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Paper Rodeo #19
posted August 16, 2005
 



Creators: Various
Publishing Information POB 321 Providence RI 02901, 32 pages, $1.50 ppd
Ordering Numbers

I love the fact that Paper Rodeo exists so much it's hard for me to be critical about it. In addition, a lot of the work contained within really hard to penetrate; there's very little to clue you in on what's meant to be read and what's meant to be stared at. That may sound odd to those of you who have never heard of Paper Rodeo (and tiresome to those who are familiar with it). For the unitiated, imagine a free tabloid weekly made up of wildly drawn, anything-goes cartoons that have more in common with Gary Panter at his most inscrutable than Scott Adams or Tony Millionaire. For those long-times fans out there, you'll just have to give me a break.

I have a feeling there's an issue to issue I can pass along. The June 2005 issue seems a slight improvement over the last one or two I've, but maybe not as good as those issues numbered in the single digits. But my impression might be suspct. I don't read issus of Paper Rodeo as much as visit them, like a junkyard of exquisite car parts that capture my attention here and there (like the rolling landscapes/figures pictured above) before giving way to one or two immaculate automobiles in their entirety. The ones that made me stop and stare this issue are a center spread that looks to be from Souther Salazar, and the latest episode of Mat Brinkman's "Multi-Force" episode. The Salazar picture looks like something Rowland Emett might have drawn for Punch, with it delicate latticework and boisterous denizens. Brinkman's comic has become one of the better fantasies in comics form, invoking old tabletop role-playing games through its power hiearchies and flippant dialogue. I love the show even when I don't understand it as comics, and I'm happy something like this continues to exist. It's a much better art form for being able to drop $10 in an envelope and receiving a bunch of these in return.