The Lie and How We Told It

In lovingly painted pages of comics art, with black and white intermissions, Australian cartoonist Parrish tells a deceptively simple story of friends grown apart, who run into one another by chance and spend an evening catching up. Cleary and Tim bump into each other at a grocery check-out and reconnect. Over the course of the evening, as much is concealed as is revealed, but what is left at the end is the stark understanding that, at the threshold of adulthood, one person has made emotionally honest choices and the other struggles with his sexuality and with his own heart. Interwoven with this gorgeously colored tale is another, more austere story, an illustrated novella drawn in satisfyingly precise black line, attributed to “Blumf Mcqueen” and dedicated to “pure, unconditional, everlasting love.” This orchestration and interplay of refined visual language is never overworked. Lovers of fine art comics will delight in this worthy discovery. [em](Jan.) [/em]