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WHEN I'M OLD
(Alternative Comics,
www.indyworld.com/altcomics)
I actually hadn't read a great deal of Gabrielle Bell's work before, but it's clear to me now that a collection was long overdue. There's some nice work in this mix of autobio, pseudo-autobio and fantasy. In these stories there's much longing, angst and disconnection (not to mention a bit of horror). Some of Bell's characters will make you flat-out uncomfortable.
The three most enjoyable stories, in my opinion, may also be some of the more recent work (but I'm not certain about that as most of the pieces aren't dated). They are: "Jet Lag", about a trip to London to visit family. It illustrates that people are screwed up everywhere and makes me wish my family was a bit more eccentric; "Anatomy of the Heart", a discussion of broken hearts and how to fix them. Considering the subject matter, this one's executed quite cleverly; and "The Virgin & the Gipsy", a D.H. Lawrence adaptation about a love that never was. Is there nothing more decadent than the Western world of the 1920s?
This book collects both older and more recent work and I found myself enthralled with most of it. Bell's knack for dialogue and depicting interpersonal relationships makes for characters I'm interested in. Check it out.
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