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Getting There/Getting Where
by Robyn Jordan
Naptime Press
Getting There/Getting Where is an autobiographical comic by Robyn Jordan. The topics addressed are (generally) jury duty, acquaintances and riding the subway.
This mini is short and sweet. Just a simple little 16-page collection of stories from a cartoonist who is able to tell pleasantly compact stories and lay out an attractive page of art.
Even if the admittedly mundane subject matter doesn't interest you, I'm certain that Getting There/Getting Where will pique any reader's interest in Jordan's work.
I found this mini very satisfying to read — basically because it just is what it is. Each of the stories stands on its own, says what it means to say and that's that. Jordan doesn't get too lofty or allegoric or stuck in her own head when she writes autobio. She's got a very clear and concise style, and I like that about her work a lot.
Getting There/Getting Where does not appear to be the first in a series, nor the prologue to a tell-all graphic novel. It's just a nice little comic by a very talented cartoonist.
It's nice to read a short autobio comic once in awhile that doesn't have any aspirations to be more than it is or make some broad nauseous statement about specialness of life. Sometimes it's nice to read a comic that sounds just as simple and unpretentious as it would coming through the artist's own mouth — like just another anecdote you might hear once at a party. Not life-changing, but certainly memorable and a good way to pass the time.
Jordan's art is very clear and well-balanced. She does an awful lot of cross-hatching, but it never muddies the page. Her lettering is a wonderful all-caps font that has its own weight, size and space. I love that — rather than bulk up a panel with text or compress the font against its nature — she sometimes lets the text flow from one panel's word bubble to the next, as is the case with the book's first story "Hustle Below." The downside is that this can make the reading experience feel choppy with unnatural breaks, but it really makes the page look so much nicer than it would with any alternative treatment of the lettering.
Getting There/Getting Where is 16-pages long, with black and white art, a cardstock cover, and a list of fake blurbs that really made me chuckle. The book can be purchased for $3 and is available through the artist.
- Sarah Morean
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