Synergy Magazine

bookcover_blab18 Blab! Vol. 18

Fantagraphics

Blab! is the magazine of Monte Beauchamp, a highly respected independent artists ad author. He has edited and designed some amazing publications published by Fantagraphics among others. I especially like his work on older graphic art such as Devilish Greetings: Vintage Devil Postcards, which reproduce rare and unusual devil postcards from 1898 through the 1950s. Blab is now up to issue 18 and has become one of the most significant alternative art magazines on the market.

This issue is a joy to behold, it focuses on comics and is packed with amazing content and has over 120 pages of exciting and challenging graphic art. Premiered are some quite impressive new comics: Mark Zingarelli reveals the "Chick's Club Taboo"; Euro-comics sensation Paco Alcazar tells a Lynchian superhero tale called "Obedience"; Peter Kuper dishes on the bullies that dogged him as a youth in "Bully for You!"; "Sirens of Silence" is cover artist Heshka's wordless depiction of a post-global disaster existence; Sue Coe presents the true tale of Coney Island's "Topsy the Elephant"; underground legend Skip Williamson serves up "Daddy Was a Lady," a portrait of legendary drag queen Rae Burton; Steven Guarnaccia returns with the story behind the man who created Miniature Golf in "Moe Greene's Hole in One"; Kramer's Ergot phenoms Xavier and Helge prove once and for all that atheists are a product of cloned humans; Mark Frauenfelder of boingboing.com fame contributes the comic strip "Juicemaker's Dream."

This volume also introduces us to some amazing new talent in the form of Travis Louie, Nora Krug, Travis Lampe, Mark Zingarelli, Richard Bears, and Randall Enos.

Blab! is beautifully produced, the printing and colour reproduction is of the highest quality and every page offers something new and exciting, this is a great issue and most highly recommended.