Minis

by Becky Cloonan

I've made no secret of the extent of my comic book crush on Becky Cloonan.  I'm sure she gets that a lot, being the poster girl for attractive, intelligent comic book artists who can also throw down and write a good story when she needs to.

I've been slowly trying to amass a collection of her entire back catalogue (I think all I'm missing now is her Dracula adaptation), and so picked up this self-published collection of some of her mini-comics when I saw her this year at TCAF.  Minis contains fourteen stories she originally self-published between 2000 and 2002, and it is an interesting look into the creative mind of an emerging genius.

The stories are all quite short, and seem to revel in their indie-ness.  They are also disarmingly charming.  It's not hard to look at these pieces and see why creators like Brian Wood were able to recognize what a talent Cloonan is.  Sure, this book doesn't really stand up on its own, but when read as part of the bigger picture, it becomes indispensable.