By Terry Moore
I read the first two collected pocket-size books in
this long-running independent comic series. For the most part, they were
excellent. The stories definitely got better as the series went along.
At first, the plot was a bit cliché and the drawing a little bland.
But soon the plot was intricate and unpredictable, and Moore's drawing
got better and better.
The whole point of the book is character interaction. Francine
is a sweet girl who eats too many cookies and lets men walk all over
her, while Katchoo is her roommate, a feisty artist with a shady past
... who just happens to be madly in love with Francine. Complicating
matters are Freddie, Francine's long-term loser of a boyfriend, and David,
an art student in love with Katchoo. Not to mention a whole host of other
folks. Throw in the Japanese Mafia and a missing
$850,000, and our
intrepid best friends have their hands full.
But the last few issues of the second
book were a serious drawback. They just didn't make sense. The narration
hops around in time, and in and out of dreams, making it hard to follow.
Hopefully those threads are sorted out in the continuing comics.
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