Joan Cornella

The unfortunate thing about reading short comics is that sometimes you inadvertently sneak a peek of the last frame, and ruin the punchline. Joan Cornella's panel stories are so absurd and ingenious that you could read the last few frames and never see the joke coming. I like to read the last frame and try and guess how he'd get there. Other times I'll read his comics slowly, pane by pane (stankingly), trying to anticipate the next frame. Cornella takes you through so many loops and turns you almost through so many loops take you turns through so many you take.

Find more LOLs here http://elblogdejoancornella.blogspot.ca/

Tom Gauld

I first came across Tom Gauld in the piece "Writers Block"(?) in Kramers Ergot 7 (?). Then I realized that I've seen his work all over the place; kind of like that tall thin African man I keep running into at celebrity autograph shops. His illustrations are simple yet full of character. It's probably his shading. No, probably his use of characters actually. People say that if Edward Gorey (1925-2000) was still alive he'd be making comics like Gauld's. I think if Gorey was alive today he'd probably be knee deep in Season 1 of House of Cards. 

Find more of Tom's gold at http://www.tomgauld.com/.

(ed note: insert some joke about Tomfoolery and fool's gauld)
(ed note: I checked, he's not related to Edward Gorey)

Edward Gorey

...E is for Edward Gorey, F is for Funny... 

Apparently Mr Gorey bunked with poet Frank O'Hara while they were both at Harvard in the 1940's. I like to imagine the two sitting on their hardwood floor den together in the middle of the night, lighted only by candle and the moon coming through the glass panes, sharing drawings and text back-and-forth on small pieces of paper, like two lovers.  No homo.