Tinsley, Kevin and Singer, Phil. Milk Cartons & Dog Biscuits. Apr. 2004 216p. illus. Stickman Graphics, paper, $19.95 (0 9675423-4-0). 741.5. [hardcover $38.95 0-9675423-3-2]

Gr. 7-up. A state ranger comes to the big city to find his runaway daughter and, becouse the city cops search for teens very slowly, hires a P.I. who’s lived there all his life. Then the case starts cracking with alarming speed, leading the hick-and-sharpy pair into conflict with the mob that runs Chinatown and on the trail of a loose-cannon werewolf. At this point, it should be said that in Stonehaven, this caper’s NYC-like setting, some people are humans, and others, like the P.I., have pointy ears and might be, say, elves. The long-limbed, big-headed, muscular plug-uglies, who are the town’s concierges, are obviously ogres; and some biker-types, usually deployed in packs, get all furry and fangy if you rile them. (Also, the ranger has a centaur colleague upstate.) Tinsley, author of previous Stonehaven stories, makes little of the populace’s interesting variations this time and concentrates on a neat country-mouse-city-mouse crime thriller faintly reminiscent of the old Clint Eastwood flick Coogan’s Bluff. Singer’s art looks decoupage-ish: a little clunky but effective enough. - Ray Olson

copyright 2004 American Library Association

Read Entire Online Review at Needcoffee.com "I was trying to figure out exactly how to relate to you how well this book reads. And I finally figured it out: it's like a damn good Law & Order TV movie."

Snap Judgements by Randy Lander: Recommended 8 out of 10

Critiques on Infinite Earths by Don MacPherson: Recommended 7 out of 10

Complete review posted 03/03/04 @ www.thefourthrail.com

Stonehaven: Milk Cartons & Dog Biscuits Ashcan #1-6 by Kevin Tinsley and Phil Singer Dated 02002-3. This story about a man searching for his missing daughter in a city filled with elves, ogres, lizardmen, gangsters, magic users and werewolves is an interesting and involving page-turner. Can't tell the actual status of the product- Neilalien bought the six ashcans for 50 cents each- the first one had finished black-and-white art, the other five had sketch-ish art unfinished in places, and the neglected website talked in 02001 about a full-color 200-pager in Spring 02003. Still, if you spot this, pick up as much of the story as you can, it's fantastic. The one nitpick would be the heavy use of "to" for "too" and "of coarse" for "of course", which hopefully will get covered before the big color version.

copyright 2003 www.neilalien.com

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