Robert Sergel’s Space: An Eschew Collection Explores the Vast Orbits Between Its Characters
Writer/Artist: Robert Sergel
Publisher: Secret Acres
Release Date: April 5, 2016
This nice, pocket-sized collection of Robert Sergel’s Ignatz-nominated Eschew comics emerges during a particularly loud month of new comic releases. And that’s a shame. Sergel’s comics are the equivalent of short stories, especially the midcentury type associated with The New Yorker. They don’t use many words or obvious emotions. Little happens by most storytelling standards, and the plots’ meanings and themes are often left to interpretation. But they suggest just enough to allow for some fun analysis in an English class.
Other than a general aura of understated malaise, these stories are quite contemporary, although obvious signifiers of the present are rare. A cell phone, laptop and video game system make cameos, but Sergel’s panels are clean and uncluttered—even by color. Many comics artists work in black and white because it’s cheaper and easier, but Sergel seems to enjoy its possibilities for careful arrangement within a limited format. His use of a delicate pattern here and there against an exceptionally flat, sparse background calls attention to the design in a subtle way. The few stories that consist only of linework without fills aren’t as strong as those that feature areas of black and, often, black on black, set off by fine white lines. Entry “My Famous Grey Sweatshirt” is an exception, utilizing a series of different geometric background elements for visual variety (bricks, board siding, a sidewalk, polygons meant to suggest cold, rounded nested shapes that convey warmth and comfort).
