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George – This is Still America #2
This Is Still America #2 Now Available! $2
George reprinted most of the review for #1 inside this book as a synopsis/review, so for those of you who only picked up the second issue and are wondering why there’s such a crappy synopsis, that’s sort of my fault. Hey, if I knew that people were going to be taking these rambles and using them to summing up their last book, I would try to make them a little more coherent. In this issue we get to see exactly why the young man from the first issue didn’t care that his Dad was gone. Some of it you might expect, other parts of it you probably won’t, but it’s a pretty powerful indictment of shitty parenting where the parent is crazy enough to think that they’re teaching the child some good life lessons. This is essentially a day in the life of this young man, so there’s not a whole lot more to say about it than that. I still love the linework in this book, as a book without any solid blacks is oddly soothing, and I’m still fascinated to see what happens next. Both good signs for a book only on its second issue. $2
George – This is Still America #1
This Is Still America #1 Now Available! $2
That’s right, it’s just George. Hooray for pseudonyms, I say! It shouldn’t take anybody more than a quick glance at the art here to see that it’s something unique to the comics world today. I guess you’d call it a cross between Ron Rege and Harold Gray (from Little Orphan Annie, and that’s mostly for the eyeballs). And, for those of you who are terrified of politics, don’t worry, despite the title there’s nothing remotely political here. It’s the story of a young man who gets word that his father has just died. We get to see one of the more visually rewarding dream sequences outside of Rare Bit Fiends, then he takes us on a flashback through his earlier childhood years when he was forced to go live with his father for a bit. This issue is a setup for that meeting, basically, as his father was somebody he was perfectly happy to see leave his life. Everything about this is just right. You know how some comics are ruined by silly or inane dialogue, sloppy art in places, a seemingly forced plot or just a sense of phoniness in general? Not a bit of that here. Excellent work for a first comic, if that’s what this is, and I’m already looking forward to #2… $2
