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Last Updated: Jan 1, 2009 - 6:19:39 PM

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Jesse Reklaw's Bluefuzz By Henry Chamberlain Dec 2, 2008 - 4:05:34 PM Self-Published, All Content: Jesse Reklaw $4 US, 28 pages

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The farther away you get from a major city in America, the less clear it is what you can call your local alternative weekly. But if that publication runs a comic strip like Jesse Reklaw's Slow Wave, it instantly gets some street cred. Throw in a calendar of events, maybe a horoscope and movie listings, and these comic strips can carry a paper week after week. Hey, it can hold true for the bigger papers too.

There are only a handful of these comic strip bastions of cool. Fewer still that are consistently good. And, within this select group, just enough to fit on the head of a pin that have entered the pop culture. To varying degrees, here you have Tony Millionaire, Tom Tomorrow, Linda Barry, and right at the top, Matt Groening. And, among this group, Jesse Reklaw.

Reklaw has been illustrating other people's dreams for well over a decade. Readers submit their dreams to him and then he creates comics from them. It's not the sort of comic that generates catch phrases but, in its own gentle way, it is much enjoyed.

The Slow Wave comic strips have recently been published as a book, The Night of Your Life, which will certainly gain Reklaw new fans. What's great about the comix tradition that Reklaw and all these alternative cartoonists come from is that it's part of a community where the big shot and small fry cartoonists can all mix together.

This dates back to the underground comix and artist rebels like Robert Crumb. That outlook on the world, of the little guy against the man, the misfit in society, fostered a community of artists all in the same boat. Outside of today's alternative weekly, you'll find these cartoonists, emerging as well as established, self-publishing their work in "minicomics," commonly found online or at comics conventions.

Jesse Reklaw was honored this year by winning the Ignatz Award for Best Minicomic for 2008 at the Small Press Expo. That is high praise from the comix community. And the book is certainly well deserving and proves to be a little classic, a true creature of comix, about a little creature, Bluefuzz, the Hero.

Bluefuzz on a quest.

Bluefuzz, the Hero quickly establishes a relationship with the reader by bringing expectations down to a low and hazy level. What looks like it might be a leaf or a flame haltingly sets up the premise: "Maybe you think Bluefuzz is kind of a jerk, and that's cool."

"Leif" goes on to explain that Bluefuzz has the best of intentions in being a hero. When he hears idle complaints about the king, Bluefuzz is compelled to slay him which incites a mob against him. Luckily, he escapes. Where or when this story takes place is appropriately fuzzy. There's a subplot where another hero, Steve, throws his battleaxe and some pretzels into his car on a quest to secure fire from the gods. So, you get the picture. This is irreverent counterculutre fun.

The rambling story and crude drawing of Bluefuzz run counter to the precise drawing and well paced documenting of dreams in Slow Wave. It's as if Reklaw is attempting to push himself in new directions with his surrealism of the silly. Bluefuzz is also like a jazz improvisation with Reklaw letting his comics bag of tricks go completely free form. Considering Reklaw's favorite subject is dreams, this makes total sense for him to want to experiment in this way.

Bluefuzz, most importantly, is a great example of the comics medium as art. Reklaw's improvisations are a celebration of the fluidity of comics. He is treating comics as poetry and painting. The book even includes 8 color prints of paintings. And he makes it look easy too. Unfortunately, not only are most people too intimidated to ever attempt to draw or write, too many artists are resistant to move beyond their signature style.

Note: Bluefuzz the Hero, along with other goodies, are available at Jeese Reklaw's Slow Wave Web site. 

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