Posted in: Comics | Tagged: Comics, entertainment, gabriel hardman, image comics, Kinski

Kinski: Deserving of Praise and Belly Rubs

Published Wed, 05 Nov 2014 15:30:06 -0600

By Alex Mansfield

A boy and his dog. Uh-oh. We know how stories of this nature tend to end: quivering lips, fighting back tears, wrestling with the memories of canine companions long since passed ("went to live on a farm" my ass, Dad!) and basically becoming an inconsolable mess of a person. My girlfriend and I still don't know how Marley and Me really ends. Let me assuage any fears or reticence one might have with Gabriel Hardman's Kinski because this is an utterly charming, genre blending graphic novel that will leave you feeling more life-affirmed than soul-destroyed.

Joe is a single, young professional who's in North Bend, New Mexico for a less than thrilling work meeting involving the relative sizes and distribution of grains. One chance face-licking encounter with an adorable pup leads Joe on a sequence of misadventures that all stem from a desire to do the right thing. Okay, he commits a few crimes and presumably makes a little boy cry. But he means well! Joe is a fully realized and, via his search for a dog (and therefore a search for some level of purpose), a fully relatable character.

Hardman fleshes out the supporting cast with equally well-realized character in the forms of an increasingly less enthused co-worker and a young woman equally unsure of her life choices. Kinski, by nature of being a puppy, is an irresistible bundle of limitless cuteness and mischief that will whine and head tilt his way into your cold, cynical heart. Aside from being a little manic, as puppies are, his cinematic epithet primarily serves to bond two of these carefully thought-out characters. It's a straightforward story, sure, but it's also thoroughly engrossing and reassuringly heartfelt.

Gabriel Hardman is nothing short of a master storyteller. With an accomplished background in film storyboarding and an impressive comic book portfolio, that shouldn't come as a surprise and yet, Kinski manages to subvert a horde of expectations. Hardman deftly crafts what is on the surface a caper-gone-awry story, but is largely about one man trying to find some semblance of fulfillment in his life that happens to present itself in the form of a puppy black Labrador retriever. There are moments of near-noir suspense co-mingled with office-banter comedy and an undercurrent of 'boy meets girl' awkward charm. And yes, if you're a "dog person" (i.e. anyone who is not a heartless monster) there are innumerable points at which you'll be nodding along with a knowingly wry smirk on your face. Be it the tense, timeless stand-off of trying to grab a dropped leash or the unbridled exuberance of spending time together in the front seat of the car, Kinski is rife with all those little dog details that ring true.

All of that emotional resonance is the direct result of Hardman's aptitude for pacing and structure. Each individual panel tells a mini-story of its own and nothing on the page is unnecessary. Hardman can do so much with so little, knowing exactly what to show and what not, never allowing the reader to lose focus of what's happening and how the characters feel about it. A plethora of techniques, be it the dotted stippling shading or the heavy inked shadows or the splattered white paint to add texture, are all effectively employed to add great depth and detail to backgrounds, but Hardman's skilled and restrained line with character expressions is uncanny. It's not quite a "sketchy" style, but it is loose and allows a single line here or a hint of a shadow there that instantly relays a sense of horror or arrogance or joy.

Visually and structurally, Kinski is a streamlined affair. Car models and cell phones signal a modern setting, but there's a wonderful sense of era ambiguity. This may be the result of the black and white coloring and Hardman's particular style being reminiscent of newspaper strips, but the timelessness reinforces an evergreen charm that makes it appealing to a broad spectrum of readers.

Kinski is a triumph of storytelling. More than a simple boy and his (stolen) dog feel-good tale, Hardman puts on a clinic in how to utilize story beats and keep the reader eagerly turning pages. It doesn't hurt that it's also gorgeous to look at. At 142 pages, it's not a long read, but it is one I will be going back to often. So long as Hardman doesn't produce a sequel, because if that wonderful dog goes to live on a farm, there's going to be problems.

Alex Mansfield is a simple being. Born and raised in New York City, he has an appropriate fear of nature and an unyielding suspicion of small talk. All of his understanding of pop-culture and basic human interaction comes from comic books and The Simpsons because what else is there, really? Currently a writer and Assistant Editor for All-Comic.com, you can also follow him on twitter @focusedtotality

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