Jon Macy's Blog

Gaylord Phoenix by Edie Fake

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


First of all I love the book packaging and the paper weight. It just feels so good in your hand and looks good on the shelf.

The art has a simple slightly primitive style with a lot of Jim Woodring peeking through, but it's not unsophisticated just economical and whimsical in it's doodling. There are some pages where the decorative swirls and motifs rise up and try to take over and those pages were a treat. There is a lot going on with Fake's own invented symbolism that I may not have taken in, but it's obvious that he has worked it all out.

The text is very sporadic and there are many long flowing scenes with no words at all and that is ok. The story telling is not linear and you just need to sit back and ride the wave. yes, it's experimental, but it thankfully has none of the art school cliches you would expect. This is a personal story, and I sincerely believe that it was written for Fake's own self discovery, not for us. The age of the self confessional comic is over and new voices are seeking out private made public internal dialogues that want to answer only the questions that cannot be answered. Maybe I am bringing that, but he certainly has a great murky genius mind and I'm sure he will shine brightly as part of a new young wave of cartoonists.



View all my reviews