My Every Single Thought by Corinne Mucha

Let’s face it, relationship comics from young twenty-somethings often leave much to be desired in the way of reflection, depth and humor. So, when I plucked this mini from the stack of Corinne Mucha’s work that I bought at MoCCA earlier this summer, I was prepared to be a bit let down. And though the comic begins with Mucha’s comic-stand-in changing her Facebook relationship status to single in an angry flourish, the stories that follow do more than document the (essentially boring) trappings of one lady’s heartbreak.

In her mostly one-page stories, Mucha takes a loosely chronological approach to the questions raised by becoming single. In “All By Myself,” after entertaining the non-no thought of dying alone, she considers the merits of being a cat lady vs. being a book lady and decides that living alone with books seems mostly harmless and besides, “maybe by then, [she]’ll have robots.” In “The Connotations of Single,” an informative infographic, she lists single things that by what people think of them, including, in the indifferent category, a single scoop of ice cream, which is rated “deceiving” because there is usually another scoop hiding down in the cone. Her writing is quite jokey, but doesn’t go where you may expect. It’s hard to be funny about such a played out subject, but Mucha’s enviable comic timing underpins each set-up.

All of this rumination works because of Mucha’s expressive art and lettering. Perfect gestures and googly eyes animate her deceptively simple figures. Her broken hearts, mini record players and cow socks are drawn in a cute but somehow edgy style that fits well with Mucha’s wry take on her experience.