Ken Avidor

A collection of "diverse and gritty" short stories and comics takes on the future of the Twin Cities, from the post-apocalyptic to the technological? Awesome! Well, kinda. I found the topic to be extremely compelling and was looking forward with relish to see what gritty futures writers of our metropolis had imagined. In short, "Cifiscape Volume I" looks really cool and I am still entranced by the concept. In the end, though, I have to admit to being slightly underwhelmed by the stories themselves. A very fast read, none of the stories were very long, being more akin to flash fiction. While this is certainly not a bad thing, and I love flash fiction, most of the stories here seem only half-finished, like a chapter or a preview of a longer work. A few interesting tongue-in-cheek concepts are explored, such as how people will eat in an age of climate-change induced scarcity to personality altering implants to fears of technological conformity, but not enough room is given to even scratch the surface on how these changes would alter the culture of the Twin Cities and a few seem a tad preachy. Bicyclopolis by Ken Arvidor, is definitely the high-light of the collection, a graphic novel which presents an incredible vision of a bike-centered, post-apocalyptic urban wilderness but is truly only a preview of a longer work as yet unpublished. Another favorite, Godless by Brian Garrity, was probably the most complete vision, a fun and violent story, also post-apocalyptic, that pits punk musician rebels armed with AK-47s against a militaristic cult of sports worshipers outside the ruins of the Triple-Rock Social Club. For the Killing of the Happiest Man seemed like an interesting, futuristic world with an interesting organization/cult of "Happy People" that I would like to know more about. Still, for anyone at all interested in future visions of the Twin Cities, "Cifiscape Vol. I" is definitely worth picking up and I am looking forward to snaring Volume II.… (altro)

Ken Avidor introduces Roadkill Bill, the starring cartoon character of this graphic book, as "a frequently squashed rodent ... a cute and lovable victim of consumer excess and the American way of life." Adorned with a permanent set of tire tracks, Bill communicates insights with a kick and gives plentiful motivation for shifting out of our overdrive lifestyles. The book delivers social commentary with art and humor, and points out the many ironies of car culture. Using a cartoon format to get this message across is particularly effective, and Avidor's script is both wickedly funny and wise. This is a good companion to Andy Singer's book CARtoons.… (altro)