Kramers Ergot #9

This book almost drips out of your hands when holding it due to the vibrant cover by John Pham.Kramers does it again, this time with a super dense packed to the brim collection meditating on "War and Peace".My favorite pieces were by Michael Deforge (though I was bummed it was reprinted story, it was amazing to see at this size), Sammy Harkham, John Pham, Kim Deitch, Anya Davidson, Al Columbia, and Lale Westvind.A definite must have for fans of alternative comics, Kramers is the RAW of our day, don't miss out on owning a piece of history

Another great edition of Kramer's Ergot.

It's Kramers so it's a mixed bag. I like the format of this one a lot. There wasn't anything shockingly new in this one, but mostly good content.

This was... mostly boring. It's almost as if this were a collection of cartoon assignments given to a class who fulfilled the requirements according to formula descriptions of "how to make an alternative comic." Honestly, much of what is here has a sort of perfunctory or superficial mindless creativity to it and lacks a sense of committed development. I struggle to find enjoyment when there is no sense of momentum in a cartoon and doesn't lead the reader to a different destination from where it started. If you compare this to other alternative cartoon anthologies of the past such as Blab, Zero Zero, Drawn and Quarterly, MOME, Hotwire, RAW or almost every edition of America's Best Comics... Kramers Ergot 9 was fairly bland and superficial. There were maybe two or three standout pieces for me in this whole volume, but overall disappointing, and just boring. As far as content goes... lots of memoir pieces, a number of sexual diversity pieces, and some abstract pieces. My main concern here is this; where is the raw energy? Where is the sense of dedicated craftsmanship, and not merely being passively indulgent. It bums me out to have to give a review like this for a medium I love, but there are just waaay too many pieces here that do nothing, or meander around some vague and uninteresting concept without even showing much visual development.

Book's great with a nice variety of cartoonists and subject matter. Sammy Harkham is an awesome man and if you're serious about the art form, you owe it to yourself to own at least one of these!