Over Easy

In times of horrible news (which is all the time right now), I need breaks from dystopian fiction every once in a while and I’ve been relying on the NPR’s list of best graphic novels to provide me with great reads when I need a break. Over Easy by Mimi Pond comes from that list and I read it over the weekend, taking a long break from the world and its awfulness.

The story is a memoir of sorts, based on Pond’s time as a waitress in a diner when she quits art school because she can’t afford the tuition. Of course the diner is filled with characters who form, in a very real sense, an extended family for Margaret, who is immediately given a nick name by the guy who runs the diner.

Pond paints a vivid picture of the people, the place, and the time period (late 1970s). Her drawings are all done in the same green blue color, using tone to evoke the feel and I absolutely love it. I studied her way of drawing as I read the panels.

Things I didn’t know: she worked on the very first Simpson’s episode, and she’s created a lot of cartoons. I knew nothing about her, but now I can’t wait to read the follow up to this book, The Customer is Always Wrong.