This comic combines three styles: a greyscale with thick paintbrushes, a hauntingly-photographed pictorial, and thin scratchy line drawings. A rock connects the three realities. In the first, a man creates art while pondering humanity. Next, a woman tells her baby a story by the fire, then we enter the story and follow a king, who vainly builds a huge tower to contain all of creation. This morality tale is captivating, and its introduction by the other stories serves only to intrigue us as to a larger moral only hinted at. Third, however, there’s a crazy surreal scene in which a number of people interact violently – the artist, two policemen, their dog, a couple, a raving bald guy and a suspicious woman. I was left a little shaken and confused. Hmmm. I couldn’t really explain what happened, because there were a lot of close-ups of faces, and it was difficult to distinguish which characters were saying “Now!” and which were saying “Uhhhh.” But it was cool. (Flick Harrison)
Comic, #9, 24pgs, $6.95, by Dave McKean, 320 Riverside Drive, Northampton, MA 01060,