Hotwire Comix and Capers — Glenn Head

Hotwire Comix isn't supposed to be good for you. It won't lower your cholesterol, make you a better person, or prevent tooth decay. Hotwire Comix will not be reviewed in The New Yorker or the New York Times. Hotwire Comix is a full-throttle, kick-ass jolt to the nervous system, a return to the glory days of underground/alternative comics before we all started to drown in 200-page graphic novels in which the most exciting part is the moment when the perpetually depressed protagonist gets up, walks across the room, and makes himself a cup of tea.Edited by New York cartoonist Glenn Head (who put together the classic 1990s trilogy of Snake Eyes anthologies), Hotwire Comix is a big, bold, beautiful poke to the old eyeballs featuring short, punchy, hilarious, all-around comics 'n' stories. Head himself, whose work looks like a demented cross between the Roberts Williams and Crumb, starts the dance with the epic "Switchblade Shenanigans ," in which nitrous oxide-addicted balloonheads indulge in dangerous knifeplay while they bungle a kidnapping.Elsewhere, David Lasky relates "The Last Days of Joe Strummer"; Tony (Maakies) Millionaire contributes a "Little Nemo in Wonderland"-style dream story; plus new strips by Max (Death and Candy) Andersson, Tim Lane, Matt Madden, Mats ?, Brad Johnson, Danny Hellman, Angry Youth Comix' Johnny "Rolling Stone Cool Cartoonist of the Year" Ryan, Mack White, Judith McNicol, and a six-page fold-out by Craig (Modern Arf) Yoe. There's also an eye-popping color section, led off by Carol Swain's "Family Circus" (not a reference to the syndicated strip but a character study of two young girls visiting a circus), with new work by Ivan Brunetti, Al Columbia, Sam Henderson, Mike Wartella, and Doug Allen. R. Sikoryak wraps it up with a new installment of his letter-perfect parodies of classic literary works retold as cartoons with "Mephistofield" (the devil as a fat, lasagna-eating cat).