Squid Works: True Fiction 3: Tragic Strips

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Or so T. Motley may want you to believe. True Fiction #3 - Tragic Strips is the third installment in the mini-comic series that has proven an underground hit the first two times around. It is the latest feature release by the Squid Works, which is taking pre-orders for this September release.
It should be no surprise to those of you who know Mot that the format of this book has mutated in that this 12 page mini is not a single story like the first two, but a collection of short stories that have previously appeared in alternative weekly newspapers and galleries around the world. Don't let the size of this book fool you -- True Fiction 3 is rich with content, housing seven separate stories -- all with the common theme of an unhappy ending. In this sense, it is much the same as 1 and 2, but different. SY

T. Motley's funny and poignant strips stand in direct historical continuity with the familiar comic strip of the past, but in their content - psychologically and existentially raw - and their brilliant condensation of narrative time and space, they point as well to its future." --Siman Zalkind, Director, Singer Gallery at the Mizel Arts Center, Denver, CO

"Mr. T is a wonderful artist! And his writing is way cool, too." --Jon B. Cooke, Comic Book Artist Magazine

"I never realized comics could be poetic and beautiful like this." --That cute waitress at Mot's art show that one time

True Fiction #3 can be ordered through Squid Works at www.squidworks.com or through your local Squid Works Retailer


Image from "Dog Shit"	Image from "An Imagined Dream"

Image from "Fable"	Image from "The Big Neglect"

Now this is what a tiny mini comic should be. You can quibble over the content, sure, but what you have here is a comic that's full of a wide variety of stories that's heavy on text, which, for me at least, is usually a sign of more bang for your buck. In here you have the life of a tiny mouse, a fable about a trusting cow, a trip to the moon, shape shifting around a naked woman, neglect beyond the grave, misery and dogshit. Yeah, that mostly sums it up. Tom was kind enough to send me a bunch of comics, so there will be a lot more of his books up here in the coming weeks, and so far that looks like a really good thing to me. Here's an e-mail address just in case the one up there isn't working, and at $1.50 this is well worth a look. ~Whitey, Optical Sloth, 3/18/05 (go to review)

This mini-comic is not a funny one. It is actually a strange, existential little series of vignettes that leave the reader very sad and wistful. T. Motley, whoever he is, has a poetic prose style that happily for the reader, never turns pretentious. He also rarely goes for the cheap joke. When a story does, it feels forced and uncharacteristic of the writer. These stories are filled with dread, horror, sadness, and the inevitability of tragedy in our brief existences. I could tell you about the stories themselves, but recapping them would destroy their points. T. Motley, whoever he or she is, does not seem to be a happy person and should possibly consider anti-depressants, but I cannot deny the power of these stories. This person will either crack up or go on to write for Fantagraphics; perhaps both. ~Barb Lien-Cooper, Sequential Tart, 1/23/2002 (go to review)

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