If you read Broken Frontier with any degree of regularity you will know that I often long wistfully for the days when small press comics self-publishing in the UK had more of that now largely lost DIY culture aesthetic. US creator Ansis Puriņš’ Savage Beast #1 certainly fits the bill in that regard, described as it is by the artist as “drawn in pencil and meant to look like it was found on the bus station floor.”
This is a comic that has a distinct tactile appeal in the handling, with attached stickers and pasted-in extras providing elements that could not be replicated digitally. Indeed it even appears there are slight differences in the reading experience depending on individual copies. The cover art reproduced here, for example, shows a cat dreaming of a mouse in clipped-in art. On my physical copy our feline subject is dreaming of a comfy chair instead.
Savage Beast provides a look at what is termed true tales of pets that have been lost and loved. The aforementioned DIY ethic is emphasised by art scanned without refinement, pages at slight angles complete with torn sides, and slightly grimy reproduction. There’s dozen or so comic strips included which feature a number of feline protagonists: the rambunctious Skelly + Pip, the fellow cat-hating Bob, the unpredictable Ranger, the constantly heard Cutlet and, introduced in the back cover final strip, Minnie Two.
Puriņš combines feline fantasy with memoir here, giving the cats distinct and sometimes anthropomorphised personalities but also emphasises his own real relationships with them. We see Pip, for example, emulating his favourite sci-fi horror creatures from the Aliens franchise and assuming the movements of a Xenomorph around the apartment, or alongside Skelly fantasising in thought bubbles about what they will do with a mouse they are chasing should they ever catch it. Complementing this approach, a centre-spread story recounts how Pip became part of the household in the first place in a story that is both poignant and touching.
There’s a constant playful slapstick action to these strips and Puriņš’ choice to present them in a deliberately unrefined and immediate fashion adds to that feeling of authenticity. It gives the impression of the reader leafing through someone’s sketchpad. Something which also creates a sense of intimacy to this fond collection of pet-based anecdotes. The front cover promises that Savage Beast #1 is the “first in a series”. A welcome promise from a rather delightful collection of cartooning.
Ansis Puriņš (W/A) • Self-published, $5.00
Review by Andy Oliver
