Ground it Rushes Upward!, the

Posted: Tuesday, April 8, 2003
By: Darren Schroeder

Cover of Ground it Rushes Upward!, the Creator(s): Tim Malloy
Publishers: Self Published
From: New Zealand
Price: $5.00 (NZ)

A spooky mix of hallucinatory images and a vague storyline about the search for meaning in the world as strange creatures interact with paranoid humans and an uncaring universe.

This sure is one out there collection of strips. They originally appeared in an University students newspaper, and just what they made of it all is hard to know. Tim shows that he can draw anything that enters his head with an economy of line that many would admire. The artwork is experimental but never sloppy, so the reality of the story holds together even if the reader has to go with the flow.

The plot...well, it's certainly not a soap opera, that's for sure. Lots of the characters are looking for answers, but the chaotic nature of the universe that Tim creates defeats them at every turn. Tim somehow manages to avoid losing the reader, but only just. Anything can and does happen in this book. Sometimes it is grim, sometimes it is, funny but it is always imaginative.

If you are looking for beginning, a middle and an end then this isn't really the book for you, but if you enjoy great artwork and have a flippant relationship to reality then this audacious book will give you a run for your money.

In a Word: Surreal.



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