Soucek, Nick – A Working City

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A Working City

It’s possible that Nick has cornered the market on bleak yet oddly adorable characters. Look at that sample and feel free to say that I’m crazy, but the deceptive simplicity of the appearance of his characters is a big reason why these stories work so well. This comic is set in a either the near future, an alternate universe or this has already started happening in Bristol and we just haven’t heard about it yet. Things start off with our hero giving a presentation at his job and getting a long ovation from the other people in the meeting. He’s a little shocked, as he had his original plans for the subject of the meeting stolen and he lost months worth of work. He scrambled to put something together… and nobody could tell the difference. This has a profound effect on our hero (his name is Arthur and I’ll just start using that, OK?), as it calls into question his entire existence. What’s the point of putting in months of work for something that can apparently be done just as well in a few days? In that case, why bother to show up at work at all? What about the whole nature of life, of being in a relationship, of being bombarded with advertisements every waking hour? Can you see why I’m not clear if this is a fantasy or something that’s already happening? Anyway, the interactions with his wife (?) are pricelessly depressing, and there are no happy endings to be found. If there are any art snobs who would turn their nose up at something like this because they don’t like how the characters look, you’re missing the big picture and a damned fine story. No price, naturally, but go to that website of his and ask him for a price. I’m guessing around $4.