Home > CR Reviews
Frontier #17
posted October 8, 2018
Creator: Lauren Weinstein
Publishing Information: Youth In Decline, comic book, October 2018, $7.95
Ordering Numbers:
I forgot I put this post up, and I apologize for the lateness and brevity of this content. This is the best comic I've ever read from Weinstein, and I'm a great fan of hers. Telling the story of the birth of her second child, Weinstein pushes all of the right buttons within a direct, empathic narrative. The comic is well-observed, funny (a drawing of husband Tim Holder's face at a specific sight slaughtered me), deliberately paced without being boring, gorgeous to look at and full of wonderfully astute observations on life as lived that never slow things down in ponderous fashion. It's also something of a heroic narrative, with Weinstein herself as the rooted-for protagonist. I got caught up on the achievement of Weinstein making this comic in such an assured fashion at the same time I followed her through the life experience in question.
I teared up twice during my initial reading of this comic: once during a dog story which comes out of left field but also adds to the overall tone without detracting in any way -- a minor miracle within a greater one -- and once when Weinstein describes how her first child reacts to the second. I never cry reading comics. At least within my personal understanding of how comics work, this is testimony to the quality of the story being told and the mastery inherent in its component parts. My opinions may change over time and with subsequent readings, but right now this is one of the two or three best comics I've read this year, and I urge you to seek it out. What a gift.