Breakout Cartoonists: House of Twelve
Our Top Indie Cartoonists to Watch For in 2008: Keeping true to our “Anti-Superheroes in Tights” mood at fanboy, we took a look back at the comic books and graphic novels that caught our eye:
House of Twelve Goes to War! edited by Cheese Hasselberger
OK, full disclosure time: I’ve been a contributor to House of Twelve since the second issue, and Michael said I ought to fess up to that if I were going to do a blog entry on it. And come to think of it, Vanguard Media alumni Chris Prynoski, now with Cartoon Network, was a founding member too. But that’s a small price to pay to bring the gospel of HO12 to the masses.
Comix with an x arent what they used to be, you may have noticed. The sex, drugs, and lots of laffs aesthetic of the undergrounds has been replaced by many an auteurs gentle musings on falling leaves and springtime raindrops, and the preciousness of their kitties, or babies, or relationships. The House of Twelve books seek to hearken back to a time when underground comix were crass, politically incorrect (though I think this would be a time before political correctness was a term) satirical, and funny. As a result of this and their monthly bar meetings to imbibe and draw, the House of Twelve collective is often regarded as a bunch of crazy drunks. Which is a tarnished badge of honor, for many a golden era cartoonist was a crazy drunk as well.
Each anthology features a different theme picked by founding member and publisher Cheese Hasselberger, which the artists then expound on in their own unique ways. Themes have included such heady topics as religion, obscenity, and in the most current release, war. If youre looking for a thoughtful assessment of the current war and what its done to our country, well, you should probably read World War 3 or something. But for a hilarious pisstake on humanity’s most violent impulses, this is the book for you.
To learn more about the books, comic jam, and other House of 12 related ephemera, visit houseoftwelve.com.
Jenny Gonzalez is a New York City cartoonist and punk rock singer. You can see her stuff at jennydevildoll.com.