Helder

Helder and Showing Helder by Chester Brown are like pivot points in comics history. They were the first two stories he did in the comic book series Yummy Fur after the Ed the Happy Clown serial ended. I found the issues, numbers 19 and 20 -pathetic looking dog eared COMIC BOOKS not in bags, recently in a "ten for a dollar" bin in some suburb outside of Pittsburgh. Just happening to come across them as issues reminded of why they were so powerful when they were released. They're not precious. They aren't "important" or made to feel that way with hardcovers and a belly band with quotes by famous people telling the reader how "important" these stories are to the current generation of cartoonists. I mean, well, that is true, the two stories mentioned above are maybe the most interesting stand alone examples of late 20th century cartooning that I can think of...AND they're bookends. One is "the story" and one is the making of that story. It's a fascinating moebius strip of a reading experience. Try it. But, but, but, whats interesting is how they, the issues, were like Sleeper Agents, they didn't make people laff out loud like the Ed stories they instead slowly radiated from the center out. More and more people got hep to the "change" Chester had made and it was as though he documented the very change for everyone to see. Incredible.