Sliced Quarterly is back with Sliced Quarterly #5, another comic anthology packed to the brim with its unique style and storytelling. Spearheaded by Editor Ken Reynolds, this issue collects 12 brand new stories from various writers and artists. There’s a story about the plights of being left-handed, an awesome story that ties itself to a legendary comic book character, and a story about a very anxious rabbit just to name a few. I feel as if the usual motif of stories connected by a core concept has gone out the window, and this is the second issue I’ve read that feels as if each story is meant to stand on its own, rather than fitting into a collective narrative. Once again, there are things that are going to go over my head, but it still doesn’t hurt things; some art exists purely to be experienced instead of understood.
Starting off the anthology is Left Handed by Bryony Thomson; a story that humorously shows the struggles left handers go through that right handers seem to take for granted. I’m ambidextrous on just about everything except handwriting, and I know some of the struggles the main character goes through. I feel there is a deeper meaning behind this story though, as it begins to feel like it’s a comment on race; i.e modern life is built with the comforts of a certain type of people in mind, etc. Maybe I’m looking too much into it, but that’s what I got from my initial reading. Things aren’t fair, but at least they’re not as bad as they used to be? I don’t know, but at face value it has the charm and humor to exist on its own as simply a story about what it’s like to be left handed.
Strange Visitor written by John Osborn with art by Sam Bentley is, hands down, my favorite story in this issue. It beautifully tells the backstory behind the creators of one of, if not THE biggest comic book character ever created. I don’t want to spoil too much, but it’s simply amazing, and I loved everything about it, from the structure of the story to every single line of art. This is a masterpiece.
The other one I want to talk about is 00110001, it’s all text and it humorously tells the tale of biblical creation. I got a nice chuckle out of this one, as it goes through the first seven days of creation like a computer programmer is working on them. It carries a lot of symbolism in it, and I felt it was an interesting premise to explore; I especially loved the part about Mr. know it all creating an action figure out of his image with a false sense of importance and free-will. It’s a very funny piece, and I enjoyed it thoroughly.
All of the other stories are impressive in their own right, but I feel these are the three that stuck out for me, and really struck a chord. 12 stories is a lot to cover individually, so I’m urging you all to go to http://slicedquarterly.co.uk/ and check out the latest issue for yourself, completely free. Also, contribute to their new Kickstarter by clicking on the following link: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/201581505/sliced-quarterly-vol-1-experimental-comic-antholog
- Story - 9/109/10
- art - 8/108/10
Summary
Sliced Quarterly #5 continues to bring its readers exemplary slices of life in comic book form. This one is a bit more enjoyable than its previous entry, and it offers a lot of unique art styles and voices that will surely entertain and enlighten. Definitely check it out, it’s free, so there’s really no reason not to. Sliced Quarterly continues to impress me, and I urge those reading this to give it a look!