Reviews and Interviews

Rafer was interviewed by The Pulse. Read the entire article here.

"I got engrossed in it and devoured however many I had... Every week or so I'd run across the bag in my room or in the office and I'd go, "What's in there again? Something important." And I'd open it up and go, Oh, right. Plastic Farm.

It's a really strange, really engrossing good comic book and the guy obviously knows what he's doing."

-DAVE SIM (Cerebus)

"Raw, heartfelt, and immediate with cowboys, drunks, and dinosaurs, Rafer Roberts' Plastic Farm romps through convention and blasphemy with equanimity. By turns mesmerizing and appalling, Plastic Farm never ceases its kinetic thrill ride through
Rafer's obviously damaged psyche."

-Larry Young. Publishing magnate
and Comic Book Godfather

"Plastic Farm is an epic descent into madness and, not coincidentally, hilarity. This is not your garden variety insanity but the carefully cultivated kind that only a lifetime of consuming pop culture effluvia can evoke. Hide your daughters and your livestock... the era of Plastic Farm has arrived."

-Rob Vollmar. Eisner nominated writer of The
Castaways and international heart-throb

"This fantastic surreal comic reads like a dream induced by a night of western films, cases of Budweiser, and bittersweet ex sex."

-Punk Planet on issue #1

"Plastic Farm is a strange and unnerving comic book. Like photographs documenting a bear mauling or shark attack, it is physically uncomfortable to read and nearly impossible to put down.

Rafer Roberts is scary and brilliant."

-Punk Planet on issues #6-8

"I have to admit I still don't get it...and what I do get disgusts me".

-Johanna Draper Carlson
Comics Worth Reading

"Anything featuring a four-eyed monkey/mouse has got to be worth a second look."

-Matt Maxwell, "Full Bleed" on Broken Frontier

~The evolution of the reviews from Optical Sloth ~

"I have no idea where the main story is going here... and I couldn't care less" (issue #2)

"I have no idea at all where he's going with this, but he showed me with the first two issues that he can spin a compelling (and confusing) yarn, so I'll stick around for a bit." (issue #3)

"Of course, things start getting all kinds of bizarre by the end of the issue, which only serves to get me hooked even more. I think this is a really remarkable series and I think there's a good chance this guy (Rafer, that is) is going places in comics, especially if he can keep up this pace" (issue #6)

"What the hell?" (issue #7)

"I haven't been this excited about a continuing, story-based series in quite some time" (issue #8)

"this is everything an episodic comic series should be" (issue #11)

"this has the chance to be one of the truly remarkable comic series to be produced in the last ten years" (issue #12)

The Comics Journal (Dogsbody) offers a different opinion in regards to the first 2 issues:

"At this stage in his development, he does not appear ready to tackle a sprawling epic -- the first two chapters of the one he is working on now are failures -- but he may learn from the process."

And then, Jason Degroot over at Paperback Reader pretty much tells Dogsbody to go suck it:

"I wish I could give you a great summary that really captures what Plastic Farm is all about, but you really have to read it to appreciate it.  In one sense, it’s the story of Chester and who he is, what his existence means for the rest of humanity.  In another sense, it’s a story of the thin line between sanity and madness.  But it’s also about love, isolation, happiness, and fear.  And a myriad other themes.  I’ll be honest with you, as a writer I’m a bit jealous of Rafer, because never in a million years could I come up with something as amazing as Plastic Farm.

"I’m a selfish guy.  I want people to be buying Rafer’s books by the bushel, not because I want him out of debt, but because I want to know what the heck happens next in Plastic Farm."

"Plastic Farm.  Buy it.  Read it.  Love it.  It will change what you’ve come to expect from a comic book."

-Paperback Reader

Plastic Farm #3

Rafer Roberts is re-releasing his Plastic Farm comics and making a few changes along the way.  The most obvious change would be the professional printing.  Really gives the comic a polished look.  The other changes are with the stories.  Nothing too drastic, just a little touching up.  Anyway, this issue contains three separate chapters told as three different stories, and drawn by three different artists.  The first story finds a famished looking couple sitting on their porch eating the last remains of their dog.  From the desolate look of their surroundings you would have to assume they've falling on hard times.  Lucky for them a man comes crawling up the road.  Turns out he has an injured friend that needs to be driven to a hospital.  Luckily for the man the couple has a truck...not so luckily they also have an appetite.  The next chapter has a couple of cops listening in via a wire as a junky makes an exchange with a dangerous criminal.  And the third story in this comic, well, I'm not really sure what to make of it.  There's a girl I assume is blind.  As she mentally recalls people and events from her past, the people take on different appearances.  I think this one will make more sense in future issues.  All of the art is terrific and the stories will leave you wanting more.  This is a smart and well put together comic, just the sort of thing the small press needs!

Review by Almost Normal Comics

Plastic Farm #1
This fantastic surreal comic reads like a dream induced by a night of western films, cases of Budweiser, and bittersweet ex sex ("hate-fucking," if you want to be mean about it). The storyteller groggily shares his tale with his slacker roommate after vomiting and pissing himself from a night of wine drunken driving. It's a cowboy story about a lone ranger who rides into town on a dinosaur. The protagonist acknowledges his supernatural powers, but never answers for them, leaving readers amusingly baffled. The story follows the archetypal Western genre: in a bar, with a deputy, and a beautiful fortune teller. What sets this apart is the whimsical dialog between the characters. The witty banter likens cynical hipsters at a bar, attempting cowboy vernacular, but self-referential in their vanity. The pencilwork could use more refinement, as the characters are inconsistent and muddled, despite the nice grey washes for rendering. The story is followed by a suspenseful sci-fi short that evokes the isolating eerieness of the Alien movies. It is beautiful in its craft, but lacks the personable draw of its predecessor.

Feature Review by Vincent Chung and Punk Planet

Plastic Farm #1

"La couverture est assez trompeuse quand au contenu graphique de ce comics. Ce n'est pas de l' art et essai, juste un comics underground de plus !!! ... Bon, le niveau graphique est quand même assez somptueux avec deux histoires avec "Prologue" une histoire qui me fait penser à Cobra pour son univers western fantasy. On retrouve beaucoup d 'influences westren spaghetti et des extraterrestres de tout poils. L' histoire est assez désopilante. C'est ma préféré de ce comics, car elle est assez cool et rafraîchissante. Pour la seconde histoire "The Hope" encore, mais avec un dessinateur différent et un graphisme également. sauf que là, l' histoire se situe dans un futur lointain avec des armes à rayon laser. Ce comics est assez bien fait, car sur une même histoire / base, ce colectif a réussit à créer un univers décalé ..."

Review by The Underground Society

PLASTIC FARM #1

Rafer Roberts restarts Plastic Farm as a full-size, professionally printed comic book. "Prologue" introduces a couple of guys, one who's had a bad blackout and can't remember much of anything, but seems to think he's been possessed by a fictional character known as the Kamikaze Kid. The story segues into a story about the Kamikaze Kid before shifting back to the other two guys. It all seems to revolve around a woman named Sean. The art in the main story is rough and scribbly, while the Kamikaze Kid story is a bit smoother with more of a grey wash feel to it. The very first page of the comic is a rather poetic dream sequence: "i go to the marshmallow car" is my favorite line from the whole book. "The Hope" is a science fiction story with clean artwork mostly contrasting light and dark. Some astronauts discover the inhabitants on a planet that is inhospitable to humans. It promises to continue in future issues.

Review by Carol Pond and Poopsheet

Plastic Farm #1

This book is fun. It characters are unpredictable, its plot is always surprising, and the art is splendid. While I am not too terribly familiar with the underground comic book market, Plastic Farm seems to be doing something noteworthy: combining genres in the industry. With a couple of drunkard young folks, a bad-ass cowboy, and a space exploration team, how can this book fail to fulfill everyone's expectations in some way?

Dave Anderson

Plastic Farm #1

36 pg. Full Size, B+W, with Color Cover, March 2003 By Rafer Roberts, Sean C. Duffey and Jake Warrenfeltz.

     "Incredibly engaging, the story is complex, multilayered, AND character driven. No easy feat. The ONLY thing I donít like about this comic is the lettering, which is hand-done, and perhaps shrunk just a bit too much, with a thin pen to begin with. Itís a bit of a strain to read, but well worth it. Off to a fine re-start (This has previously been printed in magazine size...but I missed the first issue first time through)"

Review by Ian Shires at Dimestore Productions

Plastic Farm #2


32 pages, standard size, professional.  Here's the deal: a mysterious man is snowed in at an airport and passes his time by reading one of his stories to a bartender who also happens to be trapped.  The story tells the tale of a boy who ends up being raised by a group of religious folk that run an orphanage.  The Orphanage it turns out was once a nut house that housed an insane murder.  The murder was executed and after funding was cut the inmates were released to live in the community and procreate.  A few years later the place was turned into an orphanage.  At some point the boy displeases his guardians and finds himself in a dark solitary confinement room.  There he encounters the ghost of the murder!  Who exactly is this storyteller?  Is he the boy?  Is he one of the insane?  Could he be a ghost?  You'll have to decide for yourself.  Also in this new printing of Plastic Farm is the back up story Death-Blow of the Miracle Masters.  It's a short piece about two Kung-Fu masters that come from polar opposite houses of style.  After the masters are provoked into using their skills, serious consequences result.  I like the new format Rafer is using and throwing in a back up story adds a little variety which is a nice thing!  And if you can't get enough of Rafer Roberts in the pages of Plastic Farm, be sure to catch his contribution to the pages of Almost Normal Comics and Other Oddities #1, coming soon from Almost Normal Comics!

Review by WEE from Almost Normal Comics

PLASTIC FARM #2

In this issue, writer-artist Rafer Roberts continues the reprinting of his Plastic Farm mini-comic in full-sized comics form. (I love his disclaimer that ěthe grey bars on the top and bottom of your page "reflect the original aspect ratio of this comic book.") The punk-flavored story involves a boy raised in an orphanage, teen bullies, and a benevolent ghost. The introduction of a stereotype named ěRaoulî is an unfortunate close to the tale, which is continued in following issues. The 8-page backup feature, ěProgressions,î is a martial-arts story, heavily influenced by the manga/anime style, with terrific art by Jeff Coleman. Progressions is also a mini-comic, and from what I can tell, this may be its debut in a full-sized comics format. Check out www.progressions.org for more on this one.
Review by Alan Rankin from Poopsheet

I just visited plastic farm's web-site. No wonder the guy can't sell...he can't draw any better than a sixth grader.

-Jon from a post on the smallpresscomics.com forum


The following reviews refer to the original Tabloid-sized mini-comic versions of Plastic Farm 1-4

PLASTIC FARM #4 - from Jeff Chon and Savant Magazine

Rafer Roberts's PLASTIC FARM is a gleefully anarchic mess of a comic, which the author himself would readily admit. Ostensibly, it's the story of Chester "Cheezer" Carter, a damaged man who shambles through life with a dinosaur-riding cowboy living in his head; but it's also much more than that-I mean, isn't it always? It's also an ambitious epic that will take about 50 issues or so to tell. Think of it as Dave Sim meets David Lynch at Rod Serling's tea party.


And what a lovely tea party it is...


This magazine-sized monster of a comic with beautifully constructed color covers and interesting commentary from the author typifies all that's good about self-published comics. They're just much more intimate than anything anyone else has to offer. It's like the difference between a small band you see at a club and the big, slick arena rockers with their beach balls and highly impersonal "Hellooooo (insert your city here)!"


This issue is a stand-alone tale about the love between a pilot and his wife, spanning from the Vietnam era to present day. A touching story, and a change of pace from the usual surrealism and black comedy, "Bookends" is Roberts's best story so far, and yet another big step in his exponential growth as a storyteller. Every issue shows him pushing himself and not simply breaking the rules for their own sake, but making his own set of rules to follow. It'll truly be interesting to see how this fits into the grand scheme of the story as a whole.


At first glance, the art is a bit crude; but that makes very little difference, as every stroke, every line, every splash of ink from Roberts is deliberately calculated. He uses complex panel structures and compresses and decompresses time like a master. It's obvious the guy knows what he's doing. Besides, you only need to know the C, G, and F chords to rock, know what I'm saying?
This comic is a garage band on the verge of rock superstardom, and those of you who miss out will, well, hopefully you'll die rotten horrible deaths. Which would be really tragic, I guess.


Jeff Chon

Unquantified, shameless mark rant of the week: Plastic Farm #1-3

Another benefit of hanging out at the WEF is getting to find out about comics that are under the underground radar -- self-published, perhaps more accurately referred to in the context of 'zines. Like Plastic Farm, for instance. It's not a serialized monthly -- a new one seems to pop up every three months or so. And there's (thus far) not a striking thread of continuity. Instead, it's a hodgepodge of black and white pencils, and short tales that walk a weird line between horror, drama, and the surreal. Think of it like storyboards for lost episodes of The Twilight Zone, perhaps. Whatever pigeonhole you want to try to shove it into, it's really enjoyable -- you've got the Kamikaze Kid, a cowboy who rides a dinosaur; an orphan who meets an urban legend; and a scene right out of Alabama. Okay, north Alabama. Same difference.

It's written and drawn mostly by Rafer Roberts; Jake Warrenfeltz and David Morgan supply the art for issue three. It's not polished and slick, but it is professional -- think of the Ramones as a musical analogy. It's not sloppy, it's not mass-marketed pap; it is really good fun with a little dirt around the edges. (10 out of 10)

-Ken McKracken


Plastic Farm #1 & #2

28 pages, standard +, copied. Issue #1 is a story about a dinosaur riding cowboy from hell. The story takes place mostly in an old west saloon where the main character, The Kamikaze Kid, goes about conversing with a harpoon toting fortune teller and shooting the locals full of holes! In issue #2 the story revolves around a storyteller. His story is about growing up in an orphanage run by monks, a ghost of a mass murder that haunts the orphanage, and other freaks, bullies, and mentally ill that inhabit the institution. The artwork in issue #1 involves a lot of gray washes whereas issue #2 is mostly solid black and white work. The drawing is skillful and has a very individual style to it. I think the covers are the weakest part of these comics. They really do no justice to what readers will find inside. From strange settings and characters to W.S. Burroughs quotes, Plastic Farm is a little bit of everything or more accurately anything Rafer feels like putting in it. And that makes this a perfect comic for the underground!

-Almost Normal Comics

Plastic Farm #3- July/August 2002

Plastic Farm #3
Writer: Rafer Roberts
Artist: David Morgan (Chapter 2), Jake Warrenfeltz (Chapter 3)

One thing's for certain: you never see the endings coming in these stories. "Plastic Farm" #3 is a pair of stories, written by Rafer Roberts, that end in cliffhangers.

Chapter 2, "People's Choice," revolves around a pair of desert-dwelling weirdoes called upon to help a wounded man at a nearby commune. Isn't that some kind of horror story rule? Never ask the weirdoes for help? Of the pair, the man seems to be the one with the brains; he cooks (the family dog), makes conversation, while the missus sits on the porch and looks starved. In their front yard is a pair of statues, a lion and a gazelle, the moment before the hunt ends. Lovely irony. The art, supplied by David Morgan, is simultaneously attractive and unsatisfying. Morgan has chosen to stick with pencil rather than ink over his work, an interesting style choice that nonetheless seems in many places unfinished. Morgan does take his time with moments in the script, though, drawing them out and making them darker and more disturbing. The faces of his characters are both pleasantly disturbing and unfortunately awkward in places. His choice of shading technique is interesting, yet again, sometimes gives the impression of being incomplete. But "People's Choice" turns quite eerie when the punchline - so to speak - is revealed. I won't spoil it for you, butÖ ew.

The second chapter is a crime story by the name of "Be Prepared." The story takes place entirely in a single setting, where a pair of cocky cops are setting up a sting. The banter is sometimes clever, as we're never really sure whether we should like these gentlemen or not. And the ending leaves us wondering if that decision matters at allÖ Artist Jake Warrenfeltz uses a combination of dense inking and interesting line work to bring the story to life. His paneling choices are straightforward, usually the convenient to follow six-panel method - quite appropriate for a down and dirty cop story. Writer Roberts hits us again with a nice twist of an ending. It does leave the reader with a feeling of curiosity.

"Plastic Farm" #3 also includes a preview of next issue's story, "Bookends," illustrated by the writer himself in a twisted, at times grotesque but quite entertaining style. Getting away from the weirdness and violence of the previous chapters, "Bookends" looks - at least so far - to be about teenagers, flirting and flying. But if we've learned anything from Roberts' other stories, it's that you cannot predict how they are going to end.

Plastic Farm at this time is only available at www.plasticfarm.com

- Matthew J. Phillion The Small Press

Plastic Farm #3

28 pages, full size, glossy cover, professional. This installment of Plastic Farm is a collection of three stories. The first involves hippies, rednecks, and cannibals! The second is a police story and the third is a six-page preview of the next issue. All three stories are entertaining and completely unrelated. Different people draw each story. The art ranges from cartoony to more realistic. The first story looks like it was all done with pencil, no inking. The gray tones used in it helps to convey the feeling of despair experienced by the characters. From the beginning Rafer said he was just going to do whatever he felt like when it came to Plastic Farm and so far that seems to working fine. Each issue of this comic is something different and always enjoyable!

Almost Normal Comics

I'm always trying to track down reviews to put up here on the site. If you spot one, email me at rafer@(nospam)plasticfarm.com (take out the "nospam") and I'll get it up here as soon as possible.