When reviewing certain comics, the first impulse that comes to mind is to compare the work to others that feature a similar approach or design, to give the reader an opportunity to have a jump start, a reference point. This approach is fraught with a fair number of problems, the first of which is that, frankly, it's a matter of apples and crabapples at best, and Buicks and penguins at the very worst. There's also heightened expectations. If I say something approaches the lyricism of, say, Big Numbers, then the readers that worship at the Altar of Moore will be disappointed when, in fact, Uncle Dingo's Anal Funnies doesn't actually close at all to the Bearded One's material.
So, I have a problem: I sincerely believe that Danica Novgorodoff�s Late Freeze really does echo a lot of what I love in Chris Ware's work. Many of the tropes that Ware used to such effect in Rocket Sam and the cowboy stories crop up here and here's the remarkable thing: they feel fresh. Vast empty spaces with small figures that are deceptively simple, silent sequences filled with emotion, and gorgeous attention to world-building and design are used to great effect without a clear derivation.
For something that could be a Kochalka-style fairy tale, this story of the love between a robot and a bear and the family they build is mature and without a trace of cheap sentiment. Novgorodoff's art supplies the wordless story with the necessary storytelling and very little more: there's no cute asides or winks at the audience that have become increasingly common in the Graphic Novel era. Graeme over at The Savage Critics made comparisons between Novgorodoff�s work and two cartoonists that fail to resonate with me: Laurenn McCubbin and Hope Larson, and I can see how she incorporates some of the same techniques in her work (curved, unsteady lines that manage to build a form, for instance) in a way that I find more satisfying.
While I enjoyed the book immensely, I do wish it had been longer. Certain passages could have been expanded a small amount to heighten the impact of later events, but as it stands, Late Freeze holds up near-perfectly and heralds a major talent's arrival.
If you'd like to see more of Novgorodoff's work, you can check out this page on the First Second site as well as her own webpage, which provides a handy "Buy" link in the comics section.
