Stiro #1 by Mardou and Fortenski
2003
Discovering Stiro was one of those serendipitous
events that make your day just seem a whole lot better. Chosen
especially for Cherry Bomb Comics by Debra Boyask, a NZ comic book
laydee who lives in the UK at the moment, Stiro is a 3 issue comic drawn by Mardou (girl) and written by Fortenski (boy).
And it is hilarious. I am one of those self-conscious people who never
laughs out loud while reading, but - (it's a breakthrough) - I did with
Stiro !!
The writing style is very laid back, cool to the point of being
pretentious - but it knows it, and that's the point, so it comes full
circle back to cool again. It makes you wanna don your stripy sweater
and your beret and stand on street corners and shoot spud guns at
passing tourists....just like....
...Marie Antoinette...the first character we meet in Stiro #1.
When Marie Antoinette is not taking out tourists, she is charming every
man she meets, forcing them to Dance! Dance! Dance! for her. The comic
is made up of lots of small, unrelated stories set in mostly England
and France. They take a dead pan look at some of the things that make
up our society: self-help books, the intrinsic coolness of smoking,
being a punk rock absent father, psychics and talking bottles of
whiskey (you know, all of those things that make up our daily life),
and they even throw in a board game "Friday Night" that would put the
Game of Life to shame. What more could you ask for really?
Mardou also does a comic called Manhole , which she writes and illustrates. Maybe I'll review that next time.
MS 15/8/04