Press
Comic Book Net #143
"My View"
by
David LeBlanc
Dec. 26, 1997
KEYHOLE is Created & Edited by Dean Haspiel and Josh Neufeld. Contributing
creators include: Chris Cliadakis, Linda Perkins, Rob Walker, Sari Wilson,
and David Greenberger. Billy Dogma is created
by Dean Haspiel. This review covers issues 2,3, and 4 of Keyhole and
issue #2 of Billy Dogma. All are Black & White with color covers,
24 pages except Keyhole #2 is 32, all are $2.95. Published by Paul
Davis, Modern Publications, 105 Edge water Road, Narragansett, RI 02882
I often find it most difficult to review these types of comics for several reasons. First and most recognizably they do not fit any particular mold. It is not easy to compare it with anything most people would be familiar with. Keyhole being an anthology book does have some diversity to it, which is likely to have a piece or two to appeal to anyone. Like many anthologies, the one story that interests you may not be enough to keep you buying. For $3 I want everything to be somewhat appealing or at least understandable. A couple bits here and there fall short.
The mainstays of Keyhole are "Billy Dogma," by Haspiel; "Josh & Sari" by Josh Neufeld and Sari Wilson, and "Titans of Finance" by Rob Walker and Josh Neufeld. By far the most readable are the tales of Josh and Sari. We follow the pair in various locations as they travel the world, backpacking everything with them and sometimes living with the locals. In issue #2 they sign on to work an organic farm in Penang, an island of Malaysia. What is interesting is the difference in the culture and living standards. The work is mostly by hand, the quarters are meager and filthy by western standards and an incident with an insect is a good chuckle. The next two issues find them on the Balkan express, a train through the former Yugoslavia as they make their way to the Czech Republic. They are forced into very crowded conditions in one stretch, trying to stay friendly with local commuters who get a bit rowdy, and pass the time on a layover on the train with a Serbian ice cream peddler. The stories have a feeling of reality and truth. This balances out some of the other works of fiction in the book.
Also on the realism side is "Titans of Finance," which each issue does a mini-biography of some famous money man. Michael Vranos, Al Dunlap, and Wayne Angell are profiled in one or two-page segments in successive issues. My question is, why? The tone is generally not flattering so I guess Rob is trying to show the flaws of some very successful men. Frankly I am bored by such stuff. I do not find it entertaining and doing this kind of stuff in a small press comic book has always been puzzling to me. I guess it is meant to appeal to the anti-establishment crowd who are more likely to support small press efforts. I am not saying it is not factual, just that I don't care if Vranos worked out, or that Dunlap was a prick. It was not surprising to see Chris Oarr's glowing praise for the feature in the letters in #4, having debated him on relative quality of comics in the past on the Comic Book Network. To each his own.
There are a lot of neat little, non-recurring features in every issue. Linda
Perkins' "Waiting," as in "on tables" is fun.
In Issue #4 there is a wonderful exercise in story telling. It is called"I
Was Waiting for You, Daddy." This is three different artistic interpretations
of the same
script by David Greenberger. It appears as if the artists, Dean Haspiel,
Linda Perkins, and Josh Neufeld each were given the text as a narrative —
no character descriptions or other direction — just a speech by
a father about his girl (since the father refers to her as "she")
who says she was waiting for him. Each is two pages and each is very different
from the others. They range from sad, to joyful to unexpected. My favorite
segment of the lot.
Then there is "Billy Dogma." Separate stories are done in issues 2 and 4 while shorter one page parts are in #3 and reprinted in Billy Dogma #2. While I have an open mind and will try lots of different things this strip is just a bit too weird for me. I had trouble figuring out if this guy was supposed to be a joke, or was dreaming, or he seriously lived in a world with bizarre people like The Human Bar Code and Corset Face. He sets out to rob a convenience store to get milk for his lover's coffee in one episode and the dialogue is just too corny for me, "Make like Ms. Fire Prevention Week and I'll force feed ya a knuckle sandwich." The strange thing, to me that is, is that this kind of stuff cracks people up. There are flying trucks, and sentient photo booths, and other kinds of weirdness which by themselves are not too outrageous, but the character and how he deals with them is just not what I look for to entertain me. For me, it is not one of the high points of Keyhole, and I doubt I would buy Billy Dogma the title for itself. But then, it is not just a book about Billy. It has a ten-page strip called "As Big as Earth" with some fascinating art and some very thought-provoking turns and twists. In my opinion this is much better work by Dean, the kind of stuff I would enjoy seeing more of any time.
As I said folks, this type of anthology and variety is bound to hit a chord or two with most readers. I' d suggest you see for yourself.