[review] [TRS] Stiro #3

[reviews@lists.zumcomics.info]

Posted by John Robbins

Stiro #3

My osmotic take on writer Forstenski as foppish agitator struggling 
to shake his petit bourgeois mores is not always at odds with the 
tone and subject matter of the stories featured in Stiro , but read 
sans-misconception the third issue is infinitely more digestible and 
thoroughly enjoyable. Again capably aided by Mardou, here the artist 
mostly adopts an economical, cartoonish approach to the art, and 
though this retains only a fraction of the detail and character of 
her Manhole work, it should prove agreeably polished to those with an 
eye for evidence of a more conventional, developed style.

Opening strip 'Marie Antoinette' describes the winding-down of an 
off-kilter romance between a circus wolf-boy and an elusive character 
who may or may not be more than a circus-hand with delusions of Royal 
grandeur. Permeated by a deadpan humour, this two-page tale provides 
some amusing dialogue and contains the instantly classic line Your 
naivety is pleasing, wolf-boy .
In '33 Sleaford Street', the slacker generation is spotlighted as the 
ennui of two unemployed flatmates is interrupted by the introduction 
of a friend's girl to the scene. It's routine slice-of-life stuff, 
but with adroit characterisation and a wit that isn't too laboured, 
is well realised.
At ten pages the Manga parody 'My Name Is Stiro' accounts for almost 
half of the publication and, I'm relieved to report, justifies this 
devotion of space. With ambitious narrative structure it offers 
glimpses into the animated lives of some pure and true youths as they 
join forces to battle the analogous Sea-Badger, sixty metres tall and 
terrorizing Tokyo. A casual deconstruction of the genre adds some 
weight to the laughs and the art is appropriately Manga-functional.
Three short strips end the issue: the slightly indulgent but visually 
inventive 'Terence Gets Uppity', the Clowes-like 'First Date' (which 
contains a priceless panel depicting the dating couple occupying the 
front seats of the '59' double-decker. 'It's just two stops more,' 
says the bloke) and 'It's a Sickness', a half-hearted frustration 
with the fact that sex shades our every fibre - which fails to 
recognise that sex is a biological imperative and is 
indistinguishable from what we call 'personality'.

Stiro #3 is no pseudo-Marxist 'call to arms' or demagogy - I'm 
obviously not absorbing information like I used to! What it is 
however is a thematically symbiotic collection of work that abandons 
sentiment and poignancy for dry wit and a playful edge, and which 
manages a kind of defective charm fuelled by intellect rather than 
emotion. It should certainly prove sound enough entertainment for 
adults, irrespective of class and degree of submission to the ageing 
process.
24 A4 pages, colour cover, £2.50 from Smallzone .

For more info please see:
http://www.bugpowder.com/trs2/005265.html