ARC FESTIVAL! Earlier this year at Broken Frontier I took a look at A. T. Pratt’s tribute to New York iconography in Big Apple Matinee; a remarkable pop-up comic that I described as a “foldout, tactile delight”. The upcoming ARC Festival gives me an opportunity to revisit Pratt’s practice, and a further example of his work that could only ever exist in print. Dot Comics #1 is another Pratt offering that embraces the physicality of comics as objects and cements his place as a creator doing something quite unlike anyone else working within the form right now.
While its main coverage areas are autobio and horror there’s a randomness to Dot Comics #1 that instantly appeals. On the more slice-of-life front themes explored include how we perceive the ageing process, some self-referential material about promoting one’s own comics (including a wonderful analysis of Hourly Comic Day that veers from the metatextual into the metaphysical), and a series of strips on nicknames that Pratt has been given over the years (including Pony Man, Berry Boy and Spider). All three of these tap into that idea of musical numbers presented as comics which was also an integral part of Big Apple Matinee.
It’s in that final sequence ‘Spider’ where events morph from whimsical and possibly apocryphal autobiography into outright but never overly serious arachnid horror. This is the longest section of Dot Comics and, by the reader undoing the tied central section, it opens up into another trademark Pratt pop-up section. Busy, crammed imagery surrounds foldout central spidery symbolism in an astonishing piece of print engineering, as we enter a subterranean world of creeping, crawling, sticky terror.
You can also experience a reading of some parts of Dot Comics #1 by Pratt on YouTube here but there’s no way to fully appreciate the physical elements of this comic unless you have a copy in your hands. This is comics craft on a whole new level and Pratt’s table is an absolute must-visit for anyone at ARC Festival this month.
A. T. Pratt (W/A) • Self-published, $20.00
Review by Andy Oliver
A. T. Pratt will be tabling at the ARC Festival comics fair on July 11th-12th. For the full details on everything ARC has to offer check out their website here.
