Trains are... Mint
Oliver East (excellent name, btw) sent Shortpants a comic called Trains Are... Mint. We've been a long time getting around to this review, mostly becos we procrastinate, but also partially becos it's such a delicately and precisely awesome mini that we wanted to write a delicately and precisely awesome review for it.
Trains Are... Mint is a beautifully made mini, with delicate and deliberately childlike line drawings layered over a series of meditative watercolor studies of Manchester's train stations.
There's a calmness and solemnity to East's work that Shortpants found very attractive, and which Shortpants finds hard to put into words. You know the feeling, when something's so just-right that it feels as if trying to explain it might break the spell.
Or maybe we're getting too philosophical about it. It's essentially a journal comic, but rather than invite us into some self-obsessed navel-gazing internal conflict, this book made us feel like we were wandering the train tracks with East on a quiet grey day, pointing out this building and that, enjoying the subtle aesthetics of the sometimes bleak urban landscapes. Trains Are... Mint takes the reader on a clever and surprisingly affectionate tour of Manchester; it's very easy to see that East really cares about his subject.
This was our favorite page. Shortpants wishes we could work watercolors like this:
You can see lots more page samples on East's site, where you can also get your very own copy of Trains Are... Mint. Which Shortpants recommends that you do. Cos it's a great book, and we're very much looking forward to seeing what else East has to show in future efforts.
Trains Are... Mint is a beautifully made mini, with delicate and deliberately childlike line drawings layered over a series of meditative watercolor studies of Manchester's train stations.
There's a calmness and solemnity to East's work that Shortpants found very attractive, and which Shortpants finds hard to put into words. You know the feeling, when something's so just-right that it feels as if trying to explain it might break the spell.
Or maybe we're getting too philosophical about it. It's essentially a journal comic, but rather than invite us into some self-obsessed navel-gazing internal conflict, this book made us feel like we were wandering the train tracks with East on a quiet grey day, pointing out this building and that, enjoying the subtle aesthetics of the sometimes bleak urban landscapes. Trains Are... Mint takes the reader on a clever and surprisingly affectionate tour of Manchester; it's very easy to see that East really cares about his subject.
This was our favorite page. Shortpants wishes we could work watercolors like this:
You can see lots more page samples on East's site, where you can also get your very own copy of Trains Are... Mint. Which Shortpants recommends that you do. Cos it's a great book, and we're very much looking forward to seeing what else East has to show in future efforts.
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