Lovely, discursive, and more than a little disjointed, Adam De Souza’s comic strip “Blind Alley” follows the low-key adventures of a group of highly independent children (parents make a fleeting appearance in the first episode before vanishing from sight) in the fields, backlots, and treetops of their strange neighborhood. Blind Alley’s residents are very cute, with memorable designs that feel as if they’ve been around for ages, some of the kids spend their days dressed as skeletons, wolves, and vampires, giving the book a charmingly Hallowe’en-y feel. De Souza’s drawings are instantly engaging, with a casual, sketchy quality that makes everything feel cozy yet authentic.
As with an old-school newspaper comic strip, the nominal narrative of the strip so far is very vague, most of the four panel strips are more about establishing a vibe or delivering a bit of laconic humor rather than advancing the overarching plot. There are some nods at continuity and you get the feeling that De Souza is slowly agglomerating ideas, relationships, and concepts that might blossom in time. There were moments I was hoping De Souza would get back to certain especially intriguing threads, but “Blind Alley” proceeds at its own pace and won’t be rushed. The work clearly benefits from an improvisational approach, and if the reader goes with the flow I think they will be well-rewarded. It feels a lot like the earliest issues of Anders Nillsen’s “Big Questions” or Jon Lewis’ “True Swamp,” and you have to wonder how far De Souza might take these adorable characters; there are already hints of darkness and complexity in the margins of the work.
These comics are available online at www.blind-alley.com, but the collection is a lovely object that is well worth picking up, with a small, nearly-square trim size and lightweight newsprint pages that feel wonderful in the hand. I was pleasantly reminded of paperback collections of comic strips which I read at the public library back in the 1980s.
This collection of meandering, comics is sure to please fans of “Calvin and Hobbes,” “Sunny” by Taiyo Matsumoto, “Super Mutant Magic Academy” by Jillian Tamaki, and Tove Jannson’s “Moominvalley” books. Recommended.
