What Is Left by Rosemary Valero-O'Connell

I like knowing what type of books people keep gravitating towards, so it’s a shame that I have yet to do that. I did find myself wishing the color in the entire book were as bold and dark as the breathtaking cover.I like it when people discuss the books they recently purchased or got from the publisher. The colors in this book are more complex and still somehow less refined and paired down than the simple black, white, pink of 'Laura Dean keeps breaking up with me' but there is a LOT to look at and dive into, much like the memories being portrayed.

Valero O'Connell is so talented, and so effortless in her composition and the flowing of a narrative through clean, smooth line and exact coloring. She can never REALLY know this person, yet she knows everything about them and she can never truly interact with the dreams and yet she sees every part of this girl's life, in no order in particular. The ship we are on is fueled by one woman's dreams and memories and when it crashes our protagonist is stuck, with the source of the life that fuels the ship, in a sort of limbo. This story (and it's seamless illustrations) have the feel of a surreal, space age dream. And, uh, maybe I should start buying the actual boxes on spec, because this order was three for three.Įlegant and cool, Valero-O'Connell leaves everything so open to the imagination, yet specific. This book, the Carroll one, and the Schwartz one below were all published by Shortbox, which I'd noticed before (I remember some major buzz from comics people when it launched) but hadn't ordered anything from until now.

It reminds me a little bit of The Invention of Morel, but with a much gentler emotional vibe. Also, here's another excellent comic, much shorter.)Īnyway, What is Left is a weird meditative thing, about a survivor of a deep space shipwreck thrown into a sort of cognitive netherworld she's alive, but she finds herself haunting the memories of another (probably dead) crewmember, watching scrambled moments from her life and unable to interact with them. (Sifting through her site, I'm now recognizing a few illos that must have rolled through on Twitter or Tumblr ages ago. This was also excellent and beautiful, and it came completely out of left field because I had no idea who Rosemary Valero-O'connell was.

What Is Left by Rosemary Valero-O'Connell