Randy and Don delve into the bizarre perceptions and dysfunctional relationships of Thomas Herpich's Cusp.
Don:
Jeff Mason of Alternative Comics sent along a rough preview of an upcoming release. The book is Cusp, a collection of... well, not stories, per se, but surreal examinations of the darker, awkward or more unfortunate sides of the human spirit.
Randy:
This preview is black and white photocopies, but the final product will be a 40-page oversized book with full color covers. These black and white copies do give a sense of Cusp and Herpich's work, though, and if I had to sum up that work in one word it would be: weird.
Cusp
published by Alternative Comics
written & illustrated by Thomas Herpich
scheduled for release in January 2003
Don:
Herpich takes the reader into a world of people who escape into disturbing fantasies, just to avoid the drudgery of the everyday. It's a world in which each person is self-involved, can only see through a limited, narrow perspective.
The greatest strength of this book is the visual storytelling. Herpich's style is both simple yet detailed. There's a bizarre sense of twisted organics, but there are also moments featuring grounded, everyday images. He has a tremendous eye for anatomy as well. His panel layouts are inventive and unconventional, and his hand-written lettering adds a human tone to the book as well.
Randy:
What I liked was that Herpich's style changes from story to story. Sometimes it is more detailed, with strong anatomy and character design that is realistic, and other times it's more abstract and cartoony. This is the artistic equivalent of improvisation, experimenting with different styles and tones. Like you, I also enjoyed the hand lettering; it is uneven and sometimes odd in shape, but it helps extend the feeling of this as a very personal book.
Don:
I'll be honest, though... I don't really see everything Herpich is trying to say here. The longest story in the book -- featuring a single mother who falls into a surreal daydream to run from her whining brat -- is effectively disturbing, but meaning escapes me. The same can be said of most of the segments in the book. Sometimes, the storytelling seems purposefully and gratuitously weird and vague.
Randy:
Yes, I can agree with that. As I said, the book seems like the equivalent of improvising, and the downside of that is that Herpich sometimes deliberately leaves things hanging and goes on to something else, and plenty of these pages seem like half-formed thoughts or the germs of stories rather than finished tales.
Don:
On the other hand, though, a specific theme does seem to emerge from amid all of this. Every character seems completely self-involved. Each one cannot see beyond him or herself. Everyone is detached from one another, and there's no real attempt at communication or understanding. That theme is one that's easy to apply to the world around us, and I can't deny that Herpich's work here pushes the reader to examination the world around him and the world within.
Randy:
I'll confess that my favorite aspect of the book was the humor, which often comes from that self-involved nature of the characters. The early story about an outlaw who goes hog wild breaking laws, only to learn that he's not being sought any longer, is darkly humorous, and I thought the take on the "give a man a fish" story was clever and funny as well. Thomas Herpich is a new talent, and he clearly has a lot to offer, although I think both of us were hoping for a little more focus to go with his obvious skills.
For more information on Thomas Herpich and
Cusp
