Just read a fantastic comic called ‘What is Left’ by Rosemary Valero-O'Connell
It takes place on a spaceship fueled by memories. There is an accident and the ship is destroyed and things go on from there. I don’t want to spoil much, as it’s light on plot (in a good way!), but the story goes into the memories that were fueling the ship in a super creative way. The book is more focused on the emotions and memories of the characters than the specifics of the plot. It’s a tender, intimate moment in a scary sci-fi situation. In fact, I think we’re given just the right amount of world-building info about the universe it exists in. It feels very grounded \ believable, including its sci fi surroundings.
The art is just stunning. Beautiful line work, evocative and expressive. She uses a limited color palate super effectively to differentiate between memory and the present and who is in the memory and who is an outsider. To actually just SHOW these complicated plot points through the art, and to not rely exclusively on writing it out, is a baller move.
The entire comic has a wonderful, free sense of space that works so well for mimicking the dream-state of the plot and also the physical reality of the space they’re in. Hyper realistic drawings of food and surroundings are juxtaposed with beautiful empty space. It’s detailed and very well rendered technically, and yet never feels busy. It feels breezy, lovely, sad and ominous the whole time.
Anyway, highly recommended. Packs a big emotional punch (that feels earned in a relatively short piece) and is gorgeous to look at. The object itself is on nice stick and the colors really pop. It’s also smaller than a standard comic, which is kind of fun. It’s an example of what comics can do that other mediums can’t.
Get a copy: http://www.hirosemary.com/
