Mardou – Manhole #2

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Manhole #2

This is one of those giant magazine sized comics, in case you were frightened by the $4 price tag. There’s one big story here and a couple of little ones, about finding postcards and old photos at a book store and building a history for someone you’ve never met, and a piece on the back cover asking people what they’re currently reading. The bulk of the book, however, deals with one thing: cheating. In a relationship, that is. Mardou has been seeing her boyfriend for years and starts a snail mail correspondence with an aspiring writer. They share all kinds of intimacies until they’re both convinced that they’re seeing each other as they really are and that they’re perfect for each other, long term significant others be damned. This isn’t something that’s done casually, Mardou at least is torn up about it and goes over it from lots of different angles. Maybe she doesn’t make the choice that a lot of people would have made, but who can really say unless they’re put in that spot? Either way, the art is gorgeous and I’m always up for reading about morally complex (and possibly just flat out wrong) situations like this. My only problem here is the ending, which is sort of an art housey “the road is opening up before me and I can’t see where it leads” kind of thing. This rarely bothered me in actual art houses or in most comics, so it leads me to conclude that the problem is with me and not so much the comic. What can I say, I’m getting older and I want my stories to have nice, neat conclusions, dammit! Christ, if I’m slowly turning into a Republican I hope somebody out there is kind enough to put me out of my misery. Oh yeah, in terms of the actual comic, it’s well worth checking out, don’t mind me meandering over here… $4