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Brown, Box – Number #2

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Number #2

My recent unintentional series of reviews of comics from 2014 continues with Number #2! When it’s said aloud do you think it’s “number two” or “number number two”? The world may never know. As for why I’m reviewing this, I saw it on John Porcellino’s Spit and a Half website and realized there was a Box Brown comic out there that I missed somehow and fixed that problem as soon as I could. This comic has two big stories in it. First up is a piece about a skater in her mid 30’s who we get just enough time to see is riding her skateboard home while drunk and ruing her lack of health care. And the fact that she’s 33 and still riding a skateboard. She gets some drunk food on the way home (White Castle, second only to Taco Bell for drunk food) and runs into a local crank who’s hassled her (and other people; the guy has a reputation) in the past. She tries being nice, that doesn’t work, so she tries skating away. That ends badly, but I should probably stop before I spoil the whole thing. I will say that bit with the cops just casually dehumanizing her, especially with the time I’m writing this (during some gigantic protests against police brutality (I should specify June 2020, as that’s sadly not narrowing it down all that much)), really got to me. It’s so easy for those assholes to, at a minimum, ruin your day. The second story deals with a documentarian, his jealousies (personal and professional), how his work is seen by others, whether or not it makes sense to engage people in comments, what gives him inspiration and some of the people he interviews. It’s a really insightful look into a mindset I admire but don’t understand, if that makes any sense. Anyway, it’s Box Brown, of course it’s a fantastic comic! If you missed this one like me when it came out, John still has copies available… $6