Review: Odds Off

Matt Madden is well-known for his formalist (but entertaining) 99 Ways to Tell a Story, a riff on Raymond Queneaud’s Exercices de Style. In 2001, Highwater Books, which is now defunct, published Madden’s Odds Off (you can still find copies on Amazon for cheap, for example).
In this 144-page graphic novel, college-age lovers Morgan and Shirin have a hard time reconciling their life together with their very different attitude towards life. Morgan is a happy-go-lucky guy, while Shirin is far more stressed woman, partly due to her studying for a medical exam. Enter Lance, another student, who develops a crush on Morgan, thinking the young man is also gay.

Lance crosses path with Morgan

Morgan and Shirin are the main characters, but Lance comes close second, and his personal story is largely part of the themes of the book: Lance is a budding and talented writer, and he suffers from a weird–and imaginary, but highly metaphorical–disease which prevents him from writing.
It seems to me the whole book is about overcoming bad times, whether in the personal or the professional life, and the ways people who have some life experience but not that much can achieve that.
Lance’s gayness is a complete non-issue, which of course is very engaging, and his crush resolves itself in a funny and satisfactory manner.
Madden’s art is clearly of the indy trend, giving his characters real-life bodies and faces, with varied and non-melodramatic expressions. In fact, the whole ambiance of the story is non-melodramatic. Lance, Morgan and Shirin are people we could have for friends or family, and their trials are told in an intelligent way, with a storytelling that shows that formalism and emotions aren’t incompatible.