Little Men in Little Boxes

Comic, Jai Granofsky, [email protected]

Little Men in Little Boxes contains two  science fiction stories, the first about a  guy who is in love with a woman from  the literal future. They communicate  through the internet, somehow, using  an interface that looks a lot like Google  Chat. “She hasn’t even been conceived,”  he laments to a skeptical friend. Later  he is, somehow, able to physically pass  through his computer screen into the  future where they embrace for the first  time.  The second story is about two boys  who find a spaceship that crashed  in the woods near their houses. The  ship resembles an old-school charcoal  barbecue, and the alien who emerges  looks like an overripe pear with Mr.  Potato Head eyes and a long, phallic  nose. He identifies himself as Jeeves,  and it becomes clear he wants only to be  their servant, as he meticulously tidies  their tree house and offers to serve as  the boys’ new bartender, inspiring them  to throw cocktail parties and invite the  other neighbourhood kids. But that’s  not all: when Jeeves is drunk he sheds  his pear-shaped form and morphs into  the British actor Michael Caine. As awesome as all that sounds, this  comic seemed like artwork in search of  a story. The drawings are careful and  intricate, but the narratives felt slapped  together, as though the author chose a  bunch of random ideas without much  thought about what makes an effective  narrative. (Mary Green)

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