June 22, 2007
CR Review: trilobite
Creator: Josh Frankel
Publishing Information: Self-Published, mini-comic, 48 pages, $4
Ordering Numbers:
This is one of Josh Frankel's latest wave of natural history comics, in this case a wordless story that follows a trilobite around a stretch of Cambrian sea. I like the whole group of these comics together maybe more than the individual books, including
trilobite; there may be a one-man anthology to be done at some future date.
In
trilobite, our name-the-same-as-the-title star is poked by a fellow traveler, joins some other trilobites and then negotiates a stretch of ocean filled with larger and scarier creatures. The nicest parts about it are the confident storytelling chops on display -- you're never knocked out of the story to second-guess a creative choice -- and the way comics allows you to recover that part of looking at nature where the similarities and dissimilarities between forms of life prove unsettling, a feeling that's hard to maintain after 10,000 hours of nature shows and which the stop-start nature of comics helps rattle loose.
Although I wouldn't discourage it, I'm not sure I could suggest anyone buy this book sight unseen. There are definite limitations involved in the storytelling choices here that might disqualify a lot of readers without their disinterest serving as a vote on the quality of the comic. What I would suggest is giving them a look next time you're at a show with Frankel, or at one of the nation's half-dozen or so great mini-comics friendly funnybook shops.
posted 1:00 pm PST |
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