Gus 1: Nathalie

Christophe Blain's 80 page album, Gus, collects a handful of humorous episodic stories set in old-west America. The stories are centered around a group of three unusual bandits, Gus, Clem and Gratt. While they do pull off a few robberies, the bulk of the book deals with their obsessions, struggles and victories with the opposite sex. In some ways, it almost reads like a modern day autobiographical comic about three buddies hanging out in bars trying to meet women. The stories are all funny and zippy - but with a mature, occasionally serious side too - that gives the tales just the right amount of depth - after all, in a way, the book is sort of a commentary on the quest for love.

But the real draw of the book, what holds it all together, is Christophe Blain's amazing artwork. His style is extremely fluid, full of motion, beautiful and hilarious at the same time. I really like the way his pages have lots of panels (most often, eight) filled with unusually expressive, small, thin, bendy figures, often shown in full shots (from their head to their toes). He draws some of the most appealing little figures I can recall seeing. But gee - it's one of those crazy books where pretty much every drawing seems perfect and will knock your socks off. Just the right amount of detail, amazing expressions, and despite feeling perfect, it still feels loose - no easy trick. If the book has one very minor negative though, I'd say at times the coloring felt a little over-saturated. A slightly softer pallet might have flattered the artwork even more.

I also wanted to mention the panel to panel transitions, which are often very fast, and add tremendously to the book's humor. Lots of great jump cuts and double takes. The book just has that mysterious something that makes it seem to be of especially high-quality - in a way that's a little hard to write about - just something to enjoy. It was a pure pleasure to read the book's final note, that Gus, Clem and Gratt will return in a second album.

This is the first book of Blain's I've read, but it jumped him right into the top ranks of cartoonists I want to read more of. And I know he has a lot more books in print too (I just wish the exchange rate between the dollar and the euro would get back to being a little kinder on my wallet).