RJ Astruc

RJ Astruc is a freelance journalist and editor currently based in Melbourne, Australia. She and artist Viger Persinger are the creative team behind the "demon-meets-Dilbert" comic, Blackaby, which, in all fairness, did seem like a good idea at the time.

In the Toy Division: RJ Astruc interviews Mimo

By: RJ Astruc
Department: Interviews
Issue: October 2005 Issue

You probably know Toy Division. (Note: Toy Division is NSFW) Although little more than six months old, it already has a huge following and a reputation that ranks it among the most twisted comics on the ‘net. Billed as a venture into SSexploitation, Toy Division features kewpie-doll faced dictators, sexual deviancy, and grotesque medical experiments on human subjects. The artist behind this delightful moral abomination is Mimo.

Reckless Youth by Claude TC, reviewed by RJ Astruc

By: RJ Astruc
Department: Reviews
Issue: July 2005 Issue

The British have a different sense of humor. There’s no easy way to explain its subtleties, but it’s the reason shows like Red Dwarf and Coupling failed miserably when "translated" for an American audience. Perhaps it’s the almost-casual mixture of normality and weirdness, or the quirkily irreverent characters, or the knowing self-parodies – or maybe just the Brits’ readiness to lampoon anything, including taboo subjects like religion, in such a way that it comes across as cutely inoffensive.