Cyril, The little Dead Boy.

Posted: Tuesday, February 20, 2001
By: Darren Schroeder

Cover of Cyril, The little Dead Boy. Creator(s): Neumie (Jason Neuman)
Publishers: Self Published
From: USA
Price:

These small, black and white 8 page comics each possess an emotional weight that few graphic novels even come close to achieving. In them we learn that Cyril was a little boy who didn't have a very fun life, and his feeling of isolation follow him after his death.

The stories here are short and direct. The first issue shows us how people treated Cyril while he was alive and the cause of his death. Another is a photograph album showing his adventures in the afterlife. There is also a one gag look at him in limbo and other tales. There structure is simple. Neumie has one panel a page with short pieces of narration on most pages.

Neumie's drawing style is basic to say the least and some pages haven't reproduced very well but it tells a great story. I've read these over and over in the last few days trying to figure out just how Neumie achieves the emotional effect these comics have. While I haven't got the answer yet, I figure Neumie knows what he is doing and that's all you need to know.

PS

Along with the copies of Cyril Neumie included his Comics for Stoners. Most of these the usual routine dopehead inspired tales of people going 'wow' & 'dude' a lot that don't do much more that any other dopehead comics you've read. The prize here is a few pages with autobiographical tales of Numie's adventures with weed. These are funny, all the more so because they actually happened.

In a Word: Moving.



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