Randy and Don may have some crazy relatives, but they're nothing compared to the craziness that Rich Henn grew up with, surrounded by Zoomies.
Randy:
So the first question is probably: what are Zoomies? Well, that's Rich Henn's childhood name for the mental patients who lived with him and his parents while he was growing up. Zoomies is also the name of the comic about Henn's childhood encounters with these unique individuals, a comic that mixes slice-of-life, coming-of-age tales with the weirdness of mental illness.
Don:
This collection of short-form comics storytelling is a brutally honest presentation of an unusual but thoroughly real circumstance. It's far more powerful than Henn's other comics work -- Timespell -- because it's far more personal and down to earth. This black-and-white comic isn't perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but it does entertain and touch its audience.
Zoomies #1
written and illustrated by Rich Henn
Don:
It was almost as though the inmates were running the asylum at the Henn household. Rich Henn recalls his unusual childhood, as he grew up in a house along with patients with a variety of mental, developmental and behavioral disorders. His parents ran a care home for these people, and the young boy living among them takes to calling them "Zoomies."
Randy:
Henn's previous efforts have included a documentary on the Small Press Expo and a murder-mystery/conspiracy tale with magical, horror overtones. If nothing else, Zoomies serves as a hat trick of versatility, because it is nothing like Henn's previous work. This is autobiographical stuff all the way, an unflinching look at memories from his younger days that touches on such painful topics as getting yourself thrown in jail, tiptoing around the psychoses of your roommates and dealing with the strife in your parents' marriage. I have to give Henn credit for being brave enough to put these tales down on the page.
Don:
Henn doesn't really get into the dysfunction of his parents' relationship, nor does he offer an examination of how vulnerable, damaged people come to be in the care of a rather typical American family. Instead, Henn tells the reader about these bizarre defacto family members and how living among them shaped his life. Henn's approach is to offer up brief, two-page stories for the most part, and it works pretty well. The material could have proven to be a little overwhelming, and Henn's storytelling style here is a rather dense one. He clearly has a lot of stories to tell and a lot of say about those earlier days, and breaking everything up into smaller chunks serves the material better.
Randy:
Indeed, you have to credit Zoomies with an unusual premise and plenty of interesting material. Henn lays out the premise in the first page, explaining that his parents took in patients from a nearby psychiatric ward to help pay the bills on their farm. He then spends the next several pages setting up the characters, who are about as colorful a cast as you can find in a reality-based comic. Zoomies could easily have come off as mean-spirited or cruel, but Henn's participation in the lives of these people makes it instead come across as somewhat funny and at times touching.
Don:
On the other hand, Henn doesn't sugar-coat the past or the bizarre behavior to which he was exposed either. The Zoomies are presented as lovable innocents at times, sure, but they're also portrayed as a little scary, certainly when viewed through the eyes of a child on the cusp of his teen years. I was surprised Henn doesn't get into any sense of social stigma that living in such an environment might bring to a teenager's life, but I also didn't get the sense he was holding back either.
While Henn's writing is honest and forthcoming, where it needs work is in the details. In other words, Henn needs an editor, someone not only to clean up his copy but someone to keep him focused and on track within each sequence. Furthermore, the lettering is awkward and distracting.
Randy:
Zoomies is a really fun set of strips, but it doesn't quite hold together in comic-book format. Henn has a lot of stories here which are interesting to hear, but if he's got a point to the whole thing in this issue, it escapes me. The stories, often one or two page affairs, are laid down seemingly at random, and the most interesting tale to me ("I Was A Teen-Age Zoomie") is broken into two parts and left unfinished, which was a bit disappointing. Zoomies has the feel of sitting down at the bar next to someone, hearing a bunch of interesting stories, then going to the bathroom and missing out on where they were all going. This is a book about personal recollections, so it's going to be a little scattershot at times by its very nature, but a stronger arrangement of these tales or some sort of overriding theme beyond "aren't these folks crazy?" would have helped considerably.
Don:
Clearly, Randy and I don't agree on the shorter form approach here, but I did get a sense of scattered storytelling here. For me, it was the inconsistency in the art that did it for me. Sometimes, Henn seems to have a good grasp on anatomy, and at others, not so much. At times, he seems focused on fostering a strong sense of reality -- it's easy to see that he put extra effort into the pages focusing on his late father -- and at others, the art is hazy and sketchy, and it doesn't serve the story well.
For more information on Zoomies, visit
