Colours Side A, a self-published project from creator Nev Bamshew, is not your typical indie comic. I realised this when I received not only my copy of the book, but also a monochrome version, fully devoid of colour, and a tape cassette filled with songs to listen to whilst reading. Sadly, I no longer have a tape recorder, but even holding a tape cassette in my hands brought back a sense of nostalgia for simpler times – a feeling that I later discovered perfectly accompanies Colours. While I’m unable to comment of the accompanying tracks Bamshew curated to go alongside this project, I can certainly dive into the detailed eccentricity that is Colours: Side A.
“Memories. Feelings. Words. Do you value one over the others? Or are they all the same thing? Are they even real? Do you even know if what you know is real?”. Catered towards a mature audience, Colours is a uniquely framed story in that it is a dual narrative, told linearly; the story of a blue-haired boy is told through hand-drawn, traditional illustration, whilst that of a cherry-haired girl is told through prose and metered poetry. Initially, the stories couldn’t be more different; the boy is excited about a burgeoning relationship, whilst the girl is mourning the breakdown of one. As the story goes on, their two narratives run linear, cross and then intertwine in unexpected ways, forming a whole new cohesive storyline – a whole new array of colours.
A recurring motif throughout is, of course, colour, as hinted at by the title. Whilst Bamshew uses a neon colour pallet to highlight expressions and emotions, he also incorporates colours into the prosaic language during particularly heightened moments: “see your colours bleed out”. Colours is alternately titled ‘Raindrops on the Pizza Shop Window’, a reference to one of the cherry haired-girl’s couplets, in which she refers to her ex-partner’s colours becoming diluted and blurry, “like looking at raindrops on the pizza shop window that night. Reflecting the colours back at us…running. Colliding. Vanishing.” Bamshew has described the basis of the book as “finding something that’s real to hold on to when everything seems unreal”, and my interpretation of the enigma of ‘colours’ throughout was that it referred to the different facets and personalities of one person. Variables, versions and shades of oneself, that have to be accepted wholly, and loved, and not taken for granted. Otherwise, the bright neon colours, and the people they belong to, just fade: “Our colours met. Danced. Embraced. And we bled together just like raindrops.”
The style in which cherry-haired girls’ prose is written is interesting; almost like slam poetry with rhyming couplets, with metaphors and similes abounding in each line. Both the art style and the language play on themes of contradicting emotions and thoughts, which can make following the story a slightly hard to follow at times, but it’s absolutely understandable that a dual narrative should be harder to follow than one linear story. The feel and colouring of the book was based on an old Middlesbrough nightclub, The Crown; a place where “it always felt like you were walking into a singularity, where anything can happen”, and the sense of reckless abandonment and hope permeates through the book both visually and literarily as it goes on.
All in all, Colours made a unique reading experience, and is clearly a labour of love from Nev Bamshew, who has worked on the project for over ten years. Thank you very much for allowing me to review such a personal and emotional project.
Nev Bamshew (W/A) • Self-published, £12.99
Review by Lydia Turner
