By Ayo
“I Think of Demons,” b/w “Sticky-Icky-Icky”
Box Brown
Drippy Bone Books, 2013
Box Brown captures a lot of middle-class male aggression in these two stories and previous comics in this tone. Brown pares down his style and uses super straight contour lines and unusual angles to build his forms. This time around, the cartoonist is striving for a sort of minimalism at the opposite end of the spectrum than unformed; this minimalism is highly informed minimalism. Reductionism, I suppose. Essential elements.
“I Think of Demons” is a personal favorite of mine, in Box Brown’s repertoire of stories. His young man protagonist (Prickly Pete) is angry at the world, drenched in a misanthropy that he can no longer contain and that is poisoning his immediate relationships.
On the literal flip-side, “Stiky-icky-icky” is a comic about stoners, getting stoned. They are a bunch of jerks in some ways but as the story progresses, it seems that the characters are more abrasive than abusive. Although they aren’t kind. These characters don’t truly have much open communication between them so they hurl invective and act carelessly as a desperate attempt to connect to one another.
Life is a struggle.
@darrylayo
comixcube.com 
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