Moving Pictures Review

I've just finished reading "Moving Pictures" (Top Shelf), by Kathryn (writer) and Stuart Immomen (artist). I snagged it at the Top Shelf booth at Comic-Con. The graphic novel's stark simplicity caught my eye. I strive unsuccessfully for this
in my own work.

On one hand,  the book is a keeper for the afore mentioned extreme graphic
simplicity of the art. Definitely some swipeable stuff here. I've never followed
Immomen's superhero work; it seems pretty good, but there's nothing interesting about it to me. But  "Moving Pictures" has a really cool look.

On the other hand, I had difficulty following the story on first reading. There
was nothing graphically to help one keep track of the two narrative streams and time dislocations. I was ambivalent about the pacing which was slow, stately and reflective. It
was a tonic compared to the over-amped over-hyped crap that passes for
storytelling these days. But everything was SO serious. If any of the characters ever cracked a smile, it was a wan, ironic, thin lipped smile. Also, I would have preferred opening up the
story some to show some of the events referred to in the dialogue (Nazi's taking over in France, disappearing whole groups of people, etc), but that
would have conflicted with the interior/closed-room nature of the story I
suppose.

I liked the production values. The water color paper used for the cover and
similar (but smooth) paper of the interior pages gave the whole thing a very
classy look and feel.