Loiterers

By Simon Bosse. Published by Conundrum Press. 

Softcover, 112 pages, B&W, 2014.

At long last comes the first book in English from the legendary Montreal cartoonist, screenprinter, editor, and publisher! Bossé was part of the new wave of underground comics in Canada in the 1990s that included such artists as Julie Doucet and Henriette Valium. Loiterers collects three of Bossé’s novellas (originally published by L’Oie de Cravan) into one volume. Demon Sweat is a dark fable of a boy navigating a Montreal-like dreamscape, fighting off his demons. The Wild Ones is Bossé’s collection of energetic, complex, and visually stunning wordless comic strips. His style is informed by both Fritz the Cat and Eraserhead – technically astute, absolutely dense, and worth every inch of texture Bossé fills with his pen. It was nominated for a Doug Wright Award in 2010. The title story follows two anthropomorphized teens through playgrounds and suburban backyards looking for that perfect discarded cigarette butt. Together these stories display the dazzling abilities of a mature artist at the height of his talent.