I'll be honest. I don't Kickstart nearly enough. I tend to settle into the tried and true stuff. If you read this blog, you see what I read. Your basic generic superhero slop. And I like it. I used to read a lot more independent books back in the day, but the older I've gotten, the fewer risks I tend to take.
This book is written and drawn by my buddy Howie Noel. It's an autobiographical book about his struggles with anxiety. That's a subject near and dear to my heart. I suffer from anxiety, but I tend to think of it as fairly mild anxiety compared to others. But I know what it does to you, I know how it can make you feel helpless, lost, alone. I know how crippling it can be. So I was very anxious to pick this up.
First things first, this is one of the most visually stunning books I've read in a really long time. Howie's art is a thing of beauty. His storytelling in this book it top notch. There's nothing complex about his layouts or finished art, but that's what makes it fit so perfectly here. Some of the best pages are the splash pages throughout the book. Very uncomplicated, very clean, very beautiful.
The story itself was not what I was expecting. I think I was looking for a very talking head kind of book, but instead, as I read this, I realized it's less the story I was expecting and more like a day in the head of the storyteller, dealing with the anxiety. Some of the cuts in the book feel a little quick and the more I thought about it, when you're having a panic attack or an anxiety attack, that's exactly what your brain is doing. Going from one thought to the next in the beat of a heart. I think it's a really effective storytelling technique, one that I didn't totally get at first, but the more I thought about what I just read, the more it gelled in my head.
I really, really recommend this book.
Float
Writer: Howie Noel
Artist: Howie Noel
HCNoel Comics
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