Alternation Ink
"REMEMBER WHEN COMICS WERE FUN?"
Reviewing Tabloia #572 (#1) created, written, drawn, lettered and edited by Chris Wisnia, from Salt Peter Press. http://www.tabloia.com
Copyright © 2004, Glenn Walker
Psst. Remember when comics were fun? Remember when letters columns were fun? When they were even in comics? Remember when the folks who made comics had fun doing it? Tabloia is a wonderful step back into those days.
The first issue of Tabloia, which is labeled as Volume 47 Number 572, is a tribute to the old time horror comics of our youth with sick and fun 21st century sensibilities. The numbering alone is like a reference to David Letterman, when he was on NBC, when he was funny, when he used joke the show had been on since the 1950s. The table of contents and letters page (remember them!) continue the farce making out as if it's been going on for years. The only thing that betrays its veracity is the cover that boasts this "momentous first issue!"
Chris Wisnia's Tabloia Weekly Magazine is the full title, proclaiming to be "True Tabloid Tales for the Sophisticated Pseudo-Intellectual." Tabloia is a little bit Jack Kirby and a little bit Ed Wood, but all fun. The genius behind it all is Chris Wisnia. He is apparently the mysterious creative force behind this extravaganza of horror, homage and farce and deserves a round of applause. It's more 1950s true crime pulp or EC horror comic than anything else, with just a hint of Mad Magazine thrown in for good measure. All this and no ads for only three hundred and ninety-five cents! What a bargain!
First up, introduced with Rod Serling flair is "The Lump: The Body in the Road." Part One contains a diatribe on body mutilation, which might have lifted from an aborted term paper, but here is quite entertaining. It has little to do with the story and yet is blended into it well. Chris Wisnia not only knows his subject, his audience but knows how to write too. "The Lump" flows like a classic 1970s or 80s horror movie, the cinematic style eating into your brain with images both shown and imagined. Did I mention this guy is good? I'm hooked and eagerly await the next installment.
What looks to be two continuing features are "Dr. DeBunko" and "Dick Hammer, Conservative Republican Private Investigator." DeBunko is just a clever but amusing myth-breaker, more fun than you would think in its mere four pages. Dick Hammer on the other hand is a hard-nosed P.I. with Richard Nixon's face and Rush Limbaugh's mouth. Sooo politically incorrect but I laughed my ass off. Politics aside, Dick is cool in my book because he recommends Hammett's "Red Harvest," one of my all time favorites.
Offered as a reprinted story from Tabloia Weekly Magazine #136 in 1953 is a "Doris Danger" tale. Doris, we are told, seeks 'where giant monsters creep and stomp.' In this episode she comes upon "Spluhh! The Thing Who Burst From an Exploding Volcano!" From start to finish this is a wonderful homage to the Stan Lee and Jack Kirby classic monster stories of the 1950s. And just in case Wisnia's pencils aren't up to Kirby's style, the King's old inker Dick Ayers chipped in to help. Great stuff. Don't miss the Mr. T cameo.
Then there's the letters page that continues the idea of the long-running magazine and offers up cool fake letters to set the tone of the book. The page is just a wonderful reminder of what used to make letters pages in comics fun. This should go down in history along with Stan Lee's old no-prizes, felching in Groo and the multiple 'f' words in the current Powers letters column. The latter, of course being one of the only still-existing letter pages and the most entertaining.
Of interest are the little plugs and references to stuff like Mickey Spillane, 1931's Frankenstein and the Skeptics Society of America. Very cool little extras. Also don't miss the pin-ups for work by comic vets like Gene Colon and Mike Allred and a cameo of Madman. All this and Dick Ayers, wow, Mr. Wisnia must have friends in high places.
If you see this book on the shelf, pick it up and read the 'parental warning' on the back cover alone and you will be sold by its blatant but sick charm. There is seriously very little here in Tabloia not to like. Don't miss it. It is one of those rare comics you'll read again and again, because it's F-U-N. I'll be returning to the doings in fictional Crude Bay with Tabloia's next 'weekly' issue.
Tabloia also has a website: www.tabloia.com, featuring more info, a FAQ, merchandise and lots of other fun stuff.
This review also appears at Pretty-Scary.