The title denotes something not strictly necessary, but it’s always good to see more of Fredo’s cantankerous stories, collected here from various venues. Subjects include bike accidents and mini-golf gangsterism.

So there’s this Joey and she does a lot of one-page comics that are made in five minutes or less and they appeared in various minicomics like I’m Gonna Rip Yer Face Off that are no longer available but now you can get them all in this large book. Oh my God they are silly. Rude too. Enjoy.

In the long-awaited new installment of Larrybear’s mellow and melancholy adventures with her (now neglected) talking guitar, they’ve moved to New York City and she’s trying to learn the pointless Victorian art of “sand counting”. Excerpts from Dreiser’s Sister Carrie double as narration, several drinks are consumed, and the art is cooler than ever.

Note: to find out what happened in issue #4, you’ll have to get the recent collection from Fantagraphics, but you should do that anyway.

Continuing where the 2007 anthology of the same name left off, it’s a quarterly series of fantasy stories in all kinds of styles by indy/small-press artists, edited by François Vigneault. Issue #1 features Ben Costa, Eve Englezos, Davis Enos, Alec Longstreth, Josh Moutray, J.R. Parks, Grant Reynolds, Jane Samborski, and Dash Shaw, with a stunning cover by Sammy Harkham. Issue #2: Marek Bennett, Englezos, Dylan Horrocks, Moutray, Matthew Reidsma, Daria Tessler, Jeremy Tinder, and Vigneault, with another scrumptious cover by Tessler.

François gets out of town and draws birds in Louisiana and Arkansas. Special guest appearances by an oil slick and an alligator.

Mining a vein of intimate occult horror adjacent to the one she tapped in Flesh and Bone but in a contemporary setting, Gfrörer shows a young couple losing contact with each other as the shadows in their bare apartment start making contact with them. Emotionally and sexually raw, beautifully drawn, with acutely observed dialogue and an ending that brings some (dark) humor along with the pain. For adults, seriously.

What does living in rural Wisconsin make you think of most: proper garbage disposal, being mugged, bird dialogues, or the end of civilization? Pete Hodapp gives all of these their due in an exuberant tabloid-sized mega-mini-comic.

[Subtitle: And the Gods Who Regard Them.] Is it dry satire, or horrifying reportage? Yes. Or is that just what “they” want you to think?! With deft minimalism, this gallery of portraits and monologues suggests the spiritual heights/depths that are being attained right now all over the United States, and possibly Canada.

Two short stories about ambition and depression. “Red Hook Blues” (lushly painted in gouache) follows a sloth/human hybrid narrator through a bad patch in Brooklyn as she tries to write a novel and meets an abrasive friend; “Sometime Last Spring” illustrates a missed-connections ad with a Jungian twist.

DIY? No, You Do It. It’s a rant against self-publishing— something Reklaw clearly knows a thing or two about, and (oddly) still seems to be doing, but yeah, it can kind of suck at times. As rants go, this one is uncommonly clear and entertainingly told, with a few unexpected personal touches too and of course some cats.

Continuing the story that started in issue 3: Elizabeth’s new relationship seems to be going better than you might expect, despite problems with booze and money, but her neurotic dog is still lost at sea. Also, pirates are not as much fun as some people think. In German with English subtitles.

He’s a confused and socially inept undead corpse, but he means well, as do nearly all the other memorable characters wandering around the state park. The second installment of Ansis’s pastoral monster saga (much bigger than the last one, thanks to a Xeric grant) will charm your socks off, and you may learn a few things too, e.g. what robins eat and whom cigarettes are good for.