arts / 8

Chairman of the Board:
Life sucks, and then you die

» ‘Gloom’ game review

Ed Appleby

ie /ilustrator

j Millustrator
@theotherpress.ca

 

his October, I’m going to be
taking a look ata series of

the Halloween spirit, starting
this week with Gloom.

Gloom is a card game for
two to four players designed
by Keith Baker and published
in 2005 by Atlas Games. The
game has a darkly funny feel, in
the vein of Edward Gorey, and
players score points by making
their characters experience a
series of unfortunate events
and untimely deaths. Despite
the dark themes, the game is

to play.

The gameplay of Gloom

: isvery simple, with only four
: different types of cards and

: very concise rules, leading to
: arelatively quick game. The

: cards are made of plastic and
: transparent, which gives the
- . : game a very novel mechanic
darker-themed games to get into : Where you play modifying cards
: directly on characters, covering
: up previous modifiers.

This is definitely a case

: where the theme and mood
: of the game excel beyond

: the basic mechanics. Players
: are encouraged to immerse

: themselves in the theme and tell :
: stories about how the characters :
: came upon their tragedies.

: It’s not as difficult as you

: might imagine, as the tragedy
: modifiers are wonderfully

actually hilarious and lots of fun written and rife with delightful

alliterations. The fact that Lord

: Wellington-Smithe gets mauled
: bya manatee is less interesting

: than how that managed to

: happen.

This greatest strength of

: the game is also its greatest

: weakness. This is not a game for
: players who are easily distracted,
: orina party setting. Since the

: game relies so heavily on its

: theme, breaks in the flow or

: atmosphere of the gameplay can
: severely reduce the enjoyment

: of the game. Some players also

: aren't storytellers and the game

: cannot just be played like a hand

of poker.
[highly recommend

: the game for both new and

: experienced players. Gloom is

: nota good party game, but more
: of an intimate, hanging-with-

: friends-after-a-long-day game.

 

theotherpress.ca

 

Comic Corner: Hate 1s a strong word

» ‘God Hates Astronauts’

Brittney MacDonald
Staff Writer

OOOO:

en I first heard of

God Hates Astronauts,
I expected it to be a lot like
Axe Cop—ridiculous and full
of hilarity. Though the two
are similar in that they take
a very random approach to
humour with unique ideas
and characters, God Hates
Astronauts lacks the childish
sense of delight within its
writing that makes the random
nature of the plot cohesive and
enjoyable.

Written and illustrated

by Ryan Browne, God Hates
: Astronauts is about a superhero

: team that works for NASA. But
rather than wasting all their
time saving the world, the self-

: : absorbed superheroes prefer to
: focus on their libidos, bizarre

: supervillains, and loitering

: aliens. The narrative is all over

: the place and tends to focus on
: one situation at a time rather

: than any overarching plot. This
is not necessarily a bad thing,

: as plenty of graphic novels and
: comic books do this, especially
: in the comedic genre.

What makes this narrative

less successful is that a lot of
: the jokes are based on gendered :

: humour, meant to parody the

: sexism of the 1950s. But the

: parody isn’t reflected enough in
: the other aspects of the book,

: such as the villains or setting,

: so the humour falls flat and just
: comes offas sexist.

The art, also done by

Browne, is very classical with

: defined lines and heavy inks,

: but is coloured in a more

: modern way with smooth

: tones. Aesthetically it’s a

good combination, and his

: balance between cartoon and

: realism make the art extremely
dynamic.

All in all, I appreciate this

book for its fun art style, but I

can’t recommend it.

 

Like the Internet, if people were actually funny

» ‘I'm Not Scared of You or Anything’ book review

Joshua Grant
Senior Columnist

OOOOS

o say that John Paul

Fiorentino’s latest book,
I’m Not Scared of You or
Anything, is a book of short

stories isn’t entirely accurate.

Yes, there are short
stories in it, and all of them

: are really good reads. But the
: short stories are punctuated
: by unorthodox content:
: quotes from Slovenian
philosopher Slavoj Zizek
: superimposed over drawings
: of the 1985 film Teen Wolf;
: a similar set of quotes from
: the TV show Girls over
: images of Star Trek’s Mr.

: tweets; a “Christian” Archie
: comic where characters
: speak only in Foucault text;

: and an interview with the

: writer’s mom. All sections
: are accompanied by pencil
: crayon drawings from

: Maryanna Hardy.

: are laughs, which emanate

: from the page into your

: eyeholes, from where they

: are transmitted to the brain
Spock; a section of life advice }
: sort of chuckles that force

: themselves from the sides of
: your mouth and make fellow

But most of all, there

for a process that ends in the

: transit-riders stare at you,
: discomfited.

Fiorentino’s half-sincere

tone and the sheer variety

: of content stuffed into the

: book’s 171 pages make the

: experience akin to reading

: areally good Tumblr page.

: Perhaps this is a glimpse at
: what the Internet would be
: like if people were much

: smarter, much funnier, and
: not horrible. It makes readers }
: ask big questions: what d

: would you do if the dude

: from Iron Maiden wanted to

: take you to the strip club?

: Should you make friends with
: your fake-Russian martial

: arts instructor? You know—

: the important stuff.

You don’t have to like

short stories to like I’m Not

: Scared of You or Anything.

: Anyone who hasa pulse and a
: healthy love of chaos will get

something out of this.