Hotwire Comics Volume 1

Edited by New York cartoonist Glenn Head, Hotwire Comix is a big, bold, beautiful poke to the old eyeballs featuring short, punchy, hilarious, all-around comics and stories. Head himself, whose work looks like a demented cross between Robert Williams and Crumb, starts the dance with the epic "Switchblade Shenanigans!" Elsewhere, David Lasky relates "The Last Days of Joe Strummer"; Tony (Maakies) Millionaire contributes a "Little Nemo in Wonderland" style dream story; plus new strips by Max (Death and Candy) Andersson, Tim Lane, Matt Madden, Mats!?, Brad Johnson, Danny Hellman, Angry Youth Comix' Johnny "Rolling Stone Cool Cartoonist of the Year" Ryan, Mack White, Judith McNicol, and a six-page-fold-out by Craig (Modern Arf) Yoe. There's also an eye-popping color section, led off by Carol Swain's "Family Circus" (not a reference to the syndicated strip but a character study of two young girls visiting a circus), with new work by Ivan Brunetti, Sam Henderson, Mike Wartella, and Doug Allen. And R. Sikoryak wraps it up with a new installment of his letter-perfect parodies of classic literary works retold as cartoons with "Mephistofield" (the devil as a fat, lasagna-eating cat). All this and a cover by Michael (Tales Designed to Thrizzle Kupperman!