Cloud Stories

As the title suggests, each comic here uses clouds as a central theme. Yet the collection, which began as a Kickstarter project in 2013, has a lot of variety, and is drawn in a range of sturdy black-and-white art styles. Some stories have the grounded, lonely sensibility of an Adrian Tomine graphic novel. Others—such as “The Oil,” which is about a sudden and fatal but unnamed infestation at an office complex—revel in nightmare logic. And tales like “Vape” and “The Smoke Runner” unfold in strange, postapocalyptic worlds. While this diversity can be a little jarring, it also keeps Jensen’s collection fresh and moving at a brisk pace. One never gets the sense that he is running out of ideas. Jensen’s previous graphic novel, Red Eye, Black Eye, used a road trip to maintain narrative cohesion, but this collection doesn’t have a unifying element (beside clouds), and some stories evaporate before they take shape, despite Jensen’s obvious skills as a cartoonist. (BookLife)