john and jana

The Aviary by Jamie Tanner

If anyone can tell me what Jamie Tanner’s “The Aviary” is about, please do so. This is not to say I didn’t like the book — in fact, I loved it. But a good man knows when he’s down and “The Aviary” has put me in the place of being a very good man.

An aviary is a large, enclosed place to keep birds — like a house-sized cage — and the characters within cross each other’s stories so often that one gets the feeling that they do inhabit an enclosed space, the walls of which are the edges of the pages of the graphic novel. With no other space to wander into, no life beyond that which Jamie Tanner allows them to exist in, they are left little choice but to run circles around each other’s existence. The characters’ movements hint that there is some sort of meaning to their imprisonment, but they may just be the inevitable things that happen by dropping people in a confined space and seeing what happens.

It’s a cartoon version of the Big Brother house mixed with the sensibilities of “Waiting For Godot.”

Tanner’s tale revolves around a little toy doll of a bird with a human body, dressed up in a suit and sporting a special “blinking eye” novelty, as manufactured by the Casualty J. Organ Company. The bird’s part in the tale comes and goes, though Casualty J. Organ himself figures into what unfolds, as well as his secretary, an ape-faced collector of pornography named Heinrich Bruno, a robot, a comedian with no arms and legs and a penguin child. The characters parade through a variety of short pieces that work as self-contained curiosities, but also add up to something more bizarre. They link, but what the links add up to will tease your brain afterwards.

Add to my befuddled but enthusiastic explanation the fact that the story has the feel of having been written by someone with Tourette’s Syndrome and you pretty much get the idea.

For all its obscurity, “The Aviary” is a hilarious venture in surrealism. And one fact is obvious throughout — Jamie Tanner is going to be a major talent in the world of graphic novels. His ideas and presentation are uniquely his own and watching how they grow further in his work will be a great pleasure.

The Ride Home by Joey Weiser

In “The Ride Home,” Joey Weiser brings the fairy tale beings of a world long gone into the modern one with rollicking results.

Nodo, the van gnome (that is, a gnome who inhabits a family van, as one might have inhabited the forest or a bridge or something in legends) is happy in his vehicle, but one day, a trip results in a calamity that finds him homeless. As a creature defined by his place of residence, Nodo begins his trek to reclaim his van and his life.

To a tiny, little gnome, the modern world is filled with horrors that turn a simple journey into a grand odyssey. Along the way, Nodo meets numerous other mythical creatures who have settled into their modern trappings, most notably Ferdinand, a sewer dragon who grapples with sewer management issues involving rats even as he tries to help Nodo.

Weiser takes the opportunity to make a few choice commentaries not only about modern human beings and their lack of wonder at the hidden trappings of their society, but also at the notion of cultures that cling to the old. It’s heady stuff to pack into what is essentially a light-hearted adventure, but Weiser does a great job at it and comes up with something that will amuse any kid even as it offers some big food for thought.