The Bridge Project Volume One Ed. by Matt Leunig
The Bridge Project Volume One
Ed. by Matt Leunig
Scraped Knee
It’s only natural for a cartoonist living in the middle of the country to glamorize life on the west or east coast of the U.S. There, you’d always find someone to drink and draw with who could help you fix your bike or navigate public transportation. Sounds great.
The Bridge Project, edited by Matt Leunig, is an anthology focused on west coast cartoonists. Particularly, it demystifies a little about the dreams and lifestyles of 23 of cartoonists living in Portland, OR, and California’s San Francisco Bay Area. I believe the core audience for this material is made up of the following people: those considering a move to these areas, and those current inhabitants who would like to contribute to volume two.
A team was assembled for each of the book’s 13 stories including one cartoonist from each region (so two artists on one story ideally), and the problem lay in how those collaborators would complete their contribution. The result is an interesting display of temperament and cooperation from creative-types in two cities who are more accustommed to doing things solo AKA DIY.
As far as anthologies go, The Bridge Project is one of the better books I’ve seen in terms of talent and concept. Its intent was to bridge two neighboring comics communities together, but with the added challenge of including some mention of either Portland or San Francisco within the comic. As a result, the book does educate the reader somewhat about the authors’ locations and lifestyles and become quite interesting.
It’s funny how much people resent stereotypes, until they self-reflect. The artists in this book were quick to talk about how vegan, nerdy and independent their communities seem to be, which is exactly what I would have guessed as an outsider.
The book takes a little time to laugh at the communities’ known social traits in this way, particularly Jonathan Hill and Calvin Wong’s story “Future Jerks,” in which a vagabond in the future tries to navigate the different strata of Portland’s post-apocalyptic punk and indie scenes. Other stories incorporate musings on the terrain, like in Graham Annable and Scott Campbell’s “Shanghooked,” about a thrill-seeker and a salty sailor destined for an ocean adventure.
Being that the idea is to bridge two similar communities together through their common involvement in the comics medium, I’d like to think it was a success. However, I wonder how the book was released. Was the party in California or Oregon or both? Or at all? As much as one community might appreciate another, it’s a whole different matter when one of you is expected to drive 10 hours to celebrate how close you all are.
The method of collaboration must have been an interesting hurdle to surmount at such a distance. I found that the comics with the least amount of varyation in style the easiest to digest just for their visual continuity, which can be important with more complicated storylines involving multiple characters. Matt Leunig and Seamus Heffernan’s contribution “Lost Intersection” had the most difficult story of all, spanning large amounts of time where the three main characters ranged in age from child to aged geezer. It took some concentration to keep the characters straight given the creators’ different drawing and inking styles — almost too much to really accept the full intertwinings of the plot. I’m sure a second reading would right this just fine, but from an observational standpoint here’s some advice to other collaborators on non-anthology projects: if you’re thinking of creating a big complicated story as your life’s opus, maybe that comic should be penned by the same hand throughout. I’ll close the book on that one until someone proves me wrong and makes a case for every-other-panel jam-style comics as legitimate launchpads for intricate storytelling. Just saying.
Since Peter Conrad’s partner for the book flaked out, his contribution, aptly titled “The Bridge Project” was more proof of another flaw of collaboration. Sometimes your partner just can’t pull through like they intend to do. But that’s life all around. You don’t need to live in the Bay Area to get left on the hook for some project you’ve now got to do alone.
All said, it’s a nice little book and I hope it attracts new talent for the next volume. The book is $9.95 from Scraped Knee, but doesn’t seem to be available for purchase online. I suggest writing a letter to the editor.
- Sarah Morean
Tags: calvin wong, graham annable, Jonathan Hill, matt leunig, peter conrad, Portland, San Francisco, scott campbell, seamus heffernan, the bridge project
By Neil Brideau, July 18, 2009 @ 9:50 am
It’s funny, I actually thought “Lost Intersection” was the best story in the book, as it forced me to concentrate on the story, flip back and forth between pages and actively think through the story. As the intertwining tales unwound to reveal the over arching chronology, I really appreciated that I had to be engaged with the story to get it.