Welcome to the Broccoli, Cheese & Crackers Home Page
The 'Zine Dedicated to Making Life in Sacramento Less Boring
Broccoli, Cheese & Crackers No. 12 was released in early June.
Yes, it's true...I'm taking a break from doing the 'zine after this issue.
If you did not get a copy of BC&C No. 12, please e-mail me at the
address below, and let me know. Thank you.
Long before Shakespeare wrote that “we are such stuff as dreams are made of,”
the world of sleep and dreams has provided material for all manner of storytellers.
Nowadays, in the age of specialty coffees and high-powered energy drinks, people
seem to have more means than ever to keep the Sandman away…at least for a while.
So is it that far-fetched to imagine a young fellow who simply can’t sleep at
all…or that the subjects of his dreams keep intruding on the real world?
Welcome to the quirky reality of Caffiene Poisoned, a delightful new comic book
series from the locally-based Scattered Comics.
Jason Dube, the writer of this
series (and a co-founder of Scattered Comics), is also known for his own comic book
series, the whimsical Panda Days.
Braedon Kuts, the artist, is also the
creator of her own series, the rather gritty but emotionally powerful fantasy drama,
Nighxa. Together, their collaboration brings us the best of both worlds:
Jason’s whimsical images and unpredictable plot twists (as in Panda Days)
receive a bit of a darker edge from Braedon’s artwork and character designs.
Right from the start, though, in Caffiene Poisoned we know we’re in a fun
and, most importantly, wonderfully original story.
At the start of Volume 1, we meet Jason, a frizzy-haired young lad with
dark circles around his eyes, who works in a coffeeshop. Jason has an interesting
problem…he can’t ever sleep. It’s permanent insomnia, though he doesn’t seem to
get tired. The real problem is, since he can’t have dreams, the products of the
“dream world” in his mind spontaneously appear (through some strange magic) in the
real world. Only by dousing the apparitions with coffee, it seems, can he make
them disappear.
Enter Jason’s crush, a beautiful young lady named Quinn, who keeps coming
back to the coffeeshop because Jason has been giving her free drinks. This time,
once again Jason makes her a ridiculously decorated lemonade (“And it’s on me,”
he adds, a wild look in his eyes). Jason’s friends – the surly, goateed Josh,
and the wisecracking little girl Brittany – look on Jason’s antics with a mixture
of amusement and sarcasm. But this time, Quinn’s visit ends with a twist that
may shake up both her life and Jason’s…
In the second volume, we begin to learn more about Quinn (does she already
know Jason from somewhere?). We are also introduced to new characters (those
three odd-looking fellows who were standing outside the coffeeshop in Volume 1,
for example); and as the cover suggests, there is also a meeting with a fortune-
teller. But I don’t want to give away too much more of the plot, as a lot of
the fun in Caffiene Poisoned is simply enjoying the unpredictable and
the unexpected…of which there is plenty.
Caffiene Poisoned may not take itself too seriously (and that’s just
fine); but I love the way it skirts the edge of the dark side of our society’s
love of coffee and lack of sleep, while also playing with dream-like images
(perhaps from all that sleep we’re missing?). The scenes with nighttime stars,
for example, where the stars almost seem to float around the characters like
fireflies, create a magical feeling – and lift us up from Jason’s bleary-eyed
funk. All in all, this comic is really something special, and we are privileged
to have such a talented pair of artists here in Sacramento to share it with us.