The Tortoise Enters Tough Races

By Bill Volk

I was worried I was going to run out of things to review on this blog, and then on a day trip to Malmo I discovered the awesome library there and all the zines (well, mostly minicomics) that they had. The site was saved! Hopefully

(Note, I actually have images for this and a bunch of the following ones, but have no way of getting them online yet. Hopefully soon!)

Anyway, you know what I totally love in zines? Fold outs! And this one totally delivers.

But first there's the comic, which is a retelling of the fable about the Tortoise and the Hare. You already know the story, and you can probably guess that there's going to be a twist of some sort, and there is. However I thought it was a good twist, and I enjoyed the mean spiritedness of it all, especially coming from the really cute animals that Volk has drawn here.

And then there's the fold out, which is really awesome if whoever has read the comic before you has refolded it correctly (less awesome if you have to refold it properly yourself first). Each unfolding (is that a word?) reveals a larger space for an image and dialogue to show up on. Hurray! The only problem with it is that it reminded me of those immortal jellyfish things, which in turn reminded me of one of my greatest fears: flying jellyfish. They (thankfully) don't exist, but eeeek they are horrifying, with their tendrils floating through the air and stinging things that get to close to them. I shudder just to think about them.