“Vacancy,” by Jen Lee and published by Nobrow Press through their 17×23 line, might be the best comic of 2015.
It takes place within the “Thunder Paw: In the Ashes of Fire Mountain” universe, though you don’t need to know anything about that story in order to read this one. There’s been this great cataclysmic event and all the humans have disappeared, leaving behind their pets and allowing previously peripheral animals to now run rampant. And these animals, who have spent so much of their lives interacting and working with humans, aren’t sure how to react.
“Vacancy” focuses on a small dog named Simon, trapped in his backyard. He’s been bred for protection but spends most of the day pacing around, staring through this hole in the fence, and hoping to break free, running off with his “Yote brothers” into the woods. And then one day, this deer named Raynard and a raccoon named Cliff, knock down the fence; seeing an opportunity, he sets off with them, not expecting the dangers beyond the suburbs.
The book is 24 pages long and features near perfect pacing (the climactic chase might have been able to linger a little longer). Jen Lee sets up Simon as someone easy to understand and empathize with, and leads us through an adventure full of danger and narrow escapes. She also explores themes of ambition, independence, and community. The book feels so much meatier than the page count, and it’s an immensely satisfying experience when you close the covers.
Jen Lee knows how we connect with animals, and that gives you a strong investment in what’s happening to these characters. She dresses her protagonists up like they just stepped out of Sufjan Stevens’s imagination, and there’s this inherent innocence to their hoodies and flannels and beloved backpacks. Conversely, her villainous creatures don these, I don’t know, punk-prep outfits that immediately let us know how dangerous and conniving these guys are.
Above all, Jen Lee provides the book with a strong collection of images. The art is gorgeous, and the high quality print work Nobrow utilizes for the book only makes it pop even more. The book feels like it’s taking place at a perpetual dusk, the background filled with either purple-to-pink gradients or these chilling blue hues. Even though the sets are fully drawn out, there’s this definite feeling of emptiness, of uncomfortable deathly silences permeating the area.
The panel compositions are constantly just slightly askew and disorienting, especially in the woods. Like Simon, you’re never able to fully get your bearings in this new place, and it loses its romanticism quickly. She rarely breaks away from a long-tiered structure, but it all serves to guide you through the story that much easier.
The Nobrow 17×23 series books, by their nature, aren’t long, but Jen Lee uses every bit of space she’s given to her advantage. “Vacancy” is emotionally arresting yet ultimately hopeful; it has the capacity to be terrifying, but it’s never afraid of being funny. The animals might be cute, but there’s a wildness behind their hipster fabrics. She answers approximately zero of the questions that she poses, but it doesn’t feel like she copped out or cheated us in the story. “Vacancy” is a exemplary cartooning achievement, and it’s nothing but impressive from start to finish.
