The Well-Dressed Bear Will (Never) Be Found by Jarod Roseló
Publishing Genius Press, 2015
214 pages / $14.95 Buy from PGP
Publishing Genius Press is finally putting out a new comic book, and it’s amazing. The Well-Dressed Bear Will (Never) Be Found by Jarod Roseló is about a bear that can’t finish reading Italo Calvino for all of the wrong numbers ringing in on his landline telephone. As the calls progress, demanding to speak with Jonathan, what begins as a cute comics premise unmoors itself as Roseló explores what it means to define and defend your own identity in demanding, but otherwise uncaring world.
The Well-Dressed Bear… hits that perfect timbre of literary surrealism while still feeling like a funny book. This is a feat that’s rarely pulled off in the medium, but Roseló’s art—like Roman Dirge weighed down with existential dread—and story accomplish a sophistication that feels more literary and less comix biff-pow. Please check it out. We need more books that inhabit the liminal space between literature and comix.