Be Patience

This weekend I read Patience, the new graphic work by Dan Clowes. Published by Fantagraphics, it's oversized and hardbound. The blurb describes it as "a psychedelic science-fiction love story," which sounds about right. It's about a guy whose girl gets pregnant, and the bad thing that happens to her, and what happens when you travel through time to fix things and sometimes end up fucking up everything. At times, it can feel a bit dry or campy noir. The tale is at its best when it gets freaky and Clowes allows his visuals to go nuclear. The book also raises some interesting philosophical questions about love and identity. "I could feel myself breaking apart," the main character confesses, "each little chunk somehow fully alive and conscious." As it turns out, it's not always easy to keep yourself together when you don't know who you are or where you belong.