While the Colossive Cartographies series constantly crosses through illustrative mediums its sixty-ninth issue, ‘A Fragile Obsession’ by Mel Gale, undeniably fits into the category of minicomic. Its 16-panel comic strip is something that will no doubt have a familiar theme to those of us with the collector gene as the artist revisits her obsession with buying 1960s and 1970s studio glass on eBay.
As such, it’s a light and playful exercise in using comics’ between-the-panels relationship with the passage of time with a gentle application of comedy. Gale’s on-page incarnation is seen in a repetitive cycle of bidding, regret and re-engagement, with chronological jumps between single panels becoming ever more varied as the process goes through its various repetitive steps.
Gale uses a colour scheme that matches the enticing glassy hues of her objects of desire, with the fold-out flaps of the tactile, Turkish map fold format really leaning into that application of vibrant colour to match the subject matter. ‘A Fragile Obsession’ is a reminder that this series of zines can range from the profound and the esoteric to the lighthearted and the ephemeral, and find value in both worlds.
Mel Gale (W/A) • Colossive Press, £2.00
Review by Andy Oliver
