MOME Fall 2005 (#2), Vol. 2

MOME: (MOME) N. 1. (archaic) blockhead; fool. 2. the cutting-edge of literary comics for the 21st century.

This accessible, reasonably priced, quarterly anthology will run approximately 136 pages per volume and spotlight a regular cast of a dozen of today's most exciting cartoonists. Designed by acclaimed designer and cartoonist Jordan Crane (The Clouds Above), MOME will feature an iconic design and consistent format that should quickly establish the anthology as the most distinctive and accessible anthology of literary comics available.

MOME is the first all-comics literary anthology designed to sit alongside publications like Granta, The Baffler, McSweeney's, et. al., and is designed to appeal as much to fans of contemporary literary fiction as longtime comics fans. MOME will feature the same collective of artists every issue, allowing the artists and audience to grow together and build an ongoing identity that is highly unusual for the world of contemporary comics (where many authors publish sporadically by literary standards, given the labor intensive nature of comics).

Publishers Weekly

The satisfying fifth volume of this anthology of literary art comics solidifies the achievements of regular contributors. In two whimsical interludes, Martin Cendreda's lyrical "Music for Midnight" portrays a night out for a veiled mole person, while the angsty solipsism of Jeffrey Brown's "I Feel Like I Don't Even Know You" has a certain tortured charm. A laugh-out-loud highlight is Anders Nilsen's "Art History Notes/Hoax Paper," in which the creative artist's defiant mockery of a dully theoretical approach to art is cleverly and naturalistically on display. Sophie Crumb's "Lucid Night-mare," richly drawn in ballpoint pen, gives us the hectic and exciting beginning to a drug-addled road trip. An interview with Andrice Arp doesn't go deep enough to be truly revealing, but Arp's accompanying pen and ink drawings are offbeat and charming. Her lovely retelling of a Japanese legend, "A Story of the Oki Islands," done in blue paintings, is a pleasure, too. The true highlight of the volume, though, is a new story from Tim Hensley, who did the cover. His three linked contributions, to be continued in the next volume, combine to form a dark-edged and smart poor-little-rich-boy story, all done in bright colors that highlight the absurdist tone of the piece. (Oct.) Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.

Written and illustrated by Andrice Arp, Gabrielle Bell, Marc Bell, Jonathan Bennett, Jeffrey Brown, Sophie Crumb, David Heatley, Paul Hornschemeier, Anders Nilsen, John Pham and Kurt Wolfgang. Designed by Jordan Crane. Edited by Gary Groth and Eric Reynolds.