A third outing for UK small press comics legend Ed Pinsent in the Colossive Cartographies series from Colossive Press acts as a welcome reminder of the unique vision of this veteran of the scene. Indeed, between his contributions to the Cartographies, and the annual Ugly Mug anthologies, Pinsent has been something of a semi-regular presence here at Broken Frontier in recent years. His ‘Astorial Shower App’ marks the sixty-third edition in the Cartographies series.
Proponents of the form will often remind us that rather than being a niche storytelling medium comics are, in fact, around us in multiple everyday forms. It’s simply that our minds have stopped processing them as sequential art. Illustrated manuals and “how-to” guides are an excellent example of this and in ‘Astorial Shower App’ we are treated to one of those diagrammatical sets of instructions. Only with a typically bizarre Pinsent-ian flourish.
In the folds of the zine we get the step-by-step procedures for fitting the app; one that provides a shower with capabilities that seem arcane, ritualistic and even a little otherworldly: “STEP 3. When bathing voices may command your actions. Heed them even if painful. The cycle must be completed on risk.”
The fold-out centre of #63 then gives us those traditional stick figures that we may remember from everything from aeroplane safety guides to fire evacuation instructions. But this time they are illustrating the surreal and wonderfully weird features of the ‘Astorial Shower App’, from its ability to provide “extra eel injection” into its watery flow through to its “speed drown feature” and its “ice in the brain” capability. The strangeness of each feeling far more heightened for their presentation in such a mundane and clinical style than they ever would if more graphically portrayed.
You just have to browse through the list of recent Colossive Cartographies we have reviewed at BF for an idea of how varied and diverse they are in style and subject matter. They are simply one of the finest reflections of the creative fortitude of the contemporary UK DIY culture scene.
Ed Pinsent (W/A) • Colossive Press, £2.00
Review by Andy Oliver
