Review by Frank Plowright
Kit Anderson’s self-published comics have been a constant delight to those who’ve tracked them down. From one to the next there’s no knowing what form her stories will take, nor the artistic approach she’ll apply, as it varies from cartoon realism to flights of fancy. Safer Places collects 21 stories, ranging from a single page to forty pages of ‘The Basement’ (sample spread left), and anyone who likes their comics professional, yet quirky and with a reverence for nature may have found their new favourite creator.
As ‘The Basement’ is the longest inclusion, let’s begin there. Jeanie is part of a grieving family finally having to clear out the possessions of someone who’s no longer around. Just noting that is enough to supply the mood, so further explanations are unnecessary. There’s no space to store the belongings as her house doesn’t have a basement, and adding to the heartbreak is the family cat being missing. What begins as a story rooted in everyday emotion dives into somewhere else entirely, magical realism if you will, providing a wistful lesson amid an astonishing opportunity, yet remaining largely grounded in reality. It’s exceptional.
It doesn’t take long to figure discovery is a theme running throughout Safer Places. In some stories it’s literal, such as a question about a wizard opening each of the five ‘Quest’ inclusions and readers then finding out the answer, but in others the discoveries are more personal, even elusive. A few strips are merely observations, small watercolour landscape paintings accompanied by fragments of text. They feature people yearning for something, if not certain what, with nature prominent, sometimes as metaphor, as in ‘Weeds’, where a young girl begins to have floral growths on her face. The frequency of natural land coupled with the title is surely a statement.
The right sample art is from a sequence of short stories scattered through Safer Places featuring a relaxation recording, and the different people requiring it. These are mood pieces, the art experimental white on black and sometimes abstracted, and there are several other places where Anderson toys with form, most obviously on ‘The World’s Biggest Ball of Twine’. Here a hiker constantly frames views. At first the suggestion is of these being photographs, yet the repeated view seen when he’s hiking along roads denies that conclusion. It’s an evocative wordless strip that remains in the head long after being read, with the answers provided over the final pages.
A unique voice and unique storytelling is always welcome, but doesn’t always succeed. Anderson’s stories do connect, and at their best provide complete delight. Safer Places brings everyone up to date, and sets great sense of anticipation for where Anderson is heading next.
