Couch Tag 2 by Jesse Reklaw
Couch Tag #2 by Jesse Reklaw, 2005, $2. Available from Global Hobo.
This is a quarter size (5.5″ X 4.25″) comic, white pages with a green cardstock cover. The issue comprises one story called “Thirteen Cats of My Childhood”. The story is divided into 1-3 page sections headed by the name of a cat Jesse had as a child. This is a wonderful organizational method for an autobiographical story. Amidst the stories of cats born and died, cats lost and found, the ups and downs of his family is found.
Jesse has a great drawing style that I wish were shown in a bigger format (the drawings seem shrunk quite a bit). He uses a combination of thin lines and grey (perhaps ink washes, perhaps something else, its hard to tell as this size and level of reproduction) for realistic cartoons. Narration dominates the story, very few panels are without a narrated caption. Sometimes this leaves us with drawings that seem a little superfluous (or narration that is superfluous), but the drawings (particularly the skillfully done and quite expressive cats) are good enough that it doesn’t really matter.
This is one of the best mini’s I’ve read. The combination of the interesting narrative tactic and the drawings make this worth the two bucks. Too bad its not larger, I’d pay twice the price for twice the size.
Tags: minicomics
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