Sweat Book Volume Two
Reviewed by R. Krauss
Sweat
Book Volume Two
Reviewed by R. Krauss
By Kevin Scalzo
52 pages, plus heavy-weight cover
6-12" x 9", with saddle-stitch binding
Full color throughout, full page bleed on select pages
Published by Busybody Books
Website: www.kevinscalzo.com
For sale ($9.95):
http://poopsheet.ecrater.com/product.php?pid=4781281
Sweat Book Volume Two is a beautifully produced collection of art prints. The title is a play on the words "Sketch Book". The contents may seem like random drawings from Scalzo's sketch book, but they're finished, well thought out pieces--the result of long hours of sweating the details.
Like the title, the book is filled with whimsy. Many of Scalzo's drawings are cartoons. It looks like they're drawn on paper, scanned, and colored digitally. The color in particular is not at all like a cartoon. It's like fine art; and the combination creates a unique vision.
Some of the work is very bold with broad stokes. Other areas are finely detailed. Some images are isolated figures surrounded by a sea of white space, while other spill off the page in all directions. The recurring elements in Scalzo's work are sexuality and brains. Not precisely brains, but other things like chickens and slugs and limbs rendered as if they're made out of cartoony brains.
If you like fine art comics, you'll love Sweat Book #2. Scalzo has a original vision and it's great to see him push the medium of cartoons into the realm of art. Obviously, this book is for mature readers.
Take A Look Inside
Reviewer Bio
R. Krauss reviews small press and mini comics on Midnight Fiction, Poopsheet Foundation and Comic Related.
Name: Richard Krauss
email: arkay@midnightfiction.com
Been reading comics: since I started reading Marvel comics in Junior High School.
Review Bio: After several years I discovered titles like Zap and Bijou at a headshop and was seduced by the freedom and variety they offered. When the new-wave comix era sprouted from the seeds of the undergrounds, I quickly joined the ranks of other struggling cartoonists with phenomenally low print runs. After almost a decade of small press comix, I retired and made a solemn vow never to return. Several years later the Internet happened and over time many of my favorite new-wave cartoonists got online. The bug bit again and I started exploring the new crop of small press cartoonists. Today's explosion of small press comics is more exciting than any time I've ever seen.
Favorites: Papercutter, Not My Small Diary, Slam Bang, Comic Eye, stuff from Main Enterprises and Weird Muse, to name a few.
Website: MidnightFiction.com
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