So Buttons 15 by Jonathan Bayles

It was a pleasure as always to receive the latest So Buttons from Jonathan Baylis – an Eisner nominated autobiographical anthology. This issue, subtitled “Who is my Daddy and what does he do?” centers around father-son relations. The Barry Windsor-Smith Machine Man tribute cover by C.M. Campbell is amazing and sets an appropriately nostalgic but fantastic tone.

 The opening story ‘So…Friendly’ is illustrated by the wonderful Noah Van Sciver and his warm but idiosyncratic style works perfectly for this tale of a return to the childhood neighbourhood. The area has changed, in fact it has always been in a constant state of change as a New York immigrant community.  You can try to keep up or you can just be yourself – our lives aren’t static either.

Cinema is the other big theme in this issue with tales of favourite directors, unexpected Di Caprio appearances and seaside film festivals. Some really nice art from Nathan Gelgud and one of my favourites Christian Krumpholz.

Another favourite artist B. Mure is featured in a musical tale “So…Lenny’s”. Shostakovich and Bernstein are beautifully illustrated and I especially loved the colours which are kind of blue. 

There are some great pin-ups too, Godzilla by Jesse Lonergan is…so triumphal. But the highlight is definitely the offering from Lucas Eisenberg-Baylis, setting a high standard for all Father’s Day cards!

I was a bit slow with the review for this one, so the Kickstarter has ended although you can still late pledge for rewards. Otherwise head to https://sobuttons.com/ for your copy!