A Whirlpool of Terror and Tension
Wow. I unknowingly saved the best of this Mini Burger stuff for last. I mixed them up when I got them and I’ve been reading them randomly ever since, and this one just happened to be on the bottom of the pile. Before I start the specific praise, let me just say that this guy has everything that it takes to be a major talent in the field. In five years (assuming that his work gets any support over here, and it would be a damned shame if it didn’t) we could easily be mentioning him in the same sentence as Dan Clowes, Chris Ware and the Hernandez Bros. as uncontested masters of the modern age of comics. If all that talk seems a little flowery I apologize, but I was really blown away by this.
The story? It’s about a man who meets the woman of his dreams when he could have done anything else that night besides going to the movies. The panel placement on the first page alone clued me in that this guy knew what he was doing. The two pages where he illustrates falling in love with a total stranger are the most perfect example of that I’ve seen. The confusion, exhilaration, fear, nervousness, calm, and panic are just perfect. The only thing I don’t get is that he was supposed to be seeing Henry Fool and that certainly wasn’t the movie. Ah, the movie. In a mostly visual medium he simply wrote the story on the movie screen while the two of them watched it, unmoving, from their seats. This is a totally unique comic experience and it’s just a mini comic! I can’t imagine what this guy could do with the graphic novel format. Not that I’m knocking mini comics at all, it’s just that this level of complexity is rarely realized. E-mail the guy, have him send you anything he can. Pay whatever he asks. It’s worth it.
Chris Staros over at Top Shelf told me that although the Mini Burger set isn’t available on the web page, you can still order it through their online catalog. Just go to the ordering page, click on #4 at the bottom (additional comments) and write in that you want the Mini Burger set for $19.95. They have it in stock, they just haven’t updated the site in a while. From what I’ve read, it’s worth it. There might be two bad ones in this bunch and a couple of mediocre ones, but the good ones are good in ways that you don’t usually see in this country.
