Jeff Lok , a Center For Cartoon Studies alum, has self-published humorous work like the solo anthology Gag Rag and co-edited anthologies such as Funny Aminals. Fieldmouse Press and editor Rob Clough bring Lok’s very grimly absurd slice-of-life effort to print.
Totality, Jeff Lok’s first full-length graphic novel, concerns the author’s move across the country right before the 2017 total eclipse of the sun that also crossed the country. Following a bad experience at his previous employment (with hints of a general need for a change of scenery) he finds similar work at a furniture hospital in Portland, Oregon.
Lok’s journey is told in short bursts of memory consisting of disjointed scenes. Beginning with the explosive 4th of July entry into Ohio with fireworks filling the night sky. Lok stretches time in the gutter between two panels as he sees a “dust devil” in Nebraska in one panel, then 2200 km and one panel later he’s rushing through Washington state to get to his final destination. Anyone who has made even part of that trip will instantly empathize with the author’s expedited viewpoint, or lack thereof.
Lok connects his arrival in Portland, Oregon to the August 21, 2017 total solar eclipse, which was visible in a narrow band across the United States. The initial three-page sequence of Lok experiencing the eclipse beautifully illuminates the alienation he feels in his new home, especially with the darkness of the eclipse dissolving into memories of the fireworks from beginning of his journey.
One of the more aggravating and, at the same time, innovative aspects of Lok’s storytelling are his frequent and seemingly random digressions throughout Totality. Take the eclipse section of the book, for instance. After the three-page sequence discussed above, Lok inserts a flashback page showing a memory from before his journey west. A page with a single illustration of the eclipse transitions to another more recent flashback of an escapade with his neighbors and a bag of drugs. All in all the section covering Jeff’s experience with the eclipse goes on for nine more pages with Lok manipulating time, memory, and perception of such through several different storytelling devices. It all works, brilliantly even.
Don’t run screaming from this review when you find out most of the rest of the book is set during and after the pandemic! Unlike some pandemic era autobiographical efforts, Totality is strengthened by Lok’s staccato pacing and the casual manner of the varied characters that circulate in and out of his life during those sometimes unreal times.
The cartoon figures of his characters are a good fit for this serious story. Bad things (even uncomfortable situations) happen often, but the emotional distance achieved by the abstracted “bigfoot” style people allows the reader easier access in relating to some unique personalities and harshly humorous situations.
It’s encouraging to encounter an author who is not afraid to tell their story in their own way. Jeff Lok’s Totality is thankfully not a straightforward autobiographical story force fed to us in a bland manner, rather its complex structure bears thoughtful and repeated readings.
Jeff Lok (W/A) • Fieldmouse Press, $12.00
Review by Gary Usher
