Squishy Freak Frolic Monster Society Newsletter #1-3
Comic zine, Mr. Fuzzypants aka Squishy Sheik, 8 pgs, eyesorecinema.com, $2
2020 has been the year of many things. The year of remote work, the year of self-isolation, the year of loss and fire, the year of places closing. It’s also, surprisingly, been “the year of newsletters,” as every other writer or artist takes to paid online platforms like Substack to beat the algorithm and go directly to the inboxes of the masses.
Thus, it’s fitting that the Squishy Freak Frolic Monster Society newsletters sprung up this year. Produced in collaboration with Toronto’s Eyesore Cinema, the newsletters are presented from the perspective of one “Mr. Fuzzypants,” a stuffed doll based on a B-List Godzilla monster. Each issue contains a review and articles relating to a particular focus. These include a timeline of King Kong films, a brief history of Halloween, and even centrefolds of specific monsters. It’s cutesy and a little twee, but there’s a clear earnestness and passion to it. The writing in each edition has an obvious knowledge of the subject matter, and the artwork has a raw doodled quality to it. It’s hard to tell whether this is the work of the character of Mr. Fuzzypants or Sheik, and surely this is intentional.
It’s a fun gimmick, producing the newsletters through the eyes of this character, though I do feel that it’s something that may run its course sooner rather than later. Sheik’s passion for and knowledge of the subject in each newsletter is evident, and I’d be more interested in reviews that are wholly their own, and not viewed exclusively through this other lens.
