3 out of 5

I’ve wandered across Terry Moore here and there in my comic travels and have always dog-earred the spot in my brain as a reminder to check back on him at some point.  But there’s not a standout Watchmen or Filth one-stop to hype; Moore’s series – Strangers in Paradise, Echo, etc. – seem to be slowburn.  So you can start at the beginning, but how far along do you have to go to get bit by a readin’ bug?

Volume 1 of SiP – comprising three issues of comedic, stylized antics of best friends Francine and Katchoo and the boys who do or don’t love them – wouldn’t, admittedly, have caught my eye as the kick-off for something notable, but that’s where we can praise the ease of the digital landscape for allowing me to experience the books without a space-on-the-shelf  barrier to entry.  It’s slice-of-life stuff, for the most part, refreshingly blunt regarding boys and girls and sex without being off-putting, with a full-figured drawing style blending Sam Kieth’s cartoonish extremes with a clear, Jeff Smith-like line and Paul Chadwick sense of pacing: serene with bursts of calamity and / or droll hilarity.  Francine vies for Fred’s attention; Fred’s a piece-of-shit.  Katchoo lusts after Francine; Francine doesn’t do the gay thing.  David, poet, wanders in, and maybe likes both ladies.  We bounce around for pages as fluttering hearts and threatened-violence and attempted sex and drunkenness and shouting and breakups occur, and it’s very much a 90s indie film – amusing, but maybe not much of a central point beyond establishing the characters as people who remind you of yourself or your friends.

But it’s confident from the get-go, and Moore clearly likes his world and leads, which gives the series an inherent charm.