Page 45 Review by Stephen
"I'm useless, but not for long, the future is comin' on…"
Exhuberance, self-doubt, crazy coffee attacks, sleepless nights, the comfort of clothes, accosted by wonky-eyed weirdoes who want to bum a cigarette, and getting served last at a bar. Don't you just hate that? These are the sort of things young Emi Lenox encountered on a daily basis for a year between 2009 and 2010. She loses her mobile, loses her house keys, loses her rag when someone insults her friends, but she never, ever loses her courage, optimism or glee. Hey, we all have our black-hearted days and so does Emi, but that's what the Gorillaz are for, no?
The cartooning here is a black, white and blue/grey joy, laid out with plenty of space as Emi endures, stoically supported by a pair of belligerent cats in Dad's Army helmets on the battlefield of love. It's easy to see why Jeffrey Brown, Jeff Lemire and Brandon Graham all fell for these daily diary entries. There's something more immediate compared to structured autobiography, with room for random reactions and idle speculation but also secretly heartfelt truths.
"I LOVE getting text messages! It means someone thought of you! Except a mass text… you're just one of the herd… Jealous? Mmmhmm."
Half the fun is the comfort of recognition - a little empathy goes a long way. I smiled quietly to myself during the dilemma of applying a band aid or allowing a wound to scab over, then when she daydreamed about the next installments of her favourite graphic novels. She's not short of original material, either!
"This morning when I got to my car there was a napkin under my windshield wiper that someone wrote "I'm sorry…" [on]. Who left it? Why are they sorry? Was it mistakenly put on my car? Oh the mystery."
We owe yet another great debt to Top Shelf here for Lenox spent time as an intern there and it was Chris Staros' co-publisher Brett Warnock who first persuaded her to pop these beauties online.
