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THE NORM: KEYS #2 - OFFICE
Recommended (7/10)
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Norm.com
Writer/Artist: Michael Jantze
Price: $4.00 US |
I haven't previously read The Norm, although I have seen previous collections of the strip in my local comics shop. Like Liberty Meadows or Dork Tower, The Norm is a collection of comic strips, published on the Internet and also in print form. It reminds me a lot of Chris Eliopoulos's Desperate Times, particularly in the art style, which
is no bad thing, and though it isn't always laugh out loud funny, it is witty
and entertaining. There's an element of continuing story to the strips, which I
like, without alienating those who just want a casual read.
Norm is just a regular guy,
facing the same sort of difficulties that any normal guy has faced, including
friends getting married or changing, having a crush on a female friend or doing
his taxes. Of course, there's an element of wackiness in that the friend who
comes to help do his taxes apparently spends his time dressed up as Chewbacca,
or that Norm can break the fourth wall and talk to the reader, a trick that his
friend Reine picks up about midway through this collection. This mixture of
normality, with just a touch of the bizarre, is just about right, making it easy
to relate to Norm and his friends.
However, as successful as Jantze is at portraying Norm's regular life, the strip does sometimes suffer for it. Norm's routine is sometimes a little too routine, and the humor isn't always evident. The Norm takes an approach similar to Seinfeld, where normal things are examined in an
absurdist way, and this sometimes works and sometimes falls flat. A good example
is the series on liquid soap, an ill-considered stretching of a joke that isn't
that funny in the first place. However, I found it quite easy to relate to the
"ill-gotten hugs" problem that Norm faced with his friend Reine, and that worked
in terms of being very funny as well as getting me to relate to the character.
In fact, I'd say the strongest the stories get is when Norm is dealing with
relatively normal things, such as his crush on Reine (and her job loss) or the
loss of a good friend to marriage.
Honestly, Reine is my
favorite character in this book. While Norm is likable and fun, watching Reine
try to pick up on talking to the audience was a lot of fun for a new reader like
me, establishing the tone of the series as well as filling in a bit of her
character. And though I haven't read the series long enough to need a change in
perspective, I thought a change from male to female narrator was a clever way to
expand upon the ideas the strip has to explore.
The Norm is a clever and fun strip, full of witty
observations about normal life as well as just a touch of the bizarre. Jantze's
artwork and storytelling is top-notch, and though the humor doesn't always
strike home with me, in general I'd say that the gags work more often than they
don't.
This comic book was not part of this week's new releases.
Email Randy Lander comments about this review, or discuss it on the Fourth Rail message board. |
