Customer Reviews

Meatmen Volume 10

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There's a lot of less accomplished cartoonists in this volume of Meatmen - A.J. Toos, "Farraday", Sean Martin - who bring the average visual appeal per page down a notch. Which is a great shame, because others of the regulars are in prime form.

Not only do we get a vintage Tom of Finland piece, "Highway Patrol", but 'Stephen' pulls out his best ToF homage (i.e. French for rip-off) in "Night Flight". Series regulars Jeff Krell, Kurt Erichsen and Gerard Donelan are excellent, a delightful sequnece from Jerry Mills' "Poppers" is a joy, and 'I.B. Gittendowne's' strips, which are a trifle hard to read owing to the odd reproduction, reward the squinting with a dry, sly wit under the slapstick.

Star of the show, however, is Stephen Lowther's work - and while I may be called a prejudiced witness, since Stephen's a frequent collaborator of mine, I can praise him without bias in this instance, as the two strips in this volume were entirely his own work.

"Harry the Flying Pyramid" is a delightful comedy about an extra-dimensional visitor who is bewildered by the weird and baffling world of Earth; a heady blend of modern cynicism, psychedelic ramblings and vintage "Carry On" style humour, its a joy to read.

And "Unfair Exchange" is a delicious body-swap comedy, where implausibly-endowed surfer dudes and mad scientists clash.

"Harry the Flying Pyramid" is now printed in full-colour in the Bruno Gmunder book, "Prime Cuts" (also available from those lovely people at Amazon!), but - COMPLETIST ALERT! - Meatmen 10 is, so far, the only source for "Unfair Exchange", and the full-colour front & back covers Stephen provided top off the package nicely.

Another fun collection of gay comics, from 1991. Highlights include:

"UNFAIR EXCHANGE" and "HARRY THE FLYING PYRAMID", both by STEPHEN LOWTHER, who brings his "mainstream" art style to tales involving unrequited lust, mind-swapping, and a very peculiar alien from outer space. Lowther also supplies front and back color covers for this volume!

"WORKING THE SHAFT" by "SEAN" -- elevator repairmen get sidetracked from the job at hand.

Other highlights: "MURPHY'S MANOR" by Kurt Erichsen; "JAYSON" by Jeffrey A. Krell; "KAKE: HIGHWAY PATROL" and "NIGHT FLIGHT" by "Tom Of Finland"; "POPPERS" by Jerry Mills; "CATHARTIC COMICS" featuring The Brown Bomber & Diva Touche Flambe by "Prof. I.B. Gittendowne", a super-hero parody; 5 cartoons by A.J.Toos and 10 by Gerald Donelan.