Sixteen Miles to Merricks and other works
Barnaby Ward, story and art
Frog Children Studios
Preview

Ever come home and feel like it’s not your home? That’s an over-simplification of Barnaby Ward’s new graphic novel, Sixteen Miles to Merricks when a young salesman comes home to find an adorable woman in his place. Chadwick is lead into a closet by her and the once the door is closed behind them the labyrinth begins of endless turns and rooms with locks on them. Her name is Natalie, and she is in possession of one key that opens only some of the doors. Is Chadwick dreaming? Is this all in his mind? Can he wake up? What if it’s all real? Readers never quite know. The more Chadwick thinks, something closes in on them. With no way to turn back, the two must forge ahead in search of the exit. Not knowing anything about these two adds to the mystery. It’s non-sensical, a wild hike into Ward’s subconscious or the result of one long drunken night at the drawing board, you”ll turn the pages faster and faster.

In the second half are three short stories which dabble in Ward’s weird wonderworld of illustration. Highbeernation is particularly inventive, Rooftops explores the trouble of getting good TV reception and The Forest is a surrealistic love story. The short stories are almost like storyboards for animated shorts, beautifully drawn. They have a tighter focus, though are not any less abstract, but prove that disbelief still exists in illustration. If that’s not enough for your $29.99, there’s over 30+ illustrations and other short works by Ward and artists inspired by Sixteen Miles…

Ward’s work is honed for bigger things, commercial graphic design for instance or even fashion but lets home comics has found a new star. While the idea of such a unique art style in combination with mainstream American comics could work (think of the late Seth Fisher), I’d prefer to see his art develop through original work because the potential is there to leave people breathless. At every page you just want to stop and say, “Whoa.” And then… that feeling of going down the big hill roller coaster comes close to describing it.

When an artist comes along with such a handle of Gestalt design and a command of color, the last thing you want to do is clutter it up with a tight script. Occasionally I want to be adrift in just sequential art. Sixteen Miles to Merricks provides me that bizzare destination to be lost, to wander in and out of Ward’s wide panels, hipsters with molded hair and cupcake cute girls in two piece suits and super-short skirts. If you haven’t been surprised lately, pick this up.

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