Seeds And Stems By Simon Hanselmann

Simon Hanselmann ↠ 3 read & download

In 2016, Hanselmann began producing Xeroxed zines starring the depressive Megg (a green-skinned witch), her abusive boyfriend Mogg (an actual cat), their submissive roommate Owl (a vaguely humanoid owl), and the self-destructively hedonistic Werewolf Jones (half human, half wolf) in print runs of 300 to 500 copies, with hand-painted covers, custom stamps and hologram security stickers. Seeds and Stems collects all of these out-of-print, self-published stories produced by the artist between 2016-2019, along with a generous smattering of rarities from various anthologies and magazines. Megg and Mogg and friends explore the worlds of lucid dreaming, banking scams, cinema, mixed drinks, alien invasions, and budget vasectomies in this varied collection of rare and often experimental adventures, designed and curated entirely by the artist.  Seeds And Stems

Some of the balloons were to small to read Comics Seeds and Stems collects the numerous short Megg and Mogg strips Simon Hanselmann created between 2008 and 2019 (though most are from 2016-19) for various anthologies and zines, and some are previously unpublished, so don’t expect a continuation of the story from Bad Gateway. It’s still an amazing book of super-funny comics that fans of this series are going to love, as I did.

Some of the best stories that stood out for me: when the gang take a bunch of sleeping pills and go on an hallucinatory adventure; when they go to see a creepy Polanski-esque sci-fi movie called Halo Chamber that segues into a spooky tale involving Bruce Lee and then unexpectedly reveals Werewolf Jones’ fate; Low Income Single Father, which is just a day in the life of WW Jones and had me laughing so hard; Beauty Pageant, where Jones forces his two wretched sons to compete in drag in a girls’ beauty pageant; and Jaxon’s Vasectomy, which is more of Jones being the worst dad in history after Jaxon impregnates a bunch of girls at his school.

Those are the most memorable but I enjoyed almost everything here. Most of the other stories are just riffs on things fans will be familiar with from previous books: the gang bullying Owl, endless WW Jones wackiness, Megg and Mogg’s increasingly troubled relationship, and Megg and Booger’s on-off affair. Even if it’s more of the same, I love Hanselmann’s dark humour and these characters and their hopeless world, so it didn’t bother me in the least and I had a blast.

The book is published on different coloured paper utilising different coloured inks, sometimes in full colour, and sometimes drawn in a variety of styles like watercolours or pencils, showing Hanselmann’s skill as an artist, while also matching the trippy content of the stories. The physical book also comes with a special plastic orange cover and label to make it look like a prescription pill bottle, similarly playing on the stoner theme.

The occasional story feels sit-com-y, like when Owl prepares the house for a landlord inspection only for Jones to stumble in at the last moment and fuck it all up - who else but Werewolf Jones?! And some of the stories were just meh to pointless: WW Jones fisting scenes, confused stoner wordplay, Megg getting drunk and stumbling around, and The Secret of the Dogfingerer starring Jones’ boys. But those are just 20 or so pages out of 358 and, considering how hard some of the stories hit, the general high quality of the overall book, and how much I loved reading it, there’s no way I can give Seeds and Stems anything less than the full five stars.

Simon Hanselmann is a superb cartoonist who continues to tell the most original and funny stories. Maybe the content is a bit too much for some - too depressing/weird/unpleasant - but I love this series and this book. Seeds and Stems won’t disappoint any Megg and Mogg fans at all - though if you’ve never read any Simon Hanselmann books before and want to give him a shot, I recommend starting with Megahex. Comics While we are waiting for the next installment of the Megg & Mogg saga, we get this big collection of a decade of stories out of their world, which is two things, basically, a gross-out, hilarious stoner comic, and a horrifying cautionary tale about these out-of-control friends drinking and smoking themselves to meaninglessness and death. Twenty-something, sideways, lost in space chaos. But can it be both, alternating between stoner goofiness and everyday death spiral? I say yes.

This collection doesn't give us anything we didn't know before: Megg and Mogg are struggling; Megg turns to Booger for release; Werewolf Jones is the worst and most irresponsible human being (and father) we can imagine, and everyone is mean to Owl. Culled from a collection of work spanning ten years and found in zines, alternative comix rags, alternative newspapers, and so on, it is still a must-have for Simon Hanselmann completists. It's hard to read, as it is in very small print to make the book marketable, but worth the effort, most of the time. There are what amounts to outtakes and experimental sketches, even some sci-fi tales. Psychedelia, of course. A range of sketchy self-published work to gorgeous full-color nightmare paintings.

Let's see, some highlight/lowlights: There's no food in the house, so Werewolf Jones suggests that they go trick or treating, and get candy to eat. It's not Halloween, so nobody plays along wiht the joke, people aren't home, so WWJ plays tricks on the homeowners. They all get away except Owl, of course.

WWJ wants the money from a Princess contest, so he forces two of his sons to dress up in drag. They win the contest.

There's really gross stuff I'm not telling you about, sexual stuff, anything involving a range of bodily fluids, which will either turn you off forever, juvenilia, or make you laugh until you cry. (I also just read Samantha Irby's Meaty, and I am musing on a theory of humor as body humor/outrage I see in both of their works).

But the images that stick with me, really, are the contrapuntal ones of Megg in tears, torn by depression, eyes in horror. Madness. Hanselmann is one great cartoonist, both alt-comix guy in the wacked-out, drugged-out sixties tradition of Crumb and Tijuana Bibles and Beavis and Butthead AND a glimpse into the nightmare side of it all. Quite an accomplishment, really. Comics This is by far the weirdest graphic novel I have ever feasted my eyes on and I loved every second of it! It is so out there and hilarious and I have NEVER read anything like it before and I doubt I ever will again. I bought this on a whim because the cover and title just totally intrigued me. I definitely wasn’t expecting to enjoy it as much as I did. Behind the weirdness and hilarity the writing is actually surprisingly good which I wasn’t expecting. The artwork is so great too, this one really is the whole package. Hilarious content and stunning art, I couldn’t have asked for better. Consider me and my eyeballs pleasantly surprised, incredibly amused and wishing there was another volume to this! Comics It appears that, like Chris Ware, at this stage in his career Hanselmann can request whatever bizarre packaging he damn well pleases. This collection of anthology work and self-published zines features all kinds of paper colors and ink colors with a mylar book cover that gives the appearance of medication packaging and comes with a bonus comic enclosed in a plastic pill bottle.

Hanselmann sporadically announces the sale of his self-published work on social media, and they typically sell out within hours. So, even if you're on the lookout, they can disappear before you have the chance to order. Although I have managed to score a decent amount of the self-published work collected here, there was a ton I hadn't seen.

All in all, a truly wonderful collection of Megg & Mogg stories. Comics

Lots of previously published material on this but those color pages are pretty good! Comics My Meg and Mogg head canon cast is:
- Natasha Lyonne as Meg
- Donald Glover as Mogg
- Michael Cera as Owl
- Jason Matzoukus as Werewolf Jones Comics I had read a few of these stories as stand-alone zines, but Fantagraphics has put together a simply stunning book. The attention to detail, from the orange plastic book sleeve complete with a prescription sticker, to the vivid end pages and table of contents, really make this a worthwhile collection to grab even if you already own the contents.

In the past, when I've reviewed Hanselmann, I've squirmed at the level of depravity and sexual violence in his comics. But I think this collection is balanced by the true and tragic consequences all of the characters face at the end of their surreal, offensive, bizarre and often hilarious adventures. They are not having a good time! But I was having an incredibly good time reading this collection.

ALSO: It was extremely cool to see Hanselmann's different styles--sometimes pristine ink work, sometimes a little messier than usual. Comics A collection of previously harder to find one offs from various publications. Missing some of the cohesion that makes the other MM&O volumes work, it’s still very enjoyable if you’re a fan of Hanselmann’s work with these characters. Definitely not a starting point though. Comics Raw unadulterated laughs guaranteed. Hanselmann rules 🤘 Comics