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SOAP OPERA
$4.50 ppd from Emily Blair / PO Box 558 / Brooklyn, NY / 11211 USA. Web:
www.scenerychewer.com)
Review by Sean Bieri
We see Jenny's face before we see Megan's. Jenny is easily the coolest character on Megan's favorite soap opera; she's the "tough, funny, smart one who didn't take crap from anyone" but she's in danger of being pushed to the show's margins by a sudden change of fortune (and clueless writers).
Megan can empathize. Her friends have all left town for college, leaving her alone with her soaps. When Natalie comes home to visit, Megan has nothing to report but Jenny's on-screen romantic troubles. Later, on her way to Manhattan to meet Natalie's new friends, we see Megan gazing pensively at nothing, soap opera-style; framed in a TV-like subway car window she's the star of her own daytime melodrama. Fortunately, a visit to an art gallery and an unexpected encounter promise to raise Megan up out of her doldrums.
"Soap Opera" is a funny, smart one too, well written and expertly structured. There's no shortage of angsty young people in indy comics, but Megan's sense of humor and her conviction that she's the Jenny on her own personal soap make her endearing. Blair's casual dialogue resonates with deeper meaning but never seems pretentious. Her strong design sense and excellent handling of the scratchboard technique offset the photo referenced appearance of the art, giving it a shimmering feeling that reminded me somehow of the animation in the film
Waking Life. Plus there's a page skewering soap opera clichés that's hilarious. This is a strong debut from an artist with a natural knack for the comics form.
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