In Loving And Losing, illustrator Leslie Gauthier leads us through six years of relationships detailing the rise and fall of each one. Here, prose passages are broken up nicely by comic panels. The “true love” story at work here is the one between Gauthier and cartoonist Matt Delight. We open with their meeting at a comic convention and we follow their long-distance struggles as well as those involving other unnamed men the author gets involved with along the way including The Musician, The General, The Artist and The Hipster. Gauthier isn’t afraid to be honest and does so without feeling the need to rely on humour or self-pity like many autobiographical storytellers. Her illustrations are cute and operate excellently in this context.
There may not be any real resolution or moral at the end, but that’s true of most relationships and Gauthier knows it. All she can offer is a portrait of one romance riddled with heartache, confusion, and attempts at understanding — the end result is something almost anyone can relate to. (Harley R. Pageot)
Perzine, Leslie Gauthier, [email protected], $3