Can of Worms

Rating:
Summary: Great example of the narrative power of comics
Review: This brief and elegant graphic novel is the first from comics author/artist Catherine Doherty, and it is a powerful example of the deftness with which comics can tell a story. The story, in this case, is quite simple: a young woman, Catherine Margaret Flaherty (a thinly disguised version of the author), searches for her birth mother. The genius of this graphic novel is that there is no dialogue per se; instead, the only text we read is through various court documents, the main character's search notes, and letters. The bulk of the story is told through deceptively simple pictures. To read this book too fast would be a mistake, for the reader would miss out on the rich, understated details that Doherty puts in her frames, and the clever way in which she contrasts the "cartoony" look of her main character (and her mother) with the "realistic" look of the other people around her. My one complaint about Doherty's book is that it is too short. One reason that the length is a problem is because the resolution comes a bit quickly. Another (more important) reason is because I want to see much more by this very talented comic book artist.

Rating:
Summary: Great example of the narrative power of comics
Review: This brief and elegant graphic novel is the first from comics author/artist Catherine Doherty, and it is a powerful example of the deftness with which comics can tell a story. The story, in this case, is quite simple: a young woman, Catherine Margaret Flaherty (a thinly disguised version of the author), searches for her birth mother. The genius of this graphic novel is that there is no dialogue per se; instead, the only text we read is through various court documents, the main character's search notes, and letters. The bulk of the story is told through deceptively simple pictures. To read this book too fast would be a mistake, for the reader would miss out on the rich, understated details that Doherty puts in her frames, and the clever way in which she contrasts the "cartoony" look of her main character (and her mother) with the "realistic" look of the other people around her. My one complaint about Doherty's book is that it is too short. One reason that the length is a problem is because the resolution comes a bit quickly. Another (more important) reason is because I want to see much more by this very talented comic book artist.