Review: Neptune by Aron Nels Steinke

The more I see of Steinke's comics, the better I like them. He's self-published several mini comics such as Big Plans #1-3 and the Super Crazy Cat Dance. He's also contributed to some great anthology titles like Not My Small Diary and Papercutter. Neptune is his first book-length effort. He worked on the project for over a year. It's based on a story he developed for an animated cartoon several years ago, that was never completed. Rather than let the story languish, he decided to turn it into a comic.

Neptune is about a young girl, her brother, and a stray dog. It's an all-ages story, but it's entertaining enough to be fun for adult readers as well. Steinke is studying to be a teacher, but he's wise enough to acknowledge that kids hate school. It's this honesty and his willingness to explore the perspective of his characters that gives what would otherwise be a charming picture book something more—a little depth.

For example, there's a scene at school in which the Vice Principal calls in the janitor to deal with a dog (Neptune) inside the building. George (the janitor) knows he's got to enforce the rules, but as he rushes to respond he's thinking, "I like dogs, but I've gotta act tough." Besides being a funny line, it shows the conflict the character feels as he tries to reconcile his gut reaction with what he's expected to do.

The book explores the familiar territory of childhood such as getting ready for school in the morning and leaving the house early enough to catch the bus. Then Steinke adds the dream of finding a stray dog that instantly loves the kids as much as they love him. And finally he pushes past reality entirely with another event that adds danger and adventure to the suburban neighborhood setting.

Like his story, Steinke's artwork is charming and entertaining with unexpected depth. He uses bold lines and lots of black. Some panels are stark with only a character's head and a line of dialogue. Others are richly textured with detailed backgrounds or intricate patterns or stippling. Most pages are composed of six uniform panels, but others add drama or mood changes through layout or explode out to the edges of the page.

I saw a few of the originals at a local reading and was surprised by their size. They seemed only slightly larger than the printed pages. Each panel was drawn separately, cut out, and then pasted down onto bristol board. Even the edges of the cut-out panels were carefully colored black before being glued into place to eliminate shadows or the appearance of uneven borders.

Neptune is a real treat, that I highly recommend. It's 160 b&w pages, plus full color cover. 5" x 7", perfect bound, printed by Brown Printing and published jointly by Tugboat Press and Sparkplug Comic Books. It's available for $14 from Powell's Bookstore and other outlets. For his latest projects, check out Aron Nels Steinke's website.

R. Krauss reviews small press and mini comics on Midnight Fiction, Poopsheet Foundation and Comic Related.