45 Days Of CCS, #11: Amelia B.C. Dutton (ABCD)

Amelia B.C. Dutton has the awesome pen name of ABCD, and this first-year student has already stacked up a few impressive-looking minis. Leading the way is Arcana Arena (Chapter Zero), the first part of what clearly seems to be her long-form project going forward. Done in what appears to be extremely dense digital color, it follows a character who has been invited to be on a "televised tournament of skill" wherein each participant represents one of the 22 major arcana. The protagonist is the Chariot, and she furtively leaves home under the cover of night on her motorbike Rhonda to travel cross-country in order to participate. This comic essentially sets up the basics: it's a competition of some kind, and the judges are the four Aces (Wands, Swords, Cups, and Pentacles). The Chariot is a little stressed about the competition, and the judges are stressed that one member of the Arcana is missing: the Fool, naturally. Dutton lays character exaggeration and expression on thick, and the project feels like it's heavily influenced by animation. Most of the time this looks interesting, but some of the figures have the stiffness of illustration instead of the fluidity of cartooning. I suspect this will change in future chapters where the contests actually begin. 

Error 404 is a short mini done solely in pencil. It dips once again into Tarot for the cover, and it follows a character whose computer stops working. Taking it to a strange shop for repair, she gets a very nasty surprise from the repairman. It's a shocking end to a 9-page story, as the poor protagonist never has a chance. Dutton's pencil work is expressive and dense, but her sketchy characters have a lot of life. The final mini here is bittercold, which is about a breed of insect called the "bittercold moth" that swarms on trees and carries pathogens that cause depression. This is a beautifully-cartooned comic that is a sort of compromise between the denseness of the first comic and the sketchiness of the second. It's also somewhere between a body horror comic and an emotionally resonant metaphor for mental illness, especially in cold, isolated places. Dutton packed a lot of punch into three short comics, and their ambitious visual storytelling got my attention in each comic.