Dinski, Will – Habitual Entertainment #2: Fool’s Gold

April 23, 2010

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Habitual Entertainment #2: Fool’s Gold

OK, I’m convinced. Whatever doubts I had after that first issue are completely gone. First off, the cover and the packaging are again just about perfect. Then you have the inside, which is its own pile of wonderfulness. It’s about a man, lounging on his bed, wasting the days away, until he gets a call from his temp agency asking if he wants to be a secret shopper. That’s one of those people who shop at a place and then write about it later for the company to evaluate the experience, just in case you’ve never heard of it. Anyway, this guy, an “aspiring” actor, decides to take this assignment and make a play out of it, putting up fliers all over town, talking to neighbors, even telling his ex-fiancee AND his nemesis. So the stage is set, the “play” is planned, and you have to read it to find out what happens next. What I liked so much about this is that there’s very litte internal dialogue or narration, so we have no idea exactly why this guy wants to turn this very brief job into an absurdist play seen by as many people as possible. There’s still plenty of meat on what could be a sparse character though because of his interactions with his ex and his nemesis, who seems awfully friendly with the guy to hate him so much. So kudos on the whole thing, and for once I’m not going to bitch about not having longer stories. I think his idea to have each of these start and end in one issue is perfect so far, so why not keep it up? $3