We’ve been talking a lot lately about how much comics cost, and alternate ways of writing and marketing comic book stories in the current economic climate. In jumps Silber Mini Comics, postage stamp sized books by writer Brian John Mitchell that have one panel per tiny page, printed on regular paper, and sold for a dollar each. Are they worth it at any price? Is this the wave of the future, or a relic of the past?

To get a sense of what this means, I decided to do mini reviews of Silber Mini Comics. Pretty clever, I know, I’m amazing:

XO #5: Most adorable little crime comic ever? It may be the size, but this was like if Bazooka Joe decided to try crack one day.

WORMS #4 & #5: The Prisoner, by any other name, but also a good, dream-like use of the Mini Comic format.

JUST A MAN #1, #2 & #3: What if you took every Clint Eastwood Western and made them into a tiny comic? But what if we could?

MARKED #1: The phrase, “They’ll be back in in two nights. I can smell their plans,” should let you know whether you’re interested in this or not.

LOST KISSES #9, #10 & #11: The first two issues are blog posts in comic form. Issue #11 is the most focused story of this whole bunch of comics… With art by Cerebus’ Dave Sim.

On a whole, the books aren’t breaking any new ground, and with the exception of Lost Kisses #11, they lack a certain clarity of focus to the story, aping other people’s ideas rather than creating their own. Also, only occasionally does Mitchell really make the format work for him, as it does in Worms (each page is like a deepening nightmare).

However! Since this does sometimes work, Mitchell, with the help of a good editor (or a little self editing) could really focus on a unique idea that works specifically with this format, and be on to something. Or, bring on other writers and artists (as he does with the Dave Sim issue), and let them play, working instead as a publishing house. Either way, $1 is a bargain in this economy, and Mitchell, with a little perseverance and smart choices, could really build Silber Mini Comics into something interesting.

As it is, they’re an interesting glimpse at one possibility for the printed pamphlet’s future.