Small Press Heroes

by Nik Dirga

The beginning (and end?!?!?) of everyone’s favorite piece of protoplasm, “Amoeba Adventures #33” recounts Prometheus’ arrival on Earth and follows his development into the hero we know and love!

_{24-page b/w digest-size book. $7.50 at Protoplasm Press}

Sample pages:

Jason‘s thoughts:

Technically this is a review for “Amoeba Adventures #33”, but really, it’s a review for the whole darn series. Over the last several years, while the kids are discovering the ’90s for the first time, those of us who grew up in ’em are rediscovering it. Specifically, there are a bunch of amazingly talented small press creators who are returning to the fertile fields of their imaginations that first exploded in the last decade of the 20th century.

Including Nik Dirga, creator of “Amoeba Adventures”. When I first got interested in small press back then, I’d seen references to his book, including in the original “Small Press Feedback”, but for whatever reason I didn’t get copies. Flash-forward to 2020, and Nik announces the return of Prometheus and the All-Spongy Squadron, including a website featuring all the back issues! Well, my momma tried to raise no dummies, and I was at least smart enough to get caught up on the gang’s adventures and order a copy of the first issue in 30(!) years.

I learned quickly why “Amoeba Adventures” was and still is so highly regarded. It’s imaginative, funny, heartfelt and smart. And it evolves, just like Prometheus, the protoplasmic protagonist himself. It epitomizes why those of us who love small press love it so much. You’ve got a direct feed into the creator’s mind with almost zero filter. Long before Facebook and Twitter and other technology a ’90s kid couldn’t have imagined, you could have conversations directly with the creators through good old-fashioned snail mail.

Nik keeps that spirit alive with a robust letters page and his own column, “The Slimeball Speaks”, that highlights that he is an all-around swell guy who loves to create for the sheer joy of creating.

So anyway, “Amoeba Adventures #33”. . .

Like the other issues that have come out since 2020, compared to the previous books it’s more polished all the way around, both with the art and the production value of the book itself with nice, slick cardstock covers. Same goes with the storyline, which has become more mature right along with Nik himself. The new issues show that the keen storytelling skills that were on display all those years ago have been honed to perfection. Each of the new issues feels like a mini-masterpiece. Issue 32, “Seedling”, continues to stick with me as both a beautiful story and a master class on how to write a love letter to your own characters.

And this issue feels like a culmination of all the brilliant things Nik has done in the Proto-verse. With this issue, he has made it both the alpha and omega of “Amoeba Adventures”, giving us both Prometheus’ origin and a potential end to the series. And while I’ll be a bit bummed if this does end up truly being the last issue of “Amoeba Adventures”, if that is what it turns out to be, it’s a beautiful denouement that honors all that’s come before.

Plus there’s a hilarious back-up story about an evil cup of coffee.

To sum up, get your hands on anything that Nik Dirga has done.