I don’t read newspapers. It’s not personal. I started reading on a computer when I was really young and never looked back. Consequently certain features never make it through my front door, specifically comic strips. So, when John McPherson’s Close to Home made its big debut in my hometown paper, which I assume it did at some point in the late 1990s, I was completely unaware. But January 2010, when I was sifting through the calendars in the 50% off bin at Barnes and Noble, I found a Close to Home calendar and bought it. My other option was a girl’s college survival guide. And I don’t need any beauty tips.

Close to Home (CtH) is a single cell comic that is generally social commentary with a dash of comedy. The world is usually exaggerated in a small way. More to the point, the most successful comics exaggerate real life in a small way. This is in stark contrast to the reigning single cell comic The Far Side, which usually wildly exaggerated.

CtH is art of the contemporary middle range. While it lacks the scale and power of a complete graphic novel, it does cause the reader to think for a moment, to contemplate the joke. For example, an image of a widow spinning casket with the caption: “He’s credited with inventing the game ‘spin the bottle’ way back in the ’30s.” Maybe an amusing joke, but the underlying commentary is that a person is only remembered for his or her greatest accomplishment. For example, Bob Barker hosted six TV shows over the course of his career, but he’ll only be remembered for The Price is Right. Any family, his real personality, or a run on the briefly lived Simon Says (some flop game show from the early 1970s) don’t factor into his legacy in any serious way. (Yes, I know he’s still alive.) Conversely, it implies that someone who didn’t invent spin the bottle or host anything won’t be remembered for anything. And from there my mind wanders for another ten to thirty minutes, musing, chuckling, and occasionally coming up with a story idea.

I’m glad I found this gem in the bargain bin. While I’m not going to subscribe to a print newspaper or buy a collection, CtH brings a moment of much-needed humor into my workday.

 

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