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CBG SATELLITES
The ADD Blog by Alan David Doane
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Gardenhead
A literate, low-tech graphic novel about words,
symbols, connections, growing up, and the threads that
bind all those things and more in the tapestry of our
lives.
Gardenhead is the creation of Dash Shaw,
writer/artist/publisher of a "zombie romance" comic
called Love Eats Brains. I'm not familiar with
that title, but based on Gardenhead, I
definitely want to see more of what Shaw can do.
My favourite character here is Raymond, an elementary
school student who acutely feels the pain of wanting
to grow into his own space while all around him he
bumps into the rude and cruel expectations of a
society that wants nothing more than conformity. The
criticism he absorbs and the ache he feels to fit in
sent me back to my own childhood, even as it made me
reflect on my desire to raise my children in a house
where they are free to express themselves and their
creative souls without being degraded or devalued, as
Raymond tragically is.
This is an affecting work, which uses clip-art,
cultural iconography and some deeply personal and
thoughtful interludes to cut straight through the
walls people erect to protect themselves. Not all the
walls fall, here or in real life, and through Shaw's
words and pictures we see that the strongest of them
are built from the hardest scar tissue, from the
deepest wounds.
Shaw demonstrates a number of influences in his work,
from the naturalism of Steve Lieber and David
Mazzucchelli's more sedate work to the experimental
explorations of the artform suggested by Scott McCloud
in Understanding Comics. The story's
experimental sequences contain a wealth of suggested
nuance about what is going on with the characters, and
to a great extent the result of Shaw's technique will
be that the reader's reaction will be unique based on
their own life experience and what they bring to the
tale. I found it moving, at times sad and at times
soaring, an admirable effort to express emotion and
experience through ink on paper.
This is a rough work that achieves a paradoxical
elegance through its theme and execution. I'd love to
see how Shaw grows as a writer and artist based on
this impressive graphic novel. Grade: 4.5/5
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