Yep!

EYE OF THE MAJESTIC CREATURE 2

"Stein first came to my attention with her painstaking and unusual comic YEAH IT IS!, a Xeric-winner that looked to be assembled as much as drawn, given the way she composed each page with paper cut-outs along with drawings. It was an interesting experiment to say the least, and the fact that the story itself was equally appealling to my sensibilities (about a loudmouth loner trying to relate to the rest of the world) certainly made her one to watch.

The style she uses in her minis is completely different--a very fine line, detailed pencils and even stippling for effect. Her stories are the product of an unhinged imagination, yet there is a coherent narrative to be found. Indeed, one senses that much of the story is directly autobiographical, if adorned with all sorts of weirdness. The story is about a young woman named Larry who has moved out to the country after living in the city made her too anxious. She lives alone in a house with her anthropomorphic guitar (named Marshy) and ponders misanthropy and the desperate need to connect, two contradictory impulses that nonetheless drive her.

I found myself completely drawn into the world that Stein created. Her ability to create intricate fine-line drawings whose simplicity leads the eye around the page with ease is matched only by her many decorative touches. Larry has huge, button eyes and a picklish nose to go along with her lithe frame. Stein adds a touch of the trippy and even grotesque into her drawings, with hints of Vaughn Bode popping up here and there. There are many hilarious sequences in the book, like Larry playing with a baby by bopping a doll on its head until she knocks it over and responds by quietly propping the baby back up.

This comic is mostly about the stink of alienation and loneliness. Larry can smell it on others (like a shop owner desperate for company) and is none-too-pleased to see it in herself. Larry later house-sits for another loner-type obsessed with odd but beautiful details in life. He's a social misfit who seems content with his obsessions, like country music and barbecue. (Aside: though I was enormously pleased with the digression into Eastern vs Western North Carolina barbecue, Stein's character got it wrong. Eastern-style is vinegar-based and is the food of the gods, while Western-style (based in Lexington) is slathered in ketchup and is disgusting. End of barbecue aside.) Larry is not so different from him, and draws happiness from some of the most absurd places. It's safe to say that the absurd, the cheap, and the guilelessly delightful things in life give Larry joy in a world devoid of meaning or real connection. This point of view resonates with me as a reader, and it's for this reason, along with her superior chops as an artist and imaginative composition & design that this was my favorite mini-comic to date of 2007. "


--Sequart Research and Literacy Organization


Vinegar Sminagar, I did my research. Or DID I?


"Leslie Stein is a walking argument for the single-artist anthology comic book, because I think with a vehicle for regular work seen by a lot of people resulting in a reasonably tight and well-informed art/feedback loop, she really might turn into something. This self-published work is classic "the cartoonist has a quality"-level comics, with an odd mix of fantasy, observational drama, blended styles, laconic satire and atmospheric sequences coming together less like a stew and more like a boil. Whether or not you enjoy the experience probably depends on how much you like the majority of riffs and sequences on hand. It fails to come together like more considered, mature work should. A few eye-popping surprises and tonal shifts can spice up a comic; too many and the reader can be slapped and cuffed right out of the reading experience. What makes any struggle worth it is Stein's keen eye for how people settle into space, a kind of agitated discomfit with body and situation that works against an underlying desire to belong and make connections. Her characters make me nervous, and I feel sometimes like I want to put my thumbs on some of them before they flit off the page. I'd like to see issue 3; more than that, I'd like to see issue 10."

--The Comics Reporter


Issue 3 on the way...