Broken Frontier

While Pop Culture Junkies was Paul Quinn’s first solo work, Jagged Slice of Life is his big, thick opus.  By far a more complete, coherent, and satisfying read that PCJ (which itself is nothing to shy away from!), Jagged tells the story of Davis McBailey, during a time in his life when one relationship ends (in a rather disastrous way) and he begins to fall for an old-time friend, one who, in the course of story, ends her own long-term relationship and falls for McBailey.  The two enact an awkward but sincere romance, though of course, with the title the book’s got, you just know it isn’t gonna be  that easy.

The best part about Jagged is that it’s a meaty, dense read, complete in one package, well worth the price, and sporting a classic old-school look and feel like an Archie Digest, though with a superior grasp of love's more mature themes, which, without, no romance story could truthfully be called complete.  Unlike the purely humorous PCJ , Quinn vies for an in-depth look at relationships and people, especially those of the walk of life the artist seems most familiar with—comic book geeks, artists, late twenty and early thirty-somethings.  The dialogue smacks of being pulled from Quinn’s own experience, though given a slightly didactic I’m-saying-this-in-a-word-balloon tinge, which in turn keeps the old-school comics feel alive.  When things fall apart in a slice-of-life, verisimilar scene, main character McBailey then walks away at the end with his hands shoved into pockets, a half-frown smirk on his lips, and says: “You’re really batting a thousand this week, McBailey!”.  There’s no denying the feel-good source material Quinn’s most inspired by.

The art matches the script’s half-modern half-silver-age mesh, figures and postures and expressions reminiscent of Batton Lash’s Wolff & Byrd: Supernatural Law.  The graphic novel’s layout is classic and packed, an average of six-to-nine panels per page, a dictionary of clever dialogue and a wandering but superlative plot that mirrors the unpredictable logic of life (and likely, therefore, is at least in part autobiographical, or so it strikes me).  The sheer enjoyment I got out of reading page after page, I never wanted the book to end, and it proved sufficiently dense that I was surprised when it did.  The loss-of-time effect I had when reading Jagged is a testament to Quinn’s ability to meld modern themes with classic comic structure to create a romantic GN that’s nothing less than enchanting, in its own semi-cynical way.

A gorgeous book, more solid story in its 70 pages than most graphic novels twice its size have to offer.  Quinn’s characters are sincere, the story easy to dig deep, deep into, and the art is pure smooth style and archetypical technique.  You’d be hard pressed to find a more enjoyable all-in-one comic romance than Jagged Slice of Life.

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To see samples go to Quinn’s Myspace page: http://www.myspace.com/popculturejunkiesthesite

Or email Paul at: lonehorseman@sympatico.ca

For ordering copies of A Cautionary Tale or Crossroads or other Paul Quinn drawn Caruso Comics, go to http://www.carusocomics.blogspot.com