A young cartoonist is having one of those days creatives are known to have: she’s feeling “drained and hollow,” bereft of ideas, and unsure whether she’ll ever have another one. From that low point she goes on a full-circle emotional journey that unfolds on a single page in the span of six panels, each of them not much bigger than a standard postage stamp (remember those?). By the end, at the bottom right corner of the page, having briefly thought that she did have a good idea but then changed her mind, she’s back where she started, weeping with frustration as she binges on Doritos and Cheetos. 

That’s a pleasingly complete story right there, and it’s just one in a 160-page book of mostly one-pagers. Montreal-based Cathon, perhaps best known as co-author of the NFB-adapted The Great List of Everything, shows a seemingly inexhaustible flair for concentrated narrative and illuminating anecdote, consistently providing object lessons in just how much information can be packed into a single page – or even a single panel – without resorting to clutter. She has a masterful touch with domestic minutiae and the dynamics of friendship, and can broaden her net with equal assurance, as when her promotional travels and holiday respites take her from Rimouski to Venice and she finds fresh perspectives on both.mRb