Rooftops
The step up from comic zinester to graphic novelist is so treacherous that many fear for their livelihoods. And, let’s face it, who’s going to waste potential Inspector Rex-watching time by frigging about trying to get trillions of drawings shaded just right, the details of which only the politest members of your extended family will fake an interest in? Not me, that’s for sure.
Mandy Ord would though. She’s just done a big graphic novel called Rooftops - her first, and it’s what her fans have been hanging out for.
Mandy Ord is a young-ish veteran of the Melbourne cartoon/zine-making scene. With Rooftops she again amps the contrast dial up to 100%; her drawings of Melbourne are as black, rich and dense as Turkish coffee, in a cave. It all looks great, but Ord particularly excels with some perfectly-paced cinematic moments that, in their unravelling, are as poetic and funny as anything done by David Malouf.
With Rooftops Ord explores stories of coincidence and fear, touching on Gilligan’s Island and the films of Bill Murray by way of the Rooftop Cinema, no less. It’s inspiring stuff and proof that mucking about with a HB pencil might actually get you somewhere.
By Oslo Davis
Format: Book
Motivation: Good with a whiskey in the bath
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