When students pool their resources and apply themselves, minor miracles can take place. Some organize bake sales to sponsor end-of-semester camping trips; others spend weekend afternoons fishing dented beer cans and prophylactics from their local tributaries. Some just make comic books. The illustration students from the Sheridan Institute fall into the latter category. With a couple of insects named Jason Loo and Roberto Robert at the helm, these students managed to find the time between classes to squeeze out the awkwardly titled Sequential Art Riot (SAR). Asinine name aside, SAR is a thoroughly engaging collection of comics featuring cool stories and cooler-still drawings. A total of four artists contribute and each brings their own unique perspectives to the table. My favourite is Claire Manning and her weirdo parkland fable “Ghost Stories.” The premise is simple enough as a group of animals dress up as ghosts and run amuck. Yet beyond the smarmy dialogue, the drawings are ace squared and awfully precious. Then again, I’m a sucker for a giraffe in a bed cloth. The other contributors (Jack Sananikone, Jason Hilton and the aforementioned Loo) also make solid bestowals and should be commended for their ability to straddle the gorge between accessibility and dementia. These comics definitely would appeal to the black-rimmed sect yet have the warmly familiar hue of the Sunday funnies. I hope their teachers reward them accordingly. (Cameron Gordon)
comic, vol. 2.2, 24 pgs, $3, Jason Loo, 5288 Guildwood Way, Mississauga, ON, L5R 3J5