Comic, issue 2, Vicki Nerino, vickinerino.com
I might be going out on a limb with this, but I’m hard pressed to think of any other present day cartoonist who does the grotesque as amazingly as Toronto’s Vicki Nerino. I was first introduced to her work via 2010’s hilarious sex romp Ted Bear in Bare Season which combined Spumco-style funny animals with a teen sex comedy. With Crud #2 Nerino’s work sinks to even more disturbing depths — and literally into the sewers — through the dialogue-free tale of the “Master Baiter.” We’re introduced to our nearsighted hunchbacked hero as he wakes up in the company of what looks like a dog/rat hybrid in a quaint little subterranean apartment. After getting ready the companions head out to go “fishing” which basically means they’re luring for all sorts of critters through a sewer grate. I won’t spoil the ending, but it’s equal parts horrific and heartwarming. This is a tale of a boy and his dog after all, and those stories always give me a lump in my throat. Wordless stories can often be hard to pull of, but Nerino does so with panache. Reminiscent in parts of vintage Ted McKeever (circa Eddy Current), her characters and panels are simple in their design but also contain complex, tiny details and delicate yet scratchy ink lines. The gratuity of a close up of the lead character’s cock and balls as they squeeze into a pair of ill-fitting briefs is a standout sequence that is both hilarious and caused me to wince. Crud is a great example of comics that are completely juvenile and fun but can, and should, be taken seriously as actual art. (Matthew Daley)