What Danny has here is a full-color, 192 page comics anthology trade paperback book called "TYPHON". This book features new work by forty-two cartoonists from across the USA, Canada, South America and in Europe.

As I have blogged about before, anthology comics are harder to 'review' due to the fact that returning characters or storylines are usually not part of the mix and in several cases were not meant to be continued.

However, anthologies are a great way for a publisher to experiment with different styles and content when publishing.

Indeed publishers can pick and choose what they want to publish, as several creators do not produce enough pages of their creation to be a stand alone one-shot comic or graphic novel. As Danny puts it "As an editor of anthologies, I’m excited to provide a showcase for artists and work that we might not see otherwise. Diversity makes for a richer comics scene.”.

The question is though, will the reader(s) of the anthology comic enjoy one or more of the stories enough to come back for the next issue?  In this case, Danny's Volume One of Typhon has so many pages and so many different stories from so many cartoonists that there must be some to several stories that you as a reader must like somewhere in these 192 pages!

Here are my thoughts on the stories that caught my interest, tho not necessarily my favorite stories:

(Note: Please be aware that this book is 'For Mature Readers'.)

The Bullyrag By Patrick Moriarty is a retelling of the story between Typhon and Zeus. Starting on page 64 it is a two page story, with the gods being portrayed as animal characters. This book's cover is a scene from this story, with art by R. Sikoryak.

Goofball Heist by Glenn Head is very similar to the 1960's underground comix that I used to see passed around in high school. As it was back then, you can take it or leave it...

Tcha Chuk is a sample of a few of the one page comics that are in this anthology... three off beat stories by David Paleo.

John Star and The Robots of Atlantis has Hitler's brain, Joseph Stalin, the KKK, and Black Panthers. This strip has the potential to continue... if you dig this kind of humor.

Box Top Comics in its' one page stories are funny in a strange sort of way... four different stories by Dalton Webb. 

Gregory Spalding - The Most Boring Vampire Ever by Lorenz Peter is pretty funny. There are a few one page stories included in this volume starting at page 106.  

Reviewer's Note:  While reading the digital review copy of the book on my Adobe Reader, I felt like I was watching a 'Spike and Mike' Sick & Twisted Film Festival'. For those of you that either have been at one of those festivals or watched one on a DVD, you'll  know what I mean!

That being said, there will be readers that will find some of these stories 'gems', some so-so, some unreadable, and some of the stories gross. You'll wonder why some of the stories were ever published, while you'll also wonder why some of the stories weren't expanded or continued into full fledged comics of their own.

Unlike the Film Festivals that I mentioned above, you as a reader have a choice in skipping the pages you don't want to read, and center in on the ones that appeal to you. (Just like the editor / publisher picked out the stories that appealed to him when assembling the stories for this book.)

The final question is what will your pocketbook say about choosing this book to read?  That my dear blog readers is up to your choice in reading material and what you are willing to spend for that pleasure. 

The book is rich in diversity as the publisher stated above, but it is in such diversity that not all stories can or could appeal to everyone.  Nor could such a book not amuse, exhilarate, offend, stimulate, alienate, invigorate, mesmerize, or otherwise move the reader into different emotions when reading the diverse stories accumulated! 

The book, if not available at your LCBS or at your usual source of purchases, can be found at the publisher's web site:

www.dannyhellman.com

ISBN: 978-0-9709363-3-2
Price: $24.95 US
For mature readers

This is thought to be a complete list of TYPHON’s contributors:
Ken Avidor, Derek Ballard, Gregory Benton, Rupert Bottenberg, DJ Bryant, Mark Campos, David Chelsea, Chris Cilla, Max Clotfelter, Patrick Dean, Bald Eagles, Chance Fiveash, Richard Gagnon, Nicholas Gazin, Robert Goodin, Glenn Head, Danny Hellman, Hugo, Hawk Krall, Tim Lane, Jeff LeBlanc, Pat Moriarty, Cliff Mott, David Paleo, Lorenz Peter, Grant Reynolds, Hans Rickheit, Pshaw, R. Sikoryak, Doug Skinner, Fiona Smyth, Steak Mtn., Takeshi Tadatsu, Tobias Tak, Eric Theriault, Matthew Thurber, Motohiko Tokuta, Rich Tommaso, Rick Trembles, Henriette Valium, Dalton Webb, & Chris Wright.

(Please Note: A Complimentary digital copy for this review was provided by the publisher. The book is only in print format for purchase.)