{"id":71586,"date":"2022-07-12T01:53:19","date_gmt":"2022-07-12T05:53:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thebookbeat.com\/backroom\/?p=71586"},"modified":"2022-07-12T01:53:19","modified_gmt":"2022-07-12T05:53:19","slug":"small-takes-by-tom-bowden","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thebookbeat.com\/backroom\/2022\/07\/12\/small-takes-by-tom-bowden\/","title":{"rendered":"Small Takes by Tom Bowden"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Time Zone J<\/strong><\/a>
\nJulie Doucet
\nDrawn & Quarterly<\/p>\n

Back to cartooning after shifting her artwork in 2000 to other forms, Time Zone J <\/strong>records a brief but intense fling she had in 1989 with a soldier she refers to as \u201cthe hussar.\u201d Deep into Montr\u00e9al\u2019s zine scene at the time, a fan struck up a correspondence with her, a sense of comradery was established, and soon an erotic charge animated their relationship, even though phones in 1989 didn\u2019t allow for photo swaps. Two problems face the couple: She\u2019s in Montr\u00e9al and he\u2019s in France, available for furloughs of only 48 or 72 hours, with little warning of their occurrence.<\/p>\n

They meet in person a couple of times, the encounters unnerving but not deal-breaking: The hussar is a depressive who likes to cut himself; whether he would do the same to her against her will feeds her uncertainties.<\/p>\n

About the cartoons: The drawings look to have been drawn on a scroll that has been folded into 150 uncut pages. The physical continuity of the work along with the narrative add to the book\u2019s energy, which is already amped by the entangled web of images filling each page. The narrative represents Doucet\u2019s obsessive thoughts, mulled over while drawing random faces and objects on a scroll while daydreaming about her fling, pieced together from Doucet\u2019s diaries of the time.<\/p>\n