Continuing our Partyka theme this week, we’ve got Sara Edward-Corbett’s See-Saw. This mini is a collection of her See-Saw strips from The New York Press and it’s a gorgeous book.
First off it’s kind of big (8.5” x 9.25”). I had a difficult time arranging it to fit in my scanner. The cover is double-layer stiff red paper with a three color silkscreen design on the front. I think the Partyka offices may have run out of staples at some point, because this one also has a hand-stitched binding. Inside the back cover she has sewed a piece of thick felt fabric that has a silkscreened picture of a duck holding an umbrella. This felt creates a small pocket that holds a neat “cootie catcher” (I had no idea that that’s what they called those things) with sketches on each of the folded surfaces. She has put a lot of work into this collection, it makes me weary just thinking about it.
On the inside there are 36 pages with full page strips from The New York Press. The art in these strips is meticulous and warm. The backgrounds are heavily detailed; Edward-Corbett has definitely got skills when it comes to creating interesting backgrounds and objects. Her classroom desks and walls are so well-rendered that you almost feel like you’re back in grade school. On a couple of pages, you’ll notice a picture of a duck on the classroom wall that matches the felt duck on the inside back cover. You don’t see too many ducks with umbrellas.
The strips in See-Saw are solid and often hilarious. The cast of characters revolves around two girls and two boys and the very weird things that they say and think. As in Peanuts, out of the mouths of babes comes very adult conversations and phrases, but then there’s also plenty of juvenile fare. Chucky’s favorite term is “Fart Knocker,” and yes, one of the characters actually tries to puzzle out what the term means. The set up is this: One of the girls, Meals, is in love with Chucky, but he wants nothing to do with her attentions. Olga and Georgie are brother and sister. Olga is best friends with Meals and Georgie has a weird relationship with Chucky. Georgie and Chucky are friends, but Georgie takes a lot of abuse from Chucky in these pages.
See-Saw is 36 pages and it will set you back $8. Feast your eyes on
a four page preview, though it’s really eight pages as each preview page actually shows you two facing pages.
Once again, here’s the website for you to explore.
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