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Weeding
posted June 21, 2012
Creator: Till Hafenbrak
Publishing Information: kus!, mini-comic, 20 pages, 2010, $5
Ordering Numbers: I think you can probably find it by starting here.
The third in a line of high-end mini-comics from the Latvian comics collective/publishing house kus!,
Weeding provides a checklist of worthy elements part and parcel of the mini-comics form: introduction to a talent as yet unknown to you, slight stories presented in a way that doesn't feel outstripped by the commitment you have to provide in order to read it, the use of professional production in a way that kind of overwhelms one's expectation from a modest project like this one.
The work itself is reminiscent of something you might see from Max Andersson, at least to my eyes, without the kind of furtive sexuality and ratcheted down a bit in terms of the existential despair. What pops in
Weeding in a narrative sense is just how much each plot development feels like a storytelling cliché it's hard not to greet every moment with a "Oh, of course that's going to happen next." That doesn't mean it isn't well-executed; it's quite attractive, and I like in particular the use of negative space, the way that background shapes are accompanied by foregrounded color to suggest depth. I'm also always a sucker for a story in which the hero's role is to be nice and then run away a lot.
Weeding should overwhelm most if not all of the modest expectations one brings to a project like this one. It may fall short of being something you'd like to see extended or in more complete form, but that's okay, too.
