Embarrassingly Late Review of DirtBoy #1

When I saw that DirtBoy #1 was on the Diamond shipping list for this week, I remembered that the fine folks at Moronik Comics had sent me a review copy several weeks ago. I read it at the time and intended on writing a short review, but it somehow slipped off the to-do list and I neglected to do so. To make matters worse, I went looking for the comic last night and I can't seem to find it (I have over 25,000 comics--these things happen some times!) I'm sure that it'll show up again at some point, but for now I'll try to do this from memory:

DirtBoy is one of the 'bad kids'--you know, the kids that your mother didn't want you associating with when you were young. As his name implies, DirtBoy is a little, um, lacking in the personal hygeine department. He also has violent tendencies, which come in handy when he's attacked by a patchwork zombie dog. The art is appropriately scruffy for this comic and tells the story fairly clearly. It was a bit too decompressed for my tastes, as I felt that at the end of the first issue I didn't really get much of what was going on. It's all done well enough, but I expected to like it more than I actually did.

Rating: 2.5 (of 5)

PSA: Hurricane Disaster Relief

By now it's apparent that Hurricane Katrina is one of the biggest natural disasters to ever hit the U.S.

In the comic books, when a disaster hits Superman and the rest of the Justice League can move quickly into action to save lives and help to rebuild from the devastation. But in the real world we must rely on the heroic efforts of the Red Cross and other relief agencies.

For help with immediate disaster relief, The American Red Cross should be your agency of choice. As always, the Red Cross is on the scene providing relief and aid in this disaster, and they need your monetary donations. You can donate to the Red Cross online. (And hey, the Red Cross can always use your blood too!)



For longer-term relief efforts, my organization of choice is UMCOR, the not-for-profit international humanitarian aid organization of The United Methodist Church. UMCOR works in conjunction with relief agencies and local congregations to provide disaster relief, and is especially active in later phases of the process and long-term recovery as people work to reassemble their lives. Relief is provided by volunteers and the agency, and is done without proselytizing. Because administrative costs for UMCOR are paid out of other sources from within the church, 100% of your donation to UMCOR will go directly to disaster relief. You can donate to UMCOR online--they are a 501(c)(3) organization.

As good as many of the comics are that are coming out today, consider redirecting some of that money to disaster relief. Even a small donation can help--if every person who bought All-Star Batman and Robin gave just $5, that would be over a million dollars contributed to disaster relief. You may not be able to change the course of mighty rivers with your bare hands, but you can help people affected by the disaster by donating today.