Comic books are an interesting amalgam of writing, art and arrangement. Over the years, many a style and trend has appeared, disappeared and been reborn, concerning what some call funny pages, what other call pure art and what far too much of the mainstream would simply sneer at as childish.

Ever since talented artists with a penchant for writing discovered that photocopy machines (and before that, mimeographs and other copying/desktop publishing tools) can facilitate ‘homemade’ comic books, whether formatted as strips, short form stories or longer graphic novels, or a combination of some or all of the above, the world of comic books expanded to new universes and vastly different panoramas.

Comic books were once the home of multi-colored superheroes, detectives of various brands and genres, pulp heroes and more. But the dailies in newspapers, often collected in comic book form over the decades, never saw the gritty realism of life, the snatches of ‘slice of life’ formats, nor the connections between artist and audience like the new fangled output.

In the 1960’s, it was the psychedelic age, and R.Crumb and others began the crazy sort of renditions that highly influenced other artforms. But at the core was often this sense of spilling the beans on what life was like for the artist, what motivated him, what turned him (or her) on and what life was like for the doodling, drawing and often demented mindset of the artist as underground comic book creator.

Underground is what these books became.

Unlike the mainstream mavens like Marvel and DC and predecessors like Timely, Atlas and other four color giants, and especially alien to the Dell family, or the Archies or the Richie Riches of the world, there was never restraint with these creative types. Sex, drugs and violence, in many ways, shapes and forms, were on display, much to the chagrin of the mass producers.

In 2010, we’ve got so many more outlets to distribute comic books, so many new ways to create them, so many more reasons for the creative types to do their own things. And of course, there’s always room for one more artistic type to create — using words and pictures — those interesting stories, snippets and serialized adventures, even in the everyday, especially if those artistic displays are unique and exceptional and expressive.

So comes along J.T. Yost, who’s merits earned him a 2009 Xeric award, expressing his excellence in the art form, as established by those guys who created the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles as a satire of comic book superheroes in black & white, and found themselves quite successful in spite of their humble beginnings. Yost has a host of other comics, including Losers Weepers, Tales of Good Ol’ Snoop Doggy Dogg and participation in various anthologies, including Supertalk.

But the book that caught my attention was Old Man Winter and Other Sordid Tales, published by Bird Cage Bottom Books, which highlight the particular perspectives of the artist, exhibiting his excellent artwork, a peculiar perspective that makes stories out of the mundane, and a solid knack for the written word that pulls in the reader. Beyond that, J.T. Yost provides a strong understanding of the comic book page and an ability to format and present his creativity on the page, in the packaging and in the hard-hitting tales he does tell.

The titular story of the compilation is “Old Man Winter”, with a very moving story about an aging gentleman in an urban setting, his odd situation with his wife, his daily grind and his current condition, as expressed by the fine lined artwork, set nicely with the grays and dark coloring, and even more so by the characters who interact — retailers and daughter — and the talk about a dramatic change in his life.

I’m not one to spoil tales, so let me skirt the happenings and just express my appreciation of how it all works. There is a graphic rendition to shock, an emotional buildup to grip the reader, and of course a nice little story to make it all meaningful.

The next tale, sordid indeed, is “All is Forgiven” and this one’s rather disturbing. The text is non-existent, but if you’re into the visual displays telling the tale, this one shows that Yost has mastery of the art telling the story. Who needs writers? Well, this one doesn’t need it. Well crafted, with a scientist experimenting on test animals as the backdrop, and a really telling tale of who really loves you after all.

“Logging Sanjay” is a package that makes me think of Peter Bagge’s Hate, but with a more realistic artwork and a character with more depth because more of the character is on the surface. Angst-ridden, it is not, but the story and use of the comic book as confession are really intrinsic to the genre, and more so, a nice little tale about pranks and funning with people and what happens when you go so far, and reeling it back in.

At first I thought it was about prejudice, and it really wasn’t, but then again, was it?

I’ll let the reader decide. What it was about was some friendships and some things that the characters thought of as funny, but you as the reader may or may not agree. As with the autobiographical genre, there’s a lot too much exposed, and a lot that makes you wonder about the veracity, but it is a good story.

Roadtrip borders on the preachy about obviously a vegetarian lifestyle, but the side-by-side story formatting, perfected here by Yost, creeps it up big time and makes the story work. Watching and “getting” the parallels between mother and child, farm animal and calf, draws you in to a peculiar nicety at first, and then quite disturbing as it ends. But the slow build and the details and the ongoing panel by panel connections are amazing.
The art is a bit more ‘out there’ in some panels, and cloyingly happy for the human side, and harsh/detailed for the animal side, but it all plays well.

We end with a cool poster/two page snippet of an abused kid running off to the circus, confronting a circus beast abused and rather wishing to be running away from said organization. It is the artform at its best, combining pictures and words, arrangements and the dramatic pop of a splash page tying it all together. Great work.

J.T. Yost’s output is intense and intensive in its construction, and is well deserving of your attention, whether or not you’re into the funny books.