Terminal

Posted: Tuesday, May 2, 2000
By: Darren

Cover of Terminal Creator(s): Gregory MacKay
Publishers: Self Published
From: 3031
Price:

60 A5 pages of top notch comic storytelling. This is an autobiographical work in which Gregory portrays scattered events from his life a couple of years ago, giving the reader a quite blunt look into the experiences of someone suffering chronic pain due to Marfan's syndrome. The attacks of pain are quite intensely depicted in amongst some routine slacker/student subculture and drug induced hallucinations.

The joy of this work is the art. It is detailed and also wonderfully directed. But, I hear you say, that's piece of film terminology!, well that's the feel that Gregory achieves. The comic is broken into shots and we are lead through them in a very cinematic manner; large panels give us opening shots, then we zoom into objects, cutting between small still lifes until we see Gregory. He chats with either us or another characters. These interactions come to a dramatic moment, and then we pan out to a transition into another scene.

The comic has a serious tone without every seeming to labour in an effort to achieve it. I just knew part way through that this was written by someone who knew what they were doing and who was making an effort to use comics for thoughtful storytelling

In a Word: meticulous.



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