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Hidden Islands
Cameron Arthur (b. 1999) presents five short stories in his debut book. Born in South Texas his comics take to the sprawling environment around him. Arthur's comics demand to be read, brilliant storytelling and dialogue flow through his timeless genre tales. I'm beyond proud to put out one of the great young talents drawing comics today.
"These narratives often feel pervaded by a sense of preordainment that can at times border on fatalism, and the characters in these tales bear the marks of lives emotionally flattened by the pressures of existence, yet each of them remains propelled forward by their own deliberate internal rhythm that moves to the beat inscribed within their beings."
- From the Introduction by Bill Boichel
"These narratives often feel pervaded by a sense of preordainment that can at times border on fatalism, and the characters in these tales bear the marks of lives emotionally flattened by the pressures of existence, yet each of them remains propelled forward by their own deliberate internal rhythm that moves to the beat inscribed within their beings."
- From the Introduction by Bill Boichel
164 pages, Paperback
First published July 1, 2025
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October 22, 2025
Hidden Islands collects five short comics from Cameron Arthur, all utilizing a utilitarian and sparse cartooning style that emphasizes the buildup and climax well. Each story is tightly told, highlighting the tension from human drama as the means of setting the tone, and as such the emphasis on dialogue is crucial given the relative emptiness of the artwork. That isn't to say the minimal quality of the artwork diminishes Arthur's work in any way, rather it's clear that the void style allows for emphasis on the subject (in this case the characters) even more. Arthur's style does vary a little between the five stories, indicating there is passage of time and evolution in his work, but for the most part each comic uses minimal flourish.
The opening story, "Hidden Islands", introduces a man who takes on a job as a supply delivery man to an isolated community via boat. An ongoing mystery as to who his predecessor was serves as the undercurrent for the tension here as we learn that the previous delivery man may have been a lunatic. The mundane interactions our new delivery man has with the various denizens of this community increase our desire to know what happened to the guy before, but Arthur expertly allows the mystery to govern the deepening atmospheric tension. Continuing on the theme of boats is the following story, "Waiting Treasure", where a band of pirates sail off the Gulf of Mexico in search of treasure. Though the treasure is floated as an ultimate objective, the journey to the gold governs the theme of the story which lies in the futility of solving one's problems with a buried chest. Common with the first two stories is the use of an anticlimax as the climax, but Arthur manages to make these non-endings come off as thematically fitting.
We jump to a western setting with "Silent Fields", and it's here that Arthur can flex the use of his sparse art style to capture the flatness and dreariness of the rural West while also reflecting on the quiet beauty of it all. The stoic quality of the story works well with the nature of the isolated frontier life, and this was a highlight piece for me. "False Relics" follows as a close second for me, a somewhat more convoluted story than the ones previous, but rich in texture. Following a graverobber looking who plans to exhume a corpse for a body part that he plans to use as a relic as part of a grander get-rich-quick plot, the desperate, claustrophobic nature of the story allows for the absurd premise to really come to life. The final story, "Night", caps off with a quieter story of a family reunited after some time away and what comes from reliving childhood nostalgia and traumas as an adult in a unique way. Reminiscent of Dash Shaw's incredible Bottomless Belly Button, but told in a more distilled fashion, this comic is the more mature of Arthur's pieces collected here and more encompassing of the grander theme of human drama driving the tension.
Though the artwork may not be inspiring on its own, it's clear that Cameron Arthur has a defined voice in his storytelling that is affecting and unique. Subtext is a powerful tool that Arthur harnesses in his comics, allowing for a lot of the drama and action to be implied or occurring off-page. It's hard to pull off well, but he lands it more than a few times throughout.
The opening story, "Hidden Islands", introduces a man who takes on a job as a supply delivery man to an isolated community via boat. An ongoing mystery as to who his predecessor was serves as the undercurrent for the tension here as we learn that the previous delivery man may have been a lunatic. The mundane interactions our new delivery man has with the various denizens of this community increase our desire to know what happened to the guy before, but Arthur expertly allows the mystery to govern the deepening atmospheric tension. Continuing on the theme of boats is the following story, "Waiting Treasure", where a band of pirates sail off the Gulf of Mexico in search of treasure. Though the treasure is floated as an ultimate objective, the journey to the gold governs the theme of the story which lies in the futility of solving one's problems with a buried chest. Common with the first two stories is the use of an anticlimax as the climax, but Arthur manages to make these non-endings come off as thematically fitting.
We jump to a western setting with "Silent Fields", and it's here that Arthur can flex the use of his sparse art style to capture the flatness and dreariness of the rural West while also reflecting on the quiet beauty of it all. The stoic quality of the story works well with the nature of the isolated frontier life, and this was a highlight piece for me. "False Relics" follows as a close second for me, a somewhat more convoluted story than the ones previous, but rich in texture. Following a graverobber looking who plans to exhume a corpse for a body part that he plans to use as a relic as part of a grander get-rich-quick plot, the desperate, claustrophobic nature of the story allows for the absurd premise to really come to life. The final story, "Night", caps off with a quieter story of a family reunited after some time away and what comes from reliving childhood nostalgia and traumas as an adult in a unique way. Reminiscent of Dash Shaw's incredible Bottomless Belly Button, but told in a more distilled fashion, this comic is the more mature of Arthur's pieces collected here and more encompassing of the grander theme of human drama driving the tension.
Though the artwork may not be inspiring on its own, it's clear that Cameron Arthur has a defined voice in his storytelling that is affecting and unique. Subtext is a powerful tool that Arthur harnesses in his comics, allowing for a lot of the drama and action to be implied or occurring off-page. It's hard to pull off well, but he lands it more than a few times throughout.
Displaying 1 of 1 review