Squid Works: Quickies

"How About A Quickie?"

An intergalactic bounty hunter who speaks in Haiku, an abortion, a monkey with a robot head, pneumonia, and small town prejudice; what do these all have in common? Well for one thing, they are all elements in a new book entitled, Quickies. Quickies is a collection of comic book shorts about heartbreak and loss. Inspired by the early 60's romance comics, Quickies mimics those traditional stories in tongue-in-cheek humor (as if they really needed it), all the while maintaining a dire mood. The shorts are varied in style, both in art and narrative. They all, however, carry a common theme of love and loss. The stories were compiled over a time span of a year. Newcomer, Lonnie Allen weaves them together in a wonderful melancholic fabric of fiction. "A mixture of the mundane and the surreal," says Michael Aushenker, creator of El Gato.

"The Cheerleader is the centerpiece story in Quickies about a teenage relationship in which surprise and ambiguity provide a painful milieu. "That Read Thing Above My Nose" is the most straightforward of the pieces and is a semi-autobiographical tale of mock defiance and getting hit for it. "Water is the boldest experiment of narrative in the book. It emphatically explores a girl's emotional relationship with water. "Case Files of the Hand" provides the everyman's feelings of emotional/sexual inadequacies of being a monkey with a robot head.

"I've blown myself apart into scattered pieces and laid them down on paper," says Allen, "Quickies is my experimental, freshman piece, and I'm still wondering if it's a successful experiment. Then again, I suppose failure can be just as interesting."

(Front Cover shown to left)

Title: Quickies

Issue Number: 1

Written, illustrated, inked and lettered by Lonnie Allen

Intended Audience: Mature Readers

Format: 32 pg b&w comic, full color cover .

Retail Price: $3.50 US

OUT OF PRINT!!!

Order No.: # 0190

Website: www.members.tripod.com/lonnie.allen/

E-mail address: lonnieallen@earthlink.net

(Scene from "That Red Thing Above My Nose", right)

In an industry that belches out carbon monoxide poisoned formula, "QUICKIES: Comic Book Shorts About Heartbreak and Loss" is a gasp of life-saving oxygen. Nevermind the superhero shlock - even autobiographical comic books have become staid and predictable in the current comic book scene. That's why newcomer Lonnie Allen and company should be commended for throwing everything in the mix with equal weight - short story fiction, superheroes, B-movie thrills, even random errata like the odd sketchbook doodle - and coming up with a book rich with low key thrills and real life moments. My favorite stories, hands down, are not the silly superhero riffs (although they are entertaining), but the more introspective, personal narratives. You can feel the vivid pain of discrimination and wounded pride in "THAT RED THING ON MY NOSE" and, by the triumphant final, subtle panel, you can taste the victory and vindication. "THE CHEERLEADER" also effectively conjures up feelings of teen angst and confusion. These two stories stood out for me like bells chiming in the eerie night. When you hit these stories in the journey of reading QUICKIES, they hit you back. Powerful stuff. Most of all, I really appreciated the fact that Mr. Allen let his creative muse dictate the overall concept and content of his anthology. If more cartoonists created from the heart and strived for originality, instead of spinning endless variations on "The Punisher" or "X-Men" (it's been done, so let it go, geek boys out there!), the comic book world would be a much more interesting - and respectable - planet to visit. We need more critical, observational, and idiosynchratic voices in comics. Don't stop now, Lonnie!

--reviewed by Michael Aushenker, creator of the EL GATO, CRIME MANGLER series and CHIPMUNKS & SQUIRRELS (www.elgatocomics.com)

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