Best American Comics

Percy Gloom by Cathy Malkasian is probably one of my favorite selections from Best American Comics 2008. It uses a base tonal quality of black and white however it shifts the gray to a brown hue. This gives the comic a more round feel where in black and white has a tendency to have more of a flat effect. This effect adds a whole new dimension to the comic that it would otherwise lack. Even though the drawing is still a relatively simplistic non realistic style, this added hue brings a depth and dimension to it while still keeping the mood somber and dark. What really adds to this comic is the panel transition variation. Malkasian uses almost all the different kinds other than non-sequitur. This along with the varied ways she breaks up the panels themselves, using transitions other then box to box, adds a surrealistic fluid feel to the pacing. Lastly I enjoyed the use of “motion lines” throughout. She uses both subtle and overt multiple images in order to create the various motion effects throughout yet the reader never feels brow beaten by the amount used. All these various techniques blended to create an aesthetically pleasing read.