Sparkplug Highlights: Viewotron #1, by Sam Sharpe and David Goodrich

"...the Viewotron [is] a metaphor for the creative process. We don't know where ideas come from. They just appear like blueprints out of the ether of our brains. An artist's job is to look at the blueprints and build the machine. It doesn't matter if you don't understand your own comic, painting, film, poem...whatever...as long as someone somewhere sees something in it." -Sam Sharpe, 2011

Viewotron #1 is an awesome little comic that consists of four stories by Sam Sharpe and one by David Goodrich. A black-and-white collection created with support from a community arts assistance grant, Viewotron takes the reader through a series of vignettes that range from poignant to laugh-out-loud goofy. Sharpe's stories lean more towards the lighter side; his cartoonish style is a great match for his absurd and slightly twisted sense of humor. "Every Celebrity Ever" is a particularly weird and funny story that features Wallace Shawn as a life-sucking eternal being! Goodrich's story, "The Greatest Love Affair," is the one the other side of the spectrum: a heartbreaking tale of a wife who feels closer to her household appliances than she does from her own husband, Goodrich provides an unconventional take on a loveless marriage. His accompanying art is angular and haunting, enhancing the loneliness and, finally, resolve that the main character experiences. Viewotron is an excellent and original comic that deserves your time -- so give it a try and tell us what your favorite story was!