Airbag #3 More Stories by Brian Canini

At first I took Airbag to be an autobiographical collection. It starts out with that staple of autobio comics, the school yard tale from childhood – or playing ground tale if you are British. But instead we have stories told from the perspective of a cast of characters including cartoon mice. 

The broad theme of this issue is life choices. That could be overcoming all those barriers that drag us down, mostly the ones in our heads. It is about trying to live a life without regret. Regret for not kissing that person, not taking that shot on goal (or whatever it is called in basketball.) Regret over tricking your friend into dying in a mouse trap so you can get the cheese. The choices of which wolf to feed, whether to do the right thing or put yourself first, work hard or just travel and party – you know, the path not taken and all of that.

I loved the diversity of stories. In Back Against the Sun, a young woman student, Sam, has to begin facing up to the adult world of consequences. She loves partying and has dreams of travel and a rather unlikely entry into the Tour de France (she doesn’t even own a bike.) But it is clear that living her best life is not going to lead anywhere good. Sometimes doing the boring thing is the best thing, but you can always compromise.

Stylistically there is also more diversity in the story than it seems at first sight. Some stories have a more exaggerated cartoonish aspect. Characters have oversized heads and a grotesque element to them. Sometimes, as in the story Wooden Clock, this matches the persona of the bitter central character. His internal bile has twisted him physically. 

Where the characters are more sympathetic we see a more realistic line. The dating couple in Last Call are more fully realised on the page and this helps them seem more human. They are not caricatures. 

As for our mouse pals Vito and Sal, well they are firmly in the tradition of the cartoon mouse living in a hole in the wall, watching TV and representing the eternal triumphant underdog, or undermouse I guess. Like Jerry or Itchy. But it is a mouse eat mouse world out there as Sal will discover. Part Shakespearean subplot and part comic interlude, I did love those pesky mice.

Airbag is more than just another autobio comics anthology – as much as I like them. It brings a fresher perspective. There are parts of the narrative that could flow better but I enjoyed this book. It made me wonder how I could get hold of more of Brian’s comics, which is as good a compliment as I can give any creator. 

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Check out Brian’s books at his website