Here’s a sometimes surreal collection of stories by Mooney, translated into English by her husband (who did a really solid job, especially on the baby talk, as it’s often hard to tell what they’re trying to convey in comics form). Things start off with a silent piece about a young girl who looks to be exploring the things that make her a girl, starting with an open porn magazine and leading her to a covered bed, where she sees a pine cone that is actually a tiny fairy in hiding. The perspective shifts down to the fairy, who is stripped by the young girl, out of curiosity I guess? From there the fairy does some self-renovation, a fisherman finds the results of this experiment and has a good laugh with his wife about it later in the day. Next up is a shorter piece about racing to or from the past, how dreams as a child can reappear to you as an adult with no warning, and what can be seen and what’s just assumed about time passing. Yeah, maybe I’m making it sound lofty, but there are some big ideas in that story and I didn’t want to gloss over them. Finally there’s some whimsy, as we see a two hour stretch of a Monday morning shown basically from the perspective of a 2 year old (ish; still in diapers anyway) child. This is where her husband nails the dialogue, or maybe she’s familiar enough with the baby talk to do it herself, but either way it’s dead on. The little terrors, the little joys, the pooping and peeing in inappropriate places, and the joy that’s taken from damned near everything in the world from that perspective is on clear display. It’s an eclectic mix of stories, but they all come together to form a compelling comic. $5
