review 1: What I like most about alt comics like Powr Mastrs is that they prove that there are certain things that can only be done with comics. Alan Moore has said that he often tried to do things with comics that can not be done in film or any other media (which is what he told Terry Gilliam when he was tapped to handle the Watchmen film originally) and indeed it seems that the best comics writers and artists create comics that are wholly unique to the medium. When you read something like Powr Mastrs you have to suspend everything you think you know about art and literature and even reality. It's beautiful, funny, absurd, surreal, melancholy and joyful. Plus the art is amazing. Absolutley worth $18, not only because it's an amazing piece of art, but also it's important to support ... moreartists like C.F. so that the world can continue to be turned upside down. review 2: Any comparisons to Henry Darger are immediately legitimized and amplified with Vol. 2's inclusion of watercolors. Still, C.F. is on his own crazy thing here, wholly original yet deconstructed fantasy. The overarching story is starting to cohere, even as wacky new concepts are introduced. I think what makes this series so endearing to me is that it's constantly teetering right on the edge, threatening to tip over into lazy absurdism and cheap nonsense, but it never actually does so, so it's constantly inhabiting that sublimely insane territory of the best surreal fiction. less
