Mitchell, Brian John – Ultimate Lost Kisses #11 (with Dave Sim)

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Ultimate Lost Kisses #11 (with art by Dave Sim (!))

No, I don’t know if this is a continuation of the Lost Kisses series (what with the addition of “Ultimate” to the title), but as this is listed as #11 and the last issue with Lost Kisses in the title was #10, I’m going to assume that it is.  I’ll get to the comic in a minute, but Dave Sim?  I guess he has some free time these days, but kudos to Brian for getting him to illustrate a book of his.  I’m actually finishing up the Cerebus series this week, as all the unrelated text pieces killed it for me the first time around and, while I have my problems with various theories by Dave (and his sucking all the joy out of his book for the last 50 issues or so), I doubt that I’d even still be reading comics if it wasn’t for his influence.  I don’t know what his legacy is going to end up being, but I’d put the first 220 issues or so of Cerebus up there as one of the great achievements in the field.  Isn’t there a comic somewhere I’m supposed to be reviewing?  This issue changes the format of the previous Lost Kisses, as this is a fictional story (or at least I hope it is).  A young woman gets a letter from her son, 18 years after she’d given him up for adoption and practically forgotten his existence.  He’s on death row for killing a man and wants to meet her, but there’s nothing accusatory in his letter.  She informs her husband (who she met ten years after her son was born) about his existence, tells him of her plans to visit her son, and she sets off.  Brian is a master of taking the images given and expanding or shrinking them, using the images as a director would use a camera lens, and he does wonders with what he’s given here.  It’s a powerful story, and I hope this gets Dave back into comics, assuming he even wants to after 300 issues of Cerebus…  $1