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Moreton, Simon – The Escapologist #2

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The Escapologist #2

For a title that refers back to being a professional escaper of things (I know that’s a made-up word, and this is my own interpretation), Simon seems to delight in focusing on the tiny things in life that we all seem to instinctively know without questioning. This comic is all about those little things, how we don’t even notice them unless we all take a step back and how remarkable they can seem with just a little bit of distance. It’s another fantastically imaginative comic from the man, keeping a streak of such things going. His regular series (Smoo, in case you’re not paying attention to him, and you should be) is where you should go for a heftier dose of his thoughts and ideas, but this other series seems to be where he’s sticking more with this theme of everything and how we perceive it. And comics folks who don’t draw backgrounds out of sheer laziness, take note: there are a few wide open spaces in here, but they’re all in service to the story he’s telling, and he demonstrates plenty of times that it’s not for a lack of talent. Keep reading him if you already are, in other words, and start reading him if you’re not. $3 (?)

Moreton, Simon – The Escapologist #1

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The Escapologist #1

For those of you who were dying to solve the mystery of “Simon M.,” , I give you Simon Moreton! For everybody else who has no idea what I’m talking about, Simon is the guy who did all of those delightful Smoo comics that I’m sure you all dutifully purchased after I told you how much I enjoyed them. Simon is starting a new series with this comic, and a quick check of his website shows that #2 is already done (he’s just working on the publishing end of things at the moment) and that he’s also working on #3. Well, so much for my theory that this comic was one of those one-shot comics that small press writers invariably put a “#1” on. It’s easy to think that, as this is a comic about everything. I mean that: everything. It’s a lot to convey in eight pages, so it ends up being confined more to Simon’s general area, but it’s there. Things start off with Simon on the street, staring at birds, before he leaves his body and takes a journey of the city. then pulls it all back together with mentioning the fact that we also all hold together the very ink on the pages. It’s all very self-contained, which makes me a little surprised that #2 is already done, and more than a little curious to see what it’s about. This is mostly a wordless tale with one fantastic quote at the end. To me this comic was both a chance to escape for a minute or two (as the title implies) while also contemplating the manner in which the entire world fits together. That’s damned tricky to accomplish, and it may or may not have been what he was shooting for, but that’s what I saw. No price, but I think it’s around $4.