Terry Harjanto)
Comic, #5, ed. James Riviera, Black Box Productions, [email protected], $6 with postage