The Indie Double-Take is a new feature we're starting here at CraveOnline in hopes to spring upon you new things. I know it's a crazy concept, but I have faith in you that you're willing to dabble in areas of unfamiliar territory. This article is essentially a spotlight for indie comics that may have previously sailed under your radar, or perhaps even some of the most influential indie or alternative comics that simply deserve a second look. Either way, we want to inform those that may have never ventured outside of the big four (DC, Marvel, Image and Dark Horse) before, and encourage those who have to dig even deeper! Comics are much more than tights and superpowers, though even independent publishers have their fair share of those too. And as always, if you have any comments or suggestions, feel free to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .
Coming in at #10 on our Top 10 Indie Comics list, Jason's Meow, Baby! from Fantagraphics is a book I re-read on a regular basis. Granted, it takes me about 10 minutes maximum to soar through this near 150 page book. A half an hour maybe, if I break for all my chuckles. Meow, Baby! is essentially a collection of comic strips featuring a plethora of different characters, some lasting one page and others a few.
If you've read any of Jason's work - I Killed Adolf Hitler (my personal favorite, and #2 on that same list), Tell Me Something, The Left Bank Gang - you know his style, and it's no different here. However, if you are still reading this, then you probably haven't been introduced to Jason's unique world of animal-like people that resemble some strange mixture of birds, dogs, and rabbits. It makes no difference of course, since skeletons, aliens, vampires and cavemen are also regularly featured players. The point is, the cartooning style of Jason is so simple (and of course, lovingly bizarre). Meow, Baby! particularly, part of its lasting charm for me is that its completely black and white, and very few of the panels actually have any sort of background; most are just characters standing on the ground.
Better yet, very few of the strips feature any word balloons at all. The ones that do are just as charmingly amusing as the rest, but it's the bare bones stories with visual jokes that make Meow, Baby! such an enlightening experience. Jason pours so much into so little; he creates cleverness from thin air here, using visual cues of everyday life in his absurd world. In Jason's world, mummies and zombies aren't creatures of the night - they are simply beings living out their day jobs. To me, Jason's work in Meow, Baby! is some of his most experimental, as though he's challenging himself to see how far he can go without using the "necessary" tools of the medium, namely, dialog. This book is a prime example of comics as a unique medium, as the effectiveness and humor of nearly 3/4 of Meow, Baby! would be completely lost as say, a film. Jason uses the panel structure almost as a tutorial in how to set the pacing of a joke in a comic book.
The humor is definitely not for everyone. It's a subtle and low-key type of humor. Typically, my general rule of thumb when it comes to Jason's work is if you are a fan of Wes Anderson films (Bottle Rocket, Rushmore, The Darjeeling Limited), then Meow, Baby! is right up your alley. Jason provides the same kind of intellectual humor here that one would expect from any scene of Anderson's, and similarly you'll find something new to snicker at with every new read. More than that, if you are new to comics, or at least alternative comics, cracking open Meow, Baby! is one of the best ways I can think of to dive right into a whole new world. Better yet, once you fall in love, it's such a simple read that you can then use it as one of your bibles for converting friends that might not be into the tights and flights on mainstream books, but have an interest in the comics medium.
Comics are about expression, and no one expresses himself more uniquely - or humorously - than Jason.
