Customer Reviews

Goth-Icky: A Macabre Menagerie of Morbid Monstrosities (A Pop Ink Book)

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I was very delighted to find this one, while trying to show Happy Bunny Kitty Pony to a friend while at a bookstore. As a fan of macabre and kitsch I value the graphics and was ready to read the silly comments from Michael J. Nelson.

I did however, notice in this volume that some of the graphics appeared more photoshopped than Happy Bunny Kitty Pony. Too many nose rings and eyebrow rings. However all images are wonderfully presented in a vintage style and quite frankly "rock my socks."

Iconic nasties and pulp comic imagery, this is a damn good volume of the hopefully ongoing series.

Oh my. I love MST3k so Mike Nelson's acerbic humor is pretty beloved. The vintage (often high 60 & 70s) graphics are charming and the wit is there. The Pop ink series is pretty consistent in terms of both satire and image quality and I honestly found this terrific.
A word to the wise; it really isn't about goths per se. It's mostly classic Mike Nelson rants about Halloween-type things (Frankenstein, Haunted Houses, etc.)
If you're looking for a more 'Goth' specific send up, check out Voltaire's "What Is Goth?". Fun and written by an actual scenester...
However, if you love vintage halloween and a good laugh, this is great!

Some of the graphic elements here have been MIA for a long time. It's great to see them resurrected and accompanied by some silly text. The humor in the text really grew on me once I realized what to expect. I guess you'd hate it if you were expecting quotes from a Chekhov play. Yes, it's hipsterish and goofy, but it's a great pick me up when the rest of the world is telling you that skeletons and vampires only matter in October.

Despite the title and preface, this book is not really about Goth culture no matter if you interpret it as ancient Germanic tribes or kids that live in Hot Topic.

Sure they poke fun for a few words and as someone who finds the Hot Topic "Goths" culture funny, it's amusing.

This book is really for fans of monsters and/or Halloween! As just a picture book of pop art it's a must have but Nelson's comments really push the book and make it very entertaining. It's an odd sense of humor to be sure and probably not for everyone, but it is for me!

I haven't checked out any of the other books in the series but I'd highly recommend this for anyone that likes funky retro monster art/halloween decorations.

Of the 3 Pop ink-Mike Nelson collaborations I've read, this one disappointed me and seems to be the weakest. Mike's humor is there, and the art is ok, but not really the same quality as the others, and it just seemed off-target from what I was expecting. Only the first couple pages are anything to do with taking swipes at Goth culture, and the rest are just Halloween art and horror comic illustrations. It is a good book for getting into the Halloween mood, but it just seemed a bit too blah, especially compared to Happy Kitty Bunny Pony. I still recommend it for Halloween art fans and Mike Nelson groupies, but I don't think anyone else would get much from it.

I have a feeling that is what it's supposed to be. Mike, keep up the good work.

Jo Jo

This is essentially Pop Ink graphics that have been altered to look 'gothy' with the pithy and boring comments of Michael J Nelson of MST3K fame. I like Nelson - but this is not his best medium.

It may sound odd--I was indeed looking for kitsch, but this turned out to be _bad_ kitsch, if that even makes sense. It looks cheap and kindergarten-ish, not lurid or ambivalent. It's empty, no buzz. The images remind one of bad wrapping paper or greeting cards--not billboards or packages or advertising, the sort of thing I had in mind. Well, it might be your sort of thing, but it wasn't what I was looking for.

I wish I'd taken a closer look at this before purchasing. As with the other titles in the series, I was sucked in by the splendid images from their voluminous archives. What a trove!

I found the layout and overall look of the book appealing, but was completely turned off by the smarmy & sophmoric text accompanying the graphics. Just lame and unnecessary.

It's a shame, as it all could have been avoided had they chosen not to futz with the material so much. Less would have been more.

I won't be picking up any of the other books.