Whores Of Mensa
Posted on August 13, 2004
Probably fuelled by a fug of Bacardi Breezer and Marlboro Light, this flirty, giggly anthology of strips comes courtesy of libidinous cartoonists Jeremy Dennis, Mardou and Lucy Sweet. Comprising work created individually but with (mostly) symbiotic intent, the collection manages a cohesive, light-hearted whole, coloured by muted sophistication.
Dennis offers 'The Society Of Dead Poets', an amusing, character-driven piece which describes an interruption to the cartoonist’s discipline and art-time by lusting literary sorts of yore, amongst them: John Keats, Aubrey Beardsley and Aphra Behn. (No, me neither.) Kind of lacking direction, and consequently impetus, this erotically charged strip is best savoured for its spellbindingly fluid cartooning of the clean-line variety, which dances oh-so-seductively from panel to panel with pic-teasing allure.
The Sweet section opens wide with double entendre-strewn ‘Justin Timberlake Laid My Laminate!’ - “Ooh! You are awful!” indeed! – and then frantically follows with short, punchy strips which mostly revel in the excesses of fad-informed life. Occasionally shooting blanks script-wise, but always with endearing Carrie Bradshaw-like exuberance, Sweet’s sound design sense and delightfully earthy cartooning prove an irresistibly lovable combination.
Appealing goofballery abounds in ‘Dojo My Love’ as Mardou beckons with a sequentially indulgent reworking-of-sorts of also-featured 1-page gem ‘Sillitoe’s Baby’ – both of which are sexually concerned with The Karate Kid’s Mr Miyagi, among others! With Mardou’s artistic effort seemingly diverted towards achieving a visual polish at the expense of detail and textural nuance, her cartooning is mostly reduced to role of functional support. No bad thing this when final strip ‘Fahrenheit 50/50’ offers a clever script and fitting climax as it adapts book/movie ‘Fahrenheit 451’ for a comics audience - to hilarious and slightly unsettling consequence.
Whores Of Mensa? You’ll not find intellectual experiences peddled here. No, these whores are faking it. However, if you yearn for a bit of frothy, lip-glossed entertainment that tolerates little emotion and eloquently says nothing, this is the trick for you. It’s the perfect book-buddy!
Probably fuelled by a fug of Bacardi Breezer and Marlboro Light, this flirty, giggly anthology of strips comes courtesy of libidinous cartoonists Jeremy Dennis, Mardou and Lucy Sweet. Comprising work created individually but with (mostly) symbiotic intent, the collection manages a cohesive, light-hearted whole, coloured by muted sophistication.
Dennis offers 'The Society Of Dead Poets', an amusing, character-driven piece which describes an interruption to the cartoonist’s discipline and art-time by lusting literary sorts of yore, amongst them: John Keats, Aubrey Beardsley and Aphra Behn. (No, me neither.) Kind of lacking direction, and consequently impetus, this erotically charged strip is best savoured for its spellbindingly fluid cartooning of the clean-line variety, which dances oh-so-seductively from panel to panel with pic-teasing allure.
The Sweet section opens wide with double entendre-strewn ‘Justin Timberlake Laid My Laminate!’ - “Ooh! You are awful!” indeed! – and then frantically follows with short, punchy strips which mostly revel in the excesses of fad-informed life. Occasionally shooting blanks script-wise, but always with endearing Carrie Bradshaw-like exuberance, Sweet’s sound design sense and delightfully earthy cartooning prove an irresistibly lovable combination.
Appealing goofballery abounds in ‘Dojo My Love’ as Mardou beckons with a sequentially indulgent reworking-of-sorts of also-featured 1-page gem ‘Sillitoe’s Baby’ – both of which are sexually concerned with The Karate Kid’s Mr Miyagi, among others! With Mardou’s artistic effort seemingly diverted towards achieving a visual polish at the expense of detail and textural nuance, her cartooning is mostly reduced to role of functional support. No bad thing this when final strip ‘Fahrenheit 50/50’ offers a clever script and fitting climax as it adapts book/movie ‘Fahrenheit 451’ for a comics audience - to hilarious and slightly unsettling consequence.
Whores Of Mensa? You’ll not find intellectual experiences peddled here. No, these whores are faking it. However, if you yearn for a bit of frothy, lip-glossed entertainment that tolerates little emotion and eloquently says nothing, this is the trick for you. It’s the perfect book-buddy!
32 A4 pages, £3 - check availability at http://cleanskies.livejournal.com/