Floating World Comics presents its latest publication – Violence Valley, a 64 page odyssey of animated absurdity by Jesse McManus.
A bright, dumb, gap-toothed lad goes rambling out-doors, inevitably finding himself within the deepest bowels of a living, breathing dog. His passage out the other end involves homespun dental work, a transforming pan-flute and the kind of reverse infestation which will make anyone look twice before they flush.
This comic, told with a void of verbiage that would make Franz Masreel howl at the moon, writhes with rubbery ink while doing a frenetic dance on the fence between classic cartooning and op-art abstraction. If you shoved John Kricfalusi in a blender with Mat Brinkman and successfully dared Bridget Riley to drink the mixture, her resulting stool would look identical to this comic book.
For some, it will recall the joys of freestyle walking down curved pavement, greeting dripping dogs and cross-eyed children. For others, it will recall their lunch as it lurches onto their tongue. In either case, the cyclical structure and ingrained velocity of Violence Valley will instigate the kind of reading experience that leaves folks wet and grinning.
LISTING INFORMATION:
WHO: Jesse McManus
WHAT: Violence Valley book release and art exhibit
WHEN: Thursday Dec. 1st, 6-10pm
WHERE: Floating World Comics, 400 NW Couch St.
BIO INFORMATION:
Jesse McManus was born in 1986 and lives in Portland, OR. Though Violence Valley is his first solo comic book to be published, he has appeared in the anthologies Kramers Ergot 7 and Dan Quayl as well as a slew of mini-comics.
His recent animation work has been shown in the Floating World Animation Festival DMTV2 and the Eyeworks Festival in Chicago, IL. He spends daylight hours working at Bent Image Lab as a character designer and production assistant.