3 out of 5

A Negative Burn short tale color-touched up by artist Steve Lieber and digitally republished via Monkey Brain.

Busiek – as the title suggests – muses on a wintry morn whilst walking his dog ’round the neighborhood: seeing children sledding in a local park brings to mind memories of his snowy best times, namely a giant snowman and his own sleddin’ locale.  As is often my experience with Kurt, he gently winds his way to something really insightful – recognizing how different events seem as an adult versus through a child’s eyes, and how that will affect his (then recently born) daughter in the upcoming years – but doesn’t do much with it.  He speaks to it maturely, of course, and Lieber gives the strip all due stately grace, but, y’know, it’s just some thoughts.  And that giant snowman is just tossed in as a punchline.

It’s a worthwhile diary entry for / from a new parent, but I do wish Busiek when do more with his thoughts than just muse.