Library Journal Reviews D+Q Showcase Book 2
Updated January 5, 2005
Drawn & Quarterly Showcase: Book 2. Drawn & Quarterly. 2004. c.96p. ISBN1-896597-81-5. pap. $19.95. F
This is the second in a series of anthologies that publish the work of
emerging cartoonists. In Pentti Otsamo's "Life During Wartime," an
introverted boy on his first day in a new apartment has disastrous
encounters with the local children and animals, while his next-door
neighbor, an out-of-work cartoonist, laments his lot in life. The story's
feel is reminiscent of Debbie Drechsler's Summer of Love, and Otsamo's
artwork is simple-looking but strong. Jeffrey Brown (a Harvey Award nominee
for Unlikely) contributes a story of two loading dock workers who discover a
little girl's soiled clothes in the back of a truck. Hinting at rape and
murder, the story is told in a series of disjointed vignettes, some of which
digress into one worker's relationship with his manipulative and selfish
girlfriend. Brown's distorted, childlike cartooning and his awkward
lettering are an acquired taste. In Erick De Graaf's closing story, a young
boy's enchantment with his grandparents' farm is disturbed when he learns
what the term "slaughtering" means. Fans of slice-of-life comics will enjoy
this; recommended for larger adult collections. (from the Graphic Novels
column by Steve Raiteri)
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