House of Java (Volume 2)

Rating:
Summary: Good use of the medium
Review: A mixture of light short works and serious stories highlights Mark Murphy's second collection of House of Java. In the first volume, Murphy's strongest story focused on a female protagonist which he developed throughout the story.

Again, the standout story has a strong female lead that guides the story. Jill, a clerk at a comic shop, draws the attention of an eccentric named "Steven." Steven dresses oddly and obsesses over unique things such as old romance comics and black and white films and tv shows. In his own way he is trying to build a relationship with Jill, who truly likes him, but not romatically. When he finally makes a move and she turns him down and she has the opportunity to remark on how men and women deal with friendships and relationships. Murphy does a good job telling the story through the female narrator.

In "May 27th," Murphy focuses on another female character, Connie, a college student who is about to graduate and has an internship working in a prison program. There she works with a repeat drug offender, Ray, who is trying to avoid jail and do something positive with his life. Separately and together, Connie and Ray make small steps to better understand themselves and their place.

"Tide Pools" looks at the relationship between a townie who longs to leave the West Coast tourist trap where she leaves, but can't get up the strength to do so on her own. When an outsider comes to the town to study the local marine biology, she sees her chance to get out, but will she be able to make that decision? Again, Murphy does a good job of showing his characters taking small advances towards change.

The darkest story, "The Burial," is saved for last. While I felt it lacked the emotional punch that Murphy was looking for, it was an ambitious story as Murphy juggled numerous characters and details. In the hands of another writer or with more room in which to work, this could have been a great story.

Although he hasn't entirely abandoned the coffee shop as a setting, there are a only a few short pieces that are played for laughs in this collection. It might be nice if Murphy collected these stories together. While they (and another two pieces called The Paper Route), cleanse the palate for the more serious works contained in the book, a more cohesive tone might also work to his advantage. As it is now, they act more like a one shot that interrupts your favorite comics story-arc.

Perhaps it is because I read this so soon after Adrian Tomine's Summer Blonde, but I felt that the stories and the artwork lacked the maturity that could have elevated this work. As it is, it is still interesting reading and a good use of the medium to expand the stories told to those that develop character over plot.

Rating:
Summary: Not Bad, But Not Original
Review: This collection of ten "slice of life" stories is Murphy's second book (I haven't read the first). The stories fall into three categories: "House of Java", "Paper Route", and "Optic Nervish". The four "House of Java" stories are brief one or two pagers set at a coffeeshop, and depict either conversations with, or internal monologues concerning, the opposite sex. These are brief riffs on usual themes (pick up lines, dirty thoughts), unoriginal, but skillfully executed. The two "Paper Route" stories are more retro-cartoony in style and feature a paperboy living in the '70s and his not so wild adventures. These are not particularly funny or interesting, almost on the level of an Archie. The four "Optic Nervish" stories are longer 15-25 page pieces in the vein of Adrian Tomine, focusing on protagonists living lives of quiet desperation.

In "May 27", the Connie is an ambitious psych student who serves as a pro-bono counselor for smalltime junkie/dealer. The story follows the two characters in the wistful style of Tomine, with the same kind of inconclusive ending. "Tide Pools" is a more effective story about a small-town girl who talks about moving away and never does. Her flirting with a passing grad student is poignant in a sad, desperate way, but other elements don't really work, such as her boyfriend's silent act and the "cubist" party, which feels shoehorned in. "Steven" is the story of a loser with a crush, and although it suffers somewhat from being set in a comic book shop, it's not a bad take on trials of being a "geek". The last and longest story is "The Burial", in which a man in the midst of a divorce heads back to his small hometown for the wedding of his cousin. It's attempting to say something meaningful about forgiveness and the past, but the message never makes it through in any effective way. These longer stories all show glimmers of promise, but on the whole strike one as far too derivative (or merely similar) of Adrian Tomine in both tone and style. None of it is really bad, it's just doesn't seem that original.

Rating:
Summary: Not Bad, But Not Original
Review: This collection of ten "slice of life" stories is Murphy's second book (I haven't read the first). The stories fall into three categories: "House of Java", "Paper Route", and "Optic Nervish". The four "House of Java" stories are brief one or two pagers set at a coffeeshop, and depict either conversations with, or internal monologues concerning, the opposite sex. These are brief riffs on usual themes (pick up lines, dirty thoughts), unoriginal, but skillfully executed. The two "Paper Route" stories are more retro-cartoony in style and feature a paperboy living in the '70s and his not so wild adventures. These are not particularly funny or interesting, almost on the level of an Archie. The four "Optic Nervish" stories are longer 15-25 page pieces in the vein of Adrian Tomine, focusing on protagonists living lives of quiet desperation.

In "May 27", the Connie is an ambitious psych student who serves as a pro-bono counselor for smalltime junkie/dealer. The story follows the two characters in the wistful style of Tomine, with the same kind of inconclusive ending. "Tide Pools" is a more effective story about a small-town girl who talks about moving away and never does. Her flirting with a passing grad student is poignant in a sad, desperate way, but other elements don't really work, such as her boyfriend's silent act and the "cubist" party, which feels shoehorned in. "Steven" is the story of a loser with a crush, and although it suffers somewhat from being set in a comic book shop, it's not a bad take on trials of being a "geek". The last and longest story is "The Burial", in which a man in the midst of a divorce heads back to his small hometown for the wedding of his cousin. It's attempting to say something meaningful about forgiveness and the past, but the message never makes it through in any effective way. These longer stories all show glimmers of promise, but on the whole strike one as far too derivative (or merely similar) of Adrian Tomine in both tone and style. None of it is really bad, it's just doesn't seem that original.