The Cliff starts with a skull-based discourse between a rodent and an elephant, and ends in a somber tale of family ties severed, and moving on. Creator Matthew Brown keeps things weird but does a good job of playing on themes that we all can relate to, including the aforementioned family plus sex, friendship, angst and everything in between. A young man named Muttula is our hero. In his efforts to find himself and go yonder, he only adds to the confusion by encountering a femme fatale named Partridge Bark, who he rescues from a botched suicide attempt and later has relations with. The happy couple then meet up with a baldo named Torvek Rotinski who… anyway, as you can probably tell, this story is a bit of a mess, but this definitely works to its advantage as the blank expressions on these characters’ faces stand in stark contrast to the life-changing moments they’re about to pass through. (Cameron Gordon)
Comic, Matthew Brown, 36 pgs., $5 CDN, $4 US, 2 Bellwoods Park, Unit #2, Toronto, ON, M6J 2S4, [email protected]