Every part of you is familiar to me is a collection of Kris Dresen’s silent short comics and illustrations. A few years ago, I’d already written how much I liked her work, in my review of her Max & Lily strips; and here, she fully displays her interest in combining everyday stories and unusual storytelling.
With stories from one-pagers to a 30-page tale, Dresen presents the lives of women who love women, their meetings, their time together, with an obvious concern for realistic details and a use of nature, trees, leaves, etc. in her art which often takes on a metaphorical role. In fact, most of her strips have a poetic aspect which must not be underestimated, whether from their rythm or from the sparse story titles, which are the only words in this book save for the illustrations titles.
The pièce de résistance is undoubtedly Encounter Her, the 30-page novelette which ends this collection. It follows two women, and their dance around each other, from the first chance meeting to the beginning of something deeper, with lots of false starts and (temporarily) dashed hopes. It’s moving, honest, and is yet another proof that Kris Dresen is a great storyteller.
Even though some of this material is available on the author’s site, this beautifully printed (print-on-demand really has come of age!) 100-page book is not to be missed, and hopefully will be followed by more of the kind. Kris Dresen is currently working on Grace, a long graphic novel, and some shorter stories, all of which can be found at her website. You can purchase this book from the Lulu.com site.
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