Tegne #2 (anthology)
Just a note right off the bat: I’m not entirely sure that David is the editor of this book, but I do know that his publishing group seems to be the one putting this out, and he seems to be the one in charge of it. That’s a lot of assumptions to make, but if it’s wrong it’ll get its own page, OK? As I’m still making up how to review anthologies as I go, here’s a list of contributors: Helen Brealey, David Birchall, Afsoon Hayley, Malcy Duff, Reni Fahima, Zeke Clough, Nick Birchall, Mara Duchemer, Honeypears, Tim Gaze, Crippa Almqvist, Jethre Brice, Dr. Nightfield & Laima Jaunnema. Apologies to anybody whose name I got wrong, but man that type was a bear to read. Flipping through this book, it’s exactly what an anthology should be: a wide variety of visual styles. Once you dig into it in a bit more detail, while there are some excellent stories, plenty of it didn’t do a thing for me. The simple black images, the simpler black smudges: just not my thing. There are times, as well, where legible text is sacrficed for the sake of the art. That might be a better idea for the picture, but it doesn’t do me a lot of good if I can’t get across the point of the story. Still, it’s silly to disregard this whole thing just because I can’t get behind some of the stories. The strange mirror world of Malcy Duff was creepily engaging, I loved the three strips by Mara Duchomer (about work, a man who could pour coffee directly into his head, and mice getting back at a cat), and I think Nick Birchall’s Mr. Wiggins strip may have given me a seizure (I mean that in a good way). Like any anthology you have to take the good with the bad, and there’s just enough good in here to make it all worth it. Again, the price is a guess… $6!
