Broken Frontier

Scott McCloud’s 24-Hour Comics challenge has become somewhat of an institution in comic circles. From the United States to Belgium to Indonesia; comics artists everywhere, blonde or brunette, fat or thin, famous or infamous participate in a mad race to churn out a decent comic within the set timeframe. It has led to bundles of inventive joy, presenting the best for publication in the trade paperback format and a few lucky ones even get to publish a single comic with their story.

David Chelsea, renowned illustrator for The New York Observer, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and many others now joins the fray with a collection of two 24 hour comics, courtesy of Top Shelf Publications entitled 24x2. In comics circles he is mostly known for his cult hit David Chelsea in Love, an innovating and captive autobiographical story of his improbable love affair with Minnie, a would-be neurotic actress in the Eighties. As much a timepiece as a graphical exploration of the combination of words and pictures, it makes Matt Madden very proud I’d say.

Chelsea reminds us of the fact that a 24-hour comic is very good for opening up the pores, to get the juices flowing creatively. Most people, especially artistic types, seem to perform well under stress. He already has nine of these things under his belt and I guess we get to enjoy the best two of the bunch.

Artistic shortcuts are always handy in time-stressed situations, it depends on the talent of the creator whether it delivers added value or becomes detrimental to the reading process. Stumbling upon a rough cadre to hold onto, David Chelsea uses dreams as a starting point with various success. For the first comic of 24x2, he meanders about and illustrates his dreams. For the second one he overlays roughly the structure of Harold Lloyd’s classic comedy Safety last upon his own tale. It is the latter that seems to be the more satisfying.

Although ‘Everybody gets it wrong’ starts out pretty good, incorporating a monologue about the relation between subject and object. He states that, in order for an autobiographical comic to be truly lifelike, one needs to employ a subjective camera instead of having yourself walk onto the screen. So in essence, Crumb, Pekar, Spiegelman etc, they all get it wrong. Chelsea immediately adds the beautifully phrased afterthought ‘ I can understand it – autobiographical cartoonists don’t want to live life over exactly - this time they want better seats’. He then employs this mode of thought upon dream scenes, which works out fine as long he’s continuing his train of thought but when he gets to the dreams themselves; they just become a series of examples of dreams seen through a subjective camera.

In the end, we are left with a statement without any serious discourse involved or a really thought through narrative. But at least it was an interesting discourse. And is it a coincidence that Chelsea devotes a portion of the narrative to the proceedings of a sleuth, perhaps winking to Raymond Chandler's Lady in the Lake movie  with Dick Powell from 1947? One of the few movies that actually devotes a whole part to a subjective point of view. Chelsea does seem to forget to absorb dream comic meister Rick Veitch in his musings though, which would be an obvious choice to include when discussing dream comics. His Rabid Eye collections and collected text pieces have been a valuable source of information on the subject from the moment they were published.

The second comic is entitled ‘Sleepless’ and is a more satisfying but also more obtuse read. We are not granted the safety of the dream but instead the surreal point of view of a somnambulist lead character. Loosely based on Safety Last, it is a bizarre adventure of a voice in someone’s head commenting on the proceedings combined with a subjective camera. It involves a strange female writer, hats and a time-machine. The graphical style used here is also much tighter than in ‘Everybody gets it wrong’. Using a dot pattern instead of a loose line and a very strict nine-panel grid, Chelsea plays with rythm, texture and the inherent abstractness of first person narrative. It’s very funny and touching and it hits you with a surprise on every page. It is all the more impressive that it is done in 24 hours.

24x2, David Chelsea’s 24-hour comics turn out to be a surreal trip into the headspace of one of comicdom’s more iconoclastic writer/illustrators. One part reflection, one part abstract adventure, it plays with the comics medium and uses a storytelling device often ignored: the subjective camera. After putting the book down, the reader feels as if he has just stepped of the grand Chelsea comic book ferris wheel: a smile, a tear, something silly, something profound. A little confused, a little dazed but ultimately satisfied and happy.

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24x2 by David Chelsea can now be ordered through the Diamond Previews catalogue or at your local store. It will arrive in May 2008.