Pipis: City of Tales #5

Posted: Tuesday, October 28, 2003
By: Darren Schroeder

Creator: Stefan Neville and Clayton Noone
Publisher: Oats (Self Published)
Address: PO Box 68518, Newton, Auckland, New Zealand .
Price: $6 (NZ)

Life in the city can get pretty starge. Old guys expose themselves to car-laods of women,, robots gamble and swap opinions about New Zealand Music, a pack of dogs chat about a a dear departed friend, along with more several more surreal tales by Stefan and Clayton

It's always a treat to receive the latest offering from the oats collective. As usual this one has a groovy cover. I'm guessing that this is a lino cut. The stories are short, usually taking the form of a short conversation or an observation of the strange side of life. For such a free flowing collection it manages to achieve a high rate of thoughtful strips. Don't get me wrong, this isn't philosophy, but it isn't brainless either. It makes you wonder about the sort of characters it portrays; why do they do that? The comic questions the conventional middle class view of life that most New Zealanders have.

Now I'm not sure exactly who does the artwork, but Stefan and Clayton always come up with stuff that has atmosphere. All the characters have a real lived in look, they aren't pretty or handsome, they are just people. They live in beat-up houses, grotty streets and dirty cars.

For a David Lynch like look at life, this can't be beat.

In a Word: Experimental

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