Janne Marie Dauer’s ‘The Big Spill’ (mini kuš! #132) takes the Latvian minicomics series in a deliciously bizarre direction. This one is, perhaps, a little more densely packed than some of the other recent entries in this always intriguing showcase for artists across the globe. But the sometimes tighter constructed pages work well in giving a sense of scale to the wonderfully ludicrous food-based antics that quickly become a staple of this comics short.
The premise begins innocently enough. A young woman needing quick remuneration and takes a job in a factory making Gummy Bears. But her candy-based working experience takes a turn for the super weird when she is asked by her boss to dump a massive load of the sweets in the local forest in an insurance scam. Torrential rainfall, combined with pollution in the area, leads to the bears washing back down into the town in truly massive, enlarged forms though. And the subsequent publicity is about to set off a viral phenomenon of copycat incidents as others attempt to replicate this profile-enhancing madness…
Dauer’s tale revels in the sheer ludicrousness of the situation with aplomb. The story is presented as a kind of confessional told from the protagonist’s recollections. But there’s a hint of the unreliable narrator to it as well with panels often going in and out of focus visually. Hazy remembrances or something more nuanced? Of course that’s up to the reader to decide but Dauer’s dreamy, impressionistic art is a good fit for a tale that mixes the routine with the fantastical in equal measure.
One of the finest elements of the mini kuš! comics is that they often act as a gateway into the work of creators you may not already be aware of. ‘The Big Spill’ is an excellent example of that.
Janne Marie Dauer (W/A) • kuš! comics, $7.95
Review by Andy Oliver
