Welcome to Inside the Indies, a new feature we’ve concocted to recognize the talents floating in the ether beyond the Big Two and the big “Indie” publishers (Dark Horse, Image, IDW, etc.). Think SPX (Small Press Expo) vs the New York Comic Con. We’ll pick an indie creator and review their books for you and end with an interview so you, the wonderful reader, can see what creating comics is like when you don’t have a publishing powerhouse supporting you. These folks make it happen on their own and you can’t help but respect the passion, time, energy, and skill required to make this happen. So let’s dig in to Sound On Sight’s very first Inside the Indies!
For the next many weeks, I’ll be reviewing Jason Pittman’s Leftovers. Jason went to the Joe Kubert School of Cartoon & Graphic Art in Dover, NJ, where he transferred to the School of Visual Arts in NYC. For the sake of full disclosure, I want you all to know Jason and I are friends. We’ve had many a debate on the state of comics and the good and bad of the Star Wars prequels. But we both agree on a very simple principle: honesty. I’m going to approach each one of these books like I would a story in my old Creative Writing workshop classes, as if there is no name at the top. I’ll point out the good, the potential for good, and the bad. It’s what Jason and I want and what you, the reader, deserve. Never expect anything less than that from me.
Leftovers Book 1
Writer & Artist: Jason Pittman
Meet Jim, former dreamer and currently employed at the local grocery store as a stock boy with his best friend, Pete. They room together, too, and both seem reserved to this life. Neither loves it but they’re also not striving for change. Sure, they’ll complain about it, especially Jim. They have an “overbearing” boss, they run into old classmates who shop at their store. It looks like a hard pill for anyone to swallow, to know you let your dreams go on by. The real difference between them comes from the fact that only one of them has delusions about their aspirations, about their life and what it could be. There are a few good conversations between these two about their reality and limitations that reinforces their friendship. These guys know each other, and while I severely doubt the resemblance is intentional, they remind me a bit of Randal and Dante from Clerks. But we’re reading Randal’s perspective.
Jim’s norm is shaken when he meets a girl. Or re-meets, since he went to high school with her. She’s Amanda and for a brief moment, she’s Jim’s manic pixie dream girl. After only a few weeks together, Jim decides he’s going to leave with her to Washington, where things will be infinitely better because he’s somewhere else. I don’t want to spoil how things turn out because you ought to read this and find out.
So what’s the good and what’s the bad? Story-wise, Leftovers Book 1 provides several familiar tropes but seems aware of the tropes. When they get turned on their ear, it doesn’t feel forced or trite but instead, utterly believable. Jim’s the kind of guy that would make Amanda a manic pixie dream girl so when she becomes that and little more, it fits. That isn’t to say she couldn’t use more development because she definitely did, as did their flurry of a relationship. But Jim was developed and he’s the focus here. Some of the dialogue doesn’t come off as natural. Reading it aloud, it doesn’t roll the way normal folks talk—too few contractions and too many full, well-thought out sentences. Here’s hoping life imitates art and people become that articulate one day!
When it comes to the art, it feels very real and fluid—the poses, positions, and anatomy of these people could have been pulled out of real life. It gets a little dicey on close-ups mostly and that’s where consistency tends to get lost. Sometimes Amanda’s pretty, sometimes she’s ugly. Faces come off as flat a little too often. But crowded scenes, like the concert and the overhead shots at the grocery store, look excellent and most importantly, organic. There’s a dream sequence that stands out for not just the stylistic change, but also because Jason has the sequence printed on a different kind of paper so it literally feels different.
Overall? The book shows a ton of potential. The story works, even if it relies a bit on tropes we all know. The ending is what makes this book worth reading and makes you want to examine your own life, should you relate to Jim.
All of Leftovers can be purchased at IndyPlanet and you can catch Jason Pittman at the VA Comic Con November 23-24.