My Cardboard Life

2009-06-09T14:17:00.000-07:00

Imagine that you had to come up with a different pun on a single subject every single day. Then imagine that you had to do it visually and that you had only three panels to get it across in. You'd blow a gasket most probably. I know I would. And yet The Juzzard, as Ms. Rice seems to like to be known here in e-space, has been doing this for ages. With no sign of letting up. Not only that, but she manages it with such aplomb and flair it's hard to know how to begin to explain why it's worth checking this strip out.

Remember how you used to chuckle at Peanuts when you were a kid. You know, before you even knew how angst-driven Charles Schulz's comic brilliance was. And how you delighted in every new Calvin and Hobbes. My Cardboard Life has the same sort of feeling to it. Ms. Rice just has a natural innovative streak and lets it out in a stream of prettily coloured collages every day. One of the commentators on an early strip asked if she photographed the pieces and then compiled them on the computer. In her reply she said that she scanned them, but the important thing is thatbefore scanning she makes them; they are all hand-crafted which only adds to the charm of the strips.

When I showed my children this strip, I knew they would like it and prepared for a happy reaction. What I wasn't prepared for was how long the 'show' took. They wouldn't let me move on and show them anything else. We had to read until my schedule could no longer bear the strain. I should have known better. I'm nowhere near immune to the charm of this strip or to wanting to see how Cardboard Colin and his friends will have their paper lives folded, rolled, punctured and browned (to name but a few) every day so how could I expect my children to be.

You have to check out this strip if wit, poise and craft are your thing and you don't dare miss it if you love cutting out.

Addanac City

2009-05-19T12:34:00.000-07:00

To set things straight from the start - George Ford is my friend. I've only been part of the webcomic community for a while and George was my first real contact with it. You couldn't hope to swap comments and messages with a nicer bloke. Which means this review won't be a hard hitting exposé of AC, highlighting each and every fault and defect. Neither will it be a sugar-coated placebo - sweet, but unhelpful. It's just going to be a little heads up about George's strip so you can take a stroll on over to 'Addanac City ' if you think it's for you.

The first thing you notice about AC is its blazing colour scheme which should give you a clue as to what to expect from the strip. It's bold and brassy, leaving no stone unturned in revealing George's obvious zestiness.

George's art style has a certain 'Beano' flavour about it. American readers may need to look this up to know what I'm talking about. Mix this in with his Music Hall writing style (again, US folk might need to check this out, although if you crossed the Muppets with Howard Stern, you'd have a fair idea of what I mean) and you have a strip going all out to cheer you up after, or if you're lucky, during, a miserable day at the coalface. There's no soul searching angst or sturm und dräng histrionics here. Just shoot-from-the-hip gags delivered by the strip's cast - every day, once a day, without fail.

The main cast is headed by Hank Addanac. Imagine a juvenile delinquent version of Bill Watterson's Calvin, whose dad has abandoned all hope of reforming him - that's just about Hank. The rest of the cast would probably love to move to a different strip, but are stuck there with him, lining up, with a few exceptions, for him to pick them off with his nonchalant and near-criminal behaviours.

The strip, then, might fit rather snugly into one of the tamer issues of 'Viz'* if such a thing existed and, if that's what lights your candle, Addanac City is the place to be.

*Another apology for my frame of reference here Stateside dwellers - Google 'Viz' to get my drift.

The Webcomic Wanderer

My Cardboard Life

Addanac City