Nervous Energy

Posted: Tuesday, November 27, 2001
By: Darren Schroeder

Cover of Nervous Energy Creator(s): Van Sowerwine
Publishers: Self Published
From: Website
Price: ??

This little mini-comic collects together a group of Van's strips following events in the life of a couple of teenage girls, one of which appears to be Van herself. The stories show her dealing with attending a school where she has no close friends, playing in a band at a friends 21st party and having a bad experience with he music exams. It's all rather stressful for the characters and a fair amount of tears are shed.

The artwork is very basic with the characters only slightly better developed than stick figures. Even so, the directness with which Van presents the trials and tribulations that her characters experience means Van manages to keep the emotional content of these stories believable, so what otherwise could easily could be silly or overdone manages to gain your sympathy.

As a bonus you also get a copy of The Nerve Game where you have to steer the character through a range of options in the hop of avoiding stress or emotional collapse. It's a hilarious game to play and surviving to the end seem near impossible, just like real life. In all this is a great little mini comic with an impressive colour photo montage cover to top it all off.

In a Word: Energized.



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