Safer Places

By Kit Anderson
Publisher: Avery Hill Publishing
ISBN: 9781910395776

Short stories, by necessity, require an immediacy that engages the reader quickly. In terms of comics, this can be done either visually or through the writing, as the tale shares a brief moment with you before moving on to another. Like an album, short story collections may have filler tracks, but as long as there are a few satisfying tunes you’re left happy, more so if the ratio is higher.

Safer Places is a short story collection, and, like most graphic novels and cartoon books, the cover is part of the creator’s presentation. It’s one of the occasions where you should be able to judge the book by it – if not comprehensively, then at least allow it to give you a good idea. And it is a good one, beautifully illustrated and, with the character facing away from us, suggestive of something brooding and mysterious inside.

So does it fulfil that promise? Stylistically, the artwork within doesn’t live up to the promise, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. The great thing about cartoonists is that good writing can carry the art and vice versa. Which brings me back to my opening comments. Do the short stories engage? For me, personally, I struggled with Safer Places. I wanted to enjoy it, especially as it was recommended to me by a trusted source, but I just wasn’t getting it. I think I was hoping for something tighter, sharper, or even surprising.

The Quest stories, running throughout the collection, were interesting, and the story Weeds tickled my fancy, but everything else felt a little to ephemeral. This could, indeed, be just a question of taste, and the book’s general success seems to suggest I’m in the minority.

I aim to be positive with these reviews – on the whole, if there’s a book I simply dislike then I just don’t review it. There’s enough negativity online. And the fact is, I didn’t dislike Safer Places. I just didn’t connect with it. I think Kit Anderson has talent and I’m intrigued to see what she does next now that she has Safer Places under her belt. But this one didn’t work for me. Even though I didn’t connect with it, you might, and for that reason you should give it a go. After all, we can’t all like the same things, can we.

And if you liked that: Try Spinning by Tillie Walden