Tales from the Burning Village

A friend dying of AIDS, too much coffee... and talking furniture.
This is the world Michael, the main character of Tales from the burning village , finds himself in. Written and drawn by Jay Laird, a frequent collaborator of Tim Fish, the first issue of this very unusual series takes the reader from an all too realist setting where Michael is keeping a vigil over his dying friend to another place, an unnamed, unknown place where various objects are going to tell him a moving tale about artificial realities and the power of stories. But I won't say anything else, it would be a pity not to let you discover it for yourself.
I'll say right away that the strength of this comic is not the art. The drawing themselves are amateurish, but that is largely redeemed by the CGI images, the text, the colors, and the storytelling. Jay Laird certainly knows how to tell a story, and he manipulates the reader in a delicious way. He also has a gift for a low-key kind of humor, an absurdist view of life that is very appealing.
I have no idea where he is going with this story, but I'm definitely intrigued. Just buy a copy of the comic so that I can read the rest of the story.