As I have stated before here in my Blog...  Reviewing an anthology comic book is harder than reviewing an issue with just one long feature length story!

Usually those anthologies comics contain stories with different writer and artist teams, or a creator that does both functions for just one story, with other teams contributing additional stories.

It is the Editor's task or the Publisher's responsibility to compile issues that will have at least one or more stories that the reader will enjoy enough to want to pick up future issues.

So what happens if a creator decides to put together thier own anthology comic book?  Well it may turn out to be a one-shot if the the creator doesn't see immediate success, or the first issue may find an audience, no matter what size, and build from there.

Noah Van Sciver's Blammo is now up to issue #4 in print, with plans for #5 to start featuring a series of stories on his hero Abe Lincoln.  Blammo is a semi-quarterly self published comic book by Noah.

Noah recently sent me a copy for review, along with a great promotion letter handwritten to me.  Besides promoting his latest issue, he also explained the concept to me.  He calls his 4th issue a "sort of a mix of short stories and funny, wacky stuff".

So what is in this issue?  Well in a total of 24 black and white pages you get this Quantity:

3 One page stories

2 Six page stories

1 Four page story

1 Two page story

1 Three page story

So much for quantity of pages... How about Quality?

There's the Question of the Day!  As I stated earlier, when a creator has full control of an anthology issue, where he or she is filling the positions of writer, artist, editor and even publisher, than any 'issues' with the comic book lie with the creator him or herself.

What I've found from reading this issue is a lot of visual ideas that were put down in black & white.  Were the ideas all 'homeruns'?  No.  Were the ideas all 'strikeouts'? No.  I only found one that was unreadable to me out of eight included in this issue.

There was a comment made to Noah when he was starting out that maybe his comic was 'unmarketable'.  Being a comics reader that started out in the late 1950's with 'funnybooks' and growing up as a teenager in the 1960's,  I've read a lot of 'independent' and even 'underground' comics during that time. And yeah, a lot of those were also "funny, wacky stuff".

Noah's stories here are reminiscent of that free-stylin' era. Yes, including the nudity, coarse language, minor obscenities, etc. that are usually found in such publications.

So yeah, this comic would not be for everyone's taste, and definitely not suitable for all ages.

However, you gotta give credit where credit is due.  Noah is attempting to make it in the independent publishing world, where it is hard to make it 'Big'.  He is still in the Denver area of Colorado which is not known as being a 'comics community' yet.  Heck it just had its' first Big Comic Con this year!  His art style has not yet fully formed, and he for one is proud of that on-going development as he looks back on what he has done and what he is currently working on.

So, here's my take on this self-publishing comic book series. It is an on-going self developement work of art.  It is not meant for the mainstream readership, yet attempts to have some sort of 'continuity' in that it is being published on a semi-regular basis.  Not all the stories in each issue will delight you or even make you think.  It is the writer / artist in Noah that is putting down his ideas in black and white, and when having 24 pages of material that he thinks fit to publish... does.  Whether or not it is something you want to read after trying out an issue is your choice.  I'm merely bringing this series to your attention after receiving a copy for review and finding it 'marketable' to a certain sales 'niche'.

He is one heck of a promoter, that is for sure.  Check out his MySpace page, Facebook page, and his own web site at: http://www.noahvansciver.com/ for how you can obtain a copy of this Blammo comic, back issues, and any other works he is working on!  BTW, on his web site You can see some of the pages that I read from issue #4 of Blammo to form your own opinions...