REVIEW | Seconds by Bryan Lee O'Malley
copyright © by Bryan Lee O’Malley
Seconds by Bryan Lee O’Malley
by Jack Croughwell
Most famous for his Scott Pilgrim series, Bryan Lee O’Malley came out with an utterly delightful standalone graphic novel Seconds back in 2014. One of the reasons I have always loved graphic narratives is because I can usually read them in a day. I did so with all the Scott Pilgrims and Fun Home and Blankets, but Seconds was different. For some ethereal reason (most likely general exhaustion) it took three days for me to read. A blessing, probably, because immediately I was in love. The book had become the poster child of O’Malley’s books on my shelves. I could carry with me to places so I could be continually wowed. So, the process of reading it happened at the right time. Finals were at the doorstep, and theatre had exited through the back, the house only had me, studying, and a library with a hefty TBR pile. Still, it took three days.
In those three days, I got to know Katie: the spunky lil ragamuffin who was in the process of opening her own restaurant. Over the course of the graphic novel, Katie receives a cauldron with redcap mushrooms inside and when she eats one, she gets a do-over. Time reverts back and she can try again. When she screws up something in her personal relationships she can just eat a mushroom. Warned not to, though, by the odd Lis, which tells us that Katie’s hubris will come back to bite her in the ass. The story is simple enough, and fun to experience. O’Malley’s character design and style of illustration is an utmost delight. Katie has large, pointy hair and when she is angry or far away sometimes all she appears as is a face on a spiky red ball. The way O’Malley renders emotion is a joy: growth is earnest, pity is hysterical, cockiness is a spectrum of Are You Kidding Me?
The indelible charm of Bryan Lee O’Malley’s style mixed with his well-designed and flawed characters take a relatively classic narrative structure and have it beguile the reader for three whole, tired days before it’s time to work again. Definitely, fans of Scott Pilgrim should take up this novel for another taste of O’Malley’s easy-going storytelling prowess. Especially for New Adult readers, most likely people in their twenties or early thirties. O’Malley speaks truth to the weirdness of being a quote-unquote grownup. His characters are idiosyncratic, they’re at times ambitious, and at other times wayward, and their whimsical art style emphasizes a lot of the humor that people of this age range use to get by. Humor is a release. And oftentimes, a liberation.
Seconds, the title itself is a play on time and going back for more food, is a witty jaunt in Katie’s world as she just tries to get it right. The story bounces and jokes. And the illustration deftly showcases the strengths of Graphic Novel as a medium.
Thanks Jack!
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