Pope Hats #1/#2/#3
Ethan Rilly
Adhouse, 32pp/40pp/40pp, $4.00/$6.95/$6.95
It feels rather cruel to be reviewing a comic like Pope Hats. “Hey, here’s an awesome series! You’re going to have to work pretty hard to get hold of it, because the issues go in and out of print regularly. Right now you can get the first and third, but you’ll have to sit tight hoping that the second is reprinted. Oh, and if you do like it, it will probably be a year until the next one.”
Such are the pains of getting stuck in to the US small-press scene. Serialisation is frequently a frustrating experience for the reader, but never more so that when the sums are such that the author has to hold another (“real”) job to make ends meet. But with Pope Hats, Ethan Rilly proves that the wait can be worth it.
Rilly burst into consciousness with the first issue in 2009, which was largely based on a self-published – photocopied, even – minicomic made and sold in the Toronto area in 2009. It focuses on Franny, a young law clerk, and Vickie, an alcoholic wannabe-actress and her best friend. Also featured is Saarsgard, a ghost who is stalking Franny, and kills her neighbours cat for attention.
Despite the apparently fantastical element, the book is a down-to-earth, though lighthearted, look at the shitty life of a recent university graduate in modern America. Vickie is the friend who’s “taking a break” before starting a career – the one who has the sex, the parties, and then, seemingly, gets the career anyway. Franny, head down and hard-working, seems to be driving herself to a breakdown by thirty.
The comic is split into two stories, in the one-man-anthology format popular twenty years ago (it was the bread and butter of cartoonists like Daniel Clowes, Chris Ware and Chester Brown), but less and less common today. Michael DeForge’s Lose series is the only other that comes to mind – the product of another Toronto-based artist. Maybe it’s something in the water?
That format continues into Pope Hats #2 and #3, but Rilly never quite seems sure what his extra pages are for. The first comic is split nearly half and half between the main narrative and the “back-up” strip, featuring Franny in a diner “telling stories”. The whole thing is framed square on to her, and for the most part she’s speaking directly to the reader – a tricky shot to get right, and one which can get boring fast. It’s testament to Rilly’s character work that that never happens.
The back-up strips in the second comic – by far the strongest of the three out so far – are more fully-featured. The first, Gould Speaks, is a monologue set almost entirely on a coach journey to Montreal. Gould comments on his journey, while mulling over Lindsay, who we see in fleeting shots sleeping, waiting.
She sleeps so soundly… eight solid hours, every night. It almost bothers me.
Where are the demons?
It’s a powerful piece, and like the main story in Pope Hats, cut through with a streak of weirdness, as it slowly becomes apparent that Gould’s monologue isn’t entirely unheard by the rest of the coach after all.
That weirdness is less and less evidence in Franny and Vickie’s story as the issues progress, however. Saarsgard, the stalker ghost, disappears – whether this is a meaningful point of plot or simply Rilly deciding not to write him anymore is unclear – and his half of the action is replaced with Franny’s hellish new job. The observational aspects of life in a high-pressure corporate law firm are (to the best of my knowledge) spot on, and Rilly has spoken in interviews about being extremely interested in the “unique environment” it presents. Though firmly true to life, elements of the earlier volume’s strangeness poke through, particularly in the design and characterisation of Franny’s boss, Castonguay. Drawn as a monster of a man, with an obsession with working out and a caricature of an executive’s determination, he sets an imposing figure.
As the book enters its third volume, which was released in November, it’s clear where Rilly’s heart is. The story of Franny and Vickie takes a back seat to the office drama, and Vickie even announces a move to LA on the back of some acting success. It would be a shame if the characters end up being parted so the story can change tack – with Vickie cast off as Saarsgard was – and hopefully the thread gets a proper ending.
Similarly, the back-up stories are reduced to just two pages, and are all adaptations – two of Spalding Gray anecdotes, and one from an interview with Ai Weiwei (featuring his famous lazy cats). They’re examples of strong cartooning, but when you’ve got a voice as honed as Rilly’s, you don’t need to use others’ words.
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