{"id":29992,"date":"2024-06-13T14:46:27","date_gmt":"2024-06-13T14:46:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/?p=29992"},"modified":"2024-06-13T14:46:27","modified_gmt":"2024-06-13T14:46:27","slug":"safer-places","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/2024\/06\/13\/safer-places\/","title":{"rendered":"Safer Places"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\nBy Kit Anderson<\/strong> (Avery Hill Publishing)
\nISBN: 978-1-910395-77-6 (PB)<\/p>\n

If you get a holiday this year and you\u2019re one of those folk that like to read, here\u2019s something a bit different that will certainly add to the desired sense of getting away from it all…<\/em><\/p>\n

If you\u2019re open to the idea, there\u2019s wonder all around us. It\u2019s not a new notion but remains a potently beguiling one that confirms its power in these interconnected vignettes exploring memory, imagination, inner worlds, nature, secrets, self-help solutions and isolation.<\/p>\n

Explored over an initially undisclosed set of parameters and across myriad places and times, these are moments of shared-yet-exclusive realities that appear to be an example of a growing creative vogue\/creative zeitgeist – as you\u2019ll see when we imminently review similar but so different Avery Hill release Infinite Wheat Paste: Catalytic Conversions<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Here, however, cartoonist and tale-teller Kit Anderson merges mundane momentary travails with commonplace entertainment escape routes (wizard\u2019s worlds, haunted houses, cyber-realities, alien mindscapes, fresh starts) to explore \u201climinal spaces and small magic\u201d: digging deep to find the \u201csomething greater\u201d we all crave and that must be waiting just out of our sight and other perceptions. Master of short form graphic narratives – you can just call them comics if you want – she hails from Boulder, Colorado but now lives near Z\u00fcrich. Anderson was ceaselessly making graphic stories even before earning an MFA from The Center for Cartoon Studies in 2022. You can look for her stuff at Parsifal Press and The Rumpus for greater elucidation and edification…<\/p>\n

Taking a year to complete, over 18 brief tales Safer Places<\/strong> melds inquisitive inspirations to contemplative cartooning and builds an interlocking sampling of other worlds, times and existences which all lead back to a common core. Blending pedestrian and surreal, employing a variety of art styles and colour palettes, it all begins with \u2018Quest I\u2019<\/em> as unseen critics speculate upon an old guy who seems to be a wizard who favours the wilds over civilisation, before a bereft boy looking for his cat finds something strange, wondrous and ultimately unsustainable in \u2018The Basement\u2019<\/em>…<\/p>\n

Tantalising travelogue \u2018Wonders of the Lost City\u2019 <\/em>carries us to \u2018Sleep Tape: Country Lane\u2019<\/em> and a loving couple under strain and in need of calming talk therapies before the wizard – still moving in mysterious ways – pops back into view for \u2018Quest II\u2019<\/em>, after which a boy in very uncharted waters takes a revelatory \u2018Deep Breath\u2019<\/em>…<\/p>\n

More calming tactics and rural idyls manifest in \u2018Sleep Tape: Forest Walk\u2019<\/em> for a woman too wedded to a Wi-Fi-enabled \u201cSmart\u201d world, whereas work pressure taking its toll on a watcher of post dystopian woodlands cannot be as readily assuaged in \u2018Lookout Station\u2019<\/em>. At least the poetic ruminations of \u2018Morning\u2019<\/em>, \u2018Hills\u2019<\/em> and \u2018Waves\u2019<\/em> carry us gently into \u2018Quest III\u2019<\/em> and the wizard\u2019s dramatic interaction with a forest fox, prior to \u2018Fallow\u2019<\/em> detailing the shocking behaviour of an aged, burned out farmer making amends… and one last lifestyle change.<\/p>\n

A computer nerd\u2019s close encounter with digital \u2018Wallpaper\u2019<\/em> quietly segues into floral terrors as a student succumbs to transformative life-changing illness in \u2018Weeds\u2019<\/em> whilst \u2018Quest IV\u2019<\/em> sees a darker day dawn for the wizard before a harassed and lonely wage-slave finding solace and companionship thanks to \u2018Sleep Tape: At the Seaside\u2019<\/em>…<\/p>\n

\u2018Whump\u2019<\/em> offers a contemplative laugh before a solitary walking tour takes a lonely wanderer to \u2018The World\u2019s Biggest Ball of Twine\u2019<\/em> even as another recluse escapes connections by grabbing a bike and going for a \u2018Ride\u2019<\/em>, all before the wizard heads home to recharge in \u2018Quest V\u2019<\/em>…<\/p>\n

Bemusing and seductive, these interlocking voyages reveal the cathartic force of creativity and therapeutic siren call of world-making. Come visit soon, yes?
\n\u00a9 Kit Anderson 2024. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Kit Anderson (Avery Hill Publishing) ISBN: 978-1-910395-77-6 (PB) If you get a holiday this year and you\u2019re one of those folk that like to read, here\u2019s something a bit different that will certainly add to the desired sense of getting away from it all… If you\u2019re open to the idea, there\u2019s wonder all around … <\/p>\n

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