Cartoonist Joel Orff to Debut Waterwise at SPX

Posted: Tuesday, September 28, 2004
Posted By: Shawn Patty

Cartoonist Joel Orff’s new Waterwise (Alternative Comics; ISBN 1-891867-82-2; DCD: JUL04 2539) graphic novel hits bookshelves around the world on Wednesday, September 29 and the artist will be on hand at SPX 2004 to debut his book. SPX 2004 will be held the weekend of October 1-3 at the Holiday Inn Select in downtown Bethesda, Maryland, just one mile outside the nation’s capital, Washington DC. In its tenth year SPX now serves as the preeminent showcase for the exhibition of independent comic books and the discovery of new creative talent. The eagerly awaited Waterwise is already garnering incredible critical acclaim, with new reviews from Publishers Weekly, Booklist, Voice of Youth Advocates among many others. Waterwise is available wherever graphic novels and books are sold.

Imagine a cross between American Splendor and Alice in Wonderland...or imagine a cross between Carl Barks and Carlos Castaneda... In Joel Orff’s new graphic novel he explores these concepts and many more. This is the story of two old friends who are reunited for one night and wander together through a surreal, vaguely apocalyptic landscape, pondering life, griping about their circumstances, and trying to connect. Along the way they explore the nature of dreams, the fragile facade of civilization and the tenderness of a true friendship.

Stapling cast-off newsprint from the local small-town newspaper into little books, Joel Orff churned out a thirty-two page comic once a month for most of his childhood. After his first year of college he threw them all out; a decision that he's still not sure if he regrets. More recently he's been published in several books and magazines around the world, including the Artisti Allibratori Associati publication 'Tattoo Comix' (Italy), Fahrenheit Magazine, (Denmark), 'The Comix Compendium' from Mangijin Books, 'The Stranger' weekly newspaper in Seattle, and 'Heroes of Invention', which was created for the Minnesota Children's Museum. His drawings were included in an exhibition at the National Comic Library in Copenhagen in 1994. In 2001 they were featured at both the Somerville Comix Fest and Curious Brain exhibit in Boston. In 2002 and 2004 he was a finalist for the McKnight Screenwriters Fellowship, and had his first play produced as part of the Minnesota Fringe Festival. Joel Orff's first book Strum and Drang – Great Moments in Rock 'n' Roll (1-891867-27-X) was nominated for the 2004 YALSA Paperbacks for Young Adults Booklist.

Waterwise, By Joel Orff, for Mature Readers, 128 pages, 6” x 9”, $14.95. ISBN: 1-891867-82-2, Diamond Code: JUL042539

For more see: http://www.indyworld.com/orff

From Publishers Weekly
The cartoonist behind Strum and Drang: Great Moments in Rock 'n' Roll, Orff favors moments that are ripe with possibility. His first book-length narrative is a slight but charming evocation of such an instance, one that's particularly sweet. Jim and Emily are childhood friends who meet again, decades later, while on the rebound from breakups; they spend a day together hanging out on a lake, remembering playing in the water when they were younger, and a night at Emily's cabin on its shore. The setup is for a romance (and Orff supplies plenty of moments where you'd expect them to fall into each other's arms or to rip off each other's clothes), but this isn't that kind of story—it's a story about friendship and its particular intimacies, and the joys that people who've known each other forever can take in one another's company. Orff's drawings are rough, spacious and vaguely woodcut-like, savoring the odd crinkles of trees and ripples. An early scene shows Jim drawing his ex-girlfriend, adding detail with each line, and it underscores how carefully (and impressionistically) Orff observes his wobbly, scribbly characters and settings. His writing works the same way: there's no moment of revelation, and very little plot, but by book's end readers will understand the depth and dimensions of the bond between these characters.

From Booklist
A still-young man is sketching by a lake when a voice interrupts him: "Hey there, Jimbo." It's Emily Goodwin, and the lake is the one her family's cabin is on. Jim has hitchhiked to it to recoup from breaking up with his girlfriend, and Emily has been living in the cabin in the wake of a divorce. When they were kids, they spent many happy times at the lake, and they try to redo a few as afternoon turns to evening, and she asks him to stay over because the cabin seems haunted. A master of black and white, and especially of white on black, Orff opens this resonant tale of friendly rather than romantic reconnection with a visual analogue to the meditational Japanese poetic form haiku; seamlessly flashes back to Jim and Emily's past; and sometimes fills present-story backdrops with surreal images sparked by their conversation--all while maintaining the warmth and languor of late summer and the wonder of old friends discovering they still cherish one another. A near-perfect gem of the graphic-novel form. Ray Olson

From Voice of Youth Advocates
When two childhood companions reconnect in the woods on the lake where one has a family cabin, ambitious Emily is just coming off a divorce and newly-single Jim is sketching his ex-girlfriend. Just as Emily comments on the surreal-ness of reconnecting another, the comics becomes surreal as we slip without warning into a variety of flashbacks: a badminton game, a drawing session, waterskiing and other pivotal moments from their shared history. Throughout, the pair contemplate life and spout such gems as hitchhiking is like life (make eye contact, be confident and friendly) and that bravery and fear are nearly the same thing.

The author draws an almost palpable attraction between the two, but Emily invites Jim to stay with her one night on the premise that the cabin may be haunted, the reader half-heartedly expects the relationship is to be consummated, but it doesn’t happen. The message is clear that this is a special and rare friendship, and not taking the expected path, serves as a reminder that one doesn’t defecate where one eats. The two go their separate ways, not sure when they will meet again, but the ball – or rather, birdie – appears to be Jim’s court.

The artwork is dominated by thick lines and lots of solid black backgrounds of sky and water, making the subjects stand out. Some scenes have a woodcut or batik look them, rather than pen or ink. A few wordless sequences evocatively convey Jim’s isolation in the city, and the solid quiet connection the two old friends have. Short on plot but beautifully told, Waterwise is a worthy addition for most public library collections.

The Alternative Comics website is: http://www.indyworld.com/altcomics
Forum: http://www.talkaboutcomics.com/index2.php?c=28#alt

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