Review -- HYPOCRITE

Hypocrite
Written by Dakota McFadzean
Pencils by Dakota McFadzean
Indie
It’s always interesting to get a look at a comic from a Saskatchewan creator given there are not a lot of comics created here.
So Hypocrite by Dakota McFadzean was a treat to get a look at.
As a comic Hypocrite is produced in ashcan size, running 22-pages of black and white art.
Stylistically the art reminds of Sunday edition newspaper cartoons, slipping in somewhere between realism and the art of Little Lulu.
It’s not grab you art, but it works.
McFadzean admitted art is something he continues to work at in terms of a defining style.
“'Style is something that I've struggled with,” he said. “When I work on a comic, no matter how hard I try, I often revert to my default way of drawing ... which really isn't particularly eye-catching or unique.
“That said, I tried a little harder to draw naturalistically for this comic. I wanted the Plateau neighbourhood to look real — to invoke a real sense of time and place. I was delighted when a young woman read Hypocrite at the Expozine Alternative Press fair in Montreal and said ‘I used to live in that neighbourhood! It looks exactly like this!’
“In contrast to this, I tried to keep the character's faces simple and undetailed so that the reader would be able to more easily identify with them.
“This was the second time I’ve tried to draw a full-length 24-page comic. Both times, I spent most of the project feeling like I knew nothing. And by the end, I felt like I had learned a little.”
As for McFadzean’s own influence, they are varied.
“There are a number of cartoonists out there who have done really excellent autobiographical work, so it’s impossible not to be influenced by them. Adrian Tomine has become a master of understated, naturalistic storytelling in comics,” he said. “I always tend to over explain things with text, but Tomine is confident enough to allow the story to silently explain itself.
“Robert Crumb is another unavoidable influence on me. I started reading his stuff in my teens, and it's been an unshakable presence whenever I sit down to work on a comic. There have been many artists who have done confessional autobiographies, and Crumb’s work seems to have influenced most of them.”
McFadzean renders a slice of life story here, which rings with truth. It speaks of the reality of relationships in our current world.
At times there are scenes that create smiles and those that tug at the heart, which is of course, a lot like our everyday lives.
I have to credit McFadzean with going with a theme not usually used for material in comics, which tend toward the fantastic.
That said, the audience for Hypocrite may not be vast. That does not mean it should be avoided. In fact, it’s good to expand the boundaries of the medium for comic readers too, and Hypocrite will do that.
“Hypocrite was an attempt to do a straightforward autobiographical story with as little embellishment as possible,” said McFadzean. “The events surrounding my interaction with my former neighbours are true, and I suppose I was trying to make sense of them by putting them into comic form.”
As a book, McFadzean said Hypocrite both impresses him as the creator, but also is a project he would redo differently.
“Whenever I work on a project, I maniacally shift from thinking it's going to be the greatest thing ever made, to thinking that it doesn’t deserve to be run through a photocopier,” he said. “When I finally have a printed copy in my hand, I’m happy for about three minutes, and then I start seeing all the little mistakes, all the things that could have been better, all the bad drawing choices that most readers probably won’t notice but for some reason are all I can see.
“In Hypocrite I wish I had used less text, especially regarding narration.
“Also, I wish I had cross-hatched less. It looks great if you put the time in, but the cross hatching in Hypocrite always looks rushed and flat to me.
“I think these feelings must come from learning so much while working on something. I worked on this thing full time for about two months. I suppose it's natural to feel that I could have done better if I were to do it over again.”
An interesting little book worth a look.Online readers can find McFadzean’s on his website (http://dakotamcfadzean.com), where they can read it for free, or purchase a hard copy. Interested readers can also check out his blog (http://blog.dakotamcfadzean.com), which is updated a little more regularly with information about current work.
-- CALVIN DANIELS

-- Appeared on Yorkton This Week WebXtra