Josh
Neufeld

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Reviews

Comix @List (Apr. '97)
Bart Beaty

What is most striking, at first, about Keyhole is the realization that no editor would ever have put these two cartoonists together — they had to do it themselves. While there are points at which their works approach and complement each other, there are also moments of real disjunction (and let's be clear, that's not a bad thing necessarily). The first issue, for instance, begins with Neufeld's (who many here will recognize from his work with Harvey Pekar) "The Cave of Fear" (based on the journals of Sari Wilson), which is a travelogue story which is actually harrowing. The travelogue (and there are others in isues #2 and #3) is a comics form that I'm only beginning to find interesting for the first time recently, mostly I think through the work of Jano and Dodo & Ben-Radis. Josh pulls these stories off very nicely indeed, I think largely because they never read as Josh and Sari's great adventures, but rather as Josh and Sari's great adventure dreams and the somewhat disappointing reality behind them. This is most evident in "Mr Ong's Organic Farm," a story with a great deal of sadness and disappointment behind it which is told in a very spare and effective way.

In stark contrast to Josh's understated autobio material is Dean's lengthiest work in the three issues: "Billy Dogma." Billy Dogma is an over-blown superhero/adventure parody of the type that's never been too difficult to find in the comics industry. In a letter printed in #2 Eric Reynolds says that Billy Dogma will probably make Dean rich, and he may be right (I also note that Billy is getting his own title — are those stories leaving Keyhole entirely?). Certainly Billy Dogma is a much better example of its genre than most, both funnier and better drawn. Dean's very bold page designs carry the story along nicely and there's some real wit in these pieces, particularly in "The Human Barcode" story from #2. I'm not a big superhero fan, nor a big fan of superhero parody, but these stories had enough going for them that I was carried along on sheer momentum in the case of the longer stories and by sheer non-sequitur logic in the better one-page pieces from #3. I will say that for me, "Billy Dogma," like Milk and Cheese, would work best in smaller doses. I would have spaced out the five pieces in #3, for example.

Regardless, the rest of Keyhole is much more to my taste and there are some real gems sprinkled throughout. Dean's "Waiting" one pagers (written by Linda Perkins) all highlight the strengths of his art very nicely, as do the more stylized pieces written by Chris Cliadakis (all of which have been funny so far). In these short pieces especially we see how good Dean will actually be. These are, for the most part, just talking head stories, but they leap right off the page with a very tangible energy.

Josh's shorter pieces include additional travel material (including tips on gynecology and how to squat. Josh does very utilitarian comics...). Josh also does the "Mrs. Banks" material, which strikes me as his least interesting contribution to the title so far (it strikes me as too close to Stan Mack's Real Life Funnies). Far better are his "Titans of Finance" stories (with R. Walker), which put a very deadpan narration and the cartoony stylizations of Josh's art to great use. I thought that the story of Al Dunlap was hilarious. The two combine on the disurbingly funny "Lionel's Lament," a couple of one pagers that seem intent on out Jimmy Corrigan-ing Chris Ware for humour through pure abject despair. Great stuff.

There are other pieces worth noting as well (including a nice bit by Dean about his desire to work with Harvey Pekar), but I'm starting to go long here. Anyway, I don't have any reservations about recommending Keyhole to the lot of you. I think there's a lot in here of great worth already, and certainly there's even greater promise for good things to come in the future, which is always nice to see in any title. A good mix of insightfulness and off-the-wall humour, with solid artwork throughout. How many American comics can say that? Pick these up.