Ganges vol 1 back

The most outstanding title so far from Fantagraphics' Ignatz line, the purpose of which is to showcase some of the best, underrated or unheard of artists from around the world in a lavish, oversized, dust-jacketed comic. We need more lavish. Lavish is good.

Glen Ganges is to Kevin Huizenga what Alec was to Eddie Campbell - that's no throwaway association. Both Glen and Alec are pseudonyms for each author to play and interact with the world created within their comics. Both deal with everyday life in a slow, evolving way. Where Alec reflects Eddie's down-the-pub nonchalant view on life, Glen is Kevin's hyperactive and overtly analytical coffee-shop casualty. Moments are stretched and replayed, tangents form around why things have come about, the way things could go. His body in the present, his mind jumping in and out of puddles of memories, through rainfalls of imagination. The comic closes on Glen, over-stimulated from a mix of caffeine and prose, climbing into bed long after his wife Wendy left for the Land Of Nod. He's stilll going at 100 words a minute, stirring her from sleep as he attempts to get her attention with playful exuberance. Which fails, as he notes her breathing change back to the steady momentum of sleep, an empty white speech bubble punctuating the sound of her breathing in the dark still room, a blue hue accentuating the shapes of objects, that moment when your eyes begin to adjust to the darkness, perfectly capturing the ambience of a bedroom in the middle of the night. His brain unable to just turn off, he lies awake, the tangents of before becoming intrusive thoughts as he lies motionless, missing her when she's right there.