Graphic Novel Journal@Sean McGurr:[China X'perience] a graphic novel by SAM SEEN.
One of the great things about comics is that if the story telling is good, it doesn't matter if the artist and the reader share the same language. The ideas can be conveyed through images. Sometimes this can be a bad thing (as with the recent controversy over the Danish cartoons), but for Malaysian self-publisher Sam Seen's new book China X'perience (2006, Way Publications, Web site) the lack of words doesn't hinder the reading of the stories at all. The book is made up of nineteen short stories (approximately 2-4 pages) that, other than an English title and a short quote, are completely wordless. The lack of words adds to the surreal nature of the stories. In "Bath" a man looks into the drain while taking a shower and gets sucked in. "Fish Man" has a man swimming through the ocean. He eventually grows gills, scales, and a tail before becoming a fish. Other stories are even creepier involving disembodied arms, cockroaches, and murders. It is Seen's art that creates the mood. The protagonist looks to be the same in most of the stories: a bald man with a rarely expressive face. The relatively simple art, but clear story telling, puts the focus on the strange situations the character finds himself encountering. Seen obviously has a creative mind. Each of the stories is unique and has a dreamlike (or nightmare-like) quality. Ignore the title, these stories are universal, and hunt out this book.
China X'perience 3.5 stars (out of 5) posted by Sean McGurr.
March 02, 2006
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