Grommets #4 // Reviews
He’s just sitting down to dinner when Samra calls. She wants to know if he’s going to Brian’s party. So he’s thinking maybe he’s going to go. Only thing is...his dad wants to talk to him about something. There’s some new that’s going to make things a whole hell of a lot more complicated for him in Grommets #4. The writing team of Rick Remender and Brian Poesehn move through the midpoint of their seven-part series in another issue drawn by Brett Parson with color by Moreno Dinisio. The retro comic drama continues to wander its way across the page with a few fun moments here and there.
His dad says they’re moving at the end of the summer. To Phoenix. They’re moving again. And he’s just finally starting settling-in. He’s making friends. There’s a girl who likes him. Now he’s got to start the whole process over a few hundred miles to the East right before he starts high school. So maybe he IS going to that party after all. He needs to think about things. And so maybe he’s going to steal his mom’s car to get there. He’s not exactly feeling good about things...
Remender and Posehn move the story along with a solid sense of drama. From frozen dinner to a conversation with a friend to a party watching a rental movie on VHS, the whole thing feels very natural and organic. It’s worth noting that movies and television generally feel a need for more structure with this sort of thing...and that structure kills the organic, natural potential of a coming-of-age drama. This is a kid on his way to Freshman year in high school in 1985. It’s a pretty aimless restlessness that he’s dealing with. It’s nice to see that come through in a script that doesn’t feel the need for a three-act Hollywood plot structure or some kind of artificially-induced made-for-TV rhythm.
So often it is the case that the audience is completing the illusion that a period piece is set in...for instance...1985. Parson and Dinisio are beginning very sharply-researched visuals to their budget 1985 California that feel authentic enough to have been drawn in 1985. In a way...it’s almost weird to see this sort of thing brought to the page without the lower-res colors of 1985 newsprint as the rest of the art feels SO authentic to the era.
The definition that Dinisio puts into the colors really draws Grommets out of the authenticity. It’s kind of disorienting. So often period dramas from the 20th century feel the need to throw a wink and a nod to contemporary audiences about the quaintness of an earlier time. Remender and Posehn do a really good job of keeping it all grounded in the reality of 1985. The story isn’t wearing the era like a costume...it really DOES feel totally ensconced in it...and much of the drama that’s in the issue could easily be placed in any other era. That’s quite an accomplishment given how often these things tend to devolve into campy nostalgia.
Grade: A
