I had the wonderful opportunity to meet with Bridgett Spicer down in Stumptown, the Portland Comic Show in April, and pick up a couple of her wonderful books. You can also find her stuff online over at Squid Row Comics, and it is so worth the visit to trot on over there and take a look. I have fallen in love with this series for its simplicity, and decidedly Garfield outlook on life and everything else that is in the comic book series. This is some of the better independent comic books that I have been fortunate enough to read lately, and she is worth following online and when and where you can, pick up the print versions, hold on to them, and enjoy them.
The story line of Squid Row centers on Randie Springlemeyer who is a starving artist, her best friend Ryan Goodfellow, a stuffed animal named Harold, and the local crazy baking lady Enid. But we can not forget “Spill” another on again off again character that shows up every now and then, creates mayhem and a huge mess, then walks out of the story line.
The problems that Randie has are anyone’s problems, and they are all addressed with the Brigett’s wickedly delightful sense of humor. From cats to chickens, to drinking coffee, to hanging out with friends, to snacking on Enids baked products, Bridgett shows a slice of life in the artist community that can have most of us laughing along with the story line. She takes advantage of the things that are going on around her to turn them into a squid row comic that is well worth reading. I have been on and off reading what she has going back to 2007 on her web site, and there is a consistency throughout the whole thing, the characters are realistic, the situations are things we would all encounter, and the spin that Bridgett puts on the whole story line is delightful.
Yes, of course I am going to rate this a five of five star comic series, not just for the web site, but for the books you can purchase on the web site to help her out. There are overtones of Garfield and Bloom County in this series, but it sets its own pace with its own small group of characters, and at times a seriously disastrous lack of coffee. This comic book series is well worth reading, well worth following, and well worth picking up the physical versions of the comic book for reading later on.
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