The Comical World of Josh Sullivan Comic. That single word can make a person think about many things at once. A Comic book, strip, or page, stand-up comic, or even any other type of comedian. The whole comics industry has been one of the most overlooked and misunderstood forms of art out there. This is mainly due to the fact that comics have been long thought to be just for kids. Most of the time, the only comic things that are seen are those in the comic’s section of the daily paper. In this new monthly column, I'm going to try to offer an alternative to the mixed bag of mainstream narrow-minded comics stuff that is out there. Those who are into comics may not know of all the fabulous independent and self-published material that gets put out on a regular basis. I will also spotlight new and interesting books, artists, and writers and offer my view on different comic-related things. To start this out, I'd like to talk about my favorite comic creators that have influenced me. It might broaden people's perspectives of independent comic people and of those who work really hard only to have their efforts seen by a very small audience. Three of these people include Evan Dorkin, Matt Feazell, and Jay Stephens. Evan Dorkin is the man behind the comics Milk & Cheese, Dork!, and Hectic Planet. He writes for Space Ghost: Coast to Coast on Cartoon Network and is working on his own cartoon series for the same network about his characters from the Eltingville Club. The club is a group of four overzealous comic geeks at the most extreme. They represent the comic fan who wants to have life be a comic, much like myself. Check out his site for more info: www.houseoffun.com Matt Feazell is the king of mini-comics. He's been doing them for years and he's the best at making them. A mini-comic is, most of the time, a 4" by 5.5" sized book that is run off on a copy machine. They present different ideas and not a lot of people see them because they don't get published on a large scale. Matt specializes in drawing stick people. This might seem lame to people but he draws them with a great sense of style which makes them much better than most of the realistically drawn books out there. Lately, he has been drawing weekly comic strips for Detroit's ultra-cool Metro Times. Check out his site at: http://members.aol.com/cynicalman Jay Stephens comes up with incredibly sophisticated stories that are coupled with a very simple style of art. He has drawn everything from comics specifically for children to those with a twisted sense of humor by having him kill off all his "cute" characters in one of his books. He's done all sorts of comic work for all different companies. His character “Jetcat” was featured in a series of her own shorts on Nickelodeon’s Kablam! From ‘98-‘99. He's also done the books “Land of Nod” and “Atomic City Tales.” For a big list of what he's up to nowadays, go to: www.jaystephens.com That is just a taste of what is out there in the small press comic world. If you'd like any other information, feel free to e-mail me at: sullivanjosh@hotmail.com and check out many more links to other great comic creators at www.joshcomics.com.