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Spectacles Reviews
Comic
Shop News #499
"Give & Take"
by Cliff Biggers & Brett Brooks
Spectacles, the new book from Jon Lewis (best known to fans for his work on True Swamp and Ghost Ship and Alternative Press, is one of those comic book children of Harvey Pekar — that is, it's built around the same mundane experiences and observations that Pekar has mined so successfully for his tales. But the feel of Lewis' book is much different from Pekar's; instead of a steady, flat tone, we find here a sense of isolated wonderment, an attitude that the entire world is somehow wonderful and terrible at the same time, if we just saw it the right way.
"Land of the Early Bird" is my favorite story; it's a brief vignette about a man who must abandon his late-sleeping ways and see what the world looks like to those who get up early in the morning. Sure, he's describing something most of us have done countless times — but Lewis turns it upside down and inside out, making the early-morning workaday world seem like something wonderfully foreign. We se it through new eyes... eyes both bleary with lethargy and vibrant with the wonder of new sigh The story works because Lewis is able to make the mundame seem marvelous.
Yeah, yeah. I know why you liked this story. I've seen the morning before, you know...
Yep, I've heard rumors to that effect... that was — what, March 4, 1993, is that the date? I guess you can really relate to this tale, right?...
Yeah, funny guy, keep it up...
The second story, a brief tale about a man's run-in with a possum, reminds me of a strange night when a trio of possums somehow ended up in our garage; like the protagonist, I found myself disturbed and apprehensive about creatures that most people describe as cowardly and ineffectual (they may be ineffectual, but no one told me that they his and growl, darn it!...). While less effective than "Early Bird," it still has its charms, in particular the rather stream-of-consciousness way Lewis drifts from his possum tale to a story of unrequited infatuation.
See, now this one is about you. That's what Spectacles truly is: a slice of life. This is a book that takes the everyday,the things that people deal with every day, and puts them into perspective. True, it's a comic book perspective, but it's also a perspective nonetheless.
And I think that's why we're seeing more interest in this mundane-reality comics genre; it reminds all of us that anyone's life can be the subject of a comic book story, if the writer/artist uses a clever enough approach.
My only problem with this book is a relatively minor complaint: Lewis' lettering is uneven and ineffective, and at times it intrudes upon my enjoyment of his stories. If you ever wondered how important a letterer's job was, you'll understand when you experience a few books whose lackluster lettering actually interferes with the flow of the story. Hopefully, this is something that will improve as Spectacles continues.
I always remember science fiction editor John W. Campbell's description of a story as a situation in which a person faces a challenge and overcomes it; by Campbell's description, none of the tales in Spectacles are stories per se. If you agree with Campbell's description, then Spectacles isn't your sort of book; if, however, you agree with me that Campbell's definition misses the entire range of stories of human interaction and experiences, then you'll probably find Spectacles an entertaining read.
Images, characters and likenesses © and TM Jon
Lewis