Nothing Serious #1

Posted: Wednesday, March 7, 2007
By: Steve Saville

Cover of Nothing Serious #1 Creator(s): Guy Dernee, Hayden Fryer
Publishers: Siberian Productions
From: Australia
Price: $3.50 AU

‘Nothing Serious’ is one of the results of the 2006 24 Hour Comic Challenge and that needs to be understood from the outset Essentially it is a 20 page Jam comic produced by two creative lunatics pushed to the very limit by a 24 hour deadline and just too much coffee.

As the Jam comic is almost a genre in its own right certain conventions of that genre prevail and these may confuse the reader used to a diet of a more traditional comic structure and format.

If one were to read this comic with the expectation that they were to be presented with a ‘normal’ comic then they will be severely disappointed. I repeat this comic was fuelled by caffeine and panic not meticulous attention to detail and countless hours spent on cross hatching.

This comic is messy; it smells of sleep deprivation, and stale smoke. It is random and often disjointed but that is the world of Jam comics. The artwork is rushed and immediate as each page strives to make a point before it is handed on to the co contributor, and so the comic has an unusual flow to it. The effect is not unlike a car ‘bunny hopping’ across an intersection as each page lurches or jumps to the next. At times the contributors are almost engaged in a battle of wits as ‘in jokes’ and asides abound [as do references to the very act of creating a comic in such a pressured situation].

The story itself takes place in a Space Plaza in outer space and concerns the attempts of the two main characters [Guy and Hayden] to buy an avocado [I think] on the way they are beaten up by a Scotchman, kick a Bootch and eventually blow up the Plaza. Not that any of this is important. The storyline is confusing and lacks any sense of continuity, the jumping between the two narrative voices adds to the confusion. But this is a Jam comic, anarchic, energetic and fun. Suspend your expectations and have a read. If you can overlook the rushed feel to the art work, and the corny jokes then you will experience a sense of just how exciting and exhausting it would have been to undertake such a stupid venture. It would have seemed like a good idea at the time and the result certainly indicates that it was fun but hey I bet they felt like crap for a t least a week afterwards.

In a Word: Sticky.



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