Playing the SIMS
Reviewed By: Matt Levin
Title: Playing the SIMS
Written and Created by: Daniel Nauenburg
Art by: Dan
Colored by: (black and white)
Lettering by: Dan
Edited by: Dan N.
Publisher: Small Press Syndicate & Daniel N.
Cover Price: $3
Release Date: Nov. 08
Reviewed by: Matt Levin
Summary of the book
An unpleasant guy in his late twenties races a SIMS contest for the big bucks to buy more "Dew".
Review
If you remember or have an acquaintance with Ralph Snart, Daniel Nauenburg"s character Sid is Ralph with less over-all ambition and fewer smarts... and maybe 60 additional pounds. He could also be who Snart would become, out of college now and...on his own, in his mother"s cellar.
With expressive, "simple" lines, a good balance of dark and light, and judicious use of tones, Nauenburg gives a strong realist feel to his cartoony character...at least visually.
Sid"s the obsessed-gamer without peer, the worst of every cliche, not a thought but of the game, unless it"s the craving for that pep-you-up Dew. Sid is stubbly, obese, in denial of his diabetes ("It"s NOT diabetes! It"s a rare combination of anemia and Guillain-Barre syndrome!"), and out of coin to get more drinkable Dew. He sees an ad: $1000 award in the SIM Fanatic Challenge. Sid says, "Easy money". He likes to talk about himself in the third person; but he threatens his Sim characters with "I am the Lord thy GOD!" along the way.
For sixteen of the thirty pages (the story starts right in on the inside front cover--) we"re witness to a 24-hour ordeal as Sid guides his Sim to the top of their career path. There is heartbreak, sorrow, foul language, and, along the way, some success and irony.
In Playing the SIMS, we get a mix of smooth, clean drawing and spare, clear dialogue. It's nicely gray-toned black and white pictures and the story made my fifteen-year-old son laugh more than it did his fifty-year-old father, but we"re both glad we have it.
Rating the Issue
Story: Overall - 8 |
Storytelling - 8 out of 10 |
Take A Look Inside
Reviewer Bio
Name: Matt Levin
email: walkingmancomics@comcast.net
Been reading comics: as an adult, steadily since 1973.
Review Bio: I write/illustrate/produce Walking Man Comics mini-comics, over ten years monthly (and bimonthly, now); garden and keep home with my sweet heart and our 15 yr. old son, and cat; 21st year as a Montessori preschool/kindergarten teacher after 10 years in comics retail, and other, preparatory jobs; songwriter, photographer...words, music, pictures; like the TED talks and NPR enormously. Politically, I'm fearful for our nation's integrity, but I Got Hope.
Favorites: Age of Bronze, Astro City, All Star Superman, Amelia Rules, Boneyard, Conan, Colonia, Castle Waiting, Daredevil, Fables, Fell, Hellboy, Jack Staff, Jonah Hex, Lone Wolf, Mouse Guard, Next Wave, Powers, Spirit, Strangers, Usagi, Wolff & Byrd, Criminal, Echo, Fire and Brimstone, House of Mystery, Madame Xanadu, Mercy Sparks, Top Ten II, Welcome to Hoxford, Young Liars, Zorro.
Websites:
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http://www.comicspace.com/walkingmancomics/
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