The Anthology Project

by D. Rawlings, M. Rhodes, K. Smith, C. Makris, C. Willumsen, T. Rhodes, S. Bradley, C. Choi, B. Huen, J. Ang, N. Thornborrow, and C. Konefal

"You'd be surprised, but for an obese cat he sure can move."

The Anthology Project is just what it states: it's an anthology of comics or graphic novels short stories.  Each story is very different from the other, but collectively they are all a bit strange. Mr. Dung and Beetle tells a heartwarming tale of a ball of dung that saves all of the animals in his forest during a rainstorm.  He ends up sacrificing his own "life" to get the animals to higher ground, when he himself is washed away.  I mean, it tells great messages about the strength of community, putting others before yourself, and understanding that friendships are more important than possessions.  BUT, Mr. Dung is a man made of dung. Strange, right?

The other stories in the anthology were also sort of bizarre. One involved two unicorn brothers, one good and one evil, fighting to the death in a candy cane forest. Another story was a take on Dickens' A Christmas Carol, but set in the Old West in the desert.  Another was about a little boy buying food for his two cats, one obese and one super skinny.  Still another is about a man who cannot make any decisions for fear of creating alternate realities. 

My favourite story in the collection, Wish, is about a little girl who meets a "chubby fly" as she calls it, or a fairy, in the forest.  The fairy, who is only interested in human food, tricks the girl into granting her a wish.  I liked the magical nature of the story and the twist ending.  

This anthology is super creative.  I like most collections of short stories, because you can just jump right in without any need for background plot information or development.  I mean, I like getting to know characters, but I also like seeing them at this one moment in their life.  This collection was even more interesting because of the graphics.  The reader is left to make a great deal of inferences for him or herself, and I like that freedom from an author. 

♥ Meg xoxo