Slick and sick is the best way to describe this latest Montreal comic anthology. Publisher Jamie Salomon has done an excellent job mining the scene and producing a beautifully designed and printed book. The content, however, leans a little too much into seedy territory for my tastes. For example, acting art director d. bilos provides a beautifully rendered story but it features a Jabba the Hut-like prostitute oozing vaginal fluids, which just seems gratuitous. His talent is obvious, I’d just like to see him use his power for good. The main reason to get this issue is the feature interview and strips by the larger than life cult figure, Henriette Valium. The interview does a good job capturing the insanity which so obviously fuels his strips. He claims that drawing (sometimes 20 hours in a row!) is the only outlet for his significant aggression, “I’ll kill women and children, I don’t fucking care. I’ve got to kill something. That’s why in my comics there’s corpses everywhere cut in twenty pieces.” He once wrote bitterly to Art Spiegelman calling him a “pig fucker”. But Valium also provides valuable insight into the creative process, gives advice to younger artists, “finish what you start,” and discusses his relationship with the European collective Le Dernier Cri. If you’ve never heard of Valium, this is an excellent place to start, his densely packed comics have to be seen to be believed. Also in the issue Billy Mavreas provides a silent visual poem, Rupert Bottenberg experiments with form, Richard Suicide continues the absurd adventures of his “My Life as a Foot” character, and Rick Trembles reproduces a two page strip which originally ran in Screw. Image Gun adds another notch to the tradition of excellent comic anthologies coming out of this city. Salomon has a vast knowledge of the comics tradition and a close connection with local talent. I predict more great books from his press. (AB)
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