Micrographica - Softcover

Beautifully written, spare like Beckett, only far, far more entertaining, this book about four rats arguing over a ball of crap has strong indie cred, but quietly channels something deeper. Moe and his friend Preston, who suffers from a swollen nose when upset, find a small crap ball, which Aldo cherishes; Moe tries to pretend they're not interested, so the loser rat will leave their plaything alone. Aldo breaks the ball, and a fat rat with eczema around its nipples persuades him to go on a journey to a mythically large pile of crap to get more. Meanwhile, Moe and Preston play on a corpse while Moe insults Preston's mother. The art is rough black lines on a white background, a stark departure from the author's usual beautifully shaded drawings, and the book resembles a little self-published thing-but the art and binding fit the story completely. Darkly funny, and truly excellent, with a hint of the spiritual in its obscenity, it's reminiscent of Anders Nilsen's Dogs and Water but nastier and more likely to make you laugh. The dialog is truly superb.
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Three what?--gophers? little rodents, anyway--enact a legend of friendship, exclusion, and self-esteem in minimalist cartoonist French's diminutive, one-panel-per-page, new book. Preston finds a ball of crap, calls Moe over for an opinion. "Could be something great wrapped in crap," he opines, but then sweet-natured Aldo comes by, and the two pals decide, "We're late for a meeting." They and Aldo part ways, the latter in disappointment, since he wants to be their friend. Preston's nose inexplicably swells, and Moe rags him about it as they climb a rock, poke around a dead body, and sleep in a glove. Aldo forages, too, with Moe and Preston's rejection heavy on his mind, and when he discovers a plausible means to impress them, soothes himself. "I'm cool," he purrs. Sometimes this all seems sentimental and fey; sometimes, disgusting; most of the time, eccentrically impressive. Ray Olson
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